I lived in Los Angeles(Silver Lake for those who know) for the past decade - moved to Portland a few months ago.
The good: Los Angeles is the greatest place in America in terms of terrain & weather. You cannot beat the weather - you just can't. It's already nice outside, except for like 12 days a year. Los Angeles is THE dayhiking mecca of America. If you're really into outdoor activities, you cannot beat LA. Restaurants? Probably best or 2nd best in America.
The bad: Los Angeles has been completely taken over by scumbags. City, County, and State government is the epitome of leftist totalitarianism. The democrats have beyond a supermajority. They control literally all government - but somehow, they can't solve a COLOSSAL homeless problem. Not only can they not solve the problem, everything they do makes the problem worse. They give homeless people free everything. Free food. Cash aid. Qualify for food stamps? Free smartphone. Look up under the bridges/overpasses at night - they're lit up with homeless people watching Netflix on their Obamaphones. They are not restricted from setting up camp anywhere. They behave like third-world animals with impunity. The last straw for me was when I saw 2 disgusting homeless junkies grilling steaks in a shopping cart on Sunset fucking Blvd. They had poured some charcoal right into a shopping cart from the 99¢ store, had a grilltop they probably stole from someone, and had an open flame on Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles CA USA. Other homeless people in other states hear about this, and flock to LA for the gibs. It's nice outside all year-round, so being homeless there, in their minds, isn't all that bad. Nice outside all the time, you can go live on/near the beach with little to no hassle. You can take a shit in one of the tree wells in front of the Luxe Hotel downtown (yes I saw that) and no one will do anything to you. The policies of the SoCal government not just ignore this, they fucking subsidize it with the oppressive taxes they force onto productive people. It's a fucking goddamn mess, and it's just gonna get worse and worse and worse and worse.
I could go on, but I've got other shit going on. Cheers.