The Many Faces of Los Angeles

Preface is for

The Many Faces of Los Angeles”

One morning I awoke.  It was a strange morning, every morning was strange.  I woke up, I got out of bed, and I got ready for a brand new day.  But something was different.  This wasn’t the place where I was used to waking up in the morning.  This was not my home and this was not even my city.

Last year I remember I had the same experience.  To think about it harder, I had the same experience the year before that.  Including high school and college, this was the ninth different place I have lived in the past twenty years. 

This was my experience about a year ago.  I realized that I had spent time throughout many different areas in the greater Los Angeles area.  One thing that I noticed is that many different subcultures can be found in different communities throughout the Southern California area.  This has provided for a unique perspective of the society in which we live. Through my travels I have learned that each location of society and subset of society has its own personality and character.

It was hard when I first entered high school. Although I had been living in the same city for nearly my entire educational years, the dynamics were far different.  I did well in high school and I made friends easily, but it was an adjustment that took a little time.  If I wanted to succeed scholastically and socially I had to rely on myself and nobody else.

From the perspective of a fifteen year old freshman in high school, this subculture of which I was a part was all I ever had ever known to be normal. Like many, I didn’t put much thought into, and unconsciously assumed, that where I lived had the same social dynamics of any other place.  I remember the social structure and academic structure worked together independently in some respects and in unison in other respects.  Those who chose to succeed academically were able to as long as they put in the effort.  I had no other basis than to assume that this wasn’t typical of the country and of other areas throughout Southern California.

The social structure involved those who made it their own business to take school very seriously and those who didn’t.  Some of those who made their mind up to succeed in academia did little else but go to school and go home and study.  Others studied very diligently and also had active social lives. There were parties every weekend in various parts of the small town and some participated in these social outlets in addition to pursuing excellence in academia.  Moreover, there was a social system that included those who were involved in the student government, those who played football and other sports, and those who focused there extra-curriculum activities such as acting and various social clubs.

Looking back at high school, I can recognize some social nuances which were typical of schools throughout Southern California and some that were unique.  I had always assumed that the social structures of high schools throughout the greater Los Angeles area were similar.  There were the students that took their academia very seriously and those that did not.  Furthermore, there were those involved in sports and those involved with student government.  At my high school there were also those who succeeded in academia and who also lived an active social life.

Through my travels and studies, I have learned what I took for granted as typical of all high schools, was actually very unique.  In other schools throughout Southern California the social structure was far different.  Those who achieved in academia are often social outcasts and those who socialize do so in a different manner.  There is a very active drug culture and few take their education seriously.

After high school graduation I went to college.  This, in itself, is an avenue which is neglected by all large portion of society outside certain, more upscale communities.  This venture is utilized by few and is a mystery to most.  College was an awakening for me.  Like most of my friends there, it was my first chance of independence and freedom.  Many of the students, most of whom were from a higher financial bracket than that what is typical of society, were not ready for their freedom.  Among a sizable segment of this population, there was drug and alcohol abuse.  Unlike those in the city and more economically depressed areas, college students typically work part-time, receive money from their parents, and receive substantial financial aid to pay for their education.  Therefore, they have money for drugs and alcohol almost whenever they want.  Hard drugs are not common, but some drank or smoke marijuana on a daily basis.

There are other idiosyncrasies in the college environment.  Although there is a substantial amount of drug and alcohol use, the student body is much more serious about their education and work than the populace at large.  Those who make it to college are more serious to start because it means that they took school seriously when they were young.  Moreover, this same commitment to education crosses other boundaries including their work ethic and their avoidance of crime. 

Colleges from all over Southern California have distinctive characteristics that vary from one another.  Most notably are the differences that can be found in the lifestyles of those who live on or near campus, and those who commute.  The two college experiences are dramatically different.  If was able to participate in both segments of the college population.  I attended The University of California at Santa Barbara and I attended Cal Poly Pomona State College in the suburbs of Southern California.  The two experiences were distinctly different from one another and both lend themselves to interesting analysis.

Those who live on campus share the experience of living with new people who they never have met.  Moreover, the social dynamics allow for social and emotional growth.  In most instances, college students who live on campus with their friends enjoy an active social life.  For the age group itself, it is typical to drink and try different drugs.  Throughout colleges in different parts of Southern California, parties occur every weekend and they are typical even during the middle of the week.  Moreover, after school and studying each day, many students drink and do drugs on a nightly basis in smaller parties which consisted of small groups of friends.

Those who live at home, or commute to college, have a dramatically difference college experience.  They usually work, oftentimes full-time.  Moreover they do not live in a high concentration of young people.  Therefore, parties are not common and it is necessary to utilize other venues for socialization.  Typically, this grouping of college students do not drink or use drugs as frequently.  This is because they are not in the middle of such a long concentration of late teens and early twenties.  Therefore, they sacrifice a socialization scenario that can be found in no other place than our universities. 

The educational experience of those who commute to college is much more professional and involves a business-like approach rather than a social approach.  This living situation and social situation is at odds with that of those who live on campus and go to college.  Those living on campus, regardless of whether or not they work, enjoy a four or five year vacation for their time throughout college. The social opportunities are abundant and it is possible to achieve academic success while at the same time living and active social life.

Usually, since the drinking age is twenty-one, those who party and drink do so away from bars and nightclubs.  After they turn twenty-one they utilize this social outlet. Therefore, those who live on campus have a high concentration of house parties. Those who commute to college generally are an older group of people because they spend time at city colleges while they work, so by the time they enter a four-year university, they are older.  Thus, since they are older they frequent bars and nightclubs instead of house parties.

Yet, the social experience of on-campus living is still completely relinquished from those who have to commute to college, usually due to economic reasons.  In four-year universities, where students live together in dorms and apartments, there is massive concentration of young people.  In the dorms, everybody goes to college and is around the same age.  In apartments nearby to campus most neighbors are college students and around the same age. 

Thus, the social outlets available in college are tremendous.  It is unlike any other situation as an opportunity to make friends and enjoy a unique social atmosphere.  Those who live off-campus and those who never go to college, miss out on a social opportunity unique in-itself.  It is a venue for socialization as well as academia and work.  It can be described as high school in the Bahamas. Those who forego college rob themselves of a unique social experience.  They skip the four or five year party in favor entering the office and working world immediately after high school.

I did not finish my college education so I went home to live with my parents and found work.  I plan to go back to UC Santa Barbara to finish my education when I am ready.  However, upon return to work at first experienced culture shock or what can be understood as reversed culture-shock.  I was removed from college life so it was where I first discovered the differences in the subcultures of society which have become to fascinate me.  Gone were the weekend parties and the social opportunities available in a college town.  When I went home from work, I went home to my family.  When I woke up in the morning, I was alone with my family.  I could no longer enjoy the abundant amount of friends which I had in college.  I now lived my life in relative solitude compared to what I had become accustomed.  No longer could I walk down the street half a block to find a party or bar populated with like-minded people of my comparative age.  If I wanted to socialize, I had to find other venues.

When I got home from college, I went back to work.  However, since I was about seven classes short of a degree, I found trouble finding work that would suite my level of education.  I applied at many office jobs but was always turned away.  I had returned home because of my massive credit card debt and student loans which had grown past an amount I was able to pay.  I interviewed for a half a dozen office jobs in my career field, but was turned away.  The common response was to ask why I didn’t complete my education.  They usually recommended I return for an interview upon completion of my college education.

Therefore, I went back to work.  I could not find office work, so I got a job delivering pizza.  It was not an especially high paying job and there was little room for advancement, but I needed the work and it paid a salary on which I could live.

Working delivering pizzas I began to notice the different subcultures of Los Angeles which will be the basis of this book.  I got up every morning and went through my established routine.  I would get up, shave, brush my teeth, shower, and put on clean clothes.  I would get myself some breakfast and have a couple cups of coffee.  However, it was very different from what I had become accustomed.  There were people everywhere that I went, but it almost struck me as odd that they were all different ages.  Of course, I understood that varying age groups and social groups are typical, yet somehow I still felt isolated in this new culture.

When I went home from work, if I wanted to socialize I had few opportunities.  While I was in college, I could just walk down the street a block or so and I would find friends my own age to shoot a game of billiards with or to have a few beers.  Now it was very different.  If I wanted to find a social outlet, I had to find one suitable.  In my city there were coffee shops and bars.  Other than work itself, there were no other social opportunities available.  In college, where ever I went there were people around my own age.  Where I lived now, there were people of all different age groups and all different levels of society.  There was a coffee shop a few miles down the road which was well within driving distance.  However, I didn’t particularly enjoy the subculture of this social outlet.  Sometimes I would go there to have a couple cups of coffee while I smoked a few cigarettes and read a book.  But those who frequented it were not those with whom I would really like to associate.  It was a peaceful group, but they were sort of strange and they had a lot of weird tattoos and piercings.

So, if I wanted friends I had to find a different place.  It was a small town, but everybody including myself had a car.  There were few bars and I had to find one that I liked.  I was not especially into dancing or the club seen.  Moreover, unlike at college, I couldn’t go to a bar with my friends.  Instead, I had to go alone and make friends at the bar by myself.  I found a bar a few miles away and was smart enough to take a taxi cab round trip to avoid a DUI, or worse, a drunk driving accident.

This social outlet was far different than those available in college.  It was hard to find a bar that I liked anywhere near where I lived.  Moreover, I had to go by myself and meet up with any friends I might make at the bar.  Since I was going alone, I had to find a smaller place or else I would get lost in the crowd and drink by myself in a small corner.  In addition, I had to find a bar that was close enough to my house for me to pay cab fare.  I had to interest in hanging out in the city anyway, so I was content to find one in the suburbs.

It seemed strange when I finally found one that I wanted to frequent.  Everybody was different ages.  Also, they all lived in various parts of the city and they hung out every night at the same place content to drink until closing times and return the next night to do the same.  I ended up making four of five friends at the bar and I was sociable with the rest of the patrons.  Usually it was the same group of people at the bar every night.  I went to the same bar three or four nights a week.  It was within reasonable distance from my house, so cab fare was only about twenty-five dollars round trip.

There was not much to do at the bar other than sit around and hang out with my drinking buddies.  I found a small bar so I could sit down at the bar and make friends with whomever I was sitting near.  There was no DJ and no dance floor, but there was a jukebox and I was content to sit at the bar, have a few drinks, and listen to my favorite songs, and shoot a few games of billiards.

As an unmarried, ex-college student in his low to mid-twenties, there was not much else to do in my home town other than hang out at the bar with my friends.  In college I would sometimes hang out at the coffee shop and play chess with my friends.  But, here, in the suburbs, it was a different social environment that did not lend itself to such activities.  Basically, when I came home from college my social life consisted of little more than work and hanging out at the bar.

Also noticeable, apparently for all newly ex-high school and ex-college students was the lost sense of seasonality involved with completion of your education.  This is typical.  Since people work year-round, they have no sense of summer and no sense of fall.  There is no sense of vacation and there is no sense of beginning a new year.  Although a much greater level of freedom is available from being an adult, working, and living on a higher financial level, something is lost.

I, if you haven’t guessed, am a recovering alcoholic which has led me to my current place in society.  I am currently living in a halfway house for individuals with a history of alcohol and drug abuse.  As such, I have taken advantage of the unique opportunity to tour much of the greater Los Angeles area via more than a half-dozen sober-living and half-way houses.  I have lived all around in and around the outskirts of the city.  Moreover, throughout my travels, I have lived in the up-scale suburbs, the affluent college town of Santa Barbara, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Pasadena, among various other places.  I have developed an outlook towards life that there are many unique attributes of society to be found in different economic, social, and geographical subset of the population of Southern California.  These differences can only be recognized from an outsider whose view of the different subcultures of society is not tainted by a predisposition to the only subculture they have ever known.  It is through this study and insight that the premise and theses of this book are based.

The different subsets of society take on many different manifestations.  There are differences associated with economic, social, geographical, educational, and vocational statutes.  Moreover, different subcultures have evolved that include differences in social interaction, linguistics and language patterns, and general patterns of society. 

In this book I will be discussing the knowledge of an outsider that has been immersed in various independent and unique subcultures of the greater Los Angles area.  It is from this perspective that I have viewed the subcultures of Los Angeles.  My studies began with first-hand experience of the culture of Los Angeles.  They have included time spent in an upscale suburban area during my time in high school and upon my return home after college.  In addition, they have also included my time spent in the affluent college town of Isla Vista at The University of California at Santa Barbara.   Moreover, I have spent time in halfway houses and sober-living houses throughout the Southern California area.

I noticed interesting patterns of culture in the different areas where I have lived.  These included economic, vocational, educational, and social differences.  In addition, there are also differences in patterns of language, or sociolinguistics, crime and social deviances, and the different opportunities for varying lifestyles in different socio-economic and geographical areas.

In addition to the knowledge I have gained from experiencing these different subcultures, I have also been involved with in depth study of sociology, theories of sociology, and the sociology of Los Angeles.  Through these same basic schools of thought, theories of sociology, and personal interaction among the subcultures, the society of Los Angeles can be better understood.

Certain theories will be espoused and advocated throughout this book.  These theories and schools of thought will all be considered.  The limitations and merits of each will discussed.  A primary background on how these theories relate to each topic will be debated.  However, in addition to a sociological discussion on the lifestyles and subcultures of Los Angeles, I would like to look at the city from the point of views of an economist and from the viewpoint of those with no formal schooling in sociology.  Moreover, I will offer my own theories in the description and analysis of the society of the greater Los Angeles area.

In addition to a socio-psychological look at the culture of Los Angeles, I would also like to discuss the differences along geographical and vocational lines.  The differences along geographical lines are plain to see in the lifestyle that they live.  Also, the differences along vocational lines, specifically, between the chronically unemployed, blue-collar workers, white-collar workers, and the affluent are clear from a preliminary glance and will be discussed in depth.  However, I would like to discuss the reasons and functionality behind these differences as well as the reasons and functionalities among the other aspects of culture in the greater Los Angeles area.

The focus on the differences in the different vocational groupings needs to be analyzed from a study of their lifestyles, their work-ethic, and the plans and goals that they have and have had for their future.  Instead of viewing these differences as a given, it is important to view in what manner individuals that have led to their present circumstances.  Why are those who are chronically unemployed?  Why does somebody have to settle for a job delivering pizzas, like I did, or a job waiting tables?  And, why does somebody achieve success in the white-collar world?  I would like to study the systematic elements of society which shape and mold the lives of these different groupings.  I would also like to examine how these systems are shaped by those involved in the system.  Moreover, I would like to discuss the opportunity for the “American dream” for these subsets of the population and discuss if the hope for the “American dream” actually still exists as it is often espoused.

Do people shape society or does society shape people?  What opportunities are available among different subcultures of society?  And, to what level are those in our society available to achieve social and economic success? How do the constraints apparent in different levels of society help or hinder those who are part of these subcultures in their economic and social success?  These questions, along with others, are what I hope to explore in this book.

Among the society of the greater Los Angeles area, the different subcultures act and interact with each other to form the society in which we live.  The level that these subcultures empower or disempower those living with in society in general and, more specifically, the different subcultures of Los Angeles should also be scrutinized.  The sociological background arguments, the theories of sociology, and the schools of thought of sociology should be examined.  However, a neo-economical viewpoint as well as a first-hand account of the subcultures of society and the sociology of the greater Los Angeles should be discussed.  Studies in this area are pertinent for a full and comprehensive understanding of the city of Los Angeles.

I was unable to complete college, mostly for financial reasons and an over-active social life.  I completed four years of college, but fell sort of my degree.  In college I majored in Business-
Economics with a minor in Philosophy.  This book is a sociological study of the microcosms that can be found in the greater Los Angeles area.  Although I have only taken a couple of classes on sociology, I have a plethora of first-hand knowledge on the many subcultures that can be found.  In addition, I have engaged in extensive research in sociology and the society of Southern California.  The different subcultures that I have experienced first-hand have inspired me to write this book. I found the subcultures to be fascinating and they motivated my research.  The summation of my personal experience and my research as led to this treatise where there can be found a comprehensive study of the many subcultures throughout the greater Los Angeles area.