I’ve officially been in LA for roughly a month, and I’ve noticed some pretty interesting differences. As the title of this post suggests, I’m originally from Boston, and it’s no surprise that LA and Boston are completely different. So in this post I want to talk about the 21 interesting differences between LA in Boston that I’ve noticed.
1. LA Drivers Are WAY Worse
Not even in a question here. Now I’m not saying that Boston drivers are the best in the world, but LA drivers are significantly worse. Here’s the main difference: In Boston, the drivers are aggressive, but they still know how to drive functionally. The drivers in LA are just careless, making driving a bit more stressful than Boston.
2. In-N-Out
LA, and the west coast in general, has In-N-Out. It’s not overrated, and it’s absolutely amazing. Pro Tip: Get Animal Style when you order, it’s their secret sauce.
3. No Snow in LA
No surprise here, I don’t have to deal with all the BS snow issues that come with living in Boston. Yeah, it can get pretty hot here, but I’d much rather a hot day than shoveling out my car for a few hours in Boston.
4. LA is more ambitious but Boston works harder
This concept actually sparked a motivational video I made, simply because it was a frustrating observation I had. I found that people from LA were more ambitious and dreamed bigger, but a lot of them were all talk. People from Boston don’t dream as big, and are more pessimistic, but work significantly harder.
5. Boston Pride is Second-To-None
I talked about this for my Light Nearby Awards, as Boston has the tightest community compared to any other city I’ve ever been to. That “comradery” feeling doesn’t exist in LA, probably due to the layout, which leads me into my next point…
6. LA is spreadout while Boston is closer together
It’s weird walking around Downtown LA – you’d expect it to be packed, but it’s like a ghost town. In Boston it couldn’t be more opposite, as it’s always packed with people walking around and enjoying the day. This results from the fact that LA is so spread out, while in Boston everything is close together.
7. LA is a lot slower paced than Boston
I expected this, as Boston is a crazy busy city with everyone uptight and going from one destination to another as quick as possible. LA life is a lot more slower paced, not just in day-to-day operations but in live styles too. People take time to figure out what they want to do with their life, which can be both good and bad depending on how you look at it.
8. LA has tons of Insurance Companies
This is super strange. Everywhere you go there’s ads for “Veronica’s Insurance” or “Brittany’s Insurance” or “Chelsea’s Insurance.” I have no idea why this is, but there’s tons and tons of car insurance ads, all of them being some girls name and then insurance after.
9. Time vs. Distance
For some reason, people from LA talk about miles, while people from Boston talk about time. It’s common in LA for people to say “it’s roughly 30 miles south” while people from Boston will say “it’s roughly 15 minutes south.”
10. Boston is way more obsessed with sports
Sports in Boston is almost like a religion, while in LA it’s more just a casual part of life. People don’t get anywhere close to the intensity that exists in Boston surrounding sports.
11. Boston “Squeezes the Tomato”
Running through the yellow, and even red, light in Boston is pretty common. I even had a group of kids tell me that it was called “squeezing the tomato” when you run through a red light, because “you still have a few seconds left once it turns red.” In LA that would never fly, as there’s even traffic cameras that will send you a ticket if you run a red light.
12. Famous People are Common in LA
It’s more common to see famous people just walking around LA, and it isn’t as big of a deal here compared to Boston.
13. More Arts in LA
Being the entertainment capital of the world, it’s no surprise that LA has way more artsy people compared to Boston. Everyone is an actor, model, musician, or something else that revolves around the entertainment industry.
14. Different Age Ranges for Non-Natives
Both LA and Boston has tons of people living who aren’t native from that area. The main difference is in the age range – I’ve found that many people who aren’t from LA are in their 20s and above, as they just graduated college. In Boston, I find it’s usually people in college who aren’t from there, as Boston is arguably one of the biggest educational hubs in the world.
15. LA is more dangerous
I hate it when anyone from Boston talks about how “dangerous” it is. Especially compared to other parts of the world I’ve been to, Boston has nothing on LA. I’m not saying everywhere in LA is bad, but it’s definitely a lot more dangerous overall than Boston is.
16. More Spanish in LA
Boston has a pretty big Spanish-speaking community, but in LA is dominant. Spanish-speaking people out number English 60 to 40, making English a secondary language here.
17. People are meaner in Boston
Every other city in the country is nicer in Boston, so this isn’t really saying much haha. While LA people are definitely nicer, I will say that they’re more materialistic in comparison.
18. Partying vs. Drinking
People in LA party harder than people in Boston, but Boston definitely could outdrink LA. It’s that very reason that I produced a song about Boston that indirectly referenced alcohol. This is probably because there’s just a lot more to do in LA, making day parties and night parties extremely common.
19. Everyone takes Public Transportation in Boston
Public Transportation, casually referred to as the T, is taken by everyone in Boston. In LA, there is a metro system, but it’s not taken that frequently and doesn’t have the spread that Boston does. This is probably why Lyft and Uber are more popular in LA and why there’s more traffic compared to Boston.
20. Curbs are color coded in LA
This will be extremely interesting to people in Boston, but in LA, each curb will have a red “coloring” where you can’t park. This makes parking a million times easier, compared to Boston which is the worst place to park in the country. LA still has confusing signs like every other city in the country, but having the curb color coded makes it a lot easier.
21. People enjoy life more in LA
Overall, I genuinely believe that people in LA enjoy their life and live a more fulfilled life than people in Boston. This obviously depends from person to person, but I feel like in LA people are more entrepreneurial and truly enjoy each day that life brings them. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always love Boston, but the way people live in LA is on a completely different level.
