What New York Has to Offer Celebrities vs. Los Angeles

Not all the stars want to be close to Hollywood

By Corinne Heller Apr 01, 2017 10:05 PMTags
Matt Damon, Luciana Barroso, 2017 Film Independent Spirit Awards, ShowKevork Djansezian/Getty Images for Film Independent

Not all the stars want to be in La La Land.

While many celebs are happy living in their gigantic mansions and enjoying the near-year-round sunshine in the Hollywood Hills, Malibu and other uber-rich communities of Los Angeles, others prefer to live in what New Yorkers call the greatest city in the world.

Here's why:

A More "Normal" Life for Celebrity Kids:

Recent reports said Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel, parents of son Silas, who is almost 2, and John Krasinski and Emily Blunt, parents of daughters Hazel, 3, and Violet, 9 months, just bought homes in New York City.

Matt Damon and wife Luciana Barroso, parents of four daughters, also live there.

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Party Pics: New York

"We're not leaving," he told USA Today in 2010. "Nobody bothers me. The younger ones are not aware of any of the celebrity [stuff]. We walk to school every morning. We play in the park. It feels like a normal life."

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Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas own a few homes, including a luxury apartment in Manhattan.

"I hate L.A. with a passion," the actress told Cosmopolitan U.K. in 2008. "We go there, work hard, have our meetings, then get the hell out again. I don't know how people live there, especially with kids."

She and Douglas share son Dylan, 16, and daughter Carys, who is almost 14.

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More Chances to Meet People: In today's age of dating apps, meeting people offline has become rare. But it's more likely to occur in New York, where people walk everywhere, unlike in L.A., where people tend to drive even if their destination is one block away.

"I'm a New Yorker, I've always lived here but one of the reasons that I love New York is that the serendipity is just so thick here, so you can go out on the street and just see things you didn't count on and you don't have to swipe left or right," Susan Sarandon said at post-screening Q&A in New York for her film The Meddler, according to People.

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New York Fashion Week Front Row Ad-Libs
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Less Need for a Car: Not only do people drive less in New York City than they do in L.A., but many don't even bother. While traffic is notoriously worse in L.A., parking is just as bad in N.Y. Also, most errands can be carried out on foot, as buildings are less spaced out. And yelling at other drivers from behind the wheel just isn't as fun as shouting, "Hey, I'm walkin' here!"

"I'm only 17 and I'm a New Yorker, so right now I don't need a license," Mischa Barton told People in 2003.

"I get other people to take me around," she said.

Well, that's another matter entirely.

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The Weather (No, Really): "I can't take the goddamn heat here, Sebastian, I can't take it. I'm sick of it. Aren't you sick of it?" Jerry Seinfeld asks fellow comic Sebastian Maniscalco on an episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee in 2016.

"Come on, you don't like this?" Maniscalco asks, gesturing toward the nearby beach. "The ocean?"

"Nope," Seinfeld says.

 

"What do you mean 'no'? You just said you like water. We're driving this car, down this road, with this setting—palm trees...mountains?" Maniscalco asks.

"Doesn't work for me," Seinfeld says. "You know why? 'Cause all these people here, they're all enjoying it. And that ruins it for me."