Hi Bob, welcome to the network! That is quite a background! Regarding your feedback, we have repeaters on the clnc/ground/tower freqs for ZLA (and Western US). If you're on a tower frequency, then you should hear the all the clearance/ground/tower interactions, including the pilots. If you're hearing approach/center level instructions as well, that means one controller is working everything and you won't hear those pilots as we don't have repeaters on the center freqs. Pilot readbacks on approach freqs are pretty short, that's why we don't have repeaters there. Otherwise, it starts to feel like a party line where you hear everything, all the time. The radio system configuration is a series of compromises for sure. The good news is we're working on improving our staffing configuration for weekends where we'll have a dedicated tower controller online (separate to the radar controller) as much of the time as possible.
In the mean time, just know that weekends are very busy in Socal. If you'd like something a little less chaotic, give the Western US area a try, or give Socal a try during the week. Sat/Sun in Socal is a very busy time for sure. And again, welcome!