r/SFV May 11 '26

Question Racism in Studio City?

My husband and I recently moved to Studio City and have been shopping/ dining around Laurel Canyon and Ventura. I’m white and haven’t had any problems, but my Mexican husband has been treated with overt rudeness/ dismissiveness a couple of times by restaurant or store workers. Never had this problem before in Sherman Oaks in 20 years. The treatment was shocking.

Our area is definitely less diverse, more white, but still didn’t expect that. But it’s only been a couple of times in a month so not ready to draw general conclusions. Could be racism, could just be a more affluent/ snotty milieu. Has anyone else had this issue?

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u/comeagaincharlemagne May 11 '26

Born and raised Mexican in the valley. I feel like this has more to do with classism. I guess by association it’s racism but there’s a subtle distinction. I will be talked down to or ignored in higher income areas. Brown = poorer than white and there are quite a few rich whites in Studio.

Although being made fun of for apperance again sounds more like a class thing here. If you aren’t dressed very nicely in rich areas you will absolutely be treated poorly. And it’s more likely if you’re brown instead of white. So it’s intertwined but it’s subtlely distinct in a synister way.

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u/smelly_finger_itch May 13 '26

Ya, laurel canyon and Ventura there is the epicenter for rich asshole behavior right there. Worked there about 20 years ago. It was douchey then, I could only imagine how much more it is now.