TruBrit

yep i hear you on all accounts....i have to say though with reference to point #5 that most of my UK friends feel the same way about American culture...they simply don't care.

Tracym

Seems fair enough to me. Why should Brits (or whoever) care about US culture - unless they want to come here, or find it interesting.

fiestada

I think LA is known for burgers. I see what you mean about it being widespread. But if you choose to, you definitely don't have to go to a burger type place.

real Mexican everywhere I think. regional Mex. Persian . Armenian. Central American. South American not as common, or African. Even a few Indonesian restaurants. Filipino in Cerritos etc. Possibly the best Taiwanese/Chinese/HK food in the Western World, definitely the U.s. in the San Gabriel Valley. try the towns of San Gabriel and Alhambra. seriously, forget Chinatown. I believe a small concentration of Indonesian in West Covina. Indian is pretty common. Thai Town in Hollywood. Sawtelle in West LA is a really good area for Japanese.
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/10/0...gewanted=print



San Gabriel Valley Chinese:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/510836

try Artesia for Indian where the little India is

there is a section of Brookhurst st in Anaheim known as little Arabia.



Best ethnic food in LA http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/478632
a few of the posts:

Good grief, that's like asking someone to pick which of the senses he likes best.

There's Koreatown; Thai Town and Thai Gulch; Little Tokyo; East LA; Glendale's Armenian community; San Pedro's dwindling Italian area; Little Saigon in Westminster and Garden Grove; the Cambodian area of Long Beach; the Caribbean area of Inglewood; Little Ethiopia on Fairfax; the Salvadorean restaurants in the northeast San Fernando Valley; Mexican absolutely all over everywhere; Peruvian food in Van Nuys and its environs... I mean, come on. LA is all about great, cheap ethnic food, the way SF is all about farm-to-table Cal cuisine.

If I absolutely had to pick, it would be having Chinese food -- and especially dim sum -- in the San Gabriel Valley.

Permalink | Reply
Das Ubergeek Jan 12, 2008 12:31PM

Don't forget that in addition to Little Tokyo, there's a large concentration of Japanese both in Sawtelle and in Torrance and Gardena.

While Glendale has the largest concentration, Hollywood has its share of Armenian as well.

Vietnamese are in large concentrations in Garden Grove and Westminster as well as SGV and Van Nuys and Reseda.

The Filipino population seems to be huddled around places like Eagle Rock and Cerritos. Speaking of Cerritos, that's where you'll find a large Indian population.

There's a large amount of Salvadorean places around Melrose Hill just west of Downtown.

China and Mexico are large enough and deep enough culturally where you really have to divide them up into Cantonese, Sichuan, Chiu Chow, etc as well as Oaxacan, DF, Yucatecan, etc.

Asking which is the best ethnic food is like picking which supermodel is the hottest. They're all supermodels; it comes down to personal preference.


New to the SF valley: What are the best places to eat
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/445939

kiriyama

My culture shocks:

- Distances to places. A 30minute drive to work is not considered a long drive, it is normal around here.
- Lack of public transportation.
- Turkey at Thanks Giving, but NOT Christmas.
- Working Conditions; Over time is almost mandatory and never noticed. Employer expectations for holidays/vacation - Christmas is a total non-event, you only get Christmas Day off and other days are frowned upon. No days off for Easter. People don't generally take more than a few days off at a time.
- Driving - for a country that drives everywhere, the quality of the drivers is awful. No one around here (in NC) indicates, and the license process is a joke.
- Lack of protocol - people are very direct and will ask what are considered personal questions in the UK. No pleases or thank yous. No one acknowledges you when you open a door for them, or let them cross the street. Bad at queueing. Generally bad table manners (to a Brit like me). Different ways of eating (when they can't cut with the fork, then put fork in 'normal' left hand, cut with knife, then put down the knife and swap fork back into right hand - weird!).
- The level of national pride. Singing the national anthem at every sports event.
- Lack of exposure to the rest of the world, specifically on TV.
- Sausages and bacon. Cheese. General food differences.
- Tax being added at the checkout/register.
- Tiping
- People not understanding what I am saying. Most people would say I speak with a very typical English accent, no real regional dialect. However, I usually have to repeat myself several times for people to understand me, especially on the telephone but also in person. It started off as something that amused me, but it has started to bother me a great deal.
- The amount of options for everything. Just give me a ham and cheese sandwich!
- Wastefulness in general, amount of trash, sprinklers on every lawn, etc.

Having said all that, I really like it here and I have been living here 2 years now. These are all small things that shook or shock me occassionally, but the great things far outweigh the bad.

Janek66

Great list! Sums it up just about right. But I have one more. People rarely if ever walk their dogs. In fact, most people keep their dogs outside Poor things.

TruBrit

they do here too...so cruel imo...the temps here esp in the summer are unbearable and what do the pet owners do > shave their yard dogs coats which only exposes the pets tender skin to the harsh conditions...so very cruel all the yard dog business

Janek66

OMG they shave them????? Here its the winter thats a problem. In one of the other threads I said we had 36 inches of snow over one weekend. But its the ice storms.....these poor dogs are out there with the freezing rain falling on em and the ground slicker than teflon.

TruBrit

well they shave them in the summer mths, guess they think it's helping keep their dogs cool

no snow here thank goodness but yes we have the occasional overnight temps which drop to below 32f for a few hrs however it's the summer that's the hardest on the poor yard dogs...and not just one dog in a garden but up to 3 big dogs all going crazy confined to a yard and never walked :curse:

Janek66

I used to live in Phoenix and was horrified that people kept their dogs outside with little or no shade.

Steerpike

Racism exists in both countries, in different ways/areas.

In the UK, where I originally grew up (North West), racism is rampant. I argue with my brother (who still lives 'up north') all the time about this - he being resentful of the large Pakistani immigration that has occurred. He's quick to point out that he doesn't dislike any individuals, but he resents the way the 'culture' has been changed by this large influx, and the way the local and national govt. has bent over backwards to accommodate the newcomers, etc. From what I can gather, his sentiments are not uncommon. In the south/London (where I lived before coming here) I encountered much less racism - one might say, cynically, that you can afford to be more tolerant when the realities are not quite so 'in your face'.

In the US, where I live now (SF Bay Area) I'd say there is almost no racism; in fact there is incredible support for diversity (I'm in a 'mixed race' relationship myself, and it is of no consequence). But when I travel to the 'south', or many places 'back east', I encounter strong racism, mainly against the Black population - not to mention sexism!

surly

You'd have to wonder why anyone would want to move to a country like that.

Xebedee

Probably because history has created an aura about this country.
Or that might be the sewerage works down by the bridge.

surly

Be skeptical of the septical.

nethead

The OP was regarding what things in the US people had found to be a culture shock PERSONALLY. Just because someone else didn't have the same feeling doesn't mean the other persons feeling or thoughts are wrong FFS, the constant need to question or somehow prove anothers' feelings wrong is bloody annoying. It's not a competition.

TruBrit

i know but it continues to follow