Does Northern California have more in common with Oregon and Washington than with SoCal? (Los Angeles: live in, transit)

[belmont22]

Do you think people in the Bay Area feel more affinity to Oregon and Washington than to Los Angeles and San Diego? Northern California is often considered the Pacific Northwest.

[BlackShoe]

First of all, a sizable minority, including myself, do not consider the Bay Area to be part of Northern California, but rather North Central California, or just plain Bay Area, an insular area in itself. Second, on a political basis, the Bay Area has more affinity to Russia of the old Soviet Union than to any place in the USA. But to answer the question in the OP, the answer, if considering only the true Northern California, is yes.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by belmont22

Do you think people in the Bay Area feel more affinity to Oregon and Washington than to Los Angeles and San Diego? Northern California is often considered the Pacific Northwest.

Do you consider the San Francisco Bay Area a part of NorCal? If so, I think it is as far different from SoCal as it is from Washington or Oregon.

[Gentoo]

Ok, C-D rhetoric aside, because you will hear things here that you will hear no where else; it's really hard to say. First of all, the Bay Area is considered Norcal by most normal people (that is, outside this website). Now as far as it being part of one or the other, honestly, that depends where you are. Most of the Bay Area is decidedly California. SF, Oakland and Berkeley however have a different feel to them. SF doesn't really fit anywhere around here. Oakland and Berkeley feel very much like they belong near Puget Sound IMO. It's really a transition zone but, like with most other boundaries, one cannot draw a straight neat line. As for the rest of Norcal, it fits better with the PNW than with Socal. Some will disagree as they have images in their heads of the coastal regions of the PNW, forgetting or not knowing entirely that the interior of that region has rather dry, close to desert areas in some places. If one were to split it without making arbitrary central regions, yes, it's more like the PNW than Socal which has more in common with AZ and NV.

[belmont22]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

Do you consider the San Francisco Bay Area a part of NorCal? If so, I think it is as far different from SoCal as it is from Washington or Oregon.

Yes, I consider anything north of the 36th parallel aside from Death Valley part of Northern California.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by belmont22

Yes, I consider anything north of the 36th parallel aside from Death Valley part of Northern California.

Well in that case, I think the Bay Area is more similar to SoCal than Oregon or Washington. However, cities such as Redding and Eureka would be more similar to Oregon or Washington.

[CAVA1990]

I'm sure I'll get brickbats but San Francisco seems more like a Northeastern city than Northwestern. In some ways it's more similar to NYC or Boston than to Portland or Seattle. It could be because it's a financial center and has a more ethnic history (Irish, Italian, and Asian) than the cities up North. Seattle and Portland were kind of run-down until recently while San Francisco has always been a great city.

[TrueTimbers]

IMO!!!
The dividing line between southern California and the rest of the west coast is Point Conception.. One can make a good argument that the PNW begins north of Cape Mendocino. But the bay area is not the PNW. The bay area is a world unto its own.... two counties in all three directions.

North of Point Conception I think the contrast between coastal influence and interior is a much larger the contrast of latitude.

Large metro areas have their own worlds, and and influence smaller communities within their "orbit".... Each distinct in their own ways.. Beyond that, one can group via geographic divides, climate differences and so forth...

Areas far away from the "pull" of major metro areas can and do have things in common across state lines... Like far northern California and southern Oregon...

[nmnita]

I have never considered the bay area as being Pacific NW and I have never heard that..We lived in both the bay area as well as So Ca, and the true No Ca (Eureka) San Francisco and the surrounding areas, to me, are more like the Northeast (yes, CAVA I agree with you) That being said, San Francisco isn't exactly like any other place we have visited or lived. That is what makes is so special, it has it's own personality, closer to NewEngland but with a Ca flair. Now, if you go north, just past Marin County, you are starting to get into the Pacific NoWest in personality and scenery.

[Steve97415]

I would say the inverse is more true. Oregonians who live in the southern tier of counties feel more affinity to California cities in the State of Jefferson -- Redding, Yreka, Eureka, etc. -- than they do to Eugene or Portland. Ashland and Brookings are basically far-northern California cities populated by Californians who have oozed over the border a bit. There's a major cultural rift in Oregon between the Willamette Valley and the area from Roseburg on south. The State of Jefferson is almost like a third state that lies between the two.