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Same for me except for Arizona. The red rocks of Sedona and the tall cacti around Phoenix feel more interior southwest than West Coast IMO. Nevada is the same except for Vegas. Given the close ties between LA and Vegas and sheer number of California license plates you see on the Strip, it's basically the West Coast.
Haha yeah Vegas is definitely an extension of CA. I was just there this past weekend and the club I went to had the DJ telling CA to make some noise, and about 85% of the club started going wild lol. People from all over go there, but most Californians I know consider Reno and Vegas to be CA.
Yeah and Vermont and Pennsylvania aren't east coast cities because they don't touch the Atlantic. Nonsense.
Good point. It would be hard to not consider AZ and NV, the westcoast, when they consider PA the eastcoast. PA has no coast. So it would be more logical to use sphere of influence, in that case AZ, and NV are definitely Westcoast.
There's several states that can be considered "the west" that don't actually border the Pacific ocean. I consider Colorado and parts of Texas to be "the west", but I don't consider them to be part of the west coast.
I think of California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and Nevada.
Yeah there are several states I consider to be part of "The West," but those 5 you have listed above are what I would consider to be the West Coast. Alaska can be thrown into the mix too though. I had a friend that lived in Anchorage and her and all her friends identified with the West Coast. I've heard that elsewhere too, and geographically it is connected. But typically I'd just count those other 5.
Hawaii deserves honorable mention too. It is to us what FL is to NYC. It may not be coastal, but it is still frequented by enough of us to be somewhat culturally tied to us.
Hmmm. Interesting that some are choosing non-coastal states like AZ and NV. In a similar poll of the "east coast", virtually no one selected states that didn't touch the coast. In fact, some disputed areas of states thta touched the coast, such as upstate NY, and western PA.
I think that mostly has to do with the western parts of those states having more in common culturally with the Midwest. Here the states are much larger, but the influence spreads into these states making them culturally similar. Utah, Colorado and New Mexico could probably be added into the mix too as far as that goes, but they are not quite as similar as the other 5 states are to each other.
How do you figure Arizona and Nevada to be west "coast" when neither one of them has a coastline? Do you understand the definition of "coast"? Let me tell ya, when you're out in the blazing Arizona or Nevada desert with no ocean for hundreds of miles, and no cool sea breeze to cool you off, you'll realize what a ridiculous statement you just made.
The same could be said about Death Valley and the rest of inland CA. That doesn't mean it's not part of the West Coast. Sacramento is blazing hot too with no ocean to be found, but it is still on the West Coast. But we're not talking geographically here, we're talking culturally. Geographically we all know the answer and there is nothing to discuss.
Yeah and Vermont and Pennsylvania aren't east coast cities because they don't touch the Atlantic. Nonsense.
Quote:
Originally Posted by polo89
Good point. It would be hard to not consider AZ and NV, the westcoast, when they consider PA the eastcoast. PA has no coast. So it would be more logical to use sphere of influence, in that case AZ, and NV are definitely Westcoast.
I was just going to say the same thing about VT and PA. And I agree about NV and AZ.
We are. It would be pointless to make a poll asking "what states touch the ocean?".
Well even culturally I think there are real differences from everything I've read. (Granted I have no real experience) States like Arizona or Nevada are a good deal more libertarian or conservative than the "West Coast." I believe they're also a good deal less Asian.
Still maybe Colorado and Nevada could fit. Hawaii would fit better than Alaska as Hawaii is fairly socially liberal and very Asian. I'm emphasizing Asian more as "Mexican" I think is more true of Texas than Oregon, but Texas isn't "West Coast" by any standard I've heard.
Also British Columbia should be added if we're not specifying the US.
Last edited by Thomas R.; 09-01-2009 at 04:27 AM..
Yeah and Vermont and Pennsylvania aren't east coast cities because they don't touch the Atlantic. Nonsense.
This is a bit different. A section of Pennsylvania is near Delaware Bay, or just is on the Delaware estuary thereby having a coast, and Vermont is near enough to the ocean to be effected by hurricanes. The West Coast states go inland enough that the landlocked states that border them are not influenced by the coast in the same way. And that has a cultural element in that having port cities traditionally brought in more foreign trade and immigration. Nevada, Arizona, or Idaho did not (so far as I know) have something like nineteenth century San Francisco.
It's also different culturally. Arizona and Nevada were largely desert so strong settlement is, I believe, more recent exempting mining towns. Perhaps Nevada works in some ways, but even then I have my doubts.
You automatically assume those 3 when you hear west coast, with California being infinitely more famous than the other 2, and Washington being a fair amount more famous than OR.
2nd Tier:
4. Nevada
5. Arizona
Nevada has a slightly more west coast feel I think, plus it is more often frequented by us on the coast than AZ. I still consider AZ west coast though since it can have a similar feel to the warmer parts of socal and is quite close.
3rd tier:
6. Hawaii
7. Alaska
These two are basically off in their own world, but are west coast only as a technicality really. Hawaii comes before Alaska because everyone loves Hawaii, while Alaska is just whatever (imo).
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