One of my fun things to do, when I have time, is to compare the different states and cities in the US. What most foreigners who have never lived here don't realize is just how vastly different each state can be from the next. Historically, I have been ragging on Detroit, a city in US which has been mired with poverty, crime, and growing exodus. Damian, who has lived there and loves the city, is leaving that shit hole, so that should tell you something about the state of affairs there. Listening to one of the podcasts by Adam Corrola (yes, the one that used to be the co-host on the Man Show) and he made me realize that LA is not far from Detroit, if not worse. Some of the criticism: Barb wires on your stop signs to repel or prevent graffiti? Lack of funds for any real investments (we spoke of this aspect before) LA -- in many parts, looks like Mexico. I.E. sofas on the lawns, cinderblocks/shopping carts used as fences, no grass. He went on an on. I liked his description--and his female co-host agreed -- that there are two types of crimes: One that's in your face, robbery, murder, rape, high level felony. This tends to be more uncommon than the low level crime that pervades LA like cancer. "It's like a slow, dry raping of your soul while you are half knocked out". Granted, it's one guy, but he lives there, his co-hosts live there and they are not politically correct about ANYTHING on that radio show. So to me, it sounds like probably the most honest overview of LA (not West where the rich neighborhoods like Malibu exists-- and Adam made a joke that that's why the the rich folks are buying electric cars that have a radius of 8 miles capability, it's so they don't get in to the shitty neighborhoods around LA. I hate New York, but the more I read about the other cities (he had a cop call in from Dallas and OMG! Another shit hole) I am not so sure it's THAT bad.
To paint an entire city with such a broad brush is indeed quite disingenuous. Just about any large city has its fair share of "shit-hole" neighborhoods as well as its "I'd feel perfectly safe walking the streets at night here" neighborhoods. I've been throughout LA. I've been throughout NYC. I've been throughout a lot of other large cities. Not one of them hasn't had a part that resembled a shit-hole. Even my home town of Pittsburgh has some really derelict areas. As far as Detroit goes... I've only been through their airport. Now THAT was a real shit-hole! But it has been several years. Maybe that has gotten better.
Yes, all big cities have good and bad neighborhoods. Boston has Roxbury and parts of Dorchester, among others, for example. When I was living there in the late 60s and early 70s, it also had the Combat Zone, just a short walk from the downtown shopping area. It's gone now. Even smaller cities are not immune. Take Spokane, for instance. It's got it's rough area as well. My ENT clinic is close to that area. I never fill up my gas tank in that neighborhood because the panhandlers are all over me. One of them even stuck his arm into my car window while I was sitting there. I had to roll up the window almost to the top to get him out of it. We go through Detroit airport every two years. Detroit and Chicago offer direct flights to Halifax, which is a boon for people coming from the Northwest. I've been in worse airports.
Folks, I've mentioned that the focus was outside of West LA -- which I believe is Hollywood rich do dads. The rest? I am not sure Adam was too far off from his show and other things I've read about LA.
He's a bit off, I have to say. As someone who used to live there and still makes trips there pretty frequently, it's not as bad as it's being made out to be. A very, VERY different lifestyle than what we have in the NYC area, though.
http://www.adamcarolla.com/richard-grieco/ Linking the show so you can hear it yourself. And damn, Grieco looks horrid.
SM, when you are rolling out barbed wire? Yeah, it's a shit hole. Barbed Wire Puts Wraps on Graffiti - Los Angeles Times
