West Coast vs. East Coast (Los Angeles, San Diego: transplants, real estate, foreclosure)

[TristramShandy]

Originally Posted by dscott2009

With the state of the economy the way it is with high unemployment everywhere, Does anyone regret moving from the East Coast to the West Coast. I personally would love to live somewhere on the west coast... I hear the vibe is just totally different. (Laid back). I am a born and bred east coaster looking to make a move in the latter of part of 2010. Just curious..would you ever move back to the East coast.?

I love both coasts (well, parts of both coasts), so, yeah, I would move back, but I have no inclination to do so right now. I will say, however, that San Diego has a habit of luring out East Coasters and Midwesterners after college who live it up in their 20s but ultimately wander back to their home states by their late 20s/early 30s. In some cases this is to start families (and to have babysitters they can trust! ) or to help with aging parents - - for some, they become partied out (at least that's the case with PB/MB/OB in San Diego). It's almost become a rite of passage it seems. Out of my set of friends, we have a few East Coasters who are going to stay for the forseeable future (from VA, PA, DE, MA), but we've also lost as many who went back to DE, VA, and some midwestern states. I don't think any of them regreted moving out - - but that point of their lives was ending. None of our group ever turned around and moved back in a year or two - - they all stayed for a good 7 or 8 years.

[jc76]

The "Laid Back" thing I always just consider to be how in California you can be your own person. If your a little strange, your normal. If you dress outside of Wranglers and a flannel, your not starred at (like in the midwest). I think it's more of a personal freedom thing and it gets titled as laid back. And while I'm considered midwest, not east coast, yes I do regret every second of every day for having to come back to the abyss after living in CA.

[bmd69]

I lived in both regions, I'd take california.

[Mach50]

Originally Posted by bhcompy

It's not that California is laid back. It's that people aren't as uptight in that urban east coast "it's my right to be a dick" kind of way.

+100000000

A few examples:

1) Traffic, East Coasters have this thing where they will see a car trying to merge and instead of allowing the car in, they speed up and hug the bumper of the car in front of them, to block the merge. Just doesn't happen out here.

2) There are things like just randomly arguing with someone behind the counter of a deli, to the point where someone spits out something vulgar.

3) On the East Coast, guys who don't know each other, think it is gay to say hello to each other or even a simple "what's up man?". (Probably why NYrs think guys from California are all gay lol)...

4) If you are waiting for a bus in Manhattan or Miami, there might be a line of passengers at the stop and people off to the side. When the bus arrives the people off to the side RUSH in to cut in line and get on the bus.

5) Oh and back to traffic, I couldn't count how many times I have been flicked off, yelled at, high beams flashed or honked at for doing nothing.

This kind of stuff, along with initial rudeness is what some people call "the East Coast attitude". Which is basically trying hard as possible to be impolite.

Things like this, just don't happen out here. So this guy who spent 2/3 of my life in Miami, Orlando, D.C. and NYC, thinks California is VERY "LAID BACK".

[thrillobyte]

If only, if only the West Coast had the east Coast's rugged coastline!!!! The WC is essentially one straight line running for over 2,000 miles from the Olympic peninsula all the way down to Cabo San Lucas in Baja. There a few tiny exceptions like San Diego Harbor, Newport and of course San Francisco. But then Frisco lies on one of the most dangerous fault zones in the world. At least with a hurricane you have warning. In Frisco, particularly, but most all of Cali in general, a devastating 9. can strike without warning killing thousands and leveling an entire county. I digress. The rugged coast of the eastern seaboard has always fascinated me, with Chesapeake, the Outer Banks of NC, the intracoastal waterway, to name a few--a boater's paradise!!! too bad the sh*t muggy summer weather ruins it all.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

California urbanites hide being dog eat dog *******s better than East Coast urbanites do, full stop. The California urbanite is just as much of a ******* as the East Coast version.

BTW - for retirement, my wife and I are actually looking at the East Coast (well, the southern part, Virginia) as a possibility. I am a native Californian. Yes, I am THAT pessimistic about the long term situation here.

[bayarea-girl]

Mach50, have you driven in LA? LA drivers aren't very nice and don't always don't let you in when changing lanes, they often flick you off and curse, there is a lot of road range in LA.

[Mach50]

Originally Posted by bayarea-girl

Mach50, have you driven in LA? LA drivers aren't very nice and don't always don't let you in when changing lanes, they often flick you off and curse, there is a lot of road range in LA.

Many many times, and L.A. is tame compared to Miami, Atlanta, D.C...etc.
You are guaranteed to be blocked, honked, or yelled at while in East Coast traffic...L.A. is just a parking lot.

But it is not just traffic, East Coasters really do have the tough demeanor and in urban cities even as small as Orlando the differences in politeness compared to West Coasters is obvious.

Sometimes I miss that toughness, but the impoliteness I do not miss at all.

[The_Rambler]

Atlanta certainly has the worst traffic of anywhere I've driven. I lived near there and you could be doing 90 mph on 285 and still have people flying around you and honking while talking on the mobile and flipping you off. That was practically every single day there.

[Sassberto]

I just got back from visiting family in NYC suburbs (Long Island)

I can tell you that California's economy is visibly much, much worse than the NYC area right now. You do not see the decay, foreclosures, or vacant businesses in NY that are all over CA right now.

I spoke to two couples on the flight back to San Diego who said they are looking to move back to LI from San Diego. I might be considering joining them!