A New Yorker’s Guide to Surviving LA

Eliza VanCort
6 min readJul 6, 2021

(And why states are like dating.)

I had only been in LA once before when I stepped off the plane a few weeks ago, bedecked in black head to toe, feeling a proper level of New York constant low-level angst and anxiety.

People often talk about “the coasts” and how they differ from the flyover states. After spending a week in LA LA land, I’ve concluded this is most definately not true. Lumping these states together is like saying a sleek black cat looking at you with mild disdain, and a happy go lucky labradoodle who loves everyone instantly, are exactly the same because, well, they’re both animals.

Here’s an example. In LA if you say you’re stressed out, people will look at you with pity, then bombard you with all the things they do to stay absolutely utterly chill. (Think words like: “Self-care” “gluten-free” and “meditation.”) In New York, if you don’t say you possess at least a low level of anxiety, people think you’re repressing your feelings and may offer you the name of a good therapist.

For a New Yorker, traveling to LA can be a shock. If you’d like to prepare yourself, here are five things I wish I had known before traveling to LA LA land, and my thoughts on how the states stack up against each other. To be clear, I’m talking about the more affluent part of LA and comparing it…

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Eliza VanCort

Eliza Van Cort, a communication strategist, is an international speaker, media commentator, bestselling author and parent of four.