Where You From? LA.
How one simple question can lead to so many different outcomes.
Back before my world expanded beyond Los Angeles County, when people asked where I was from, it wasn’t small talk, and it wasn’t really an icebreaker.
Then, I went South on the 5 to Sunny San Diego, and suddenly, people really wanted to know where I was from.
I was in College now. Tens of thousands of people from all over the world. Only 2 hours from home, but somehow felt enormously more distant.
The where are you from’s came with genuine curiosity and smiles.
LA.
For some responses, it was almost like you could hear the Randy Newman through the lighting of their eyes.
Have you seen any… CELEBRITIES!?!???
I mean… yeah, not like every day.
I just met you. Relax.
To them, I came from La La Land. At any given point in time, Leonardo Dicaprio could be in the same oceanside coffeeshop catching up with Kobe Bryant himself. I grew up with the best views in Beverly Hills and love nothing more than Avocado Toast and Pumpkin Spice Lattes.
It’s hard not to believe that you are from the greatest city on Earth if that’s how people genuinely react. Instant main character energy.
The good news, those weren’t the majority. Most of the students at UC San Diego at the time were from Los Angeles. The thing is, LA is a big ass county.
Some people would respond to my “LA” with
Oh no way! Me too!
Yeah? What part?
Oxnard.
I mean.. I guess.
Or something like Orange County, Moreno Valley, BAKERSFIELD.
You not from LA!
I realized I had to start clarifying for people that I am actually from Los Angeles. I’m not giving you the closest biggest city so you have an idea. I’m telling you where I am from from.
Then you had the San Diegans.
Oh, you’re from LA…
Or the people from the Bay that forced me to side with the San Diegans when things zoomed out a bit.1
The most perplexing moments were those that had a much different stereotype.
Oh you from LA?
Can you… CRIP walk!?
Are you in a… GANG?
No nigga.
That’s when I started to notice just how influential Los Angeles is. People were in a world-class institution in one of the wealthiest cities in the nation and the biggest thing they were looking forward to was cosplaying as their idea of a crip or a celebrity who lives in LA. Some of the things you think are just online things were happening in real life.
People were replacing random letters in their name with C’s and threw up whatever hand gestures they thought resembled gang signs.
Pulling up to you in front of Geisel Library talking about some what’s up blood?
Just corny.
It is because of these gross generalizations of my hometown, that I like to always remind people of where I am from. I use the full spectrum of stereotypes to my advantage too.
When I need to talk my shit, I need people to know I am from THE Los Angeles, California, and you should address me appropriately as such.
When people get to talking too tongue in cheek about people from certain neighborhoods, I like to remind them that some of those people were my neighbors.
When people claimed gangs and threw signs like it was Hogwarts, I reminded them that there are people who don’t make choices about being a part of certain lifestyles. I tell them about deeply instilled fear of wearing my favorite color in the wrong place, even if it was just down the street from Grandma’s house.
Most importantly though, when I met people actually from LA, it meant something. Our parents took us to the same Roscoe’s. It was weird to us to meet Clippers fans and see Padres jerseys. We liked going to the same parks and beaches. Our grandparents’ houses looked similar.
Where you from?
The Bay people always secretly had my respect, because I will always be the strongest advocate for standing up for where you from regardless of where it is.
lmfao at the oxnard portion