From learning to decode parking signs to appearing rich when you’re renting a room, there is a lot that the city has taught you. While there’s no exact definition of what it takes to be a fully-fledged Angeleno, there are some clear indicators. Among them are some niche skills that can only be acquired by navigating the streets of this beloved city for years.
So we posed the question to our audiences, and here were our favorite responses (along with a few of our own):
1. Waking up at 7 a.m. to move the car so it doesn’t get ticketed or towed.
2. Appearing rich without actually being rich.
3. Learning how to speak Vegan with almost everyone you meet.
4. Having an encyclopedic knowledge of all alternate routes…you never know when there will be a fire, earthquake, film shoot, or accident and you can either sit on the freeway for 4 hours, or you can bug out.
5. The art of turning yoga clothes into an outfit.
6. Checking if your windshield wipers work after a year of roasting in the sun for that one time it rains every year.
7. Dodging other drivers on the road when it rains.
8. Giving myself an hour and a half to go 25 miles.
9. The ability to calculate distances by time in not actual distance.
10. Being nice and rude at the same time with a smile.
11. Preparing for 3 seasons in one day.
12. Learning to prepare and keep a bug-out bag with you at all times for all potential events.
13. Saying “I know you’re famous and I respect your work” without saying anything. It’s all in the eyes.
14. Mastering patience it takes to go 6 miles in 45 minutes.
15. Explain that you don’t work in the industry, are not trying to break into the industry, and that there is an entire universe and culture outside of the industry.
16. Pretending to not notice celebrities eating 10 inches from you.
17. Inching along on the 405.
18. “Hearing” an earthquake before it starts.
19. Leaning to live with 4 roommates.
20. How to use a Thomas Guide…. no wait, what century is this?
21. Talking myself out of a full-on anxiety attack brought on by traffic, while stuck in traffic.
22. Demonstrating your love for someone by driving them to LAX—or the Valley.
23. Slicing up your tags on your car.
24. Deciphering multiple conflicting signs on the same pole and understanding the rules of painted curbs.
25. You know how to pronounce “birria” properly.
26. Removing beach sand from your feet with talcum powder.
27. Knowing how to get home through the canyons because the 101 is a parking lot.
28. Riding a bicycle with a surfboard under your arm.
29. Not waking up while there’s an earthquake happening.
30. Knowing exactly where every In-N-Out is located.
31. Living outside of L.A. so you can afford to be in L.A.
32. Rubbing chalk off your tire so I don’t have to move your car every 4 hours.
33. Planning a party with separate keto, vegan, gluten-free (preference), and gluten-free (allergy) options.
34. Accepting that anything 30 minutes away is super close.
35. Maintaining a friendship with someone you only see once a year, even if they live in the same neighborhood.
36. Hiking at 10 a.m. after partying until 4 a.m.
37. Lane changing without signaling because if you signal you get boxed out.
38. Time management.
39. Not giving a damn if it’s under 4.8 on the Richter scale.
