Why LA Sucks. It's Short.
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Why is LA, one of the largest cities in the world, so short? Let's explore a brief explanation of how an iconic American city failed to build any dense housing, and the outcomes of that failure, using an important concept in public policy analysis: path dependence.
LA was VERY disappointing when I moved there. When people say “You have to visit NY, it’s a city you must see.” I felt that when I visited NY. LA was so overrated.
It’s so depressing out there it’s not even funny
@@Ansah89 Yeah man, totally agree. The city planning just wasn’t built for more potential, it’s way too congested, the homeless situation is atrocious, rent is ridiculous.
Too many cons to out weigh the pros.
@@beaustine6093 the only con is that the weather is nice
NY is overrated too
I hated it.
All democrat huge cities are not good news and often times do not have the programs available they say they do.
I grew up here in LA but I'm planning to leave once I'm 18. It seems like LA residents don't share any common experiences, everyone is always in their cars and no human interaction feels genuine. LA does not feel like a city, its mostly one giant mega suburb. The only places that feel sort of alive are in Santa Monica, Hollywood, or DTLA everything else is dead.
This includes those living in their cars too. That also is very antisocial. No one talks in L.A..and I think partially it's cuz people don't wanna be hurt. The rest is they're snobs.
Nah. Not “It seems like LA residents don’t share any common experiences, everyone is always in their cars and no human interaction feels genuine.” Not “LA does not feel like a city, its mostly one giant mega suburb.” Not “The only places that feel sort of alive are in Santa Monica, Hollywood, or DTLA everything else is dead.” /
Talk about the homeless in DTLA 💀💀💀
Exactly what I said. Finally someone says the same thing.
@@thecigarfascination6652haha I have car camped in LA a lot. Also crashed at a woman’s studio on the floor with another friend, that was fun and social. I guess just splitting costs with people and working with each other is the way to go but sometimes I can’t even afford to split costs. Especially not with my debt load. I think a lot of Angelenos are dragged down by cost of living and ease of social media use over having to reach out to the nearest stranger and have a good time somehow. Tech and automobiles have drastically changed our lives for better or for worse. But last night I connected with a group of girl friends over dinner and it felt genuine and we were able to discuss anything judgement free so if you ever find on to people like that, hang on to them and meet up with them regularly because otherwise I could see how the city could seem anti social.
Unless you’re somehow affiliated with the entertainment industry DONT move to L.A.!! It sucks and the costs associated with living there is not worth it. I can’t believe I’m saying that, 6 months ago before I moved there I would have said something completely different. I live on the west coast and would go out to L.A. every 2-3 months for work and thought it was great. Decided to move to Beverly Hills and regretted in a few weeks in. I paid a hefty fee and moved back to Vegas. It’s really hard to explain how horrible actually living there is.
What was so bad about living in Beverly Hillbillies?
its not about the skyscrapers ,even having 4 floors increases density 4x .Thats why New York ,the skyscraper capital, is less dense than almost all major European cities,
So true. This bot thinks that skyscrapers is everything, today skyscrapers are the problem; it's all about density and consciously allocated public transportation, not necessarily tall buildings.
Ironically the Los Angeles metro area is denser than NYC's. 💀
That's off topic, and the metro barely does...you do realize the NYC metro area covers 4 different states right (NY, PA, CT, NJ)? Each state has different laws, cultural mindsets, economies, transit systems, and terrain. This means there is a lot more government agencies (i.e 5 counties vs 25) and agreements that have to be dealt with over competing interests.
But let's talk about NYC having more than 3x the density of Los Angeles. It's almost 3.5. You know, the direct comparison and are things the respective cities actually have a strong degree of control over.
@@sm3675 it's not
Name one . Just for comparison's sake.
As an l.a native, I can name bunch of cities around the world that are better, Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, Hong Kong , Mexico City, Istanbul, and the list goes on
LA can be so much better if it improved it’s public transit and added more options for it.
It was good pre 84 games now they are scrambling for 2028 Olympics
Already been doing that; they're always working at expanding their subway system and bus routes. People just aren't aware that they've been doing that. It'll be a while before its on par with something like chicago or san franciso tho(tho 24 hour service on some of their busses and subways is nice and even san francisco doesn't have that)
@@FLCMpeople won't use public transport. It's too late
@@ahmedzakikhan7639 No it isn't. Did you even see the metro stations during the Dodger Parade? PEOPLE ACTUALLY USED IT.
LA is 5 suburbs pretending to he a city
I hate those huge generic housing estates they keep building all over. They make me think of rows of shoeboxes. I'd go insane if I lived in one
LA seams like someone took a normal city and then squashed it down with a giant spatula. Really well made video
And then covered it in smog, haha.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed!
Smog used to be worse. But even with it a bit clearer these days, the innate ugliness remains.
Yes to the use of strong towns in your video, what they have said about urban planning was so eye opening to me and made me realize how sad and path dependent most american suburbs have become.
A fellow Strong Towns enjoyer! Definitely a great source on this stuff.
Los Angelis is a horrific place to live in because it’s California beating heart, but this is one such example of why.
The absence of Los Angeles' skyline is one of the least reasons why LA is considered a shitty city. Things like insufficient public transportation, pervasive smog, overwhelming traffic, the city's expansive sprawl, and its composition of numerous distinct smaller cities and counties each with their defined character contribute to this perspective. LA is not a well defined city like downtown Chicago (people mistaken downtown CHI for rest of CHI..) and Manhattan NY. LA is definitely overrated, and the food quality here sucks as well.
I can always tell when someone didn't watch the video, because if you did, you would know that those topics are covered in the video and in fact, intimately linked to the short skyline.
Worth mentioning that there is some damn good food in LA
@@CriticalDispatch a short non existent skyline doesn't mean jack crap about the city itself buddy.
I mean, all of California is a mess.
You're not wrong.
You probably live in Missouri.
LA sucks ass. Went in 2017 and have no interest in every returning
in-n-out is mediocre
It truly is. It’s an OK burger, nothing more.
I was watching the youtube live , happend to bum into someone , was quite rude , ignoring me and advised to stop chatting for no reason , la are one of ruddest people i have ever seen. Horrible
Wow what a great video and channel! Can't wait to watch it explode, hopefully the youtube algorithm brings more people as it has brought me to find this gem
Thanks! That's really kind of you to say. I've got a lot more videos coming!
As a long time LA resident, here is a few ideas that might help solve the housing shortage: 1. Utilize the vast flood control system for parks and high-rise low-income housing to make them very attractive to live next to very nice parks. The high-rises could be built spaced out along the river and on top of it. This is a design challenge not an impossibility. Highways are nearby much of the flood control system.
2. Some very big golf courses could also be converted into low-income housing.
3. As the new zero emissions trucks and car rules come into effect the highways will become less polluted. Tire and brake dust emissions still need to be regulated just like the new Euro 7 rules that were enacted. Once all that is in place high-rise low income housing can be built on top of the highways spaced out and with sufficient headroom to minimize fire risks.
As railroads such as the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe expanded into Southern California in the 1880s, its population boomed. Railroads attracted new settlers, particularly whites from the midwest, by advertising California as this healthful, regenerative frontier free from the corruptions of intensifying industrialization and urbanization occurring in the Eastern United States. To these settlers, an ideal community consisted of single family homes, large lots, lawns, and residences far from businesses. They scorned cities as filthy, immoral, congested, unhealthy, and heterogenous (i.e. filled with scary nonwhite people plus catholics and eastern europeans). Suburbs represented homogeneity and stability. Unlike other US cities, LA grew through the expansion of single family, detached homes. It is basically a string of suburbs. Car culture and its association with freedom and adventure was also big early on in LA, which was already suffering from congestion by the 1930s.
Midwestern people are great people, actually.
You want LA to become a densely populated 15-minute (WEF style) city is what I'm getting from this..
Land value determines building heights. The bigger the city in area, the cheaper the real estate, means more opportunities to purchase land and build housing and offices in more places, the less need to build upward to satisfy occupancy needs.
You and Spencer both deserve WAY more subscribers than you have! Nice video!!
Nice of you to say, thanks for the support! Just need that algorithm boost.
LA is sooooo overrated.
LA is so obsessed with suburbs but the lack of density ate up all of their open space. What could have been the best city in the continent is now nothing but HOAs and freeways.
Los Angeles is more dense than New York City and Chicago. Look it up.
While I can understand the argument made in the video I don't know if having mega apartment structures solves the cultural rot of LA. I was raised here and much of what people would call the key problems aren't solely from a place to live. The homeless in fact have received many large low income housing in the last few years and are set to recieve what used to be historic LA general hospital as a new home. The problem isn't housing those people, it is that many are literally brain damaged from a life a drug use and aren't stopping any time soon. The type of people who shamble about the city like zombies.
As far as large apartment complexes, counter to the video one of the biggest problems driving high rent is when large corporations buy up large areas of former single family homes, create many apartment buildings and have almost a monopoly on housing. They literally set a price that you end up seeing across the board. When a large company owns almost all the apartment building in your local area there is no pricing competition. Either you pay the 2k for a 1 bedroom or you don't live in an apartment.
And as a resident who has lived here all my life one of the things that has degraded LA is transplants who come here and ruin the job market via oversaturation. When I worked in Hollywood at first I found it endearing meeting all the people who thought they'd make it big but then I began to realize those are the people ruining job markets in the area.
I was told LA built, way back when, because of the earthquakes. They saw that with enough frequent occurrences it wasn't feasible to put up tall buildings. Now there exist fancy footings and anti sway design, but who knew that in the 1920s -70s?
Certainly part of it, but that hasn't really been a relevant limitation for a long time. Also, the kind of dense urban development that would drive down housing costs doesn't require super tall sky-scrapers, but rather medium sized housing development that current regulation doesn't allow for.
People build tall apartment buildings in Japan, and Japan gets more and stronger earthquakes than LA. They also build tall in other earthquake zones like Athens, Greece.
My city, Christchurch, suffered an earthquake and the skyline is now extremely flat. Most high-rise buildings were demolished and we prohibit building any more. The soil is particularly susceptible to liquifaction, so there's valid grounds to prevent major damage in another earthquake.
agree. time to take political power and massively upzone
100+ years ago, “spreading out” verses “building up” was seen as the best solution to prevent many of the urban problems seen in cities like New York and Chicago. Of course, hindsight is 20/20. But people 100 years ago were simply trying to address the social problems of their day (only to create a whole set of new ones)
That is a silly nonsensical narrative that is peddled by mainstream infrastructure goons. The truth is: LA was already a world-class City back then: it was destroyed for the automobile.
I grew up in San Gabriel valley. It was a great suburban area right next to the los Angeles area. Yeah Los Angeles the city itself sucks. But the surrounding areas are a lot better.
The "surrounding areas", aka the sprawl, are literally the problem.
"Why LA Sucks. It's Short." Like this video.
Saying you want the video to be longer is a lovely compliment. 😘
Thank God I did not move ova der
Come on out to Orange county east of the 55. Outside of downtown Irvine, almost everything is two stories or less.
Classic democrat city run like trash. 👍
I promise you that every major North American city has these same issues, to greater and lesser degrees.
Even the ones run by republicans.
@Critical Dispatch I might have onced off-handedly agreed, but where are you referring?
I know about Jacksonville, FL, currently, if I recall correctly. I can't think of another big city headed by Republicans by a substantial degree. I admit I'm mostly thinking of major cities though. Yet major cities are the ones that suffer these specific problems the most due to their populations, etc. LA, Chicago, etc, they've been under effective "one party" control for decades.
Guess which political party controls the poorest counties in the country by far.
It's kinda ugly and bland considering it's got the some of the best art in the world.
A lot of the things you've said are true, but the LA skyline isn't actually that short. Its an optical illusion because the area around it is so giant. LA currently has some of the tallest buildings west of the Mississippi. More so than even San Francisco or Seattle.
Lol, Los Angeles only has 24 sky scrappers. It's a joke. NY 257 and Chicago has 120. Even Miami has 45.
fish come and go but salmon stays the same. It is always orange and pink at the same time somehow. Tell me, where are your salmons? Are they underneath your children?
Don't tall buildings have more potential energy in the event of an earthquake? Haiti?
just one of many things im leaving the city of angels
you could those with public transportation
London is literally way more flat, there’s two small clumps of tall buildings where the central planners will allow but the rest is so flat
Recommend you look into the concept of "the missing middle".
@@CriticalDispatch what about it? Even the centre of london where no one lives is completely flat other than two separate square miles in the city of London and canary wharf
@@jacobmacdonagh4070 If you actually looked it up, you wouldn't have to ask.
@@CriticalDispatch I’m still confused, I have. Do you mind explaining?
From what I understand too, is the LA cops commit homicide without any recourse
No, that’s definitely not the case anymore.
Not a city, suburban sprawl
also hollywood
Nah. Not doesn’t work. Not doesn were. /
Got too big. Thats why.
This guy is unbearable
La is bad
Work from home!
Service workers exist! Not everyone can work from home.
I'd argue the opposite, big cities with tall buildings suck the life out of an area.
I guess if you like endless strip malls and sitting in traffic you can enjoy your short buildings. I think all the most desirable cities in the world, including in Europe, are dense and walkable.
@@CriticalDispatch European cities are dense, walkable and almost universally short. The vast majority of European cities don't have any buildings higher than the local church.
@@DerekHurstMusic They are, decidedly, not short at all. Consider the difference between a single family home and a five story building. That's the difference we are talking about.
@@CriticalDispatch European cities are far denser, but far shorter on average than American cities. I think the bigger issue is not height but density. As long as you build dense you don't need to build super tall apartment buildings everywhere. European cities are proof that large urban areas can be built in both functional and aesthetically pleasing ways.
@@DerekHurstMusic density requires a degree of height, and american cities are far less dense on average, I promise you that.
agree with you on why its so short however not everyone wants to llive in high density and be crammed up and live an equal but miserable life.... its great to have walkable shops and etc however America is not setup that way, its a car culture and will always be a car cutlure with so much land. really dont like the idea of pushing high density and cramming up like NYC. causes more crime, more bad people develop over time with the hustle bustle lifestyle.
Well given the population of L.A. the only practical solution going forward is to build up and more density. And what do you mean America is not set up that way? New York, Chicago, San Francisco??? It was never “Car Culture” in the west coast? Sure , but the Cities in the Midwest and East coast predate the “Car”. And to say densely populated areas cause more crime is true but crime has always been a problem in L.A. what’s new?
LA would look better with no skyline. Skyscrapers are ugly as hell
You've missed the point entirely. Land availability, history, and earthquakes.
You can't build tall here economically. There used to be lots of undeveloped ranch land.
WWII lead to lots of people wanting housing, with yards to raise families. How old are you?
Why didn't you mention families? To young for kids? No forethought? Poor investigative and writing skills?
People really do not like being in the city center. We weren't raised in a cage or at the bottom of a hole.
You cannot compare Los Angeles to New York (an island) or London (centuries old).
Rate this 1 out of 10.
There is plenty of land, it's just improperly zoned. 78 percent of all residential land in LA is single family zoned. Families can and do live in dense urban areas, all over the world and all over America. You do not need to live in a suburb to have a family.
@@CriticalDispatch : You cannot re-write history. The homes exist, the roads exist, wishing it away is child like.
Why would the people trade single family homes with yards for what are basically prison cells? Go live somewhere like what you describe, nobody is stopping you.
@@TheRoninkai Nobody is asking to rewrite history. Land is bought and sold and re-developed all the time. And the people who buy land should be able to build what they want.
It's called upzoning. Some American cities are already doing it.
@@CriticalDispatch: Nobody wants your third world remedy.
@@TheRoninkai Has nothing to do with developed and developing countries.