Tourists apparently find us rude. Not, like, Miami or NYC levels of rude, but just about.
Travel + Leisure Magazine has just published their rankings of the rudest cities in America, based on an annual survey that asks travelers to rate large American cities on a variety of factors. One question asks for the city where tourists feel the locals are most unpleasant.
While we tend to think of Angelenos as a relatively laid-back bunch in general, apparently our visitors disagree. The rankings for 2016 put Los Angeles in fourth place, behind New York, Phoenix and the rudest city of them all, Miami. In 2011, LA was in that top spot—we also claimed the title in 2010 and 2009, for that matter—so either we’re getting nicer, or those other cities are getting meaner. Maybe both?
In this year’s report, Travel + Leisure suggests that any negative impressions of LA might be the result of tourists mostly seeing the Hollywood traps—places where we doubt any actual locals can be found, and certainly wouldn’t be in a good mood if they were. To interact with cheerier faces, they suggest scoping DTLA’s art scene or grabbing food in Ktown.
It is also possible that existing LA residents are being rude to tourists strategically, to try to keep any more out-of-towners from moving here. Or maybe all of the people who voted for us as rudest did so because they only caught us while we were looking for parking.