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Old 06-11-2010, 12:13 AM
 
4,803 posts, read 10,136,591 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by californio sur View Post
There's definitely a Southwest "feel" in Southern California. Also called the "Sun Belt" the Southwest also includes southern Nevada & Utah as well as Arizona\ New Mexico and southwest Texas. I think deserts are a characteristic of the Southwest and include the Sonoran desert of Arizona and California. The Mojave desert of California and Nevada. And the Chihuahuan desert of New Mexico\ Arizona and Texas.
I agree. This is true.
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Old 06-11-2010, 01:29 AM
 
Location: SWUS
5,419 posts, read 9,165,012 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LAX-PHX View Post
Wow. You've obviously never been to Scottsdale or Phoenix for that matter. Livestock? Really? Depending on how you look at it for better or worse I think people in Phoenix exhibit many of the traits that you attributed to Southern Californians. I'm getting kind of tired of this topic but I'm blown away by people that think AZ especially Phoenix is more like Texas than So. California. I find the evidence strongly points to the contrary. I

Erm, I've been to Scottsdale AND Phoenix several times. I'm pretty sure I said "except Scottsdale and Phoenix area" or something similar in that OP somewhere. I know just how flashy people in Phoenix can be.


I love Arizona btw, I would trade my left testicle to be able to live in Flagstaff, or within 50 miles of Powell/Glen Canyon.
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Old 06-11-2010, 01:32 AM
 
Location: Dallas, Texas
4,421 posts, read 6,241,907 times
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People tend to get confused about the difference between geography and culture. You hear a lot of "Florida isnt the south!!" well if you look on a map it sure is, unless the moved it? lol

As for Cali, if you go east of LA and SD it is very much what the stereotypical Southwest is. Northern Cali is a lot more Pacific northwestern.
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Old 06-11-2010, 05:02 AM
 
Location: Kansas City
404 posts, read 591,661 times
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Because it's the most southwest state geographically maybe?
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Old 06-12-2010, 01:24 AM
 
14,256 posts, read 26,818,421 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by R1070 View Post
People tend to get confused about the difference between geography and culture. You hear a lot of "Florida isnt the south!!" well if you look on a map it sure is, unless the moved it? lol

As for Cali, if you go east of LA and SD it is very much what the stereotypical Southwest is. Northern Cali is a lot more Pacific northwestern.
That's what I onserved. Very deserted, sparsely populated, more conservative, no REAL stark difference between Eastern SoCal and AZ. Well, at least from what I've heard.
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Old 06-12-2010, 03:52 AM
 
Location: Cleveland bound with MPLS in the rear-view
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If you placed a compass over a blank North America map, the SW point would be pointed in the direction of California or Arizona.
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Old 06-12-2010, 06:38 PM
 
Location: MINNESOTA
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Well, geographically speaking, it is in the Southwest part of the United States.

In terms of "where CA is", the state of California really is in a category all by itself....
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Old 06-13-2010, 11:44 AM
 
Location: Lower East Side, Milwaukee, WI
2,943 posts, read 5,046,376 times
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Default Why is California considered part of the Southwest?

Because a good deal of the state looks like this:


Not to mention, you have cities in the LA area, like San Bernardino and Riverside, that frequently experience high temps exceeding 100°F.
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Old 06-13-2010, 12:45 PM
 
Location: Northridge, Los Angeles, CA
2,684 posts, read 7,354,984 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jjacobeclark View Post
Because a good deal of the state looks like this:

Not to mention, you have cities in the LA area, like San Bernardino and Riverside, that frequently experience high temps exceeding 100°F.
Here's ecological California's composition

Source: Ecology of California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

38.6% Forest (source: Hardwood Forest Foundation: Experience: California)
25.6% Dry Steppe (Central Valley source: Central Valley (California) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
15.3% Desert (Colorado and Mojave source: California's Deserts)
20.5% Coastal Chaparral (subtracted this from the remainder)

So the largest section of California's ecology is in fact, Forest.

Of course, no one really recognizes that and instead looks at the 15.3% that IS desert and 25.6% that is the Central Valley (combined 41.9%). Either way, it doesn't come close to being majority desert.

@ OP, I always considered California both. It IS in the Southwestern part of the US geographically, and there IS a cultural continuum of Southwesterness in Southern California. However, the further you go north in California, the less and less that appears. Once you get to the Bay Area, any trace of Southwestern influence is strictly limited to the Missions, and north of that, nothing really.

It's not like being part of the Southwest makes CA mutually exclusive to anything else.
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Old 06-13-2010, 03:34 PM
 
Location: CA, Soon Texas!!
117 posts, read 329,894 times
Reputation: 73
I dont consider California Southwest. I think it should be just WestCoast or Pacific!
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