Moving from New York City to Los Angeles takes a lot of adjustment. After you’ve decided to leave 5th Avenue for Sunset Boulevard, the romantic Hollywood notion of Southern California seems just too good to pass up. You may know plenty about the city, but there is something about real life that the films cannot portray. Keep this advice in your back pocket and you’ll be able to adjust just fine.
Los Angeles Traffic
Driving is a much bigger part of living in Los Angeles than it is in many other major cities with robust public transportation systems. Public transportation is not the main way to get around. LA, unlike New York City, is spread across many different cities and counties. Sure, there are some metro lines they can take you around Hollywood and downtown, but the stations are VERY few and far between. Ultimately, public transportation is simply not a good way to get everywhere you need to go, so you’ll need to spend some time on the road.
LA is Big
LA can seem very big because it is so spread out. Indeed, the Los Angeles area is just over 500 square miles, whereas NYC is about 300 miles. The things you want to do and the people you want to join you when you do them may be in all different places. Though there is a Downtown LA area, Los Angeles is hardly as centralized to DTLA as NYC is to Manhattan. The places you might want or need to go on any given day in L.A. are more scattered. Downtown L.A. lacks the same gravitational pull that midtown Manhattan does to its surrounding area.
Plan Your Trips
In LA you have to go places with purpose. NY is great because you can walk out of your door and have an entire day exploring with no real end goal. That doesn’t happen in LA. The social atmosphere is different. Because New York is such a concentrated city, it’s quite easy to call up a friend and schedule an impromptu dinner. In LA, you need to schedule your dinners. Make plans. Nothing is impromptu, and with every plan, you have to consider what freeway you’ll take to get there, and where you’ll park when you arrive.
Exploring California Hikes
Los Angeles is one of the warmest cities in the world. Climate is a big factor in L.A.’s status one of the premier destinations for athletes, celebrities, and one-percenters. Simply put, you won’t often need a coat and mittens. The coldest it really gets is maybe 40s for an hour at 5 or 6 a.m., but days are about low 60s. Maybe that’s why Angelenos are more into nature than New Yorkers; it’s more enjoyable to be outside when it’s 70 °F than when it’s 20 °F.
Enjoying The Weather
Los Angeles is one of the warmest cities in the world. Climate is a big factor in L.A.’s status one of the premier destinations for athletes, celebrities, and one-percenters. Simply put, you won’t often need a coat and mittens. The coldest it really gets is maybe 40s for an hour at 5 or 6 a.m., but days are about low 60s. Maybe that’s why Angelenos are more into nature than New Yorkers; it’s more enjoyable to be outside when it’s 70 °F than when it’s 20 °F.
