Why does every article on Racked read like a Patrick Bateman monologue, stripped of any sense of irony? It's as if aliens were writing about human society from the perspective of a banner ad.
I imagine every article about style/fashion/clothes sounds that way to HN readers. Consider pg's article on "submarines,” which to me was just a blithe lack of understanding of cyclical fashion, and his noble defense of wearing sneakers in professional settings. A fashion editor trying to write about trends in software frameworks would probably fare no better.
SoCal does have a feeling of superficiality, you can pick up on it a little after people move back to the Bay from LA.... but then again the Bay so many people that have this feeling of entitlement that came outta no where.. just something I've noticed within the past 15 years....
On the flip side, there are also a handful of people that I met around from both areas that are down to earth. Maybe it's just high concentration.... or monkey see, monkey do.
As a SoCal transplant to the bay area, my biggest observation is that it's basically mandatory to "have a cause" in the bay area. It doesn't really matter what it is. It could be cycling over driving. It could be how you eat. It could be political activism. But it has to be something, or people look at you funny.
Aside from the Venice Beach / Santa Monica scene (which is absolutely superficial), I find SoCal to be much more laid back. Live and let live, if you will.
I grew up in Santa Monica and went back to visit recently. There is so much money there now it's insane. You don't realize it until you live somewhere else, but there are so many expensive vehicles, the people in tshirts are in really expensive tshirts, all the buildings are freshly remodeled, the roads are smooth. It seems everyone there has bought into the California aesthetic. It's a beautiful place but everything is a bit unnervingly nice.
“It’s a common language,” says Buchman. “You have images of the ocean, sand, and pretty people smiling and laughing, and that’s universal.”
Yep, as everyone knows, California invented beaches. There were no "beach kids" before California, and everyone who grows up elsewhere on any coast is emulating southern California.
The particular form of beach kid immortalized (to the extent of maybe a few decades more) on californian beaches
Which is a style replicated, distinctly with the californian beach in mind, in other locales
Obviously not because californian beaches were the pinnacle of beaches, but because the media treated it as such, and entered a positive feedback loop to entrench its (current) position there
In the same way, the East Coast has beaches are associated with yuppies and yatchs, and the hawaiins with hawaiins and tourists
Its an image ingrained within the American conciousness; regardless of whatever "true" merit it might have, the descriptive language is universal (to all who consume american media, and media deriving from it).
> Mine starts at birth, in San Diego. [...]. I realized that California didn’t belong to me soon after moving out East.
I was also born and raised in San Diego, but left ten years ago, and it feels weirder and weirder every time I go back. Meanwhile, everywhere I am in the world—Thailand, Kenya, Bulgaria, England, etc—I see California t-shirts or hear Tupac rapping about California on the radio. So I've also felt and wondered about the myth (legend?) of "California" over this time. :)
I'm not really sure where this idea of a laid back California comes from... in my general experience people seem way more agro on BART and Muni and around the bay than in NYC. Hell, even in LA when going out for drinks bouncers and such seem way more keyed up than on the east coast (or the north west).
Californian here. Completely opposite experience, especially SoCal vs the Northeast. NYC, Boston, northern Virginia, etc...always seemed like people were much more uptight and kept to themselves. Boston especially, you seem to have to get through like 4 layers of rudeness/offputedness before people open up to you...which doesn't always seem worth it.
Meanwhile, going to a friends' party in San Diego or Los Angeles and I can walk out with 4 new friends/acquaintances, which lead to more invites and potential connections.
And the differences only get further expounded professionally. I regularly go to work in a T and jeans. Sometimes even board shorts, when summer gets toasty enough. I would never dream of doing any of that working for any companies I've interacted with on the East Coast. In fact, it's regularly something they'll bring up in conversation.
There's a plethora of reasons behind those differences and neither is necessarily bad, but that's where my opinion of "laid back" versus not stems from.
While I see the merit to this article, keeping the 'whitewashing' theme alive in the public sphere, I have to say, with a twinge of regret, stuff like this helped put Trump in the White House.
[+] [-] alphonsegaston|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nether|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|9 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] roflchoppa|9 years ago|reply
On the flip side, there are also a handful of people that I met around from both areas that are down to earth. Maybe it's just high concentration.... or monkey see, monkey do.
[+] [-] phamilton|9 years ago|reply
Aside from the Venice Beach / Santa Monica scene (which is absolutely superficial), I find SoCal to be much more laid back. Live and let live, if you will.
[+] [-] TACIXAT|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thinkmassive|9 years ago|reply
Yep, as everyone knows, California invented beaches. There were no "beach kids" before California, and everyone who grows up elsewhere on any coast is emulating southern California.
[+] [-] setr|9 years ago|reply
Which is a style replicated, distinctly with the californian beach in mind, in other locales
Obviously not because californian beaches were the pinnacle of beaches, but because the media treated it as such, and entered a positive feedback loop to entrench its (current) position there
In the same way, the East Coast has beaches are associated with yuppies and yatchs, and the hawaiins with hawaiins and tourists
Its an image ingrained within the American conciousness; regardless of whatever "true" merit it might have, the descriptive language is universal (to all who consume american media, and media deriving from it).
[+] [-] aorth|9 years ago|reply
I was also born and raised in San Diego, but left ten years ago, and it feels weirder and weirder every time I go back. Meanwhile, everywhere I am in the world—Thailand, Kenya, Bulgaria, England, etc—I see California t-shirts or hear Tupac rapping about California on the radio. So I've also felt and wondered about the myth (legend?) of "California" over this time. :)
[+] [-] santaclaus|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] deaddodo|9 years ago|reply
Meanwhile, going to a friends' party in San Diego or Los Angeles and I can walk out with 4 new friends/acquaintances, which lead to more invites and potential connections.
And the differences only get further expounded professionally. I regularly go to work in a T and jeans. Sometimes even board shorts, when summer gets toasty enough. I would never dream of doing any of that working for any companies I've interacted with on the East Coast. In fact, it's regularly something they'll bring up in conversation.
There's a plethora of reasons behind those differences and neither is necessarily bad, but that's where my opinion of "laid back" versus not stems from.
[+] [-] killjoywashere|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stephancoral|9 years ago|reply
[deleted]