Ducati Monster Forum

Not sure if you remember me.
I visited you a couple weeks ago with my SO and 2 dogs. We were on our way to Australia from Canada.

Just wanted to say that we really enjoyed our 3 days with you. You weather is quite nice and your people are.... um.. diverse.  ;)
We spent most of our time on your beaches and in your off leash areas. Manhattan beach was nice as was the off leash area in Santa Monica. We stayed at the La Quinta Inn which was also fantastic. Zero complaints.

We even had the opportunity to spend a couple hours on one of your freeways during rush hour. Fantastic  [thumbsup]
Did I mention the weather.

Oh and we even got really lost and spent some time in compton. Lets just say I have never felt so Canadian in my life. I was glad it was daylight.

I do have a question - Why were there so many cars without license plates? I mean lots of cars with out license plates  ???

Hmmm what else can I say. I really do wish I had more time with you LA. Your citizens are far more friendly than I was led to believe. Thanks for a great visit.  [beer]

Sincerely,
Gibbs.

p.s I have a prepaid phone card with 8 bucks left on it that is useless here in OZ. PM me and it's yours.

p.p.s. LAX could use a facelift.

1-Lots of new cars
2-Lots of people that think it's cool to not put on their plates
3-Lots of reasons for me to pull people over

Compton actually gets a bad rap IMO (get it, compton, rap?)  It's not nearly as bad as other parts of the city, it just got a terrible name from the Gangsta rap of the early-mid 90s.  It's not beverly hills, but it ain't as scary as we would be lead to believe.

Gibbs,

Dude..... you were two blocks away from a personal Concierge........

Glad you had a good visit....... sounds like your dog liked it too [thumbsup]

Catch you next time ???

Those are cars changing ownership.

..some of them even w/o the previous owners' permission.

Gus would have even taken you to Ross for pants, had you forgot to bring some.

[leo]

The only cars changing ownership that shouldn't have plates are new cars. Used cars retain the same plates 99.99% of the time.

It is as dangerous as you are lead to believe. Try rolling around there at night.

I have.  My girlfriend's family lives in nearby Gardena.  Compton is not a great town, but it is a strong family area, with fewer apartments than other areas.  I'm not saying it's great, but there are far worse places in SoCal than Compton.

It's not as dangerous as it was in 2006 when it hit #1 on the most dangerous cities in the US. Now it's only 14th after the LASD flooded it with Deps....but still #1 in Southern California.

Can I find a worse street or apartment complex in another City? Yep. Stats wise is Compton one of the most dangerous places in the US to live in, drive through, or walk around? Yep.

Combining your view of Compton and your (smart BTW) posts about saving up for a home...I bet you could buy in Compton right now. :D

Aside from the vanity plates, which remain with the owner... and this is the Land of the Vain. (i'm one to talk, being that i have vanity plates.)

Are there really that many plateless vehicles around here?  I know there are tons of cars that still don't have the (mandated) front plate, but i don't notice all that many cars without any form of registration. (Of course, any percentage is going to be represented largely in a city with this many cars.)

Sadly enough, I probably still couldn't...

My hope is to be ready by 2010 (when I see the market bottoming out) and hopefully I'll have ~15% by then.

+1 with a relocation to NorCal and should be able to get into someting really nice and really far from Compton.

Huh? ??? Are you saying daryl should move to norcal, or that you guys are?

Hate to break it to you, but if you think Culver City prices are bad the Bay isn't going to be much better unless you're way out from the bay area proper.

that's not really true.  i was looking at some fairfax and san anselmo (marin) houses this week that were both very nice and much more affordable than my street.  and a good friend just bought a sizeable 2bd house with a yard, garage and other stuff in SF for 600.

Northbay doesn't count.  Because of chokepoints due to the bridges commuting from northbay is equivalent to doing so from IE->LA, in other words, not desireable.

Sorry man. It was a little crazy with the Missus and the dogs there.  [beer]

Lots. Funny thing is they always had a dealer advertisement on them so I figured that had something to do with it.

Oh ya and LA wins the Least-Likely-to-Use-Your-Indicator-Award.   [clap]

someone needs a hug.  ;)

have you lived there?  i have.  i used to commute from tiburon to sf every day.  it was not only desireable, it was the best commute i've ever had.  and before tiburon my pops used to live in san anselmo; he also commuted to sf every day.  10-15 minutes to larkspur and you're on the ferry.  30 wonderful minutes later you're downtown.  marin definitely counts. 

hell, ppl commute from walnut creek/contra costa county.  that's a hell of a lot further away and there's no ferry option unless you detour into oakland.

If they've got the dealer placard where the plate goes then it's just a new car, plates haven't come yet.

Biggest new car market in the world, i'd imagine (because we each need to take our own car wherever we go, in case there's somewhere better to be at any given moment).

Yep.

There was something of a joke there knowing Daryl's LA allegiance  :P. I wasn't implying that anybody should move to NorCal though it is a serious option for Courtney and me. Other than that it was pretty much just a general statement based on some recent house hunting. The housing slump has not hit both areas equally and I have been able to find many more house that I would consider deals in the Bay Area than the LA area. It isn't only an issue of price but value and I tend to think the better deals are in NorCal right now.

AT&T has a headquarters in San Ramon so that would be the center from which one possible radius extends. Courtney use to live in Walnut Creek and commute on BART into downtown and loved it much more than living in the city.

All this is really just in contrast to the thread being about some of the observations about LA. I really like the WESTSIDE but I just don't see the upside to buying a house here until things change significantly more. Anybody want to explain W. Adams @ Crensahw/Adams to Courntey the next time they see her? We looked at a house over there that is pretty nice if you don't take into acount the surrounding area. She wants to go back this weekend and explore the area some more. I think we will be doing it during the day  ;D

Lived? no. Commuted from? yes.  I dated girls from Cotati and Novato.  I didn't do the ferry thing, maybe that was the problem? *shrug*

novato is way up there but people do it.  cotati is a Santa Rosa suburb, rather than bay area.  or 'bay area'.  all i'm sayin' is the places that are normally considered 'marin' are both very desirable places to live and commutable to the city. 

 [thumbsup] Thanks. That answers my question. It was driving me nuts.