When I lived in Utah and was a practicing Mormon, I couldn’t wait to get out. It drove me crazy. The provincialism, the denial, the hypocrisy. I know a lot of people who are Mormon who feel this way. It’s strange to hear them now that I’m a non-Mormon homeowner who enjoys living in Utah.
If I have to live in a suburb of Los Angeles (and by suburb I’m talking Palmdale or similar) vs. where I do now, I’d pick here every time. I loved living in West Hollywood. It was fantastic. Homes in that hood were something like $450k to start, and that usually meant no off-street parking and no yard; a very very good reason to buy a home in the first place.
Benefits:
- Traffic, Schmaffic
- Sure, I have to buy booze from a state-run liquor store with less than friendly weekend hours, but it’s not Texas or Alabama.
- Salt Lake is, depending on which numbers you believe, 50% – 60% non-Mormon. Which means that I’m surrounded by people just like me; pissed off about another Bush in the White House.
- All the passive-aggressive narcissistic apocalyptic millennialism is now just quaint and weird, as opposed to anger-inducing.
It’s kind of nice not to have all the churchy weirdness to get angry about every week. I’m just happier now. Pass me my Maker’s Mark.
