Los Angeles is not the greatest city in the world. It is not the greatest city in America. It is not even the greatest city in the state of California. That last statement is arguable, perhaps, but let's for now say that San Francisco is a better city than Los Angeles.
Los Angeles, however, is all that America is and stands for. It is all that America has ever wanted to be. For better or for worse, Los Angeles is the city that most represents the third largest country in the world.
How? Let me make the argument.
1. It's on the right - er, left - side of the country.
One of the most prominent American philosophies in the 19th century was Manifest Destiny. It was our right, as America, as the example of democracy to the rest of the world, to have our country stretch from coast to coast. We achieved our goal, and we have the cities and the culture on both sides of the country to prove it.
New York was around when we were colonies, but Los Angeles blossomed when we became a Superpower.
2. It's the Entertainment Capital of the World.
Hollywood is the biggest exporter of American culture in the world. Every foreigner's idea of American culture can, at this point in time, be traced back to something they saw on an American show or in an American movie. We imitate American culture. We create American culture. We are American culture.
3. It's a city built for the automobile.
Los Angeles was largely developed after the invention of the car, which means it's particularly engineered for motorized vehicles. It's true that other countries have cars, and that this is not specifically an American invention. However, there's something very American, in its individualism, modernism, and excitement, in cars that makes it a symbol of the modern day United States.
4. It's sprawling.
This argument draws on both point #1 and point #3. The reason its sprawl is so American is because America itself is vast (see: manifest destiny), demanding as much space as possible to keep up with our stature as the World's Superpower. In this case, a city that most represents America would have to be equally large.
The reason it's able to be as sprawling as it is is because it was built after the invention of cars (see: automobiles as American).
5. Much of it is suburban, with sections of hip urbanity.
New York City doesn't have homes in the middle that take up an acre. Chicago doesn't have a neighborhood with houses with gated yard space. Beverly Hills, sections of West Hollywood, Bel Air, Hancock Park are all uniquely Los Angelean, suburban neighborhoods that sit right in the middle of the big city.
How do suburban neighborhoods in the middle of a city make it the realization of the American Dream? The answer goes back to the idea of the ideal American family. Two parents, at least two kids, a white picket fence, a dog, a car, and a yard to run around in. Los Angeles, with its sprawl, allows for the space required to have suburban neighborhoods in the middle of the second largest metropolitan area in the country.
6. The weather is perfect.
When you dream the American dream, are you freezing in the dead of winter? No. You are with your perfect American family enjoying some outdoor barbecue by the pool or laying out on the beach. Los Angeles offers both of these options, at almost any time of year.
7. Our politics are not as progressive as we pretend they are.
For a nation that prides itself on offering opportunity to everybody, that prides itself on being able to allow for a rags-to-riches path to wealth that many other countries do not, the US is a country that hates taxes that specifically provide for these opportunities and often bedevils the less fortunate as lazy and amoral. Los Angeles is no different. Stories about a boss that votes straight Democrat but pays his assistant $22,000 a year for 60-hour work weeks is par for the course. Los Angeles pats itself on the back for being ahead of the curve in social progress, but it still lives in a state that voted down gay marriage.
8. It's a melting pot.
America also claims to be a city of immigrants. This is true of all major American metropolitan areas, but since it's also true of Los Angeles it deserves to be part of my argument.
Some other cities in America claim a few of these arguments for themselves as well. Houston is sprawling. San Francisco is on our side of the country. San Diego has perfect weather. Los Angeles, however, is all of these things, and that's what makes it so beautifully American.
For better, or for worse.
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