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Old 03-20-2014, 01:11 PM   #41
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Plenty of millionaires here in CT. It is expensive -- both housing costs and taxes -- but it is the best place I've ever lived, and I've lived all around the country, first as a Navy brat and then during my own time in the Navy. (My second choice would be either the Seattle area or Maine).
I went with some friends once to visit their relatives in Stamford (or, in my best accent...Steeyamfuhd) for a bat mitzvah. Now, living in the Bay Area I'm used to seeing occasional displays of wealth. But driving around Stamford, it was amusing driving by some prep school or private school, and seeing the multiple Ferraris, Bentleys, etc, parked for a lacrosse game or some other outdoor event.

There are "pockets" of wealth here in the Bay Area, but driving around Stamford it seemed more...evenly dispersed, for lack of a better description. Maybe it was due to the smaller size of CT. It was more concentrated in that area I guess.
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Old 03-20-2014, 01:39 PM   #42
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I spent my high school years in LA. I ain't going back there. Most folks (I've met in Bay Area - disclaimer) who escaped from LA say the same thing. They won't go back. Smog & traffic, crimes, ...

Yeah, I ran into a few celebrities in LA (Smother's brothers, Fonzi, to name a few) in 4 years I was there. So what? LA is LA. Bumping into celebrities now and then doesn't change things.
Celebrity was quite a big deal to me when I was younger - not so much for the brushes with fame, but because these were people who shaped the culture I grew up in. Music was a big deal to me as a youth, so seeing or meeting a person who made the records I grew up with was a memorable experience. I felt the same way about actors and actresses, though to a lesser extent.

I went to Henry Winkler's (Fonzi's) house once - not as a friend, but in a professional capacity. He used to live in Toluca Lake (maybe he still does). The encounter I had with him that tickled me pink though was seeing him in line to get an autograph from Nick Mason, the drummer for Pink Floyd. One celebrity getting an autograph from another That's the side of Nick Mason's head on the right -



I'm glad to be away from the poor air quality and do appreciate the more compact nature of the Bay Area, but those times were fun. Not sure I'd want to go back. I prefer to keep moving on. As I said earlier, I do understand that LA's not for everyone. It may not even be for me anymore.
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Old 03-20-2014, 01:43 PM   #43
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With apologies for the off-topic comments..........

I lived in LA for 20 years and it is indeed quite surreal. One of my co-workers had well-to-do parents who rented a beach-front home in Malibu for him while he was working as a low-level manager in a retail establishment. David Hockney was one of his neighbors. Another friend lived across the street from Tim Curry in the Hollywood Hills. I bumped into celebrities on a regular basis, both as a result of my job, and simply from just being there and keeping my eyes open. I took a 3 year hiatus from LA (in Reno) and on moving back there with my (then new) girlfriend, she had a typical "LA experience" on her first morning there. We parked the U-Haul truck in the parking lot at the Farmer's Market on 3rd and Fairfax. As we were walking into Dupar's Restaurant for breakfast, she walked slap-bang into Kiefer Sutherland, who was leaving. She literally bumped (quite hard) into him. Without batting an eyelid, she looked at him from point-blank range and said, "Oh hi Kiefer!" He looked back, a bit puzzled, said "Hi", and walked on. Then we walked into the diner, had breakfast and marveled at her "welcome to LA" moment.

I know a lot of people scoff at the place - I get a fair bit of that up here in the SF Bay Area but for me, at least, there was something about it that was magical. I didn't care that I was living in a very average apartment and riding an old motorbike (later an old Volvo, and then a bicycle), because I liked the experiences my life was made up of. I must admit I get a bit defensive when some of the people in the Bay Area visibly shudder on learning that I used to live in LA. I can appreciate why it's not for everyone, but a part of me wants to at least attempt to convey some of the magic that I felt to them.
I don't find LA magical at all; I think it's pathetic. Jane Fonda gave a speech (on breast cancer or something) not two blocks from my house. I'm supposed to be impressed? Actors to me are just people who pretend, nothing more. The Bay Area, where I grew up, is no better anymore. I used to say the Bay Area was LA without the "glamor", as in horrendous traffic, smog, gangs, graffiti, sprawl, the ugliest shopping malls, etc. Now the Bay Area is just as pretentious with it's self-absorbed high tech culture. It's highly likely I will be deserting CA entirely for the Pacific NW in a couple of years.

To stay on topic, it figures it would be the LA Times that would feature this article. Surface is what sells down here.
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Old 03-20-2014, 01:50 PM   #44
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Jane Fonda gave a speech (on breast cancer or something) not two blocks from my house. I'm supposed to be impressed?
You're not supposed to be either impressed or unimpressed. Your reaction is entirely yours, and as such, as valid as anyone else's reactions and opinions.
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Old 03-20-2014, 01:51 PM   #45
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I don't find LA magical at all; I think it's pathetic. Jane Fonda gave a speech (on breast cancer or something) not two blocks from my house. I'm supposed to be impressed? Actors to me are just people who pretend, nothing more. The Bay Area, where I grew up, is no better anymore. I used to say the Bay Area was LA without the "glamor", as in horrendous traffic, smog, gangs, graffiti, sprawl, the ugliest shopping malls, etc. Now the Bay Area is just as pretentious with it's self-absorbed high tech culture. It's highly likely I will be deserting CA entirely for the Pacific NW in a couple of years.

To stay on topic, it figures it would be the LA Times that would feature this article. Surface is what sells down here.
Tell us how you really feel.

JK. I feel the same. I'm disappointingly amazed at the level of our celebrity culture.
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Old 03-20-2014, 01:55 PM   #46
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aim-high - I'm with you when it comes to the way in which many people are now famous for simply "being famous". The reality shows, Kardashians, Paris Hiltons etc do nothing for me. I don't get it at all.

I do appreciate gifted actors who are able to bring a story to life though. IMO, actors are the storytellers of our age, and good acting takes a great deal of natural talent, and hard work to develop that ability.

But who cares what a Kardashian is doing or wearing? It couldn't matter less to me.
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Old 03-20-2014, 02:02 PM   #47
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You're not supposed to be either impressed or unimpressed. Your reaction is entirely yours, and as such, as valid as anyone else's reactions and opinions.
Sorry Major Tom, that sentence wasn't aimed at you!! Bad writing on my part. I was asking that question of people in LA, who are all impressed with themselves. A friend's friend visiting from North Carolina said that in LA it's like everyone is on an audition. I thought it was a great analogy. You can probably tell that how I really feel is that I want to get out of here, and perhaps out of California entirely. Regarding the topic, I don't care who is a millionaire and who is not. I care about what kind of person someone is. I'm grateful for my net worth, but that doesn't define me.
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Old 03-20-2014, 02:17 PM   #48
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Options - my apologies if that remark of mine was a bit incendiary. I do understand where you're coming from. The odd thing is that though I worked on the edges of the entertainment industry in LA for 15+ years, I am an introvert who keeps very few friends and judges people by how they treat others - not by "who they are" or what they have.

I hope it's not too long before you're able to leave. Sounds like you're at the point where every extra day in CA is one day too many.
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Old 03-20-2014, 02:22 PM   #49
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Sorry Major Tom, that sentence wasn't aimed at you!! Bad writing on my part. I was asking that question of people in LA, who are all impressed with themselves. A friend's friend visiting from North Carolina said that in LA it's like everyone is on an audition. I thought it was a great analogy. You can probably tell that how I really feel is that I want to get out of here, and perhaps out of California entirely. Regarding the topic, I don't care who is a millionaire and who is not. I care about what kind of person someone is. I'm grateful for my net worth, but that doesn't define me.
Higher density of very attractive young women in far western LA districts than anywhere else that I have seen anyway.

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Old 03-20-2014, 02:31 PM   #50
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Options - my apologies if that remark of mine was a bit incendiary.

...

I am an introvert who keeps very few friends and judges people by how they treat others - not by "who they are" or what they have.

...

I hope it's not too long before you're able to leave. Sounds like you're at the point where every extra day in CA is one day too many.
No worries, Major, I think I could have written that better. About leaving here, the answer is, Exactly!

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Higher density of very attractive young women in far western LA districts than anywhere else that I have seen anyway.

Ha
Yep, it's the beautiful people syndrome. Trouble is, they're all emotional train wrecks. There's a reason Justin Bieber lives here...
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Old 03-20-2014, 02:33 PM   #51
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Yep, it's the beautiful people syndrome. Trouble is, they're all emotional train wrecks. There's a reason Justin Bieber lives here...
Not to mention cosmetic surgeries ....
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Old 03-20-2014, 04:44 PM   #52
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We have relatives and friends living in the LA area and visit them often, so know a bit about life there. Frankly, the only thing there that I envy is the moderate climate that would allow me to grow things year round. And the thing I find most disagreeable is the traffic jam. Most people I know living there rarely go to the beach, if at all. Too crowded!

Still they do not want to leave. People get used to their surroundings. Same as me who is going to die here in the Southwest, while complaining each summer about the heat. It's home.
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Old 03-20-2014, 07:29 PM   #53
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Most people I know living there rarely go to the beach, if at all. Too crowded!
Nobody goes there any more, it's too crowded.

Ha
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Old 03-20-2014, 07:43 PM   #54
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Nobody goes there any more, it's too crowded.

Ha
The (not so) fine art of hyperbole
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Old 03-20-2014, 07:50 PM   #55
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The (not so) fine art of hyperbole
I'm sure you recognize this as a Yogi Berra quote.

More seriously, I want to comment on the idea that traffic in cities is a problem. Not at all, traffic is only found on the freeways and main arterials, and the streets leading on to them. Especially for a retired person, traffic is way worse away from the central city.

Ha
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Old 03-20-2014, 07:59 PM   #56
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Yes, what Ha said.

Most large and densely populated areas can, in my opinion, be very tranquil, human and idyllic places to live provided care is taken to plan one's life thoughtfully. Living close to the places you will need to visit on a regular basis can go a long way towards improving the quality of life.
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Old 03-20-2014, 08:25 PM   #57
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Even on weekends, to go to a store a couple of miles away, you have to endure a lot of stop lights with a lot of cross traffic.

It's not just being stuck in traffic. It's the air quality of being in the middle of it all. And we're not talking major cities, just the suburbs of them.


ETA: I distinctly recall crawling traffic east-bound on the 520 going across Lake Washington on weekends too. This was in the early '90s.
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Old 03-20-2014, 10:04 PM   #58
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Even on weekends, to go to a store a couple of miles away, you have to endure a lot of stop lights with a lot of cross traffic.

It's not just being stuck in traffic. It's the air quality of being in the middle of it all. And we're not talking major cities, just the suburbs of them.


ETA: I distinctly recall crawling traffic east-bound on the 520 going across Lake Washington on weekends too. This was in the early '90s.
Like I said, the freeways are busy. Obviously when there are two bridges to cross the Lake in a metro this size, you are going to be in traffic if you put yourself there. And workers are pretty much stuck. But I doubt I am on 520 twice a year. I rarely leave the central city, or if I go to another neighborhood I take a bus. IF people from the suburbs transplant their living habits into the central city, obviously that is not optimal. The Major and I just noted something that we experience as a pleasant feature of city life, but I doubt that we are living the same life that you are or were when you live in Puget Sound..

Regarding stores, if you enjoy shopping in Malls or at big box stores, you are likely to have to deal with traffic, wherever you live. I don't buy much, and what I do buy I walk to or go downtown on a bus. And this I also what Amazon is made for. I couldn't move to the suburbs and live like I do here, and a suburbanite could not move here and just expect to map his previous lifestyle onto the central city.

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Old 03-20-2014, 11:20 PM   #59
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If you live in a big city with public transport and don't drive, sure you're not dealing with traffic directly.

Still have to contend with the noise and pollution of course.

No I'm talking about going to Safeways or Trader Joe's, not some mega mall. It's not bumper to bumper but you can hit every light after 10 AM on weekends because everyone is out and about.

Not sure though if I want to trade living in a nice suburb in a good metropolitan area for Mayberry though. Just that the metro areas have drawbacks, including congestion, because those areas attract a lot of people for various reasons.
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Old 03-21-2014, 04:37 AM   #60
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I went with some friends once to visit their relatives in Stamford (or, in my best accent...Steeyamfuhd) for a bat mitzvah. Now, living in the Bay Area I'm used to seeing occasional displays of wealth. But driving around Stamford, it was amusing driving by some prep school or private school, and seeing the multiple Ferraris, Bentleys, etc, parked for a lacrosse game or some other outdoor event.

There are "pockets" of wealth here in the Bay Area, but driving around Stamford it seemed more...evenly dispersed, for lack of a better description. Maybe it was due to the smaller size of CT. It was more concentrated in that area I guess.
Lower Fairfield County is known as The Gold Coast for good reason.Gold Coast (Connecticut) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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