Is it just a function of living in a metropolis, that the 3:00 a.m. sky is yellowish or a weird luminescent shade of burgundy?

It's ~almost~ a normal shade at the very uppermost part of the dome, and you can see stars there, a very few, but as you look down towards the horizon, or even the middle ranges, the sky's edges seem to be thinning, diffusing into this unhealthy, vaguely nuclear glow.

That just doesn't seem right. I always find myself wondering, if the Chumash Indians who used to live in this area were plunked right down in the midst of what their land has become, just HOW much they'd freak the fuck out.