You are currently viewing Pros and Cons of Living in Los AngelesPin

Pros and Cons of Living in Los Angeles

Are you thinking about living in Los Angeles?

We’ve been living in LA for a year, and the time has come to an end. I’ve been thinking about how I wanted to write this goodbye post. If it were 6 months ago, I would have vented about how much I hated LA and meeting all these narcissistic, superficial people. I couldn’t wait to get out after the year was up!

But these last few months as I have been reflecting and doing these weekly gratitude posts, I realize there is a lot to be thankful for in LA. There is always a silver lining in whatever circumstance, right? so here goes…

Last Updated: November 10, 2022

Pros and Cons of Living in Los Angeles

Con – The People

This will show up in both the pros and cons. I also get that it depends on where you live and what industry you work in. Unfortunately for me, my husband was a YouTuber, and many of the people we met through YouTube weren’t so fun to be around. I vividly remember hearing a friend of a friend say “do you know who I am? do you know how much money I make compared to you?” Oof.

Con – Appearance Matters

First of all, I have never seen so many beautiful people in one city. Depending on your lifestyle, this could be a pro or con, but I hate that people care so much about appearance. Because the whole place has an air of superficiality, sometimes you feel like you need to be made up or you can expect judgy eyes. Sometimes a girl just wants to wear sweatpants!

Con – The Traffic

Do I even have to say anything about it? Everyone knows LA has the worst traffic. Atlanta, you’re not far behind.

Con – LA is Not Prepped for Heat Waves

People were constantly saying, “it’s not usually like this,” but with climate change, who knows? Some buildings don’t have central AC or AC at all. With the increasing heat waves, you better find a place that has AC.

Pro – The Weather

LA, what you lack in humanity, you certainly make up for in weather. Remember the polar vortex? Well, I don’t, because we were probably out hiking in our tank tops. I won’t deny that the weather is hard to beat. It’s sunny and beautiful 99% of the time. I will miss the great hikes, the beaches, and most of all, the sunshine.

Pro – The Food

Oh, the food! When it comes to cheaper eats, LA wins. We’ve taken so many road trips back to LA to get my Korean food fix. Some even say it’s better than Korea, but it probably fits our Korean-American palette more.

Pro – The People

Despite the bad encounters, I did meet a handful of good people this year. They do exist! Oddly, the natives are so much nicer than the transplants. Jacob likes to say there are more douches per capita in LA, but you can always find the right people. And when you find them, you stick with them.

New FriendsPin
New Friends in LAPin
  • Ki Hong & Hayoung helped us move in, showed us around town, and took us to our first meal in K-town. It was the warmest welcome to a new city. They also befriended our kitties while we were out of town.
  • Lana and Nathan (& Nigh) are some of the kindest and most generous people I have ever met. They care for their friends, and it shows.
  • Takisha and Phil and our small group that we joined for a few months were a breath of fresh air when life seemed to revolve just around YouTube.
  • Fern, Garrick, Souwah, & Stephen – our photographer friends that we always enjoy going on photo adventures with!
  • Jess and Joe, who we met at the tail end of our stay in LA, but we instantly connected and loved that we could be the type of friends that could always show up at each other’s doorstep.
  • Lastly, Kate is not a new friend, but one from Atlanta that I’ve known for over a decade. Whenever we were together, it felt like we were back in college again. It was comforting when everything else was strange and unfamiliar.

It was a difficult year leaving behind my friends and family in Atlanta to navigate a new city with new rules, but these guys helped me survive the year, and have my deepest gratitude. I know there were others that we didn’t hang out with as often as we would have liked, but we appreciated the times that we did.

Even after living in LA for a year, I never get tired of the beautiful sunsets. This was our last sunset from the Griffith Observatory just a few hours before moving.

Last sunset from the Griffith Observatory. Pin
Living in Los Angeles - Last LA sunset from the Griffith Observatory. After living in LA for one full year, we're moving to Vegas. Viva Las Vegas!Pin

It was the clearest day with barely any smog and was a great parting gift to us. Peace out LA! I am glad I can finally say that I’m leaving the city with no regrets and only a small amount of bitterness in my heart. Our next adventure is in Las Vegas. Viva Las Vegas!!

P.S. Is it time to destroy the LA sh*t list once and for all?

Do you think you can handle living in Los Angeles? What’s something you love and what’s something you hate about the current place you live?

This is week 22 of practicing gratitude on my blog. You can see all my other gratitude posts by clicking on the banner:

This is week 22 of practicing gratitude. Living in LA for one year, now Viva Las Vegas!Pin

This Post Has 21 Comments

  1. Tidy-Up Gal

    oh how exciting! Have fun in Vegas! Can’t wait to read about your adventures there. I love Atlanta 98 percent of the time so I’ll probably never move. ha! I do dislike that you have to drive everywhere. I also dislike that it has become fake booty/video vixen/superficial wannabe celebrities capital. But luckily I don’t encounter that crowd often which is good.

    1. esther julee

      Yeah, I hear that they are shooting more and more movies there! I guess that always brings in a certain type of crowd. After moving away, I started realizing that there’s a lot of good things I took for granted in Atlanta. I especially miss the southern hospitality. :) I guess I never realized how friendly people were.

  2. Erika

    So, I totally realize I’ve been reading your blog but failing to comment because I tend to read on mobile devices and always say, “Oh, I’ll go back and comment!” And then I realize, oops, that never happens! ANYWAY! I am very excited to hear more about your move to Las Vegas for many reasons, but it also just sounds like it was time to leave LA! Also, way to go with keeping up with your gratitude practice! I am so impressed and inspired! :)

    1. esther julee

      haha I do that too! Well, it’s good to know that you are still reading, though. When is the next gratitude link up going to be? Hmmmm? :)

  3. Britt @ One&20

    The photos are absolutely beautiful!
    The thing I dislike the most about Houston is how segregated it feels. I like mixing with lots of different people, and there just doesn’t seem to be any place here that has a really good mix :-/

    1. esther julee

      Thank you @brittone20:disqus! I feel like the segregation is everywhere though. It’s pretty prominent in LA as well. Not sure how it is in Las Vegas yet. Although, I would still consider Atlanta segregated, I think it’s the most mixing I’ve seen in any of the cities that I’ve been to. Are you committed to staying in Houston?

      1. Britt @ One&20

        Hey hey!
        Definitely not committed to staying anywhere honestly…. lol.
        I had the opposite experience in Atlanta, but Houston is still definitely worse.
        I actually experienced the most mixing in Chicago oddly enough, but I hated everything else about it (especially the weather), so that’s a no-go.
        My ideal place is everyone being unafraid of being themselves and accepting others all in one place. But it also needs to not be somewhere cold! I guess that doesn’t exist :-/

        1. esther julee

          That’s interesting to hear. I guess it really depends on the part of the city and the people you end up meeting. That’s what they were saying about LA. We lived close to hollywood, so it was exponentially worse. Chicago is a pretty cool city, but I agree.. I wouldn’t be able to handle the weather.

  4. Good luck on moving! I grew up in LA and hated it when I lived there but miss it now that I’m gone–mostly because you really can’t beat the weather or food! I do not like the Polar Vortex where I live but love pretty much everything else :) Turns out I’m a Midwesterner at heart.

    1. esther julee

      I guess that’s the case most of the time. I don’t think I fully appreciated Atlanta until I left, and then I started to see what was so great about it. I’m actually glad to have moved from LA. I think it’s somewhere that I will love to visit, but I’m okay with not living there. I grew up in Iowa and Missouri but I think I might be a southerner at heart. :) People are generally pretty nice in the midwest, though, so I do like that!

  5. Catarina

    aw. it sounds bittersweet indeed. i know it’s hard to leave places you’ve come to like/love but they will be there when and if you decide to return. and i’m sure your friends are happy to see you travel to vegas and experience a new phase. i know i’m stoked to see you guys in a new spot.

    1. esther julee

      I don’t think I’ve come to a point where I would have called it “home” so it’s not as sad leaving it behind. I think I’m still sad about leaving Atlanta though.. even though I’m sure things have changed and people have changed. There’s a lot of good hiking around, so maybe we can do that!

  6. i was going to say ‘first!’ but i can’t. so. ‘fourth!’ =P

    i love those sunset photos. so colorful.
    hope your time in LV is more sweet (and less bitter) =P

    1. esther julee

      Thanks @searchingforsubstance:disqus! :) As long as no one else comments, since it lists them from most recent.. you do come out first! haha Maybe, I’ll decide to be nicer to people here and not just shut myself in our house. Hopefully, this year will be about opening doors and not closing them!!

  7. Erika Sevigny

    Those photos are beautiful. LA really did have the best weather I’ve ever experienced. On to new adventures – wishing you guys a great move!

    1. esther julee

      Thanks so much @erikasevigny:disqus! I am already missing the weather! The weather really spoils you in LA. Luckily Vegas has been having a mild winter this year, so it’s not too bad.

  8. Cassie

    Good luck with the next phase of your journey! Can’t wait for updates and photos from your new home.

    1. esther julee

      Thanks Cassie! And I can’t wait for you to update your blog with other great spots for us to visit in LA! :P

  9. Yun Mi Park

    What a journey! Glad to hear you are parting with no ill feelings. Moving is always an adventure filled with good and not so good encounters. This week marks the one year anniversary of our move to Boston and there’s lots to be thankful for despite the struggles. Can’t wait to hear about Vegas!!

    1. esther julee

      So far though.. I’ve only had good encounters in Vegas! Hopefully, it stays that way. haha :P I do know that it’s all about expectations for me. I guess we pretty much ended up moving around the same exact time! This week was the one year anniversary in LA.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.