Distance (Taken with instagram)

Love (Taken with instagram)

Late night (Taken with instagram)

The buck stops here.  My friend Spencer has decided to not stay in Los Angeles and instead take a job on the East Coast.  It was fun creating all these graphics and reasons to stay in LA.  Below are the remaining final 15 reasons:

#15 Celeb Citing: Could you run into a new job/love affair?

#14 Study Abroad: Remember those amazing feelings from study abroad LA?

#13 1-Year Trial: Stick it out, give it a 12-month shot.

#12 Find Your Strength: Figure out a way to find your strength to stay here.

#11 New Friends/Bros/Girls/Co-Workers: Who know’s who you’ll meet with so many people here?

#10 Beautiful Women: Katy Perry made a song about California Girls.

#9 Lots Of Odd Jobs: Work now doing something, dreams to come.

#8 No 2-Year Contract: Anything can change out here, but you’re locked in on the East Coast.

#7 You Left All Your Shit Here: Yeah, all your shit.

#6 Not Living At Home: Yeah, that’s a big one. Bring a girl home, just try it.

#5 California State of Mind: Everything about California is amazing. Check the commercials.

#4 The Biz: The dream companies you want to work for and the business people are all in LA.

#3 The Couple: We’re here and we want you to be too.

#2 Your New Life: You gotta give your new life a good try before you do anything huge. Leaving is missing out on so much.

#1 Your Dreams Are Here: Do you think parents tell their kids they need to make millions months after they graduate college? Start with dreams and you’ll make the cash later. 

The “agricultural powerhouse of the United States.” Which translates to: your food is grown here. When you go to the supermarket on the east coast during winter, there’s this b-list type produce looking you in the eye.  You almost feel sad for those somewhat-fresh red peppers or just-about-to-wilt head of lettuce.  But in California…our produce is fresh like a sexy european model giving you a private cat walk.  When you bite into fresh fruit here, things actually crunch, explode with juice, and taste like they’re supposed to.  If you wanna date a supermodel, then you best get started eating CA produce first.

Spencer, I’ll put it to you this way: this is an IOU for an amazing meal if you stay in LA.

Last year LA had tons of outdoor music festivals.  It’s usually enough pull for people around the country to come to So-Cal and listen to some amazing artists.  We have plenty of venues to get your rock on—both big and small.  Keep your eye on the Hollywood Bowl calendar and you’re bound to come across your favorite artists.  Not to mention the epic Coachella music festival comes around this April…Fuck the indoors, party outside.

Okay Spencer, so music is cool and all, but concerts bring people together.  Either you’re going with friends or you’ll meet some new people while you’re there.  A great opportunity to use those pick up lines of yours…

Two words: luxury gyms.  Yes, if you like working out, there are plenty of places to work out in style.  Fitness isn’t just that thing people do when they’re feeling fat, the gym is the norm in LA.  How else do you think we have all these good looking people in California?  If you like working hard and playing hard, the luxury gym is the perfect way to do both and feel like a movie star.  Hey, maybe you’ll even run into Ashley Tisdale and you can chat it up Disney style.

Maybe when you return Spencer, get yourself a gym membership and get fit.  It’ll wake your mind up BIG TIME and you’ll feel great.  Nothing like a great workout to keep your mind clear from all the other shit in the world.

Wanna get away?  Here are some 2-hour drive examples: San Diego, Theme Parks, Santa Barbara, Catalina Island, Palm Springs, or fly up to San Francisco.  How awesome is that?  The things you can do in LA alone make a 5-page list.  Drive 2 hours from Manhattan and you’re either in Hartford or Jersey—exciting.

Spencer, you’re in your 20s, not 40s—it’s time to explore and see the world a bit more.  You’ve seen the East, time to check out the West.  Plus, if you’re feeling like getting away we could even blast it up to SF with me and Britt.

“Shorts, sandals, and a tank top” is apparently all you need.  But even in the workplace, fully decked-out suits are a lesser occurrence.  Young people push boundaries in their fashion style out here.  Not only will you look cool for wearing something different than the norm, but it’s a way of differentiating yourself from all the clutter.  The East Coast has this rigid sense of what men should wear and I’ve rarely seen it broken.  If fashion is a reflection of individuality, CA has it down.

Spencer, we all know you spend countless hours preparing yourself in front of the mirror.  It’s time those hours paid off for you.  Put your fashion sense to good work in LA and them ladies will be-a-crawlin’

We all know the Rangers have a big rivalry with the Flyers.  But even if you’re away from home, you can still cheer them on or yell at Philly fans via this incredible thing called ‘cable television.’  In fact, you can still gloat about how much you like your team as much as you’d like in LA.  Late night games on the East Coast are three hours earlier on the West—which means you’ll still have time to have dinner + dessert before heading off to the local bar to celebrate or drown yourself in booze.

Spencer, I know you’re a big sports fan, but don’t let that keep you from staying in LA.  In fact, if you head home during the holiday season, you’ll still be able to get some Rangers action like you did this past month.  Who knows, maybe the Kings will step their game up and actually make it to playoffs…anyway, sports are still alive in the west.

In a nutshell, no one cares what you wear.  People are even chatting about it.  Put it to you this way, if you don’t want to wear long pants (who knows, maybe you have some strange feelings against them) you don’t have to.  Shorts + t’s are just way more comfortable and if you don’t have to throw on a big heavy coat on, you’re gonna feel way more relaxed.  Reason #22 is more important than the last 8 because we all take for granted the warm weather and relaxed clothing we wear down in So-Cal.

So if you like wearing shorts in your home, at your trailer on the lot, or inside your favorite sushi restaurant—you can’t beat LA for its casual wear culture.  This is right up your alley Spencer and you know it.  With all the cool shirts, you’ll be swaggered out—not that you need any more swag for god sakes.

If you’ve ever been to the Griffith Observatory you know that the views are incredible.  Being able to see such an incredible view can actually act as visual therapy.  For me, epic views like this one are definitely on my list of ‘thinking spots.’  And best of all, it’s free.  ”But in Manhattan we have great views!”  Okay, sure, but how do you get to see those views?  Oh yeah, you have to buy a ticket up the Empire State or have special connections to some big skyscraper.  LA has amazing hills with free views everyone must see.  LA just isn’t the same without special places like Griffith.

So Spencer, when you’re feeling down or confused about situations in life, just hit up some dope views and a bottle of Champagne.  I’ll join you and we can shop talk all night if you want.  Here’s my IOU for a conversation overlooking one of these amazing views.

Everyone loves this place.  It’s almost perplexing how popular this burger chain is, but they’re doing something right.  In-N-Out Burger is so important to West Coast culture that it deserves it’s own reason to stay here.  You can eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; the fries are straight up sliced in front of you before they get fried; the ingredients are fresh; it’s cheap as shit; and there’s even a secret menu.  Most importantly, if you’re at In-N-Out you’re probably with a friend or at least a co-worker, which means you’re sharing a special moment with someone—a moment of fulfillment.

I know you’re a starving college grad looking for a meal Spencer, and In-N-Out is the only place to get the best value for your cashmoney.  I’d even be more than happy to treat you on more than one occasion you cheap je…I mean, you amazing man.  But seriously, In-N-Out is a part of LA life, and it’s certainly something you shouldn’t miss out on.

It’s that indescribable crappy feeling people get on the east coast. And the treatment?  More sunlight. Let’s be honest here, Danbury gets 26in of snow a year.  That’s a huge difference.  Add some more decent weather and you have less people with S.A.D.  Damn, that is some horrible pun for a type of depression.  My hypothesis?  Better weather means more happy.  Not only is the weather reason #30, but it’s important enough to make #25 because bad weather can actually cause seasonal depression.  And who wants that?

Spencer, skip the crappy weather, seasonal depression, and get with the happy people on the west coast.  You’ll be more optimistic about your life, just think about how long you’ve spent back home during the holidays and how gloomy it’s been for you.  Think about it.

Remember John Muir? He was an incredible explorer who fell in love with the CA wilderness and worked to keep places like Yosemite and other national parks alive today.  CA not has a ton of incredible natural establishments that range from astounding snow-capped mountains to stunning coastlines. In addition there’s Death Valley, the central valley, and did I mention we grow wine here? It’s like having a piece of Colorado and Florida in your backyard. The east coast is great, but it’s mainly…er…flat. No doubt that there are places to vacation to in California you’ll fall in love with that aren’t just more rolling green hills.

Spencer, CA is a place you still have to explore and see. There’s so much more than LA—so much.  If you come back, there are some amazing sites to be seen.

What is this, Office Space?  Beaches make for a large beach culture in LA.  Venice, Santa Monica, the Palisades, Huntington, and the lot.  Beaches aren’t just an ‘aspect’ of LA culture but a major distinguishing factor for Southern California.  Not to mention, you can get all the tanning you want almost year-round in comparison with the East Coast.  Beach culture epitomizes the relaxed lifestyle found in CA, Florida, Hawaii, and Australia.  Sounds like paradise to me.

Spencer, we know you like scantly-clad women, on the beach.  So how can you pass up the opportunity to see them year-round?  Staying on the East Cost goes against everything I know about your libido based on rumors I’ve been told.

No matter how old, the night is yours.  Picture Las Vegas without the casinos but still containing the big flashy avenues, clubs pumping out bass thumping music, bars galore, and tons of people traffic.  So if you’ve been in a cave for the past century, let’s get you educated.  LA has a road called “Sunset Boulevard” that’s filled with tons of nightlife hotspots, luxury cars, famous people, and partying galore.  But you say, “Hey, Manhattan has that too, and more!”  Sure, but when you leave the club in LA you don’t have to put your snow boots on, honey.

Spencer, we all know how you like to party. For god’s sake you were the social chair and you constantly become the center of the party wherever you go.  

The ultimate food city.  If you don’t like eating, then what are you, a robot?  Hundreds of cultures, hundreds of languages, hundreds of cuisine choices.  Everything from upscale Parisian dining to the best local dives with lines out the doors.  No doubt that the east coast has some amazing Italian food and pizza restaurants, but for the amount of food diversity per capita, the west coast is hard to beat.

Spencer, we’ve had amazing times at Carlo’s, we can’t stop now!

329 days of sunshine means LA is the tits.  Everyone knows LA has great weather and mild winters.  This is where we start the top 30 reasons, because it’s a no brainer—the first thing that comes to mind when anyone thinks of ‘Southern California.’  If you like trudging through the snow, then by all means, trudge.  California has mountains too if you’re craving some white fluffy stuff, but if you would like to have one less thing to deal with on your way to work then LA is the place to stay.

Spencer, I know you like the snow, but warm weather is the best for making films, and co-existing without seasonal depression.  Also I have one word for you: bikinis.