NYC vs LA

Last week was the one year anniversary of my move to Los Angeles from my beloved home of ten+ years, New York City. Having grown up in different places entirely, NYC always beckoned me and felt like home. It still does. But having roots out west, and the promise of new opportunities was too intriguing for an adventurous type to pass up. Some how I knew I would dance with L.A. at some point, it was just a matter of when. Of course, I had all sorts of pre-conceived notions, as most people do, and have been pleasantly surprised to discover that the City of Angels has much more to offer than it often gets credited for. If you think about it, NY and LA have a cyclical relationship, where its inhabitants freely move between the two cities - for work, for play or to live - and you will likely see friends living on the opposite coast more often than you'd think. The two places have more in common with each other that many other American locales - both progressive & ambitious.

L.A. is international, diverse, comfortable (minus the traffic), beautiful, and arguably collecting many of the artists & entrepreneurs forced to leave the expense of NY, but it is also isolating & lonely to many, and non-committal. It offers all the vast beauty of the landscape, and none of the intimacy of NYC's natural socialization and interaction. Meanwhile, NYC is tough. It chews you up and spits you out. It can be scary, harsh and unrelenting. But it is also rich with activity, interactive diversity, opportunities, sophistication, history, culture, and it makes you feel like you can do anything while living there. People are direct, ambitious and painfully honest, attributes I have come to appreciate all the more. In truth, I would gladly embrace the chance to live between both coasts to benefit from all that they offer, because they really do both have magic. But at heart, I am still very much a New Yorker.