The City of Angels is known for its glitz, its glam, its paparazzi, and being the land where people come to achieve their dreams. But through all the success, a byproduct seeps through the crevasses.

When people get a taste of fame and money, a division occurs. Those who make it into the paradigm are revered as the crème de la crème of society. They are the people who are invited to gatherings, family dinners, and festivals. Those who fail to fit in are subject to an epidemic looming large in Los Angeles.

Let’s dissect the epidemic of classism in Los Angeles. 

The Concept

Prejudice or discrimination against a particular class is referred to as classism. It is portrayed through individual attitudes and behaviors and is influenced by policies and the environment one resides in. If you look at modern LA, you will meet many people from different classes, cultures, and ethnicities.

Maybe you’ll go down the road, seeing a rich mom walking her two poodles across Rodeo Drive, a soccer mom jogging across Griffith Park with her AirPods on.

Or maybe, you will see a single mom at the park watching her children play, lost in her thoughts. We never know what people go through. Maybe she is thinking of the future? Of her children’s future? And is worried? 

LA is filled with different people, different stories, and different classes.

Notice how celebrities and Hollywood always end up dating “one of their own.” Rarely do we see an “outsider” being romantically involved with any of the names on the Walk of Fame. This is just a brief example of how the high profiles of LA have categorized and stigmatized interaction between different classes. Of course, the rich will have higher standards to live up to. This seed of competition is sowed ever since you are in elementary where you see children with better toys or more money than you.

Among the beautiful art districts like Alameda Street or the LA River, what often gets overlooked are the poverty-stricken places such as Skid Row.

Numbers Speak

Where the lesser “posh” areas are overlooked, so are the setbacks they face. A decline in job security, lack of social support, and a high mortality rate have ravaged the lower class, which gets overshadowed by the glitz and the glam of Los Angeles.

According to an analysis conducted by the Census Bureau, data by the Corporation for Enterprise Development depicts that the top 20% of earners in California have an income of $124,936 at the very least. This is in contrast to $23,980 for the bottom 20% of the state. The result? Los Angeles is among the top 10 states with the largest gaps between rich and poor. 

Furthermore, many people living in LA complain about just how artificial everything has become. Humans have fallen victim to their own creativity in success and created a mishmash of unnecessary parameters and expectations. 

Kim Hedden’s book, Lucky Ladies, Lost Angels, presents you LA through the eyes of wives, single women, mothers, daughters, sisters, and strangers. Each story presents a unique perspective, you learn something new from the characters and the city itself.

Grab your copy of Lucky Ladies, Lost Angels now, and check out the author’s website for more exhilarating content.