This is why when I check in with friends, I apologetically say something like, “You okay? I don’t know where anything is.” - ThreadSky

lindaholmes.bsky.social • 48 days ago

This is why when I check in with friends, I apologetically say something like, “You okay? I don’t know where anything is.”

Reposted from Stephen Blackmoore

Been getting a lot of people asking about LA geography concerned that the images they see means the entire county is on fire. That's understandable.

But LA is a big place. So, to give an idea of scale it's time to cart this out again. It's a map of LA with other cities superimposed on it.

Comments

davastewart.bsky.social•48 days ago

I had no idea!

lw4.bsky.social•47 days ago

I get the same and I live in the Bay Area. Americans have little concept of how big LA and California are.

saavikford.bsky.social•48 days ago

Otoh… literally everyone I know lives in Altadena/Pasadena. Everyone I know is evacuated. A few homes definitely gone. Some of them were chill & non-chalant on calls as recently at Tuesday.

karmakarmm.bsky.social•47 days ago

Nah fr 😭

betsyb1011.bsky.social•46 days ago

Woah this is super helpful

welch5welch.bsky.social•48 days ago

Thanks for that! I’m from SoCal and LA is much bigger than I realized!
🐾💙🤷🏻‍♀️

tsanta.bsky.social•34 days ago

LA County is even bigger than the map shows.

bluesky411.bsky.social•48 days ago

𝔡𝔢𝔣𝔦𝔫𝔦𝔱𝔢𝔩𝔶 𝔭𝔢𝔯𝔰𝔭𝔢𝔠𝔱𝔦𝔳𝔢 !

dune54.bsky.social•48 days ago

I did the same thing. My second son who isn’t my son but a friend of my son who lost his father and calls me dad lives in Los Angeles county. He’s okay smoke and ashes at his house.

megateer.bsky.social•48 days ago

It’s why I get it when people check on us for something around Houston, even when we know it’s nowhere near. Most other people don’t know the geography.

lindaholmes.bsky.social•48 days ago

Right, totally. Every place has its own literal map, as well as its own brain map — what people think of as being near or far from whatever.

aeolian-triad.bsky.social•48 days ago

The CITY of Los Angeles is just a skinny part in the middle of all that.

smuttysistersbc.bsky.social•48 days ago

A lot of people have been checking in with me, and it’s incredibly sweet, but I live like an hour away from the fires. When they say “SoCal fires” it’s too generic because it’s so massive so people have no idea

kingbluedot.bsky.social•47 days ago

Yeah, I went to the CBS fire map and it had red triangles all over it. It turned out the red triangles were only landmarks and not fire locations. The media fucked up on this.
They really did. Stupid.

slipmahoney.bsky.social•47 days ago

LA has the screwiest inner beltway. I drove on it on a Tuesday afternoon where it starts with five lanes, drops to four then three then two. Then you stop. Then you move a half mile. Then stop again. Is this roadway being corrected?

agtmadcat.bsky.social•47 days ago

I'm at the other end of the state and still getting checked on by people thousands of miles away. Very sweet, anyway.

thatwretch.bsky.social•47 days ago

Also something I have to explain frequently to my loved ones: I know LA and San Diego look really close on bigger maps, but I promise they're actually pretty far away.

houndgirl.bsky.social•47 days ago

I was about to say San Fran is pretty far from LA and is Nor Cal not So Cal (maybe this is why people get confused because that map makes it look way closer than it actually is o.o that said I didn't think LA county went that far o.o that's crazy

thatwretch.bsky.social•47 days ago

to be fair, i think it's a combination of both urban sprawl and global maps condensing the farther south you go. (CALFIRE is a godsend for accurate and updated news for these fires, though it's now often buried under the glut of media results.)

houndgirl.bsky.social•47 days ago

That makes sense it also helps me understand a bit better why people think Sanfran is a part of So Cal when it's actually hours from LA and is if I remember right closer to Sac

arrannz.bsky.social•48 days ago

My parents live in New Zealand, so whenever anything happens in any part of it my MIL asks if it happened anywhere near them. And I mean… it's small for a country, but it's the size of Colorado.

justbond.bsky.social•48 days ago

Oh, its new name is North Mexico 🤣

cascadeswade.bsky.social•48 days ago

Empathy is more important than geography sometimes. Maybe always.

leonagraves.bsky.social•48 days ago

We were close to the fires and now went up the coast (quite a few Manhattans away) to Ventura. The smoke is mostly along the coast in the distance but I can still smell it clearly the moment I step outside.

sparrowflybynight.bsky.social•48 days ago

Measuring LA in the form of a Manhattan is splendid! Also, perhaps while drinking them also.

leonagraves.bsky.social•48 days ago

Casual 🍸❤️‍🔥

lamariamartinez.bsky.social•47 days ago

Watch duty app is great

ilisette.bsky.social•48 days ago

That’s how I have been, too. Part of our work department is in LA, and I have no concept of where my colleagues there may live compared to fires.

horseculture.bsky.social•47 days ago

People who have never been there have no idea how spread out LA is. It is literally bigger than some countries. I live in San Diego, south of there, and the only reason we aren't a suburb is that Camp Pendleton and the Marines are between the two.

barbiedory.bsky.social•48 days ago

I love this.

lindaholmes.bsky.social•48 days ago

One responded by saying, “I’m okay. Everything in L.A. is between 20 and 70 minutes from me.” And I was like …

“Okay.”

gtbtr.bsky.social•47 days ago

"LA is an hour drive from LA" is a pretty iconic expression around here.

dancerbrookly.bsky.social•48 days ago

People who live here don’t always understand either, everyone in LA county got “evacuate orders” on their cell phones today and I’m 30 miles from the closest fire. My kids panicked and I’m like “I think we are safe guys” it’s a big, big place.

jackiepepper.bsky.social•48 days ago

LA is huge. The problem is, these fires are popping up all over the place. I have friends who are within 10 miles of like, 3 different fires. And these things can spread several miles in a few hours. A lot of people are in serious denial about their risk right now. This is unprecedented.

skuzy1572.bsky.social•48 days ago

Sounds like a maga attack. :/ I hope I’m wrong.

wgoin13.bsky.social•47 days ago

My company’s US headquarters is in Torrance, California, just outside LA. I’m terrified for all of them.

absolutequinoa.bsky.social•48 days ago

America is a big place. Easy to get lost.

christianmcintire.bsky.social•47 days ago

Even folks who grew up and lived here can get confused.

surlyphillycat.bsky.social•48 days ago

Cool, cool, looks like we're ok in Philly.

Seriously though, I have friends out there that had to evacuate and I'm hoping and praying for everyone to be safe.

tanyableu.bsky.social•48 days ago

Apparently, if we all stood shoulder to shoulder, the entire GLOBAL POPULATION would fit in Greater L.A.

crashdive625.bsky.social•48 days ago

Wow, this looks like something Donnie would haul out. Along with a sharpie!

gac60.bsky.social•48 days ago

😳

anajones.bsky.social•48 days ago

I’ve never been to New York. Manhattan is kinda small, isn’t it?

ilisette.bsky.social•48 days ago

It is. New York City, however, also includes the Bronx, Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens.

anajones.bsky.social•48 days ago

I know which is why I thought it was bigger. Here it’s like driving from San Dimas across Covina and West Covina to home. They actually filmed this scene in front of the West Covina Edwards Cinema ☺️

marissamadness.bsky.social•48 days ago

Manhattan Island is roughly 13.4 miles (21.6km) long and about 2.3 miles (3.7km) across at its widest point.

https://www.nyctourism.com/visitor-info/

anajones.bsky.social•48 days ago

Yeah. I live here in LA. That is tiny. I drive that distance to and from work. Takes like 18 minutes. It’s not far

unechienejolie.bsky.social•48 days ago

NYC is not only Manhattan, no idea why so many people think that. Yeah still smaller than LA, but with more than 8 million people.

anajones.bsky.social•48 days ago

I know NYC is more than the island just thought the island was BIGGER. Whenever I go north to visit family it takes about an hour to finally leave Los Angeles city limits assuming no traffic, so you know, LA is BIG. I’ve never looked at maps of NYC very closely

anajones.bsky.social•48 days ago

I envy NYC’s public transit. Someday I shall visit that wonderful city

kaybeeelaine.bsky.social•48 days ago

This is awesome! I have never been able to express the size of LA County in a more concrete way! 🎯 thx!!☺️

jwlucasnc.bsky.social•47 days ago

Thank you. I had no idea how enormous it really is. Devastating.

mermerlkwd.bsky.social•48 days ago

Is LA county the biggest county in the country? That's freaking huge!

condorita.bsky.social•47 days ago

That map shows LA *CITY* within the bold blue lines, and only *parts* of LA *COUNTY." The greater LA *METRO* area is even more extensive, and encompasses the LA *BASIN,* which includes parts of Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura counties.
(safe in Anaheim)

daveengh.bsky.social•48 days ago

L.A. County is the most highly-populated county in the U.S. with a population larger than 40 U.S. states.

Area-wise it's bigger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined.

thundxrcloud.bsky.social•48 days ago

But a lot of the area NE is just desert. Very few live in Antelope Valley, the biggest share of area, so it’s a bit misleading. On the other hand the population density in the southern half is insane.

larry1504.bsky.social•48 days ago

A visual representation:

potsandpanic.bsky.social•48 days ago

My half brother lives in LA but nobody in my family understands *where* in LA he is so he’s been mobbed by us for days 😅 He’s finally just texting occasional updates once he realized telling us where he is didn’t help 😬

starant.bsky.social•48 days ago

Wow. I feel so bad for all these people. We’re past the point of no return on climate change. Soon it will affect our food supply.

lugubriouslarry.bsky.social•48 days ago

📌

calinerdygal.bsky.social•48 days ago

I live in Sacramento, and my my in Philly still calls me each and every time anything happens in LA or San Diego. For her birthday, I'm buying her a globe.

Hope everyone down there is safe!

calinerdygal.bsky.social•48 days ago

*my mom

jimfiremanfella.bsky.social•48 days ago

And the white part with blue outline is just LA City itself, the gray parts are (part of) the rest of LA County

condorita.bsky.social•47 days ago

Not nearly all of LA County. Doesn't even go to the 605. Or Pomona/Claremont.

mandyk.bsky.social•48 days ago

omg THANK YOU

robppm319.bsky.social•48 days ago

I've seen this done before somewhere....
https://youtu.be/BXqKkYYALMU

bsnitkin.bsky.social•47 days ago

the631resistance.bsky.social•48 days ago

Gotta add Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx to this map. Manhattan is the smallest NYC borough by land mass.

fixitmanaz.bsky.social•47 days ago

Seems like this would ADD to the confusion. People will be checking for fires in the cities listed, because, apparently these cities are in Los Angeles now?

dymonde.bsky.social•47 days ago

That’s a lot of homes to replace. It will take decades. And where are all these people going to go? In the meantime some only have the clothes they’re wearing. These home insurance companies need to step up here. The whole point of insurance is that they take a risk. It’s calculated. Time to pay out

kenofseattle.bsky.social•48 days ago

Los Angeles is my skateboarding mecca. I've spent so much time there, and yes, it is a MASSIVE city. It goes for miles and miles in every direction.

djangus.bsky.social•48 days ago

There are counties in california that are bigger than entire states

lw4.bsky.social•47 days ago

And yet California only has two senators.

frankiefie.bsky.social•47 days ago

Is that population based or size based?

mrmalakai.bsky.social•47 days ago

The shapes kind of give it away as well. Manhattan especially has a fairly distinct shape.

frankiefie.bsky.social•47 days ago

Yeah, I just didn’t know if they kept the shape but scaled based on the people per square mile

mrmalakai.bsky.social•47 days ago

I would venture a guess that it's geographical size. Manhattan has a population of about 1.6M people, Pittsburgh is about 303K, Saint Louis is about 281K, etc. Based on the shapes, if it were population, Manhattan would be much bigger.

wordznpix61.bsky.social•48 days ago

Wow. That place is huge

protecthb.bsky.social•47 days ago

This is also a helpful free app.

birchduck.bsky.social•48 days ago

"I know you're in San Diego and I see that's many miles away but like how's your air quality?"

Because my sister has lived there for a while now and I've worried about her a lot more than was reasonable 😂

ladymenopause.bsky.social•48 days ago

THAAAANK YOU

carlynclark.bsky.social•48 days ago

People seem confused by LA City vs LA County

cadenswanigan.bsky.social•48 days ago

Doesn't help that there are places that are LA in pretty much every way except on paper, like West Hollywood

carlynclark.bsky.social•48 days ago

Yes! And its confusing that Pacific Palisades is part of LA City but Malibu and Santa Monica are their own cities, but are a joint school district.

cherrysourlagata.bsky.social•47 days ago

i need to calm down, i thought this was a map for a tunic area (game)

4legsrgood.bsky.social•48 days ago

I grew up in California - I get it. Asking if they’re okay is fine. Even if they aren’t near the fires, I think everyone in LA is traumatized.

codenameminali.bsky.social•48 days ago

I was about to ping someone in that general area, so this is great to know, thanks!

norabradford.bsky.social•48 days ago

it’s still worth asking. even if you’re not in harm’s way, it’s still a stressful time and I’m sure they appreciate the support.

blueskyneil.bsky.social•48 days ago

I live near Santa Cruz and had a cousin ask if I was OK today 😆

sparrowflybynight.bsky.social•48 days ago

😀 I received a phone call from a friend in St. Louis, MO when we were having serious flooding and high winds in the SF Bay Area. I mentioned that it was so bad that the Golden Gate Bridge was closed. There was a pause and then the friend asked: “The water got that high?”

drmark55.bsky.social•48 days ago

Great graphics

ornerypiglett.bsky.social•48 days ago

we love the check-in, no matter how it comes! ❤️

lindaholmes.bsky.social•48 days ago

I’m glad. I try to keep it simple and limited!

sdpowell1.bsky.social•48 days ago

I offered a friend on the east coast to look up where her aunt lives so I could tell her if she is close. She, thankfully, is not.

lindaholmes.bsky.social•48 days ago

Yep. I definitely have people who have been unsettlingly close and one who evacuated, but also several who are apparently kinda in other places entirely.

sdpowell1.bsky.social•48 days ago

Los Angeles county is huge. It's hard to understand if you don't live here.

lindaholmes.bsky.social•48 days ago

I think at the very least, people appreciate the acknowledgment that they may be quite a distance from the current threat and I’m not trying to make them feel uneasy by being like “WHAT’S GOING ON?”

sdpowell1.bsky.social•48 days ago

I'm totally fine with people checking in. We're all anxious here anyway.

lindaholmes.bsky.social•48 days ago

Yeah. I just don’t want to be one of 8000 text messages that become a burden, you know?

condorita.bsky.social•47 days ago

San Bernardino and Imperial counties are larger. The LA Basin is much larger than LA county.

jcstarbuck.bsky.social•48 days ago

LA incorporated the suburbs in order to be a top 3 US city.

Think of Philadelphia as incorporating the Delaware Valley.

wanderindreamr.bsky.social•48 days ago

I had to do similar explanations for friends in 2020 with the black lives matter protests in DC, explain that I am actually several miles away and am fine except for the constant helicopter buzzing we had.

aspd27.bsky.social•44 days ago

Thank you and 🙏🏾 for everyone affected during this tragic time here in Los Angeles! And please 🙏🏾for my spouse who’s been having to patrol from Pacific palisades, Brentwood and Sunset while these fires are still burning🥲

abstraktokatl.bsky.social•47 days ago

Also remind them that each of these cities claim to have the "best transportation in the world.

seanofthesea.bsky.social•47 days ago

You're comparing downtowns with LA County, Not the same thing.

elijahcobb.bsky.social•47 days ago

That’s the LA city boundary and the boundaries of other cities. Probably cherry-picked cities that have small areas but those are accurate depictions of the full boundary of every city.

The LA region is just very large and the city is too.

dinozo69.bsky.social•48 days ago

I used to drive a big truck out there. It’s a huge area to drive around in and with the massive population it probably makes evacuations a lot more difficult.