Los Angeles

Los Angeles is the entertainment capital of the world, a sprawling car-dependent metro built around the film, TV, and music industries rather than a single walkable downtown. It's less dense and more spread out than New York, a patchwork of distinct neighborhoods, from Koreatown to Venice Beach, each with its own identity. The city pulls people chasing creative careers, and the industry shapes everything from restaurant clientele to traffic patterns.

Tacos from a street cart or truck, often carne asada or al pastor, are a late-night staple that rivals any sit-down restaurant. The city's large Korean, Mexican, and Thai communities have made those cuisines as central to LA eating as anything American. Driving is assumed everywhere, public transit exists but rarely reaches where people actually need to go, budget accordingly.