Coasting
bridging the land gap between columbia and california
Winter has finally hit us full force—it’s currently in the low 40s in New York, and the taxis are actually driving slowly for once to avoid sliding on the fresh snow. But while we Columbia students trudge to class, our heads bent low against the wind, my brother in California is surfing without a wet suit.
There’s something about the mere mention of the word “California” that strikes a mythic chord. Not only does it represent the last American frontier and serve as an emblem of opportunity, it is the state with the highest GNP and arguably the birthplace of laid-back beach culture.
If California is such a great place to live and also boasts one of the strongest state university systems, why do so many Californians flock to the East Coast to attend college? At Columbia College, California students have the second highest representation, beaten only by New York.
“A majority of kids stay in state for college. If you really want to get away from all semblances of home and experience utterly new people, you have to travel across country,” Holly Stanton, CC ’11, says.
California is also the home of Hollywood and media darlings. Countless networks have aired reality shows taking place in California over the last few years, depicting it as a kind of new-age utopia, overflowing with young, attractive, wealthy people. This stereotype doesn’t seem to completely miss the mark though. Eugene Kotlyarenko, CC ’07 and a Los Angeles transplant, feels that “people are a bit more materialistic out there, or maybe they are just less subtle about their flashiness.” Fitz Shaw, CC ’09 of Texas, agrees, saying that “California just seems fake all around. I wouldn’t go there.”
The notion that Californians enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle than their eastern counterparts also seems to hold true. According to Melanie Kress, BC ’09 of Massachusetts: “There’s a stronger sense of productive duty in the East. People are more attached to the American tradition of a Protestant work ethic.” Stanton agrees, saying that “beach/surfer culture has a huge influence on the attitudes of West Coasters, making them more laid-back in general.”
Victoria Ruiz, CC ’09 of San Jose, Calif., wanted to see an entirely new place. Only in New York can she “hear people speak in 10 different languages in a block radius, or take a $2 subway ride and travel to neighborhoods with entirely different cultures, food, friends, and energy.”
Sachi Nasatir, BC ’10, cites a desire to “experience the seasons and a change of scenery, but still stay in a city” as her top reason for making the switch from Los Angeles to New York.
What is the experience like, being a transplant, and how does one go about adjusting to the vast cultural differences between California and New York? Nasatir says that each place has its own attitude toward going out. In Los Angeles, “people have parties at their houses, or they go out to clubs and try to get noticed with celebs.” Whereas in New York, “people just go out to bars with friends, and the number of options for going out makes it less stressful. There isn’t any annoying social hierarchy.” Making the transition from the isolated car culture of California to constant contact with strangers in New York can also be interesting. Ruiz relishes the close contact and diversity of New York, saying that here she makes an attempt to “smile at everyone.”
Elinor Noble, BC ’10 of New Jersey expresses a similar sentiment, having visited Southern California over winter break. She was most shocked by “the general social ineptness of Californians. People don’t smile at each other, they don’t say thank you when you hold the door open. It’s like they don’t know how to act around strangers.”
All in all, it seems the major draw of New York to Californians is its vast diversity. Would any of the California transplants interviewed ever go back? Ruiz hopes to stay here, as she wants to help “keep New York remembering that it is a city of people, not of the man.” Stanton concedes that she would possibly go back, but “most likely to a more eclectic place than Orange County ... maybe to San Francisco or L.A.” The brave Californians who make the move to New York only increase diversity. Francesca Procaccini, BC ’10 of Massachusetts, doesn’t know “why Californians would ever want to go back, seeing as how New York is one of the most diverse cities in the world and therefore the perfect place for all the regional stereotypes to mesh.”
Kotlyarenko, who moved to Los Angeles after graduating to pursue a career in film, says that he originally moved because he “wanted a change of pace” but that he has now realized that “you set your pace, not the place where you live.”
Perhaps the grass really is always greener on the other side, or maybe California and New York have a lot more in common than they think they do, both fueled by some unnameable desire for culture and movement.\\\