Los Angeles in pop culture
In recent years, Los Angeles influencer culture has become increasingly prominent online. Content creators have popularized locations such as the Paul Smith pink wall, Alfred Coffee and Community Goods as trademarks of LA culture.
Furthermore, beverages like Erewhon’s strawberry glaze skin smoothie, matcha and green drinks are frequently shown as staples of the LA lifestyle. However, many individuals born in LA feel that this portrayal provides a limited representation of the city as a whole.
The romanticization of LA culture is not a recent phenomenon, as it has been present throughout the city’s history. Before the invention of social media, Hollywood movies and television often associated LA with success. Movies such as “Sunset Boulevard” (1950) and “Singin’ in the Rain” (1952) portray themes of Hollywood stars and fame in conjunction with LA. The concept of traveling to LA to “make it” is integrated within countless portrayals of Hollywood. These themes of success are still present in the 21st century, with movies such as “La La Land” (2016) and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (2019).
Similar to movies and television, online content often depicts LA as a center for career opportunities. The emergence of TikTok and Instagram has popularized LA as an optimal destination for influencers. This has prompted an influx of LA “transplants,” a label given to individuals who have moved to the city in order to pursue opportunities.
Often, these opportunities are within the field of content creation, with videos centered around LA experiences through the eyes of an influencer. Examples of such content include, but are not limited to, “day in the life” videos, reviews of Los Angeles cafes and “get ready with me” content. LA native Natalia ’27 does not feel that these influencers portray an accurate depiction of LA.
“In the media, people like to over-dramatize [life in LA]. Influencers only like to show the best parts of their lives, they make LA seem so much more glamorous than it is. They show places like Erewhon and Beverly Hills, they don’t show places that are dealing with LA’s extreme homelessness and issues like that. I feel like they write a very false narrative,” Natalia said.
Stereotypes of athletic lifestyles and buying groceries at Erewhon have become increasingly associated with the city, and these depictions of LA culture have become widespread on social media. At times, these portrayals have generated discourse between those born in LA and transplants. In one TikTok video, Los Angeles-born @itsneyha discusses the presence of transplants in LA.
“We feel like transplants sometimes come here and they make these quick snap judgments, and they further these cliches that are not true to our experience,” @itsneyha said. “They’re not true to the city we grew up in and love. People have all these preconceived notions of it that are wrong.”
LA culture across the US
While Angelenos may identify with LA stereotypes when they go from pilates to Erewhon to the beach, is this also how the other regions of the United States see people from LA? How do non-Angelenos characterize the city’s entire population of 9.7 million people?
For many individuals across the country, perceptions of LA are shaped through television and forms of media that depict a city consisting solely of Hollywood and the beach. In these portrayals, everyone is an aspiring influencer, traffic takes up most of one’s day and residents are characterized as being “fake” and “superficial.” The rise of influencer culture and the association of this culture with LA has amplified these stereotypes on a national scale.
“Everyone wants to be [an Angeleno] whether you are from Los Angeles or Westchester, N.Y. … because of social media, seeing what it’s like to live in LA, establishments around the country have recreated these LA-style places,” Jade Coleridge ’25, a student at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., said when describing her experience being surrounded by peers who are not from LA.
Popular LA-specific establishments are being made available in other regions of the U.S. in response to the increased popularity of and desire for aspects of LA. For example, starting in 2025, select Erewhon smoothies became available on Uber Eats and Postmates in New York City. However, only those within a roughly one-mile radius of the West Village neighborhood in New York were able to place these orders. This has allowed Erewhon to expand slightly and bring more exposure to their brand while simultaneously maintaining its LA-unique identity and exclusivity.
“As someone who spent most of my childhood living in Los Angeles, the food and brands that are romanticized were just normal commodities in my mind,” Logan Kreisberg, a senior in high school who moved to Stamford, Conn., when he was 12, said. “When my non-native friends talk about visiting LA, they often have a checklist of places they feel like they have to try.”
While media, influencer culture and LA businesses shape how non-Angelenos see the city, these aspects of LA also affect how Angelenos themselves are viewed. Across the country, whether in other big cities and metropolitan areas or rural America, perceptions of Angelenos are largely shaped by the stereotypes of LA in popular culture, more than personal experiences.
“The biggest cultural difference living in New York versus LA is that New York is kind of known for the variety of cultures and people and that authenticity you get of each of those cultures whereas in LA the people themselves are seen as more superficial and fake, whether it be fake in terms of plastic surgery or fake in terms of everyone is trying to make it and serve their own interests and get famous in some way,” Sienna Tolani, a high school student in New York City, said.
Some of these perceptions are individually placed on children and teenagers who live in LA, as these are the perspectives that are most widely represented on social media. Will Hansen, a senior in high school from Missoula, Mont., said that he believes that among much of rural America, the stereotype of an Angeleno and specifically teenagers from Los Angeles is more often than not a negative one.
“People from my community think LA kids just party all the time and are kind of performative in a very LA-unique way,” Hansen said.
LA culture within Marlborough
Located in the heart of LA, Marlborough School attracts students from all over the county. Situated just miles away from notable LA landmarks such as Beverly Hills, the Hollywood Sign and the Griffith Observatory, it is no easy feat to separate oneself from being consumed by LA’s signature culture. With approximately 99.8% of Marlborough students commuting from across LA County, the student body is uniquely exposed to the many facets of what has become synonymous with an LA identity.
Rarely does a day pass without seeing a student in the hallways carrying a matcha from Community Goods or a smoothie from Kreation. Yorn described the ways she sees LA’s influencer culture represented at Marlborough.
“A lot of Erewhon, a lot of pilates a lot of hot yoga … I hear a lot of talk about that and I feel like that’s a super LA thing,” Natalia said.
However, LA culture delves deeper than the consumption of overpriced, trendified goods. History Instructor and Leonetti/O’Connell Honors Research in Humanities and Social Sciences Program Head Dan Lynch has dedicated years of his life analyzing the historical origins of Los Angeles for his upcoming publication of his book “Dancing with Manifest Destiny” and has introduced a new history course, DeepLA, examining pivotal moments in the construction of the creation of LA as both a location and an identity.
“[LA provides] spaces for people to have this bohemian lifestyle where they’re pushing boundaries in the arts and an activism and physical well-being is part of that, especially with the beach culture that arose in the early 20th century,” Lynch said. “LA has this ability to serve as an incubator or laboratory for [these experiments].”
Juliet ’26 has lived in Los Angeles for her entire life and appreciates the multifaceted environment LA presents. Juliet emphasizes the value of taking the time to acknowledge the sentimental aspect that extends beyond oversimplified perceptions of LA that appear in the media.
“I love LA. I truly think there is no other city like it in the world; LA’s culture is very unique in that there’s this gaudy, touristy culture on the surface that I think can only truly be enjoyed by understanding LA’s deeper cultural roots,” Juliet said. “That said, I think that where influencers and transplants go wrong is forgetting to appreciate LA’s diversity, natural beauty and history because they’re too focused on waiting in line for Community Goods.”
When commenting on the manifestation of LA culture within the student body at Marlborough, Juliet shared her analysis on the extent to which she feels they are affiliated with LA culture.
“Whether Marlborough students are checking the score of the Dodger game in the middle of class or posting photos of themselves at the pink wall, they represent LA every day,” Juliet said.
