# How do you get over leaving LA?



## dannthr (Jul 14, 2016)

Just left LA and I'm wondering the following to anyone who's departed LA:

1) Where do you go for players/musicians/talent?
2) Do your lungs ever get used to all this so-called fresh air?
3) What do you do about tacos and/or taco trucks?
4) How do you deal with all the extra time you would've spent driving in traffic?
5) What are all those glowy things in the night sky? What are they? Is there a city up there?
6) People around me talk about this thing called "weather," what can you tell me about it?
7) Anyone use any special remote recording software (VST Connect Pro, Source Connect, good stories, bad stories)?

Thanks peeps!

Also, many apologies to anyone with whom I did not get to hang and should have or would have had we been more inclined to plan and make good on such plans.


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## Saxer (Jul 14, 2016)

Did you really escape LA? How did you do that? I only know people going there and nobody ever came back alive...


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## dannthr (Jul 14, 2016)

The trick is to look the part: 





No one stops a man with an eye patch.


Seriously though, anyone with interesting leaving LA experiences to share? Things they missed that they didn't expect to miss? Stuff like that?


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## thov72 (Jul 15, 2016)

I´ve only lived in LA for one year and that was 23 years ago...can´t tell much here. Though I did miss the tacos.


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## AlexRuger (Jul 15, 2016)

Woah, where'd you move to? Apologies I didn't get up on our cursory plans to grab a drink, like, a year ago...

Every time I go back to my parents' house (Indiana), I fall in love all over again with the night sky, real weather patterns, and fresh air. Dunno how you're gonna manage without taco trucks and what the rest of the country considers perfect days every day, though.

And FYI Source Connect is awesome. Depending on where you moved to, finding musicians might be difficult. But not impossible--there's usually at least one good music school in each state.


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## Ashermusic (Jul 15, 2016)

I have lived in LA since 1972. If left all I would miss are certain people.

I went up north to Cambria for three days with my wife for our anniversary and I can honestly say that I have been kind of depressed since returning, because I was so happy there.


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## gsilbers (Jul 15, 2016)

housing prices are incredible outside LA. im looking in the Asheville nc area and I can get a "mansion" with just the down payment for a crappy 2 bedroom house in highland park with school system barley reaching 3 out of 10. (!)

then again, I meet people in LA that is somehow tied to the industry and does something cool and its always nice to learn about it.

but man, housing and traffic has become unbearable. homeless population reached 45,000.


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## sinkd (Jul 15, 2016)

gsilbers said:


> im looking in the Asheville nc area and I can get a "mansion" with just the down payment for a crappy 2 bedroom house in highland park with school system barley reaching 3 out of 10. (!)


Look me up if you make the move. We are one hour west in the heart of the mountains. (Never lived in L.A.


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## Takabuntu (Jul 15, 2016)

dannthr said:


> Just left LA and I'm wondering the following to anyone who's departed LA:
> 
> 1) Where do you go for players/musicians/talent?
> 2) Do your lungs ever get used to all this so-called fresh air?
> ...



Think: San Andreas fault... to dangerous to stick around


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## JohnG (Jul 15, 2016)

you can always recreate Los Angeles where you are now, if you get homesick.

1. Text all the time even when talking to your best friends, or while swimming or other social activities. Occasionally you can briefly smile and say "mm-hmm" and then go back to knitting your brows again as if your text is Actually The Most Important Document Since Magna Carta.

2. Ask people about how many square feet their houses are and then, no matter what they say, get a pained look as though they have just said something pretty embarrassing that only your cousin from Arkansas who has a weird shaped head from being kicked when he was four years old by a farm animal would say. Then talk about your own remodel for about four hours.

3. Talk about the amount and =especially= the origin of the hops in your favourite beer, also for four hours

4. Discuss how you are customizing your car using 3D printing

5. Criticize the most lovely girls in your new community, no matter how kind, friendly, or virtuous they are as "not being hot enough" to be in your upcoming music video

6. Complain about everything.


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## givemenoughrope (Jul 15, 2016)

JohnG said:


> you can always recreate Los Angeles where you are now, if you get homesick.



Yea, well, doesn't every major trend in fashion or tech come from California? Also, look how cities how other cities have gone from unique to bordering on complete sameness in the last 10 years. And local accents sound more like TV all the time. But I guess this is off topic. I think he was talking about traffic, lack of weather and tacos that actually taste good.


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## gsilbers (Jul 15, 2016)

7. Talk about your favorite taco place.


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## stonzthro (Jul 15, 2016)

Takabuntu said:


> Think: San Andreas fault... to dangerous to stick around


Everyone knows that when the big one hits, everything east of the San Andreas is going under!

I'd add

8. Drive through back alleys and parking lots to "beat the traffic".


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## Rex282 (Jul 15, 2016)

The chain of events:


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## gsilbers (Jul 16, 2016)

9. walk in the middle of the parking lot without thinking there might be other cars around that might want to pass. 
9.1 walk the same way inside the store w/o thinking there might other costumers around shopping. 
9.2 get mad once someone says something for you to move. 

10 - bitch about traffic and also say public transportation doesnt work and vote against it - and bitch more about traffic. 
11- bitch about rent/house prices and homelessness but vote against any building project in your neiborhood or in the city or any law that might help easy housing.


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## C.R. Rivera (Jul 16, 2016)

----Does anyone else hear "Woo Hoo" "LA, proved too much for the man". 

While not a LA resident, I share much of your pain. I used to live down the road from you in Coronado/SD (twice), but alas life has given me an alternate route. But, fear not, for perhaps, as my wife and I plan to do in the next decade is to spend our golden years on the golden beaches.


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## gsilbers (Jul 16, 2016)

sinkd said:


> Look me up if you make the move. We are one hour west in the heart of the mountains. (Never lived in L.A.



for sure! 

btw- one hour west is my daily commute nowadays.


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## AmbientMile (Jul 16, 2016)

I left LA six months ago after calling it home since 1966 (other than my years in the military). I agree with Jay, the only things I miss are people. Clean air, night sky, weather, bbq (I moved to Texas), quiet back roads, southern cooking all better than SoCal! As far as tacos, the wife makes killer shredded beef (and the beef is better here too). Also, my studio looks out on a forest of trees and a creek that runs through my property. Definitely good for inspiration.


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## AllanH (Jul 16, 2016)

12 - remind yourself that driving distance is measured in miles and not minutes/hours!

We left the bay area 10+ years ago and now live by the ocean on the central coast near Pismo. That does wonders for inspiration. While different, our "Escape from Alcatraz" has been fantastic all around even though I miss my friends and the entrepreneurial SV atmosphere.


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## ghostnote (Jul 16, 2016)

Hey Dan, interesting thread. I've always wanted to go to LA. It was my dream since I was a kid, but in the end only some friends made it and to be honest, I never thought about a situation leaving LA: It was always THE place to be! What drives me is: What does this mean to your career as a musician? Is the internet "strong" enough to compensate for not beeing there?

I for myself am more of a real life person who likes to work with charme more than deadlines, and it works (at least with the ladies.. ) But in the end it's this "entrepeneurship" (silly word if you have to type it..) that counts. Libraries are big and so is the youtubary! There are plenty of people who are working remotely, I'm sure you'll gonna do it! You're a good guy, I whish you all the best! 

P.S.: The bad air was one reason why I never moved to london.


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## AmbientMile (Jul 16, 2016)

AllanH said:


> ...and now live by the ocean on the central coast near Pismo.



I used to live in Nipomo. If you haven't been to Jacko's you MUST go!!


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## Mike Fox (Jul 16, 2016)

I used to drive a truck from LA to San Fran delivering program guides at all the horse tracks for the Kentucky Derby. Pretty interesting job, to say the least. I ended up quitting after getting tired of life on the road. I now live in Utah (I actually plan on moving to vegas in the next couple of years), but I'll always have a soft spot for Cali, especially SoCal. I'd live in La Jolla or Cardiff If I could afford it.


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## Jetzer (Jul 20, 2016)

Why did you leave?

I am not in LA but thinking about leaving my current city for a cheaper place.


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## Mike Fox (Jul 20, 2016)

Mainly because I couldn't afford to live there, and I missed my family back home.


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## Soundhound (Jul 20, 2016)

We're moving away from LA for a year and a half, to about 1/2 hour south of Atlanta. Been here in Venice almost 20 years and love it. I'm homesick already.


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## gsilbers (Jul 20, 2016)

mikefox789 said:


> Mainly because I couldn't afford to live there, and I missed my family back home.



rent/buying housing has turned into a clusterfk. prices are 30% higher than a year ago. average 2 bedroom house is $600k-800k. i missed my chance back in 2010-13 when prices where "decent". now per the LA times, LA has a 300k housing shortage. which is one of the reasons so many homeless. (40k!)

also, no decent public transportation makes traffic a hell hole. so city planning is wack. how would anyone doing menial jobs get to the west side?! 
seems im being priced out la :(


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## ryst (Jul 20, 2016)

Soundhound said:


> We're moving away from LA for a year and a half, to about 1/2 hour south of Atlanta. Been here in Venice almost 20 years and love it. I'm homesick already.



I did just the opposite 6 years ago. Moved from Midtown ATL to West Hollywood. I was never homesick after I left ATL. And I can't imagine leaving LA anytime soon.


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## jacobthestupendous (Jul 21, 2016)

gsilbers said:


> average 2 bedroom house is $600k-800k.


I first read this as $600 - $800 per month, and I thought that was very cheap for rent. Then I read it again. Good luck everybody!


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## C.R. Rivera (Jul 21, 2016)

Soundhound said:


> We're moving away from LA for a year and a half, to about 1/2 hour south of Atlanta.



Where near Hot 'Lanta? I grew up in Columbus (GA) and enjoyed visiting Georgia Tech, the Fabulous Fox Theater, the various streets named "Peachtree".


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## Soundhound (Jul 21, 2016)

We're going to be in Peachtree City as a matter of fact! Not related geographically to any Atlanta Peachtree streets unfortunately. About 1/2 hour south, depending on traffic. The little I know of Atlanta from a couple years ago I liked a lot! My wife was staying in Midtown, Inwood, near Cabbage Town I think it was called? Very college-y sort of neighborhood with lots of great places to have breakfast etc. I am looking forward to seeing more of Atlanta. Where we are is the burbs, so lots of tennis, which I like. But lots of golf, which gives me the willies. We have pool though!! I'll just hunker down and write lots of music. Will need to make a pilgrimage to Macon, as any good Allmans devotee must.


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## NoamL (Jul 21, 2016)

Used to live in NYC before LA. 

The transportation system, housing prices, and city planning in LA all totally blow, _myaaan_. As they say here.


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## C.R. Rivera (Jul 21, 2016)

Soundhound, Duane is my hero! My car plate is "Skydog 1" and one of my emails uses [email protected] Rose Hill, where Duane and Berry are buried, now has fences/barriers to their graves as too many folks vandalized them. Visit FAME and Muscle Shoals, about 2.5 hours in Northwest Alabama. I grew drinking the Allmans' milk and quite remember Duane's passing. In Atlanta, you can find a number of studios, including where the Atlanta Rhythm Section recorded. Further south is Criteria (in Miami) where Tom Dowd worked. It's no LA but you will "love them southern peaches."


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## Soundhound (Jul 21, 2016)

I am looking forward to eating a few peaches, yessir. I never got to see Duane play, first time I saw them was the following spring. My wife saw them twice while he was still alive, so she wins. Just learned from the Muscle Shoals doc that the Skydog slaver lyric in Brown Sugar comes from Jagger writing the lyrics on the fly in the studio, everyone talking about this amazing player Skydog. Gotta love it.


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## Soundhound (Jul 21, 2016)

Yup, I'm from NY. West side of LA always felt to me like they took Fire Island and stuck it on the side of the West Village. Friends come out from the city and can't believe how great Venice is. But hey I'm gonna have a pool and a cabana in Peachtree City. Plus I get to come home in a year or so. I can do this, I will survive!...



NoamL said:


> Used to live in NYC before LA.
> 
> The transportation system, housing prices, and city planning in LA all totally blow, _myaaan_. As they say here.


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## gsilbers (Jul 21, 2016)

jacobthestupendous said:


> I first read this as $600 - $800 per month, and I thought that was very cheap for rent. Then I read it again. Good luck everybody!




yep. 

but to be balanced... i love the LA culture (minus west side) i am from south america so mexican culture here mixed with alternative and creative people is pretty cool. i think there is a lot of opportunities within the chaos LA is ...from city planning to work environment. but my god.. what a mess with realstate and its laws and hard headed folks not supporting public transportation... "because it sucks" - of course it does withthat attitude!


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## NoamL (Jul 21, 2016)

gsilbers said:


> hard headed folks not supporting public transportation... "because it sucks" - of course it does withthat attitude!



Because it's a death spiral of class stratification.

In NYC everyone rides the train, even the mayor. As a result the subway system is clean, efficient and goes everywhere. In LA only poor people or outright homeless people take the bus - even, or especially, on the Westside. As a result the buses are unreliable and dirty. With no buy in from the middle class, no wonder public services deteriorate. The whole culture of this city is "Whatever's happening outside my car is Not My Problem, I'm just trying to get somewhere." They should do one of those social experiments where someone pretends to be a recently stabbed corpse and see how many cars go by. I'm sure LA would set the world record.

I take 4 buses a day... and the moment I can afford a car I too am "buying up" out of having any investment in LA's transportation system.

I don't want to romanticize NYC too much - obviously, as a privileged NYU student who visited the Bronx like once... I didn't actually experience NYC in any total sense - but for the 2 years I lived there, I did really feel that most middle class people understood that their tax dollars made Manhattan _physically possible._ Without public services like subways and snowplows there would _BE NO Manhattan_. With Los Angeles the feeling I get from most people is "services are for The Poors." So it's resented because it's redistribution. They're not wrong either.


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## jacobthestupendous (Jul 21, 2016)

Heavens no, John! You can't drive them out with flame throwers! Do you know what those houses are worth?!?


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## Soundhound (Jul 21, 2016)

I grew up in NYC and when I go back now I don't recognize it in a lot of ways. The last place we lived was the West Village and the bars and restaurants there are now full of fratboys, financial douchebags and their trophy girlfriends/wives. In the 80s soho went from being an artist community to overpriced renovated lofts once the dentists and stockbrokers discovered it, and that now has spread throughout most of manhattan. Don't get me wrong, the High Line is incredible and the parks along the Hudson are what we all dreamed of but never though it could happen. If they could just put all the yuppies on a barge and take them out to mingle with the sludge monster it would be great. L.A. has a growing community of young musicians and writers who have come out from NY because they can't afford to live there any more. Having said that, LA prices are getting ridiculous, so the same thing could happen here.


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