What makes you a native of something? How long must you live in a place before you become a native? Are “true natives” fully accepting of “new natives” and if so, how long must you be somewhere before the acceptance begins? So the survey of the day is:
I've lived in Colorado for 5 years, and the previous 25 years of my life were spent in Michigan. THere are stickers everywhere about people proclaiming their 'native' status, but considering Colorado has only been a state 100 years longer than I'm alive, I'm inclined to think that native designations are malarky.
If it feels like home, you're a native.
If you have to born and bred in a place to be a native that would mean that I would not be a native of Lake Tahoe, the place I lived from age 7-18 or a native of the Bay Area, where I have spent my formative years, but of Calistoga, CA which I don't even remember.
The only thing this makes me is a California native, which I am proud of, but people can be so snobby of "native" status.
I have never been a country girl, even though I was raised in small townn and I consider myself to be a native of the Bay Area even though I have "only" spent the the last 8 years here.
Angeleno, schmangeleno. The true question is: are you West of Lincoln?
Some thoughts: First, the tangential discussion on the thread referenced above was just weird and unnecessarily mean-spirited. Secondly, I think you can absolutely self-identify as an Angeleno (or New Yorker, Chicagoan, San Franciscan, etc.) without native status. In my mind it all comes down to when you're finally enough at ease with a city to actually lay down some emotional roots and call the place home. My heart's been with THIS city for decades before I finally ended up moving here. I've longed to live here most of my life and have had that Angeleno state of mind for just as long. So, when can I call myself a true Angeleno? Whenever I damn well please.
Note to rachel: well-put!
I think it's all about where one spends one's formative years - but to echo Enrique and Rachel, it could also be a matter of "home is where the heart is."
For instance - I was born in San Francisco, where I lived until moving to Seattle at 10, and at 16 moved to Los Angeles. I consider myself a native of both San Francisco and Seattle, but I don't consider myself a native of L.A., even though I've lived there the longest - my heart's just not in it.
I've lived half my life in LA and most of the other half in the Bay Area. I now live in NY. No matter how long I stay in Manhattan, I hope there never comes a point where others assume I'm a New Yorker.
I think the original phrase "long time native" is just wrong. You either are a native (by birth) or not. The one exception I can think of would be if you were born someplace but didn't live there long enough to have any memories of it, in which case you might say you were a native of the first place you remember.
But you can certainly be an Angeleno without being a native Angeleno. I've only lived in LA for 6 years but started considering myself an Angeleno when I got really excited by fresh asphalt on one of my daily routes. :-) Still am not down with the valet parking thing, tho', so maybe I'm not an Angeleno after all.
Dan
Dan. I can absolutely relate to the fresh asphalt thing. L.A. drivers sure do appreciate a freshly paved road. I did carwheels when the city repaved the road in front of my place... Re: valet parking. I do a lot of business travel and am shocked by how scarce this service in most major cities. I catch myself thinking, "You mean I have to park 2 or 3 blocks away and walk to the restaurant?!?" Cliched as it may seem, car culture is a huge part of the L.A. lifestyle.
In many ways, the husband and I are still Minnesotans although he grew up in upstate NY and I grew up in Central Valley California. We spent a lot of years in Minneapolis, and we spent psychologically important years there (which can be whatever years you think they are).
Californians are fussy about being NATIVES because the state's history of huge population growth means there are always relatively few of us compared to everybody else. I have friends who are snooty about having been actually born in San Francisco, as opposed to those of us who grew up in the periphery but moved to the city later in life.
As a born and bred Chicagoan I could go on for hours about this. I think Enrique and marielle have it correct. You're a native if the city's shaped you, or a native if you've shaped the city.
That is, if the place in which you live had affected you during the formative years (re marielle) you can claim it as your own and as such you're a native. If you have commited to shaping the city by establishing your life there then you can claim it as well.
Now all that being said, those from the suburbs are not Chicagoans, and damn you if you were;nt born and bred in the city; it ain't yours... ;)
Born and Bred = Native Angeleno.
Angeleno = You live in Los Angeles.
OR think of Los Angeles as your home.
Proof: Native Angelenos do not think of palm trees as exotic. ;)
You're a real Angeleno when realize you LOVE the omnipresent PALM TREES THAT LINE EVERY STREET.
Also, when you stop talking about "back where I'm from..."
Real Angelenos do not fall for Hollywood Hype.
Palm trees do not live every street.
Never did, Never will. Look up pictures of Los Angeles in the 1890's. The same item lined all the streets when my great-grandmother was a child that lines the streets now. DUST. Pollution.
This is not the tropics.