Are certain areas of the USA seen as more desirable?

[TheTraveler]

I am sorry to hurt your fragile feelings, but the section is called :"Ask RW" and the thread was about how RW see the US.

Again and again I have to admit that the RW opinion is not appreciated here as AM know it best anyway.
So how about we rename the section into :"Ask the Traveler"

You are hopeless, guys, I have to leave this weird place.

you're storming out the door... but i'm the one who's fragile?  the irony continues...
 
but seriously, i hope you change your mind and stick around.
 
(and no -- not just because you crack me up!)

[calmissile]

The best way to choose the area of the US that best meets your needs is to visit them.
Not all village women from UA want to live in the big city with all the noise and pollution.

[GQBlues]

...We live in the downtown of the large city, it takes me 15 minutes to walk to my office. For my husband his walk to his office takes 20 minutes. We use our cars only to drive to the gym and for shopping, occasionally for small weekend trips. I would never willingly move out of the city and drive 40+ minutes to work, spend hours of my life waiting in traffic, etc. I hate spending days in the car, doing the road trip, although driving a good car can be quite comfortable and pleasant, but any drive more than 30 minutes once a week is too much for me....

 

I just started working for a new firm and I had to buy our 3rd car because of it. Unlike companies I've worked for in the past which provided me a car and full expenses, this one pays me 'x' dollars/month in addition to my wage and benefits. The compensation pays me more than what it cost me to buy a new car, insure it, gas and maintain it (Acura). So, instead of pounding mileage on my car (Edge), which I like driving a lot, I just bought a new one strictly for work.

My office is 54 miles one way, 70-75 MPH door to door. Takes me roughly 45 minutes +/-. My wife works 16 miles from home and it takes her roughly the same time to get to work. With Pandoria or even Sirius, sometimes my commute isn't 'far enough'...

[Gator]

My office is 54 miles one way, 70-75 MPH door to door. Takes me roughly 45 minutes  /-. My wife works 16 miles from home and it takes her roughly the same time to get to work. With Pandoria or even Sirius, sometimes my commute isn't 'far enough'...

I walk from home to the first tee.   15 minutes of warm up listening to bird songs, feeling the morning sun in the forest canopy openings, enjoying the intensely blue sky, and watching underfoot for snakes.   

[Eduard]

Hello FSU women!

I have a question for all of you.  Are some of the areas of the USA seen as better areas to live in?

[size=78%]I'm sure they wouldn't mind Beverly Hills...[/size]

[ML]

I'm sure they wouldn't mind Beverly Hills...

You mean working as a maid??

By the way . . . I worked out of an office on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills for a year some time back.  I  really enjoyed my morning and afternoon drives over the Santa Monica mountains and down through the sumptuous Beverly Hills homes.

[LAman]

You mean working as a maid??

By the way . . . I worked out of an office on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills for a year some time back.  I  really enjoyed my morning and afternoon drives over the Santa Monica mountains and down through the sumptuous Beverly Hills homes.

You lived in the valley ML? Which street did you take over the hills???

[LAman]

[size=78%]I'm sure they wouldn't mind Beverly Hills...[/size]

Eduard.....Beverly Hills is overrated, very old.  Better on west side, maybe Brentwood.
Maybe where GQ is at!! 
If liking the younger crowd....anywhere along the Strand!!!!!

[GQBlues]

LA's the Place!
 
I remember when I was single and work was only 17 minutes with no traffic and 30 minutes with traffic. I would always prefer jammed freeways cause I was always able to scan and flirt along the way. It got ridiculous I started carrying flashcards like - "Hey Cutie! Let's get crazy!" They'd smile and would then give their phone numbers with finger actions...next thing you know you're chatting up and hooking up for a chilled lemon drop...
 
Yeah, life used to be so much fun!
 

.....Beverly Hills is overrated, very old.  Better on west side, maybe Brentwood....

Actually not too far from 90210 is West Hollywood, otherwise known as Little Odessa.
 
 

....if liking the younger crowd....anywhere along the Strand!!!!!

Yep...Southbay is where most the devs hang-out during the weekend...those little surfer boys get all the action. Ask CG.
 

[ML]

You lived in the valley ML? Which street did you take over the hills???

Yes, I lived in Sherman Oaks.

Been quite a while  back, so have almost forgotten; but I think I usually took Beverly Glen, but sometimes switched up to Coldwater Canyon, Benedict or Laurel Canyon just for variety and depending on if I were going to a meeting somewhere else.

Another interesting side note:  I had a membership in the Beverly Hills YMCA.
Most probably cannot fathom a YMCA in Beverly Hills!!   
2-4 of us went there fairly regularly at noon to shoot baskets.
I got the T-shirt!!
I had a locker next to Myron Stanley Handelman, but probably no one remembers him.

[Gator]

LA's the Place!

 

I worked briefly in LA as a beginning engineer for the California Dept. of Water Resources (ground water project).   Lived in an apartment off Wilshire near MacArthur Park.    Garaged my Alfa and took a bus to work downtown.  On weekends drove everywhere.   
 
That was a long, long time ago, perhaps before  you were born.  Uncle Sam called me up for service in Vietnam and I never returned.   What is the MacArtur Park area like today?   There was a song about it.

[Vaughn]

   There was a song about it.

Someone left the cake out in the rain.....  quite a while back MacArthur Park, sung by Richard Harris, was voted #1 Song with the worst lyrics.
 
I was wondering which cities in the USA had the densest population of Russian speakers by percent of total residents. Wow - Chicken, Alaska, a full one third.
 
http://zipatlas.com/us/city-comparison/percentage-russian-population.htm
 
Back in the day there were many discussions online about where to relocate (or not) to facilitate a smooth transition for one's new bride. Some offered that a similar-size environment seemed to make sense. My wife's hometown is rather similar in land size and population to where we live now, but I discount those factors as keys to her comfort - what she really enjoys (aside from driving her own vehicle) is the vibrancy and growth, the ability to advance, circles of friends and so forth. It's what one makes of the surroundings.

[mies]

I just started working for a new firm and I had to buy our 3rd car because of it. Unlike companies I've worked for in the past which provided me a car and full expenses, this one pays me 'x' dollars/month in addition to my wage and benefits. The compensation pays me more than what it cost me to buy a new car, insure it, gas and maintain it (Acura). So, instead of pounding mileage on my car (Edge), which I like driving a lot, I just bought a new one strictly for work.

My office is 54 miles one way, 70-75 MPH door to door. Takes me roughly 45 minutes +/-. My wife works 16 miles from home and it takes her roughly the same time to get to work. With Pandoria or even Sirius, sometimes my commute isn't 'far enough'...

ours are both sedans, toyota for city drives and street parking, and bmw for long distance, like when we go to the ocean or to small trips in historic locations. In the past few years (I started driving only 3.5 years ago, when I was 30) I became a reasonably good driver. But I will always be trying to work at the walking distance from my home, and live in the city.
Probably the reason is that any time you drive there is an uncertainty: traffic or no traffic, +/- 5 or 50 minutes, hence for me - always a stress caused by uncertainty. When I walk I know with a 1 minute precision how long it will take me to get from point A to point B. No stress, everything goes according to the plan.
My plan for the next car is either a Maserati coupe or the M3 bmw. Owning a motorcycle as one more toy is also tempting, but my husband keeps telling me that I am crazy and he isn't the suicide, nor he wants to live with one.

The Traveler, I fully understand your comment about public transportation. Our metro is filled with the inner-city riff-raff. All those people in business suits, immaculate starched shirts, disgusting polished shoes... terrible... absolutely terrible. 

[GQBlues]

I worked briefly in LA as a beginning engineer for the California Dept. of Water Resources (ground water project).   Lived in an apartment off Wilshire near MacArthur Park.    Garaged my Alfa and took a bus to work downtown.  On weekends drove everywhere.   
 
That was a long, long time ago, perhaps before  you were born.  Uncle Sam called me up for service in Vietnam and I never returned.   What is the MacArtur Park area like today?   There was a song about it.

 Anywhere past east of the Miracle Mile on Wilshire is pretty dreadful. McArthur Park today is more than likely not what you remember from before Gator. It's mostly used by, erm, undesirables/gangbangers. You wouldn't want to get caught dead at night in the area unless you're in a batmobile.

A skip and a hop then you're dead in mostly Asian town, notably Korean some Vietnamese. The eating is pretty dynamic though. Likely the only few places where you can see a Korean Barbeque restaurant beside a Taco cantina next to a Tommy's/Burger joint surrounded by Payday Loan centers and pawnshops, LOL.

Along Wilshire/Santa Monica Blvd eastward is where you can 'definitely feel' the invisible, yet unmistakable, marginal line where the money zone stops. It's like a financial cliff-on-a-block.

The city had been putting billions into renovating the downtown area though. It's gotten better some, but it's still downtown LA. We built a few high-priced apartments and nice condo complexes there during the in-fill investors' frenzied heyday of the late 90s-early centennial, but you know, it isn't the infrastucture that's the problem, it's the demographics. Civil rights can be far more powerful than any imminent domain by-laws - sometimes. That, and the ever-growing, flexing population growth- legally or otherwise. aka Obamatown.

That's urban LA in a nutshell.

[tfcrew]

The grass is always greener on the other side of the state line.

[LAman]

 Anywhere past east of the Miracle Mile on Wilshire is pretty dreadful. McArthur Park today is more than likely not what you remember from before Gator. It's mostly used by, erm, undesirables/gangbangers. You wouldn't want to get caught dead at night in the area unless you're in a batmobile.

A skip and a hop then you're dead in mostly Asian town, notably Korean some Vietnamese. The eating is pretty dynamic though. Likely the only few places where you can see a Korean Barbeque restaurant beside a Taco cantina next to a Tommy's/Burger joint surrounded by Payday Loan centers and pawnshops, LOL.

Along Wilshire/Santa Monica Blvd eastward is where you can 'definitely feel' the invisible, yet unmistakable, marginal line where the money zone stops. It's like a financial cliff-on-a-block.

The city had been putting billions into renovating the downtown area though. It's gotten better some, but it's still downtown LA. We built a few high-priced apartments and nice condo complexes there during the in-fill investors' frenzied heyday of the late 90s-early centennial, but you know, it isn't the infrastucture that's the problem, it's the demographics. Civil rights can be far more powerful than any imminent domain by-laws - sometimes. That, and the ever-growing, flexing population growth- legally or otherwise. aka Obamatown.

That's urban LA in a nutshell.

GQ....brought back some memories of movie Car Wash. I actually visited it one time many moons ago, not far from McArthur Park...and yes it is a pretty seedy area for many years now. I think there is a pretty famous mexican restaurant in the area...don't remember the name...
BTW...I live much closer to Romneytown...aka McKeonville

[LAman]

Back to original question...yet I am not a lady.....but the ladies I have talked with....when I speak of living in Los Angeles....the interest peaks...wanting to know about Hollywood , movie stars ,the weather,  the beaches and why I look in FSU with all the babes(girls) around!!!!! And I don't live close to downtown area....but it can be short drive there.

[mies]

Back to original question...yet I am not a lady.....but the ladies I have talked with....when I speak of living in Los Angeles....the interest peaks...wanting to know about Hollywood , movie stars ,the weather,  the beaches and why I look in FSU with all the babes(girls) around!!!!! And I don't live close to downtown area....but it can be short drive there.

That's because they never visited LA, and their imagination goes wild. They think: "I will live among movie stars, will become a movie star, will re-marry to a movie star and a billionaire..." 

Personally, in terms of living (short visits are OK) I am not a big fan of LA, nor San Diego. I absolutely love San Francisco though, and to a lesser extent (more like resort towns for short stays): Venice Beach and Ocean Beach. But I wouldn't want to reside long-term in these latter two towns because I hate California traffic. I could see myself living in San Francisco, preferably in the Castro district.

[Steamer]

I have a question for all of you.  Are some of the areas of the USA seen as better areas to live in?

Hello JD,
I'm not a RW but I married one. From what I've seen from my wife and her friends what most RW  know about US cities comes from Russian television, American movies and the opinions of their friends. They wish to recreate exactly what they had in Moscow or St Pete in the US and will dismiss offhand, any city with less than 500k population as some backwater village, complete with chickens and goats running up and down the street.
 
When my wife and I met, I lived in suburban Detroit. I think her notion of Detroit was from WWII which made things a little easier. I lived in Farmington Hills (which was a village in her eyes) and took great pains to show her the area and all it had to offer. The fact that we didn't have a Metro was very off putting for her. She soon understood that to be anywhere in the US you need to know how to drive.
 
It took a while but she got to understand how things work in the US. She understood that everywhere is scarey at first but a good life can be made anywhere. It was an adjustment, but she made it. She now has a career and a good life and I have the honeybunch I always wanted.

[jone]

LAman, I know who Buck McKeon is - and that means I can place you.  I live in Danaville, accordingly.

[g30rkn]

i found this forum because im courting a rw from near novosibirsk. ive found the info here invaluable.

being a student of behavior i like to put myself into others shoes and try to see how why they look at things the way they do.to a rw who walks or takes buses and trains a car could be a daunting instrument,perhaps in their research they discover that americans are very good at killing eachother with them.bus and train fatalitys are far rarer.this tells me i need to think about and perhaps warn the lady im courting of this aspect of her possible future.

[ML]

i found this forum because im courting a rw from near novosibirsk. ive found the info here invaluable.

being a student of behavior i like to put myself into others shoes and try to see how why they look at things the way they do. to a rw who walks or takes buses and trains, a car could be a daunting instrument, perhaps in their research they discover that americans are very good at killing each other with them.bus and train fatalitys are far rarer.  this tells me i need to think about and perhaps warn the lady im courting of this aspect of her possible future.

You are about 180 degrees turned around, if this is your major concern about FSUW coming to USA.

And concerning car wrecks and fatalities . . . you best do a bit of research about  the situation in FSU also.

[Doll]

Damn! End of March and so cold in PA! If I knew it, I would have married another guy!
 
Seriously, if I can pick the location, it would be Virginia, Colorado or something warmer than PA

[LAman]

Damn! End of March and so cold in PA! If I knew it, I would have married another guy!
 
Seriously, if I can pick the location, it would be Virginia, Colorado or something warmer than PA

There are plenty of other states warmer than Pa...wait hold on, I need to turn over now to get an even tan on both sides........ nice to lay out in winter/spring here!!! .

[Chicagoguy]

About 2 weeks before my wife arrived here she asked me how long a walk it was to the grocery store. I told her I don't know. I had never seen anyone do it 
Where she lived there were 4 within 1/4 mile.
She has told other people when they ask her how she likes it here in America that it doesn't matter where she is. She only came here to be with me. If I was in Australia she would be there. In South Africa she would be there.
She and her daughter really wanted to see Hollywood so I took them. Of course it was a disappointment. Too many movies of US in Russia.
But we do use public transportation to go downtown with parking costing from $26 to $ 36.
She does complain that there are not enough Russians near us and the few there are she doesn't really care for. Other enclaves are not close.