The small fish in a large pond, may be an experience of someone from the rural back country. Or, it certainly looks that way looking onto LA from the mountains. LA is more accurately a patch work of many small and medium sized ponds. There are many cities in LA with their own socio-economic profiles, business, and shopping centers. While there are many long distance commuters, there are just as many people, who say wouldn’t consider working outside of the West Side. Especially, traffic makes one want to stay in one’s own area.

And, you don’t need a guide for the city. While the Thomas Guide was famous, Google Maps is so much more user friendly. Plus, it has satellite photos so you can look for land marks and parking in your target area. There are also current traffic conditions built into the map.

Driving can be a bit hard in the beginning, because direction signs are posted very late compared to other cities. Though, it is easy to get a hang off the city.

Perhaps, the least mentioned aspect of LA is that it is surrounded by amazing nature. For example the Santa Monica mountains have world class rock climbing. If you live in Santa Monica, they are 15 minutes or less away and you are hiking through head over plant growth with creeks and water falls. John Muir called the San Gabriel mountains the most rugged mountains in California. They are within less then an hour. They offer tall snow covered peaks, rivers, dams. There are many National Parks within a weekend trip’s distance.

Having moved from NYC, LA is very closed. There are many streets, strip malls, and so-so businesses. Yet, nobody tells you were to get the good stuff. It takes time of hearing word-of-mouth about the good things to do in LA. Also, many businesses open late and close early. Being used to plenty of places being open until 10 PM or 24 hours, LA had me standing in front of many closed stores that would only open around noon and close already at 6 PM.