Pasadena for LA. Unlike SM, CC, BH, and WH, it isn’t absorbed by urban LA but rather enjoys a great deal of autonomy. Rose Bowl, Rose Parade, Norton Simon, Caltech, PCC (25,000 students), and Old Town make it significant on a regional, national, and even international level.
For a place that can’t be considered a free-standing city in its own right, I’d go with Malibu, the Beach Cities, and Laguna Beach in OC. Coachella Valley too, although I don’t know if you could call that a suburb of LA. Ditto the Hamptons and NYC.
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“To tell a story is inescapably to take a moral stance.”
— Jerome Bruner
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