i avoid LA like the plague, although there are some very good restaurants there. i have to go out there for business usually a couple times a year. i actually don't hate LA at all, just large swathes of it. everything's so spread out and you have to go with a local to find the really cool stuff and cool people. it's actually just like South Florida, there's tons of people from every everywhere else but there, which is cool sometimes, but it tends to drive all the things worth caring about into isolated little pockets while the majority or land is covered with familiar sprawl like fast food restaurants and shopping centers. but when you find the awesome stuff, it can be truly awesome.