What's the best large cities' downtown in California? (Los Angeles, San Diego: top neighborhood, neighborhood)

[the topper]

My take:

1. Los Angeles
2. San Jose
3. San Francisco
4. San Diego
5. Sacramento

[BeauCharles]

Originally Posted by the topper

Never been to SJ

I lived in Salinas and Monterey for 11 years during the 2000s and went to San Jose regularly. It doesn't feel like the downtown of a city of a million. Pretty nondescript. That said I like San Jose in general.

[the topper]

Originally Posted by BeauCharles

I lived in Salinas and Monterey for 11 years during the 2000s and went to San Jose regularly. It doesn't feel like the downtown of a city of a million. Pretty nondescript. That said I like San Jose in general.

It has changed so much in the last 5 years

[tstieber]

Originally Posted by the topper

Downtown L.A has improved drastically. In Downtown San Diego, they added a crop of new residential/hotel towers but also faced a setback: Horton's Plaza shopping mall decline. They just finished Fulton mall makeover as a cool street. Lastly, Downtown Sac. has built arena and a mixed used hotel and residential towers.

Horton Plaza in San Diego has indeed become a blight. It was a catalyst for redevelopment thirty years ago, but the downtown mall is now an outdated concept. The good news is that a whole slew of developers are working on proposals for the Horton Plaza site, which will likely change it completely. There's huge demand for redeveloping it.

I was just in downtown San Diego for the symphony and then again for a jazz concert over the past weekends, and I continue to marvel at how jam packed it is everywhere, how many cars, Ubers, and cabs are on the streets at night, and how many people are walking around. It's clearly become an evening and weekend destination, and I'd vote for SD *and* LA as 'most improved' downtowns (although LA is the opposite -- more of a daytime financial center and less of a nighttime destination). But SF is still head and shoulders above all of them in terms of scale, vibrancy, architecture, buildings, bustle, amenities, etc.

[tstieber]

Originally Posted by PlainWhite

The best downtown in CA, if not the country, is San Jose, right Topper?

Lol, I'm sure that was the main motivation of the question in the first place. I understand the Tech Museum is better than the Louvre, and the Paris Metro stations have nothing on San Jose's light rail. :-)

[tstieber]

And here are my rankings:

1. San Francisco
2. Los Angeles
3. San Diego
4. Sacramento
5. Long Beach
6. San Jose
7. Oakland

I actually like ALL of these downtowns for different reasons. DTLA is putting up lots of interesting skyscrapers and residential towers downtown, and the jewelry district has amazing historic architecture. It's got the Symphony Hall down there, LA Live, and some other neat things, but it's still a bit quiet at night. Still, it feels like a big city.

San Diego is compact, and there is residential highrise construction going on constantly. It's not a major financial center, even within the region, but it's become the playground for people to live, go to shows, concerts, restaurants, coffee shops, farmers markets, festivals, etc. It's full of life and bustle, and, like San Francisco, it is blessed with a great waterfront location on the bay, even having a bay bridge. Compared to Long Beach's harbor, San Diego is more of a working fishing harbor, which I like better.

I went to Long Beach for the first time six months ago and was really impressed! It reminded us of a larger Sacramento, really similar in size, vibe, architecture, and people. The main difference was that Long Beach has a touristy, palm-lined waterfront, whereas Sacramento has a non-touristy, palm-lined State Capitol (which I think is more regal, but Long Beach just seems bigger, so I give it the edge).

San Jose has a bright, sunny vibe with a great downtown street layout. It feels to me like the kind of California city that would lure weary East Coasters out west from seeing a fruit crate label. It's just very pretty. I also love the First Street (SoFi) arts district with its unique Art Deco architecture and the beautiful jacaranda trees. San Jose sort of has every element of California blended into one place. Whatever you think about California, north or south, east or west, it all comes together there.

[LuvSouthOC]

San Francisco and it is so far ahead, the rest are comical.

[Losfrisco]

Originally Posted by LuvSouthOC

San Francisco and it is so far ahead, the rest are comical.

Oh really. What is downtown San Francisco's answer to-

The Broad Museum
Angels Flight
Grand Central Market
OUE Skyspace
Spire 73
Union Station


Remember-downtown only, no plucking from "core" neighborhoods. Since amazing San Francisco is so far ahead, I'll expect a quick response.

[the topper]

Originally Posted by tstieber

Horton Plaza in San Diego has indeed become a blight. It was a catalyst for redevelopment thirty years ago, but the downtown mall is now an outdated concept. The good news is that a whole slew of developers are working on proposals for the Horton Plaza site, which will likely change it completely. There's huge demand for redeveloping it.

I was just in downtown San Diego for the symphony and then again for a jazz concert over the past weekends, and I continue to marvel at how jam packed it is everywhere, how many cars, Ubers, and cabs are on the streets at night, and how many people are walking around. It's clearly become an evening and weekend destination, and I'd vote for SD *and* LA as 'most improved' downtowns (although LA is the opposite -- more of a daytime financial center and less of a nighttime destination). But SF is still head and shoulders above all of them in terms of scale, vibrancy, architecture, buildings, bustle, amenities, etc.

Dt SD is normally packed on Weekend nights: Gaslamp, cultural activities and live music. Petco park brings in more crowds, especially when it's almost full like Giants and Padre rivalry games. Daytime and weeknight: almost dead, basically quiet with some tourism and court people. Office workers don't venture out more than a local sandwich joint a block away. C street, well, forget it.

[the topper]

SF: ewe!! feces, needles and urine on main st. like Market st. Everybody leaves during the evening, including weekend evenings. Tons of vacant storefront next to Westfield Mall to the west.