After months of fruitless job-hunting in Los Angeles, Kerensa Cadenas
landed her dream job. There was just one catch: It was in New York,
that East Coast city often stereotyped as a taco-less wasteland without
height restrictions. “I’m excited for my new job,” says Cadenas, a
writer who is moving across the country this month after spending the
past several years in L.A. She’s nervous about the lifestyle change,
but, she says, “If I can find a gourmet grocery store where attractive
strangers hang out at 2 p.m. on a weekday, that might help.” She landed
an apartment in Brooklyn, which she’s heard is similar to the Eastside
of Los Angeles.
Unlikely
though it may seem, Cadenas is part of a trend: Angelenos have always
loved visiting New York, but lately they have embraced the city as a
place to live. According to Census data, between 2008 and 2012 almost as
many Angelenos moved to New York as New Yorkers moved to Los Angeles.
Southern
Californians are overcoming their fears of subway germs, and reversing
the American directive to go west. They’re finding that New York is more
than a capitalist prison that runs on the fumes of the finance industry
and nostalgia for CBGB. It now offers many of the lifestyle amenities
that their hometown has boasted for decades.
In which the LA Times mocks that NYT piece about New Yorkers flocking to Los Angeles: “New York is a livable place. Who knew?” (via LA Times)