FROM Los Angeles tends to resemble New York thanks to the new ways that New Yorkers have adopted, such as legal marijuana stores, the prevalence of healthy food and casual wear.

While cultural exchange between the two metropolitan areas is nothing new, Los Angeles appears to have won the battle for influence. The first marijuana store opened in New York City last month, new car purchases in the city grew 28 percent between 2019 and 2021, and a beach of sand and umbrellas was created along the Hudson River.

Even the climate seems to buck the trend, with temperatures in New York exceeding those in Los Angeles on Wednesday (19 in NYC, 17 in LA). While there will never be palm trees in New York City, the convergence of social, economic and epidemiological trends has brought the two cities and cultures closer together. The pandemic has radically changed New Yorkers’ habits of home exercise and health obsession. Deprived of social habits, the townspeople sought the joys of the countryside and spiritual insights. “The pandemic has forced Los Angeles into a lifestyle. We sat at home and did nothing!” says talk show host and longtime New Yorker Andy Cohen.

At the same time, luxurious gyms and spas appeared in the metropolis with subscriptions of several thousand dollars a year. “New York used to be cynical about Californian cultural trends like the zodiac and clairvoyance. Now it’s all become commonplace,” says actress Jill Kargman, recalling her acquaintances who tried the powerful hallucinogen ayahuasca and took the hallucinogen psilocybin to cope with the boredom of parents’ meetings.

Fashion dictates that dinner should be eaten at 17:00. and cocktails no longer contain alcohol.

New York has adopted another feature of Los Angeles life: the five-hour dinner. “New York used to be a European city with a 9 or 10 dinner culture. Today, it’s hard to find a table between 5 and 7,” says fashion consultant Chris Black.

Modernization of NoHo

Another notable example is the once rundown Noho neighborhood in southern Manhattan, where Jean-Michel Basquiat and Robert Mapplethorpe lived in the 1970s. The long gentrified area is now called “Little Los Angeles”. Companies of many Hollywood stars, such as Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop and Reformation, have opened branches in Noho, as has Hillsong Church.

The Californian influence can also be seen in drinks dominated by non-alcoholic cocktails, the price of which (from $19 and up) still reflects the astronomical rent of the East Coast metropolis.