When you move to Southern California it will not take you long to feel at home. The overwhelming majority of people who live here are from somewhere else (and if they’re not their parents or grandparents usually are). So the definition of a native is far more lenient than it is in many other places. If you’ve lived here for 5 years that’s enough. Anything over 10 years is the equivalent of being born here. That doesn’t mean to say that new arrivals don’t need to acclimatize. Southern California has some very specific challenges to the novice, here are a few (tongue in cheek) ways you can tell the newbie from the native.
1. Sepulveda.
Sepulveda Boulevard is the longest street in the city of LA. It is one of the major arteries (and substitutes for the 405) that runs over 40 miles from Long Beach to the San Fernando Valley.
Sepulveda Boulevard is named for the Sepulveda family of San Pedro, California, and I’m sure that they had no idea that their family name would become a great way to tell the newbie from the native.
The word is pronounced Sa-PUL-va-da, with the emphasis on the “pul” and the va-da almost an after thought. Invariably the newly arrived will pronounce it Sep-ul-VEEEE-da. There is no VEEEE in the word. It’s entirely understandable, I did it myself, until I was corrected… and I remember early versions of GPS made the exact same mistake.
Here are 4 reasons you need a native Angelino as your realtor
2. Hollywood; love it or hate it.
Quick what’s the first place you want to visit when you come to LA? Well Hollywood of course. It is where dreams come true. Where stars can be found walking the streets. Where the Hollywood sign is an easy walk from the heart of the action.
If you think any of these statements are true I have news for you, you are a newbie.
Hollywood is actually a slightly dingy, unremarkable part of town where strip malls and industrial buildings abound. Where the majority of people walking the streets are tourists and where the Hollywood sign is a faint blur on the horizon miles from the nearest parking spot. (Oh and you can’t actually get very close to it anyway…but you’ll probably piss off the neighbors as you try)
For my money the only interesting place to see in Hollywood is the corner of Hollywood and Highland. It’s where the costumed characters hang out, where the walk of fame passes by Grauman’s theater and (the best thing about Hollywood) where the Roosevelt Hotel boasts one of the coolest bars in the city. It’s officially called The Library Bar but if you walk in the front door you’ll go through the lobby and see it right there. The old leather couches were made for William Holden to sip martini’s in. The decor is classic art deco and looks like it has not changed since the first academy awards were held here in 1929.
3. A new definition of freezing.
I moved here from New York. Winter for me meant snow, shivering and gloomy misery. My first Winter in LA I was walking to the Century City mall in a light drizzle and 55 degrees suddenly I noticed I was alone. Where was everybody? Was it a holiday I didn’t know about? The streets were deserted. Then it suddenly dawned on me that this was a cold (well actually a freezing) day in LA! In a city where where 75 degrees is the norm anything below 60 is considered chilly and people stay indoors. Yes, at the time I laughed at the absurdity of the thought. But after 5 or 6 years I found myself staying in on those 55 degree days myself because…well because it was too cold to venture out.
4. North and south.
As I say I came from New York where it was easy to tell north from south; it was uptown and downtown. However for the first 2 years in LA I was completely baffled when people told me they were on the north-west side of the street. How did they know? What secret code was every body using to calculate direction. Well it turns out it was the mountains. The Santa Monica and San Gabriel mountains are to the north of the city and locals use them as a point of reference to determine direction. It takes you a while to develop a mental map (of any city) but after a while you instinctively know where the mountains are.
What is the MLS and how can I use it to make my home search easier?
5. How much time do you discuss driving?
It wasn’t until I had friends visit me from the UK that I realized just how much time I spend talking about driving and parking. Gather with any group of Angelenos and I will guarantee that there will be some conversation about directions, freeways or traffic. Other parts of the world all have to deal with these issues but here in LA it’s the preferred pass time.
6. And speaking of parking.
If you’re out for dinner with someone and they rail against valet parking they are a newbie. Yes natives realize the absurdity of paying someone $10 to retrieve your car when it only 20 feet away but after a few years here you accept that it’s a inescapable fact of life, like death and taxes.
7. Where the heck is Malibu?
I highly recommend a drive up PCH. On a warm afternoon a drive up the California coast is one of the great pleasures of life. But if you are going to visit Malibu talk to a native before you go. They will tell you that there really is no such place.
Well that is not exactly true, there is a city called Malibu and it covers 29 miles of beautiful coastline but the idea of stopping in downtown Malibu to watch the stars walk by is a non starter.
The closest thing to downtown Malibu is the strip mall at the corner of Malibu Creek road. You can drive around the corner by the shops and see Malibu city hall and the courthouse but don’t blink or you’ll miss them. A native would tell you to enjoy the drive and keep heading up the hill into the Santa Monica Mountains and discover the beauty of the wilderness that is so close to the city.
