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What's it like living in LA in 2022?

I salute people who hate London and never want to come here as it means there will be fewer folk walking too slowly and clogging up my streets.
You can have the streets! Good luck with your 'postcode gangs' - don't tell them they are 'your' streets.
Generally the people who clogg em up can't afford to live there....and they will keep coming and coming and coming. Enjoy.
People with no 'Criminal records' - who have careers and jobs can afford to live 'outside' London; Woking, Winchester, Basingstoke etc. Shithole mate. Only good for a night out and a piss up against the wall. Lurvly Jurbly as they say.
 
Give me a high five brother! I have no kids either and it's brilliant! (Late 40's)
Here you go!:emoji_hand_splayed:

Also no kiddos, mid 40s.

I am moving to LA on Thursday, I don't care for any warnings, except that I have been around the block in this industry for 20+ years now so certainly not being naive and acting stupid (I think!), quite the opposite VERY focused! I do listen very carefully to other peoples opinions and experiences though and some great advice here, THANKS! But at the end I want to find out myself and hell YES, I might FAIL, throw the towel, had enough set backs in my career, NO NEW! I am preparing for this move for may years, trying to get a resume, saving up some money, heck come to the US first of all and what a voyage that was alone.

Anyways, planing on camping at the beach as often as I can. If someone wants to hang out and say hello for a coffee or a cold drink, I do have a frig as well.

Cheers everyone, love discussions like this, just hype me up more! :emoji_hugging:
 
Here you go!:emoji_hand_splayed:

Also no kiddos, mid 40s.

I am moving to LA on Thursday, I don't care for any warnings, except that I have been around the block in this industry for 20+ years now so certainly not being naive and acting stupid (I think!), quite the opposite VERY focused! I do listen very carefully to other peoples opinions and experiences though and some great advice here, THANKS! But at the end I want to find out myself and hell YES, I might FAIL, throw the towel, had enough set backs in my career, NO NEW! I am preparing for this move for may years, trying to get a resume, saving up some money, heck come to the US first of all and what a voyage that was alone.

Anyways, planing on camping at the beach as often as I can. If someone wants to hang out and say hello for a coffee or a cold drink, I do have a frig as well.

Cheers everyone, love discussions like this, just hype me up more! :emoji_hugging:
The thing that had convinced me to go to LA was this harmless suggestion:
"Come to LA, stay there for 3 years! If you like it, stay longer, if you don't, leave again. It's that simple!"

As for "camping at the beach", haha, make sure you're not falling for some tv-show's idea of camping at the beach. Last I remembered, you weren't supposed to be on the beach after 10pm. It's over 13 years ago, but well... something tells me, it hasn't gotten any lighter?!

Anyway, you'll find enough to enjoy for quite some time to overlook the things you'd want to cringe at. By the time you can't suppress the cringing anymore... just don't overstay! ;)
 
As for "camping at the beach", haha, make sure you're not falling for some tv-show's idea of camping at the beach. Last I remembered, you weren't supposed to be on the beach after 10pm. It's over 13 years ago, but well... something tells me, it hasn't gotten any lighter?!
Ah sorry for the confusion, what I meant is paying for parking like at the Santa Monica lot, I am not sure yet if they will charge me 7$ or 25$ for my van since technically its an RV. I will find out soon. I have a home base camp spot on private property. Other then that 4+ years full time vanlifer here, so I know all the rules and for sure not to believe the social media glory. 😉
 
Here you go!:emoji_hand_splayed:

Also no kiddos, mid 40s.

I am moving to LA on Thursday, I don't care for any warnings, except that I have been around the block in this industry for 20+ years now so certainly not being naive and acting stupid (I think!), quite the opposite VERY focused! I do listen very carefully to other peoples opinions and experiences though and some great advice here, THANKS! But at the end I want to find out myself and hell YES, I might FAIL, throw the towel, had enough set backs in my career, NO NEW! I am preparing for this move for may years, trying to get a resume, saving up some money, heck come to the US first of all and what a voyage that was alone.

Anyways, planing on camping at the beach as often as I can. If someone wants to hang out and say hello for a coffee or a cold drink, I do have a frig as well.

Cheers everyone, love discussions like this, just hype me up more! :emoji_hugging:
The master plan! Glad to hear you have a home HQ for the van...

Your content is very cool. I was on the edge of my seat when Nacho heroically traversed the water. Wasn’t expecting that leap lol... And kudos to your friend; not many cooks like to flip salmon. I did just that last night. Opposite though: I like to cook the top first flat on the pan so the skin is face up and gets firm, then flip at the end just to crips the skin up. It keeps it intact and you don’t have to worry about sliding the spatula under every two minutes to unstick it ( sorry, off topic but I love food as much as music 😀 ).

As a fellow nomad soul who’s spent significant time in an RV studio setup, I throughly enjoy your videos and perspective from your travels. I know many unhappy people, especially some talented musicians, that should flip the script and embark on a nomad adventure. Love to see how you guys built it all around a studio setup. It will be a humbling story when your behind a stellar composer rig scoring films. Seems your whole life is centered around making this work. It’s an immensely pivotal conversation here - reading about the glory and pitfalls to modern life in LA as a composer. I have faith you’ll pave your own way !

Appreciate everyone who shared from first hand experience.
 
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I could easily live in LA, having lived in the 'crap-house' London is for 15yrs - surely LA would be only 50% worse. I'm sure I'm degenerate enough to live there. Nah, I'll leave it for scoundrels.

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious"​

LOVE the Mos Esiley spaceport (Dante's view/ Death Valley NP) reference! 😁

mos_eisley.jpg
 
The master plan! Glad to hear you have a home HQ for the van...

Your content is very cool. I was on the edge of my seat when Nacho heroically traversed the water. Wasn’t expecting that leap lol... And kudos to your friend; not many cooks like to flip salmon. I did just that last night. Opposite though: I like to cook the top first flat on the pan so the skin is face up and gets firm, then flip at the end just to crips the skin up. It keeps it intact and you don’t have to worry about sliding the spatula under every two minutes to unstick it ( sorry, off topic but I love food as much as music 😀 ).

As a fellow nomad soul who’s spent significant time in an RV studio setup, I throughly enjoy your videos and perspective from your travels. I know many unhappy people, especially some talented musicians, that should flip the script and embark on a nomad adventure. Love to see how you guys built it all around a studio setup. It will be a humbling story when your behind a stellar composer rig scoring films. Seems your whole life is centered around making this work. It’s an immensely pivotal conversation here - reading about the glory and pitfalls to modern life in LA as a composer. I have faith you’ll pave your own way !

Appreciate everyone who shared from first hand experience.
Oh wow brother thanks for watching and so much attention to details! ☺️

Would love to see your rig if you have any pictures.

I am as a hopeless dreamer as most of us ...I just found the way of fewest resistance for me and vanlife is the Swiss army knife yo solve various problems. I will never forget when I moved here and applied for anything like a lease "Sir whats you credit score like? Answer half stuttering: I am sorry my what? Any work history sir? YEAH like I did a bunch of full length documentaries for this very well known German TV channel ZDF bla blup. I am sorry Sir whats the name of the show again? Ah well never mind!" 😄

Heck man moving to LA in 3 days, WOOOT WOOOT!!! 🥳
 
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The thing that had convinced me to go to LA was this harmless suggestion:
"Come to LA, stay there for 3 years! If you like it, stay longer, if you don't, leave again. It's that simple!"
This! This is the same advice I got when I was on the fence about moving cross country, from a good friend and former classmate who came from a similar background as I did - grew up in a small town on the east coast, faced with the big decision of moving away from friends and family to take the risk and expand a career. This past year he got some pretty awesome credits, one of them being on Dune!

LA is a great place to get experience as there is a lot of opportunities to be had. Not to say it isn't doable to form a strong career wherever you are located (it absolutely is), it is just a good option to build relationships and get a variety of experience. Even if you don't intend to stay or find that LA isn't for you, it is still valuable to give it a shot. Worse that can happen is you find you hate it here, and now you know! And then on to the next adventure! Always better to try things out and find they don't work out, than to be left wondering what could have been, in my opinion :)
 
Here you go!:emoji_hand_splayed:

Also no kiddos, mid 40s.

I am moving to LA on Thursday, I don't care for any warnings, except that I have been around the block in this industry for 20+ years now so certainly not being naive and acting stupid (I think!), quite the opposite VERY focused! I do listen very carefully to other peoples opinions and experiences though and some great advice here, THANKS! But at the end I want to find out myself and hell YES, I might FAIL, throw the towel, had enough set backs in my career, NO NEW! I am preparing for this move for may years, trying to get a resume, saving up some money, heck come to the US first of all and what a voyage that was alone.

Anyways, planing on camping at the beach as often as I can. If someone wants to hang out and say hello for a coffee or a cold drink, I do have a frig as well.

Cheers everyone, love discussions like this, just hype me up more! :emoji_hugging:
I have to say, I admire your enthusiasm and the biggest plus is you have no kids..
So I jump up and high five!! 😎🥳

Sleep with one eye open though (use eye drops) and buy a shiny piece, tape it under your bench, just kidding, tape it to your back.
If you starve, plenty of unused fast food sachets of tomato ketchup and mayo. Mayo has plenty of protein, it's simple but enough.

Man I'm jealous now.. keep us updated and good luck! If you make it, remember who you owe! I got credit with you..
 
good read for those thinking of moving.


I am staying nice and put on the Canadian shield. No earthquakes. No fires. I go smoking dope in the Algonquin forests. The worst thing that can happen is I drown in a lake.
 
good read for those thinking of moving.


I am staying nice and put on the Canadian shield. No earthquakes. No fires. I go smoking dope in the Algonquin forests. The worst thing that can happen is I drown in a lake.
I couldn't read the article, but the header references the fire in Paradise, which is over 400 miles (over 650km) from Los Angeles. California is a huge state.
 
Even if you don't intend to stay or find that LA isn't for you, it is still valuable to give it a shot. Worse that can happen is you find you hate it here, and now you know! And then on to the next adventure! Always better to try things out and find they don't work out, than to be left wondering what could have been, in my opinion :)
Exactly this. When I got out of college in 1985 with a degree in Electronic Music (oops), I knew that NYC was the only answer. I moved immediately with a few friends but without any meaningful contacts. I bike messengered, bussed tables, and folded used clothes at the Antique Boutique. But dang if it wasn't amazing. And of course things led to other things and it all worked out.

I'm glad I don't live there now, but I'm glad I lived there then.
 
I couldn't read the article, but the header references the fire in Paradise, which is over 400 miles (over 650km) from Los Angeles. California is a huge state.
Maybe so, but if the gist of the article is, climate change is moving much faster than municipalities are able to adjust their emergency plans and policies to keep up with it -- I don't think 600km really matters all that much.
 
Hi all,

I love reading your experience and your stories. I love that those are not "I have a friend who..." stories but real experiences.

Even when leaving (the lack of) money outside of the equation: at almost 40, far from the US, with 2 kids and a demanding day job, and the very little (and bad) music this all lets me the time to compose... L.A. will always remain a fantasy for me, never a reality.

I've accepted that idea, but I keep telling myself from time to time that "Damn, it would still be nice though..." :)

That's ok... All fantasies are not meant to be realized. One day I'll come as a tourist. That's definitely on my list of places to visit. Maybe I'll come across someone with a Cubase t-shirt and I'll start a conversation for 2 min. That would be my L.A. story... 🙃

In the meantime, I love living all this vicariously, through all your testimonies. Please keep them coming.

Cheers.
Ludovic

Edit: Junkie XL, Hans, Charlie, everyone... If you're reading this, forget everything I just said... I can be there on Monday if you need me...
 
LA is too conservative….you loose edge and style with the LA peoples….stay in any place else to maintain the drive to compete.
 
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