In Phoenix with my friends one weekend, my friends and I encountered a “No Guns” sign on an entrance to a Denny’s. Exactly how much gunplay was there to warrant that sign?
Which leads me to a question I received last week from an aspiring actor: “Is LA as dangerous as everyone makes it sound? When I research the place all I hear about is gangs, etc.?”
Allow me to bust some myths:
Myth: Earthquakes make LA a dangerous place to live.
Fact: The last time there were fatalities caused by an earthquake here was 17 years ago, when 33 people died in the Northridge quake. Here’s what’s happened elsewhere since then: Hurricane Katrina: 1836 deaths. 9/11: 2996 deaths. Summer temps in Chicago in 1995: 750 deaths. The Oklahoma City bombing: 168. The Joplin, MO tornado: 154. Hurricane Ivan: 124. Virginia Tech massacre: 33.
Myth: LA has the worst traffic.
Fact: I grew up in NY, went to college in DC, grad school in Atlanta and lived in Pittsburgh and Dallas. LA has the best traffic of anywhere I’ve lived. The experts agree. It’s not traffic here so much as distance. LA isn’t a city, it’s a county – 60 square miles. If you need to be somewhere 30 miles away, and the roads are jammed, allow for time.
Myth: Angelenos are shallow.
Fact: They’re not.
Myth: Everyone is an actor.
Fact: True, unless by “everyone” you include my mailman, newspaper delivery guy, physician, grocer, car wash attendants, accountant, my niece’s first-grade teacher and dudes selling fruit on freeway offramps. Even if there were a million actors here, which there aren’t, LA has a population of 9.8 million.
Myth: The gangs run this town.
Fact: I thought it was the Jews. Seriously, I’ve never seen a gang member here. The only place I’d advise staying away from is Dodger Stadium. When that Giants fan was beaten into a coma recently, it wasn’t so much a question of “why,” but instead “why did it take so long to finally happen?” Stay away from there. And by the way, the number of “No Guns” signs I’ve seen in LA: 0.
Myth: It’s always 72 degrees here.
Fact: Not quite. The only reason people love the “change of seasons” back in New York is because after a winter of temps in the teens, or a summer of unbearable humidity and the engulfing smell of hobo piss, anything else is a relief. It’s warm sometimes and other times perfectly cool here, especially by the water, where I don’t even have A/C. There’s no humidity and no mosquitoes, either.
Bottom line: people make assumptions about Los Angeles without ever having visited here. I don’t know any women with fake breasts (or at least no more than I did in New York), or people who do coke or anyone remotely phony. And I have no reason to lie about any of that. I’m just a very happy actor living in a town I really love. Feel free to join me.
