My take on LA, mostly compared to the two major cities I knew best: New York and San Francisco.

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Upshots of LA: 
* People more friendly than SF. 
* Best Mexican. 
* Dogs aren't as friendly.
* Fellow restaurant was amazing. Booklet. 
* Weather is bananzas. 
* Cars love to zoom, much nicer cars. 
* No walking. At all. Hate that. 
* Reminds me of memphis. 
* People don't start conversations, but they almost always are pretty receptive after they realize that you're actually gonna be talking to them. 
* Fucking scooters. 
* Homelessness is more apparent. 
* I think the big difference is a sense of community. In LA it seems people assume if you’re approaching them on the street it’s because you want something from them
* Asked if they could move to have more space.



LA vs NY vs SF:
- [ ] Cab driver isn’t as good at asking questions so far. I lead convo. 
- [ ] Every Apple store is sold out of chargers what the fuck. 
- [ ] Met Apple store woman from the upper west side and she said that people in LA are definitely nice. Had a good laugh with the three employees there. 
- [ ] People definitely friendly. Maybe more so than SF I’d say. Lyft driver, etc. 
- [ ]  Best mexican food I’ve ever had was my first meal here, at Mercado. Eddy was the bartender. Nice guy. Probably wants me to come back next time 
- [ ] Not much seating for public. Not facing each other. 
- [ ] Holy shit the weather though. If it’s like this year round, it’s divine. 
- [ ] Way more of a driving city than SF, and obviously more than NY. 
- [ ] Bars closing at 2am kinda sucks. Definitely was down for hanging out more. 
- [ ] Diversity of people here seems better than SF. 
- [ ] The cars LOVE zooming here, which is cool. 
- [ ] Reminds me a bit of Memphis. Feels like the downtown is full of homeless and pourer people, and the outside areas like Westwood and Venice etc are where all the really rich people moved out and just left the downtown deserted in a lot of ways. 
- [ ] Grand central market is cool 
- [ ] I’m definitely the one who starts all of the conversations. But frankly people are very receptive.  I think they might not be as good at small talk as they are in NY though maybe? Will need more data on this. They just don't ask questions which is how you keep a conversation. 
- [ ] The city just kind of feels too big for how many people there are in it. It feels emptyish. 
- [ ] Is LA like known for Carl’s Jr. hamburgers or something like why are there so many. 
- [ ] One guy was almost rude, I pushed back and he basically apologized and said he was in a bad mood. I was just asking what people do after 2am in LA and he was assuming I was inviting myself to their after party. 
- [ ] So many fucking scooters like SF. 
- [ ] Homelessness is more apparent than NY I’d say for sure, but not as dense as SF generally around the city. Haven’t seen skidrow though. 
- [ ] Interaction with neighbor again. Very uninterested. Barely nodded to acknowledge me.
- [ ] Seems like more women at bars or clubs in NY.  
- [ ] A ton of closed down stores downtown on Main Street near olympic. 
- [ ] Much nicer cars than SF and NY. Ferrari almost immediately spotted and generally the cars are more luxury-ish. Multiple Ferrari’s now and I think a Maserati. More cars also try to show off/go really fast at times, you hear a lot more fast revving here than other places I've been. 
- [ ] Walked up to a group of guys/girls playing soccer. Said “got room for one more?” And they definitely were hesitant for like 4-5 seconds, looking around at each other. All in the same frat. Feel like chatting it up with strangers here isn’t really the same, but maybe it’s because they all were in the same frat and are very insular. 
- [ ] Walked up to two women walking their dog and asked if I could ask a question, also seemed a little stand-off-ish at first. Yeah, I think people are just not expecting a random person to talk to them here like they are in NY. 
- [ ] Westwood seems dead over summer with no students. Like way more dead than chapel hill would be. 
- [ ] Nobody walks. Like at all. 
- [ ] The people at Fellow. High class restaurant. Were amazing. Chef came out and introduced himself. They did pri fixe. They printed a booklet just for me of all of the places I should eat at in LA. that was astounding. 
- [ ] Was sitting outside the airbnb, on the stops sending the biggest email of my life. Then guy walks out of another airbnb, looks at me, I make eye contact, he looks away, then back, then away, then back, I'm smiling by this point and wave, and he gives a little timid wave and smile. 
- [ ] Again right afterward, guy comes down the stairs. He lives in the building. I say hey, he says hey, he asks if I'm doing airbnb, I say yeah, he says where from and I say New York and he just keeps walking, I ask him about himself but he just kinda shrugs it off/doesn’t hear me. Could have been much more involved of a convo. 
- [ ] Lying in the sun with the wind on a hill is amazing. Absolutely amazing. 
- [ ] Ok a guy walks by and I’m just laying in the sun and I saw how’s it going man and he says “totally get it”, which I’d say is a good interaction. 
- [ ] The dogs are not nearly as friendly either. Like both dogs that went by were trying to bark at me for being in the grass. Not used to people. 
- [ ] I just jay walked in front of a cop and they beeped their sirens. 
- [ ] Definitely a lot of attractive people in LA, specifically Venice is where I’ve noticed it. Coming back to NY though it's definitely more attractive people in NY. People look more attractive in NY I think. 100%. Yeah, like even going to Santa Monica. NY women at least are noticeably more attractive. 
- [ ] Asked two women if I could ask a question and they were like “sorry, we’re busy, we have a reservation”. I kind of gave them a face and asked the question anyway. That was more on the rude side I’d say. They basically treated me the same way most people treat the homeless, like almost no eye contact and trying to just keep walking 
- [ ] It feels like in LA people expect you to be doing something. You don’t just go somewhere to go somewhere. In New York, you go to the park to go to the park. 
- [ ] I think people are also more averse to eye contact here? 
- [ ] Another woman leaving the sidewalk for the street to avoid walking by me. Then going back to the sidewalk. 
- [ ] Maybe fewer loners in LA? Coupled up or in groups. 
- [ ] Noticed another instance of the seats facing away from each other surrounding a tree. I think facing each other is nice. 
- [ ] I think the big difference is a sense of community. In LA it seems people assume if you’re approaching them on the street it’s because you want something from them, like when I went to help that woman hold the door while she brought the trash in. I think a New Yorker would more likely than a los angeleser assume that I was coming to help because I saw a fellow human in need and two was better than one, but she protested a tiny bit saying she got it, ultimately understanding that I was being helpful and not trying to pursue her or something. Same with the women who were rude to me on the street, because you don’t get asked for directions here by people walking, they are immediately standoffish. In NY, people ask directions all the damn time on foot, so it’d be really rude to not even let them ask their question. I think people are just more surprised that you’re approaching them here. 
- [ ] Guy sitting next to me at the communal table scoots over because we’re too close together for his comfort. They keep looking at my like who would eat alone. And then they moved to the bar. So fucking weird. 
- [ ] You have to wait 40 minutes to get into any of these bars or clubs what the fuck. Although people think it's really funny when I complain about it. 
- [ ] Woman crosses the street to avoid walking by me. Middle of the day. Not many people around but it wasn’t deserted. Just misanthropic man. I was walking with my computer in one arm and my phone in the other. Obviously there’s plenty going on with being afraid to walk past a guy and get harassed, but still.
- [ ] Again, sitting at the chef’s table between two couples. The ones I was sitting next to just fucking leave as soon as I sit down basically. 
- [ ] Guys sitting next to me. Same thing. Asked if they could move to have more space. They ended up talking to me though, and were nice guys.