More Thoughts on Los Angeles

Continuing the question from a previous post (“I.C.L.A.”) of what it is about Los Angeles that appeals to me—and something genuinely does, despite LA's general urban ugliness and sprawling heavy traffic—I was thinking today about the role climate plays in the culture and personality of place.

The fact that LA is more or less sunny and warm year-round has always attracted people there (including my sister). And while I do enjoy sunny weather, at least of the mild variety, there’s something inherently peculiar to me, almost sinister even, about an environment without distinct seasons. Is that fair? Absolutely not. It simply reflects my having lived exclusively in northern regions, that and my very white, sun-fearing complexion. Plus I just enjoy the cycle of seasons, the routine of changing weather patterns.

Yet the very fact that Los Angeles lacks those seasons is part of what attracts me. I experience me almost a deviant pleasure in going down there when it's wintry here. It's like an unspoken rebellion against Mother Nature, something I'm getting away with. Do people who live in Los Angeles feel that way? I suppose it depends on where you came from, whether you're a native Angelino or not--although one person I talked to recently who was born and bred in LA says she misses her grad school time in Minnesota. And then there are people like my sister, who has so quickly adapted to Los Angeles that it really seems it's her true home, whereas Oregon, the place she spent the first 18 years of life, seems more like the place she's constantly adapted to.

Of course climate is just one of countless factors comprising the culture of a city or region, but clearly it's part of how I perceive the city: a very intriguing and fun place to visit, but one I'm always happy to come home from.

Comments

[Irene]

I complained like hell when I first got the East Bay--it was so damned bright and sunny all the time that I was constantly squinting and felt pressure to dump my layery fall-oriented fashion sense for tank tops and visors, an unwanted wardrobe upheaval. I crabbily wished for the mood-lighting of overcast Portland and cursed myself for moving ever further from any chance of snow. "Sinister" is exactly the word for what I viewed as this world where Walt Disney appeared to control the weather. Yet now every time I wake up to yet another day of perfectly sunny skies, I am secretly very very pleased, even smug.

[Brian]

Yeah, I think the Bay Area's climate sounds ideal -- a little cooler than Southern California, but still sunny and warm much of the time. Also, of course in both metro areas there is some climatic variation. Of course SF is cooler than East Bay, and Santa Monica is a lot cooler than The Valley. I guess, Irene, it's a little warmer than where you are, but save for probably July and August I'd be into it too.