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Well, I guess you could say that the Bay Area has much better mass transit than the LA area, (BART’s great, I don’t care what anyone says!) so that helps it’s case. But in general, I agree that the Bay Area as a whole is just as car-centric and freeway crazy as LA – the Silicon Valley looks just like the San Fernando Valley except you replace the movie studios with Internet companies.
However, there’s no denying that nowhere in the entire Los Angeles metropolitan area is there any answer for the urbanity of San Francisco. I don’t think rowhomes even exist anywhere else in California. I certainly haven’t seen any in LA, even in the oldest neighborhoods.
Well, I guess you could say that the Bay Area has much better mass transit than the LA area, (BART’s great, I don’t care what anyone says!) so that helps it’s case. But in general, I agree that the Bay Area as a whole is just as car-centric and freeway crazy as LA – the Silicon Valley looks just like the San Fernando Valley except you replace the movie studios with Internet companies.
However, there’s no denying that nowhere in the entire Los Angeles metropolitan area is there any answer for the urbanity of San Francisco. I don’t think rowhomes even exist anywhere else in California. I certainly haven’t seen any in LA, even in the oldest neighborhoods.
Hrrm... They both kind of suck for public trans...not carless cities to be comfortable in and still explore the city easily. Though many on here say it is OK in SF without a car, I would beg to differ and probably a hassle. At least if you compare them to Boston/NYC/Chicago/Philly/DC... Pretty much any city has bus routes...
Bart and Caltrain are good (for where they go) The problem is the system is not expansive whatsoever.
All of coastal california is prime real estate, scenic with good weather though.
^^^San Francisco's mass transit is kind of disappointing, but there's still an active and visible "transit culture" that you don't see here in LA. For example, I know this is going to sound stupid but I noticed at AT&T Park they run a commercial on the jumbotron that shows Giants baseball players running through a Muni train on their way to the ballpark. You would never see the Dodgers show a commercial where Manny Ramirez is taking the Red Line subway through Hollywood.
And while transit in San Francisco may not be up to par with the East Coast cities, it's still an extremely urban place, probably the most urban in California.
Originally Posted by matt345 Well, I guess you could say that the Bay Area has much better mass transit than the LA area, (BART’s great, I don’t care what anyone says!) so that helps it’s case. But in general, I agree that the Bay Area as a whole is just as car-centric and freeway crazy as LA – the Silicon Valley looks just like the San Fernando Valley except you replace the movie studios with Internet companies.
However, there’s no denying that nowhere in the entire Los Angeles metropolitan area is there any answer for the urbanity of San Francisco. I don’t think rowhomes even exist anywhere else in California. I certainly haven’t seen any in LA, even in the oldest neighborhoods.
--I used public transportation in SF a lot, and I think it is easier to get around in SF without a car, but I think the hassle factor of getting on the BART/Muni/AC Transit/the HORRORS of when you actually do have to drive in SF (much much worse than driving in LA) are pretty much comparable to the experience of just driving all the time in LA.
As far as the 'urbanity' of San Francisco.. sure it LOOKS pretty, it LOOKS like a city, but a city to me is made up of the people and institutions, not how pretty the tourist spots look.. it's not the Victorian age, so as far as I'm concerned, row houses and downtown density are a pleasant anachronism, not a cornerstone of a great modern city experience. Who is actually living in those row houses and running those cutesy boutique stores? Bunch of homogenized yuppies. Everybody in SF is the SAME it seems. Urbanity to me is the dynamic interchange between lots of different types of people, the creative mix of people and institutions, not the external shell of 'cityhood'.
I was never this vitriolic or even defensive of LA when I moved to SF, but the constant trash-talking of LA based on hear-say and ignorance and inability to accept any good things about LA just floored me. There are a lot of good, hard-working people in LA.
I also think that underneath a lot of the LA hatred is racism and classism... LA is a lot less white in many ways than SF, and also less old-money.
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