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Comment by baus | Hacker News Reader

I'm currently working on a gig in OC and living in Laguna Beach. I've found it to be one most exclusionary communities I've ever lived in. AirBNB is effectively banned, and, as a renter, I didn't feel like I fit in at my gym which is dominated by wealthy and long time home owners.

Like many areas, there are laws which prevent increased development which further puts pressure on housing and rent prices.

Overall I like Laguna, but while I think most people who live here would consider themselves liberal, their local politics are more reactionary.

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Where I live I've been going to the same gym for 3 years. I show up, squat, deadlift, etc. The conversations I have with people are about whether the power rack is free, how long they're going to take etc.

Just how do you get into conversations at your gym where you don't feel like you belong because of your decisions about how to handle real estate purchases?

Your gym is definitely different than the gym I was going to

I didn't feel like I fit in at my gym which is dominated by wealthy and long time home owners

Never be intimidated by people's wealth; it's not the American way, way: where all people are created equal. Just remind yourself that although they have money, they are no better than you, no more worthy of happiness than you, and no more valuable than you.

They are, in every respect that matters, your equal.

That's so 1950s.[1]

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/world/eight-richest-wealt...

Eh... They may very well be more valuable than you or someone else if for example they are a successful entrepreneur that has created and manages a business that in turn makes others successful, or created an invention, or invented a drug.

There is a difference between knowing this and feeling it when people are glowering at you.

Please, feel free to glower right back at them. The doubt is your own.

We are all created equal in the eyes of the law but not all of us work equally hard nor are we all blessed with the same family support structure. Many with wealth inherited it. There is less upwards mobility in the USA than any modern period.

You have changed the topic to your own preferred talking points. You should be a politician: you'd be good at it.

Trust me I'm not intimidated, but I don't want to feel excluded because of my social status either

I love Laguna Beach and I'd live there in a VW van if I didn't have a Job, two sets of parents, and children; all in Utah. I've got family in Riverside and Laguna is a favorite. Try to enjoy it.

Having just returned from Anaheim and a day trip to the Santa Monica pier, I'm glad to see them trying to reduce the cost. The CA coast is full of beautiful places.

> I think most people who live here would consider themselves liberal

orange county and san diego county are the two most politically conservative counties in california.

Not True

http://www.ppic.org/main/publication_quick.asp?i=1007

Orange County as a whole, yes. Laguna Beach however is a very liberal community.

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