It is Los Angeles. TJ Sullivan in LA wants you know that. I want you to know that too. I heard that Chatsworth is its own city from someone who lived there. I am constantly asked by FOB (that's Fresh of the Bus) actors, who move to the Valley, where Studio City's city hall is. And all I can do is smile and go, "let's get nerdy and do some local geography" (but really, I want to smack them on the side of the head for being that blind sometimes).
Sullivan says to call the various neighborhoods districts "if you have to call them something." I wouldn't call them that, nor borough (NYC) or ward (Imagine having 50 councilmen [called alderman] like in Chicago!). I refer to them as neighborhoods or communities of the city.
Chicago doesn't have this problem. No one thinks Rogers Park is its own city. Everyone in New York knows that if you are in Queens, you are still in the City of New York City. And better yet, you refer to Queens as Queens and Manhattan as New York and no one is confused. Here in L.A., we refer to the Valley as the Valley and the basin as Los Angeles and everyone is confused as hell.
One can blame the geography, but Manhattan is an island, so I'm not buying that one right now. They look and feel different? There are parts of Sherman Oaks that look like parts of West L.A.
Nothing is going to be solved here, but I say we sack all reporters who are flummoxed by local geography.
Photo: Nagle & Riverside in Sherman Oaks
3 comments:
This bothers me so much! "Who's the mayor of Granada Hills?" or "I'm going to Los Angeles today." Hello?! YOU'RE IN LA!
I think the city should do something about this. On all the blue signs, it should say "City of Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks" or something. I usually refer people to this map when they're confused:
http://www.laalmanac.com/LA/lamap2.htm
It's not completely up-to-date with some of the district subdivisions (Historic Filipinotown, Angelino Heights, etc), but it works.
Don't even get me started on this. Honestly. What's interesting is that only in the Valley, the Palisades, and San Pedro do people actually put another "City" on their mail. Most other places, even Hollywood, Brentwood, Bel-Air, and Atwater Village, just put Los Angeles
Note: "Lake Balboa" (the Community) was once part of Van Nuys. Some say it still is... and the debate rages on.
Thanks for link...
And Rico... Thanks for the map. I'm going to make it a permanent link on my blog.
Cheers,
TJ
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