Everyday people travel, whether it’s for business, pleasure, or to move permanently. Los Angeles is a place of interest for many to travel to. Some visit temporarily and some move here with the hopes and dreams of a better life. Being the second largest city in the United States, Los Angeles has a huge draw. According to the 2015 census report L.A. has a population of 3,971,896, with 68% being minorities. A city with such large interest has to have one of the largest international airports. We are all interconnected, and LAX is a huge part of that. Pico Iyer spent a week at Los Angeles International Airport, and wrote about his experiences in “Where Worlds Collide”. With so many people traveling here looking for a better life, they sometimes
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the first thing they ask me is if I live next to any big stars. They often are also curious about which famous people I know. I can see why most assume everyone who lives in L.A. is rich and famous, the media often portrays Los Angeles and Hollywood as one when that really isn’t the case. Media creates one of the biggest stereotypes Los Angeles holds. It wouldn’t surprise me if non-natives landing in LAX expected to walk out of the airport and be in Beverly Hill’s. Tourist arrive cameras in hand ready to capture pictures of A-list celebrities, only to return home with photos of dirty streets and skid row. “The other surprise, for many of my fellow travelers, no doubt, was that almost no one we saw looked like Robert …show more content…
Not everyone is at the beach all the time and there aren’t celebrities everywhere. Every time I find myself at LAX, I always see someone definitely not from Los Angeles carrying a guitar case. They’re just joining the thousands of others, trying to make a name for themselves. Immigrants come to make a better life for themselves, but end up doing the jobs natives don’t want. Los Angeles, with the high cost of living, makes it impossible to stay afloat. “And just as L.A. is a province of the future in part because so many people take it to be the future, so it is a danger zone precisely because it is imagined to be dangerous (Iyer, 843).” One can fly in with hopes and dreams and everything they own, and end up getting robbed of it all. Scam artist will take advantage of newcomers, something Iyer witnesses during his week at LAX. “A man goes from table to table, plucking down on each one a keychain attached to a globe. As soon as an unsuspecting customer picks one up, touched by the largesse of the New World and convinced now that there is such a thing as free lunch in America, the man appears again, flashes a sign that says “I Am a Deaf,” and request a dollar for the gift (Iyer, 841).” Easily fooled, travelers lose what little they have. Most travel to faraway places to escape from what they know, which so many try do when they come to Los Angeles. Foreign travelers come with integrity built up from their
the first thing they ask me is if I live next to any big stars. They often are also curious about which famous people I know. I can see why most assume everyone who lives in L.A. is rich and famous, the media often portrays Los Angeles and Hollywood as one when that really isn’t the case. Media creates one of the biggest stereotypes Los Angeles holds. It wouldn’t surprise me if non-natives landing in LAX expected to walk out of the airport and be in Beverly Hill’s. Tourist arrive cameras in hand ready to capture pictures of A-list celebrities, only to return home with photos of dirty streets and skid row. “The other surprise, for many of my fellow travelers, no doubt, was that almost no one we saw looked like Robert …show more content…
Not everyone is at the beach all the time and there aren’t celebrities everywhere. Every time I find myself at LAX, I always see someone definitely not from Los Angeles carrying a guitar case. They’re just joining the thousands of others, trying to make a name for themselves. Immigrants come to make a better life for themselves, but end up doing the jobs natives don’t want. Los Angeles, with the high cost of living, makes it impossible to stay afloat. “And just as L.A. is a province of the future in part because so many people take it to be the future, so it is a danger zone precisely because it is imagined to be dangerous (Iyer, 843).” One can fly in with hopes and dreams and everything they own, and end up getting robbed of it all. Scam artist will take advantage of newcomers, something Iyer witnesses during his week at LAX. “A man goes from table to table, plucking down on each one a keychain attached to a globe. As soon as an unsuspecting customer picks one up, touched by the largesse of the New World and convinced now that there is such a thing as free lunch in America, the man appears again, flashes a sign that says “I Am a Deaf,” and request a dollar for the gift (Iyer, 841).” Easily fooled, travelers lose what little they have. Most travel to faraway places to escape from what they know, which so many try do when they come to Los Angeles. Foreign travelers come with integrity built up from their