There are definitely days I miss those Los Feliz sunsets.

I recently listened to a hilarious and incredibly relatable podcast about LA vs. NYC on my new favorite blog by Garance Doré. The episode featured a number of people from her studio who had experiences in both cities, regardless of where they were originally from.

Aside from the obvious struggles that every current or former Angeleno can relate to like traffic or attempting to maintain a long distance friendship from the West to East Side...the conversation really got me thinking.

So, I've finally come to the conclusion that I moved away from LA because I was living there 15 years too early. Los Angeles is a beautiful, magical, and incredibly complicated city that I simply wasn't ready for. I couldn't appreciate it because I wasn't ready to totally relax just yet—or "fall into a slow coma" as Garance Doré's friends would say.

Without a point of true comparison, it's hard to appreciate what you have. What I'm trying to say is...when it's 70 degrees and sunny 360 days out of the year, you'll never truly understand Summer Fridays or why they are so amazing.

Before my big move to New York, I was absolutely in love with my–spacious by NYC standards—studio apartment in Los Feliz. I literally woke up to birds chirping outside my window, and drank my morning coffee looking at the gorgeous Bougainvillea vines that grew on my neighbor's building. I walked around my quiet neighborhood on weekends, and sat and read in my favorite cafés. The Griffith Observatory was less than a mile away and I drove or hiked (okay...the hiking part happened 1 time) to enjoy an unobstructed, gorgeous view of the whole city.

When I was living on the West Side right after college, I could stop by Santa Monica and walk the shoreline whenever I felt like it. I drove down PCH with all windows down on more than once occasion. I'm not trying to convince you I was an LA-cliché—these were actual activities (among many other less exciting ones, like sitting in 2 hours of traffic each day) that I enjoyed during my time in the city.

And yet, I felt isolated.

Something about the city always felt disjointed to me. Not saying LaLaLand was the perfect representation...but the movie did manage to capture what I like to think of as LA's magical melancholy.

In my experience, it's a beautiful...yet lonely city. And although I'm sure New York has the potential to make a person feel just as alone, there is something about the energy here that remains unparalleled.

Although my time here has been relatively short, I've become another Angeleno to fall in love with NYC and I'm excited to build a life here.

—

City Guide: Los Angeles vs. New York