Sun, Sand and Stereotypes

Angelenos are so familiar with and tired of the same old cliches about Southern California--how we’re so concerned with clothing and personal appearance, how we spend so much money on and time in our automobiles, how we live a sunny, provincial lifestyle, spending tons of dollars on clothing and housing and clothing. Everyone knows stereotypes are superficial. They’re also handy when you have little space to describe Los Angeles, San Francisco or other foreign cultures. Trouble is, as a new Bureau of Labor Statistics survey shows, stereotypes are often based on elements of truth. That’s why we chuckle.

Take San Francisco. Please. If life is so great in the fog, why is the big entertainment up there watching grapes grow? San Francisco-area residents, according to the new consumer spending survey, drown their regional misery in $771 per year of alcoholic beverages. That’s twice the $345 national average and the $337 in L.A., where everyone must carry his or her own water bottle. Angelenos are very busy spending $16,550 yearly on housing, a third above the national average. Not that it costs more to build houses without basements, but 16 million residents compete here for shelter, despite the cafes, palms and beaches.

The average L.A. household spends $2,450 on clothing, 35% more than nationally. Not that wearing skimpier clothing costs more, but not wearing the same Bolshevik overcoat for six months does require a more diverse wardrobe if you’re going to look mighty fine on TV or avoid being ignored. And without an NFL team, what’s the point of parkas? Like we really want to look like Chicagoans anyway, leaning into the winter winds. And what earthquake would bother with Detroit? Plus Los Angeles saves on firewood expenses. Oh, and windshield scrapers.

Or take automobiles, which Los Angeles-area residents do a lot. Our households spend on average $7,701 annually to keep our vehicles on the road, not necessarily moving, mind you, but on the road. The national average is only $7,215, but in other locales they don’t get SigAlerts and little lighted freeway signs with four-word warnings of imminent doom ahead.

Speaking of entertainment, Angelenos spend less on it than San Francisco residents, even with the grapes, but more than San Diego and Portland, wherever they are. Angelenos also spend less on tobacco but give more to charity. How is that provincial?

Now, about those Starbucks-sipping, salmon-eating, online-book-ordering nerds in rain-soaked Seattle....