DEAREST angelenos
A GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY NATIVE ANGELENOS
PICK AN AREA BELOW
READ ON THE LEFT
TOP OF THE WESTSIDE (001)
Fairfax District
Melrose
West Hollywood
Beverly Grove
IN THE DOWNTOWN AREA (002)
DTLA
Echo Park
Chinatown
Elysian Park
Little Tokyo
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NORTH OF THE CITY (003)
Griffith Park
Silverlake
Los Feliz
East Hollywood
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SOUTH OF THE CITY (004)
Crenshaw
Leimert Park
Exposition Park
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WITHIN THE CENTER (005)
Koreatown
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BY THE COAST (006)
Venice
Mar Vista
Marina del Rey
Westchester
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Dearest Angelenos is a welcome letter to those who are looking to move to Los Angeles or recently have. It is an evolving archive of LA experiences meant to give insight into the many ways of LA living. All excerpts are from native angelenos and transplants with a few years under their belt.
Have a LA story to share? ︎︎︎
South LA
True Stereotype:
We are ghetto.
(I think it’s true but it a ghetto fabulous type of way. There’s so much diversity and culture in LA that you won’t find anywhere else.)
False Stereotype:
It’s always sunny …
that’s a lie
“Growing up in South Central LA, everybody knows somebody. It felt so big when I was younger, but I realize how small it is as I’ve gotten older. I’ve always lived in really quiet areas. In the first house I lived in, the ice cream truck and the elote man would come down my street, which was a peak of my childhood. Once I moved to the neighborhood where I currently reside, there was none. When I say it was quiet, it was dead silent most of the time, but I eventually got accustomed to that silence. Now I really like where I live. I got close to my next-door neighbor a few years into living at my new home. She was an older black woman. I would always go to her house after school, eat dinner or snacks, and discuss how our days went.
Sometimes we’d play tic tac toe. That’s a core memory of mine. The overall vibe of LA was lively. This city has so much culture, from the Latinx to the black folks, Belizeans, and Jamaicans. There were festivals throughout the year, which I didn’t appreciate as much then as I do now. Taste of Soul would have to be one of my favorites. Everyone is gathered on Crenshaw, and people come out to dance and be together. It was a communal event that I really enjoy to this day. A prominent place from my childhood would be the Magic Johnson movie theater. There was a full arcade in the front, and it was always packed.”
“Growing up in South Central LA, everybody knows somebody. It felt so big when I was younger, but I realize how small it is as I’ve gotten older. I’ve always lived in really quiet areas. In the first house I lived in, the ice cream truck and the elote man would come down my street, which was a peak of my childhood. Once I moved to the neighborhood where I currently reside, there was none. When I say it was quiet, it was dead silent most of the time, but I eventually got accustomed to that silence. Now I really like where I live. I got close to my next-door neighbor a few years into living at my new home. She was an older black woman. I would always go to her house after school, eat dinner or snacks, and discuss how our days went.
Sometimes we’d play tic tac toe. That’s a core memory of mine. The overall vibe of LA was lively. This city has so much culture, from the Latinx to the black folks, Belizeans, and Jamaicans. There were festivals throughout the year, which I didn’t appreciate as much then as I do now. Taste of Soul would have to be one of my favorites. Everyone is gathered on Crenshaw, and people come out to dance and be together. It was a communal event that I really enjoy to this day. A prominent place from my childhood would be the Magic Johnson movie theater. There was a full arcade in the front, and it was always packed.”