holy crap, what have i gotten myself into?

I recently purchased the Not for Toursists Guide to New York City as a gift for someone, and on a whim I thought I'd pick up the LA version for myself. I had procured a used version of the ever-handy, pocket-sized Gotham street guide a few years ago and found it incredibly useful - exactly the kind of thing one might want to have when navigating a large and unfamiliar city.

Wow, was I in for a shock.

Please consult the above photo. On the left you will see the ubiquitous NFT New York. At a svelte 4" x 5 3/4" and 9.5 oz, it fits conveniently in almost any purse, bag, or cargo-pant pocket, as it should since it's meant to be used on the go.

The behemoth to the right is NFT LA. All I have to say is, What the hell?? This monster measures 6 1/2" x 9" and weighs in at 30.5 ounces. That's right, almost two pounds! I think there are laptops lighter than this thing. Okay, I realize this is probably intended to be used in a car, but still...what the hell??

Now, it is true that NFT NY cheats a little - it doesn't really cover the whole city. Outside of Manhattan, only a few select neighborhoods in downtown Brooklyn (BoCoCa, anyone?), Astoria, Long Island City, Hoboken and Jersey City are deemed worthy of detailed cartography. The rest of the "outer boroughs" are breezed over with one large-scale map each.

But still, there can be only one gloomy conclusion to this travel guide travesty. To be considered "not a tourist" in LA, you must possess approximately 220% more geographical knowlege (calculating by volume) than in New York. And possess a glove compartment or a really big bag.