LOVE ANGELES

10 DAMN GOOD REASONS TO LIVE AND WORK IN LA

Source: Tech Cocktail - “You can tell the success of an entrepreneur by how tan they are.”  This was Matt Galligan‘s opening statement referencing the much darker complexion of the Los Angeles native Howard Leonhardt at the recent Tech Cocktail San Francisco Sessions.  And by this standard, Los Angeles is an assembly line of successful tech entrepreneurs.

But if 300 days of sunlight and beautiful beaches aren’t enough to lure you, Tech Cocktail caught up with a host of LA-based entrepreneurs to convince you on why Los Angeles is such an ideal location to both work and live.

IT’S THE EPICENTER OF ENTERTAINMENT AND MEDIA

The entertainment industry brings together talent, creativity, and capital in a way that creates a one of kind atmosphere. The result is a truly unique melting pot of skills to build new products.

Andrew K Kirk, founder at Face The Buzz Marketing

HUGE MARKET POTENTIAL

Los Angeles is the second largest city with over 18 million people. Everyone is on their grind and there are limitless opportunities to find your niche as a startup. The city is flooded with billboards and bus ads, evidence that old models are still profitable. However, the need for technology innovation is rising, and with a large market and little competition, LA is fertile ground.

Nikhil Jhunjhnuwala, co-founder of myRight

ECLECTIC BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

LA’s laid back and tight knight community make it an ideal place for a startup because it helps unleash your creativity because you’re fueled by so many different sectors – technology, the beach and the entertainment capital of the world. No better place to innovate!

Shivani Siroya, CEO and founder at InVenture

LAND OF GRAND AMBITION

LA is the greatest place to live because everyone who comes to LA is a dreamer who thinks that the impossible is possible…and then does their damndest to make it so.  Then, quite a few succeed.  Practicality is not a constraint that binds Angelenos like it does to people in most other cities in the world.

Alicia Yaffe, Founder and CEO at The Spellbound Group

BECAUSE WE HAVE TWO INTELLIGENTSIA COFFEE SHOPS

It’s 2pm and if you’re hustling for a startup, chances are you’re already on your second or third cup of coffee. I know I am! In LA, we have access to some really great coffee, including two-Intelligentsias, Handsome Roasters, etc. Need I say more?

Sen Sugano, Director of Business Development at Grubwithus

LA EMBRACES DIVERSITY

Living in LA means visiting Chinatown, Thaitown or Little Armenia is always a short trip from home. Though parts of our city may feel like sleepy suburbs they are rich with culture as we are host to immigrants from all over the world. This means that Angelinos are the recipients of fine and fun cuisine, art, history, textiles and language. Our days are spent meeting people whose childhoods may bear little semblance to our own. Living in a culturally rich city leads to innovations both personal and professional.

Jessica Gottlieb, Founder at JessicaGottlieb.com

BECAUSE LA IS UNDERRATED

 Sure the weather is great and the beach is sandy. But we also build companies that make a ton of money. Few people know that 96% of Google’s revenue comes from the work of two LA companies (the Adwords model was invented by Overture, and Adsense came through an acquisition of Applied Semantics). There’s less capital here than in Silicon Valley, so building companies that make money from the beginning is in our DNA – lead gen, flash sales, eCommerce, etc. If you have a solid business model, LA is the place to be.

Dmitri Leonov, Hustler at SaneBox

PARADISE AND BUSINESS MEET DAILY

Whether you are doing business or relaxing, which become one in the same, where else can you wake to sunshine/fair weather, 350+ days annually, meet and conduct business with associates outside regularly, have tepid weather, while balancing work and play – Los Angeles!

Mitch Ellner, CEO and Founding Partner CNC Strategy

ABUNDANCE OF CREATIVE TALENT

With all of the entertainment companies and The Mouse alone, Los Angeles has some of the most creative genius and wit I have ever seen. Even our techies are more creative than the creative team I had when I lived in the Big D!  You gotta play to your strengths!

Frank Mastronuzzi, Chief Love Officer at OneGoodLove.com

INCREDIBLE DENSITY OF INCUBATORS, ACCELERATORS, ANGELS AND VCS

With the rise of tech startups and activity in LA, a large influx of resources has followed. Entrepreneurs here have a wealth of options to gain support.

Andrew K Kirk, again

Ready to make Los Angeles Your Home?

Good, because you can.  Check out the jobs below (or browse through the Los Angeles Jobs Listing) to see which is the ideal fit for you.

What is Tehrangeles?

Source: Wikipedia - Tehrangeles is a portmanteau deriving from the combination of Tehran, the capital of Iran, and Los Angeles. 

It is used when referring to the large number (estimates range from 500,000 to 600,000) of former Iranian nationals and their descendants residing in the Los Angeles metropolitan area; it is the largest such population outside of Iran. In common usage, it usually refers to the proportionally larger Persian-American subset of Iranian immigrants, many of whom are second generation citizens. This area is now officially recognized by the City of Los Angeles as "Persian Square". Thanks to the many efforts of residents, business owners and Councilman Paul Koretz's office.

The Persian community in the L.A. area originally centered in the Westwood neighborhood of west Los Angeles, particularly Westwood Boulevard between Pico Boulevard and the UCLA campus, often referred to as Little Persia or Persian Hills/Persian Square. It is between Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles. Immigration to the area increased several-fold due to the events surrounding the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Westwood Boulevard became known for its many Persian shops and restaurants; and the Persian expatriate community of Los Angeles entered all forms of media including magazines, newspapers, radio and television stations.

As the population grew, many Iranians have moved all over Los Angeles, with other large neighborhoods forming in the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Woodland Hills and Encino in the San Fernando Valley and Beverly Hills, California ; the city of Irvine as well throughout Orange County and Persians also made their homes in San Diego and the Palm Springs area (Coachella Valley). The Persian population of Beverly Hills may be as high as 40% of the total population. The vice mayor of Beverly Hills, Jim Delshad, is Iranian-born.

10 Reasons Why L.A. Is the Coolest City on the Planet

Check out the complete Slideshow at QG.com!

Hats Off to Oprah

Daily News (CHICAGO) — "The Oprah Winfrey Show," an iconic broadcast that grew over two decades into a daytime television powerhouse and the foundation of a multibillion-dollar media empire, will end its run in 2011 after 25 seasons on the air, Winfrey's production company said Thursday night. Winfrey plans to announce the final date for her show during a live broadcast on Friday, Harpo Productions Inc. said, bringing an end to what has been television's top-rated talk show for more than two decades, airing in 145 countries worldwide and watched by an estimated 42 million viewers a week in the U.S. alone.

A Harpo spokeswoman declined to comment Thursday on Winfrey's future plans except to say that "The Oprah Winfrey Show" will not move to cable television. Oprah Winfrey is set Friday to announce plans to end her syndicated talk show in 2011 after 25 years on the air.

Winfrey, 55, is widely expected to start up a new talk show on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, a much-delayed joint venture with Discovery Communications Inc. that is expected to debut in 2011. OWN is to replace the Discovery Health Channel and will debut in some 74 million homes. An OWN spokeswoman declined comment Thursday.

CBS Television Distribution, which distributes "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to more than 200 markets blanketing the United States, held out hope that it could continue doing business with Winfrey, perhaps producing a new show out of its studios in Los Angeles.

"We have the greatest respect for Oprah and wish her nothing but the best in her future endeavors," the unit of CBS Corp. said in a statement. "We know that anything she turns her hand to will be a great success. We look forward to working with her for the next several years, and hopefully afterwards as well."

Winfrey's 24th season opened earlier this year with a bang, as she drew more than 20,000 fans to Chicago's Magnificent Mile on Michigan Avenue for a block party with the Black Eyed Peas.

She followed up with a series of blockbuster interviews — Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, exclusives with singer Whitney Houston and ESPN's Erin Andrews, and just this week, former Alaska governor, GOP vice presidential candidate and best-selling author Sarah Palin.

Over the years, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" grew from a newcomer that chipped away at talk king Phil Donahue's dominance into a program that turned inspirational. The show covered a gamut that ranged from interviews with the world's most famous celebrities to an honest discussion about her weight struggles.

"As that show evolved, it really kind of dressed up the neighborhood of the daytime talk show," said Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University. "There was a seriousness to it, as though what she was doing was a calling and not just a television show."

In 1986, pianist-showman Liberace gave his final TV interview to Winfrey, just six weeks before he died. In a widely viewed prime-time special aired in 1993, Michael Jackson revealed he suffered from a skin condition that produces depigmentation.

Tom Cruise enthusiastically declared his affection for the much-younger Katie Holmes on the program in 2005 — and jumped on the couch to prove it.

In 2004, Winfrey unveiled her most famous giveaway, when nearly 300 members of the studio audience opened a gift box to find the keys to a new car inside. The stunt became a classic show moment as much for Oprah's reaction — "You get a car! You get a car! You get a car! Everybody gets a car!" — as its $7 million price tag.

The show also became a launching pad for Oprah's Book Club, and authors whose books were selected became best-sellers. The titles ranged from "Song of Solomon" and "Paradise" by Toni Morrison to Wally Lamb's "She's Come Undone" and Elie Wiesel's "Night."

For others, the selection backfired. "A Million Little Pieces" exploded in sales after Winfrey chose the James Frey memoir in fall 2005. Soon after, it was revealed as a fabricated tale of addiction and recovery, and Winfrey later chewed out Frey on her show.

"She's been a great inspiration, a great support for all the shifts in politics and social consciousness and consciousness in general," said hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons. "I call her 'Queen of the New Consciousness' because she did so many things to change lives, the books that she promoted."

The loss of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" would be a blow to CBS Corp. because it earns a percentage of hefty licensing fees from TV stations that use it. On a conference call with analysts two weeks ago, CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves said the contract with the show ran through most of 2011 and "if there's a negative impact, it wouldn't hit us until '12."

Talk of the show's end often has accompanied impending contract negotiations for Winfrey. Before she signed her current contract in 2004, she had talked about quitting after the 2005-2006 season. As far back as 1995, she had called continuing "a difficult and important decision."

CBS continues to sell several top shows into syndication, including "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy." But many TV stations are struggling with falling advertising revenue and were unlikely to pay the same fees as in the past for Winfrey's show, which has seen ratings slip 7 percent from a year ago and saw its average viewership slip below 7 million last season.

Winfrey started her broadcasting career as a teenager in Nashville, Tenn., reading the news at WVOL. Two years later, Winfrey started co-anchoring news broadcasts on WTVF-TV in Nashville. In 1976 she moved to Baltimore to anchor newscasts at WJZ-TV before becoming host of the local talk show "People Are Talking."

In 1984, she relocated to Chicago to host WLS-TV's morning talk show "A.M. Chicago" — the show was became "The Oprah Winfrey Show" one year later. She set up Harpo the following year and her talk show went into syndication.

Powered by the show's staggering success, Winfrey built a wide-ranging media empire. Harpo Studios produces shows hosted by Dr. Phil McGraw and celebrity chef Rachael Ray, and O, The Oprah Magazine was the nation's 7th most popular magazine in the first half of 2009.

"I came from nothing," Winfrey wrote in the 1998 book "Journey to Beloved." ''No power. No money. Not even my thoughts were my own. I had no free will. No voice. Now, I have the freedom, power, and will to speak to millions every day — having come from nowhere."

Earlier this year, Forbes scored Winfrey's net worth at $2.7 billion, even as the magazine knocked her from atop its list of the world's most powerful celebrities. The honor went to Angelina Jolie, but Winfrey was still No. 2 on the annual Celebrity 100 list — and the top earner at $275 million.

Letters to the Editor: Keep the Faith!

Submitted by Farshad Farzad - "On September 30th, 2009, I was no longer employed.  I had made the decision to move to a new state to pursue a dream but most importantly my heart.  Sometimes in life you have to sacrifice things, so you can gain others.  In this instance, I sacrificed friends, work and comforts.  However, I gain so much more in this move.

All along I have tried to stay positive and keep faith that things will work out. I told myself that things will only improve from here. For seven weeks I have struggled to find a new job. Outsiders pressured me to take jobs that I was just not comfortable taking.  The old mantra, "it's a job just take it in this economy."  I didn't want to take it.  When you pick a mate or a school or a car you don't pick the 2nd or 3rd best just to have it, you always strive to do better. That's what I did. I waited and waited and waited.

Yet in my heart of hearts I just knew that my patience in the end would pay off.  I kept the faith.  Faith in myself and most importantly faith in my decision to move to my new state and hold strong. It hasn't been easy but I just kept chugging along. I knew in my heart and soul that this is where I had to be, where I needed to be and where I wanted to be.

After 7 long weeks my patience paid off. I found a job. It was not easy but having that faith that I would succeed carried me through the last 7 weeks.  I am so grateful for the opportunities that have been created for me. Most importantly I am grateful for having the courage to remove myself from what is comfortable to pursue something I believed in.

Faith does not have to be in a higher being (it can be but not necessary).  Faith is a powerful tool and it can certainly help you get through times of the unknown.