My final move - Los Angeles vs New York - Stumped!

[steven_h]

If you grew up in Brooklyn then Pasedena will have a small town atmosphere to you. Although it has grown in the last 10-15 years (what SoCal city hasn't), it is still quaint and a bit more laid back. Pros; smack between the mountains and the beaches 45 minutes in either direction and you're there. Hollyweird, Universal City, The Hills, great shopping and restaurants. Cons; Traffic, and Traffic and then theres the Traffic. The Rose Bowl OMG what a circus. Anywhere near the parade route or the bowl itself and you'll be locked in that week.

Cheers

PS: I had studio clients that live there and I always enjoyed being in that town. I also have my right coast family who live in Brooklyn and Jones Beach and I wouldn't trade the left coast for the right, ever.

[scottykick]

Well I'm a NY born & raised and have spent all 33 years of my life here & have decided it's a time for a change. I have narrowed it down to San Deigo or Los Angeles. I like the laid back vibe or SD, but I also like to not NEED a car, and downtown LA seems like it would be better suited, either way SoCal is the destination.

[Fleet]

Originally Posted by scottykick

Well I'm a NY born & raised and have spent all 33 years of my life here & have decided it's a time for a change. I have narrowed it down to San Deigo or Los Angeles. I like the laid back vibe or SD, but I also like to not NEED a car, and downtown LA seems like it would be better suited, either way SoCal is the destination.

Good luck! Hope you like it wherever you end up.

[Jay100]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

New York Metro includes commuter suburbs 1hr+ in all direction, including CT, NJ, Long Island, Westchester Cty. When you live in the region, it is commonly referred to the "Tri-state area", as the majority of New Jersey and Connecticut are part of suburban New York city. Los Angeles metro, even if you included ventura, orange counties and inland empire, is not nearly as large. While you may be technically correct that LA County is bigger than New York City, in practical terms, New York is a much larger urbanized area by millions of residents.

California is the more populous state, but the northeast is not as easily defined by state boundaries as the effective urban footprint of many cities like NY and Philadelphia span multiple state boundaries. Los Angeles, due to it's low-density suburban housing stock, sprawls over a much larger physical area, but New York metro has many more residents. Remember the northeastern US has about the same population as California, despite a much smaller amount of land. This is because the Eastern US is much more densely settled.

Table of United States Metropolitan Statistical Areas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA MSA - 19,069,796
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA - 12,874,797

Wiki?

You could spew or skew any numbers that you want to but this is NYC v. LAC. LA is bigger. California is bigger than New York. California is bigger than NY, NJ, CT, and PA combined. lol You're using 4 or 5 states just to make up any kind of argument but it's just not happening. CA is the undisputed big dog in this argument. The end. Otherwise why not connnect LA all the way up to Seattle and say it's all one city? lol

[sidrah]

What did you end up doing?

[californio sur]

I had an opportunity to visit New York City this past year but 4 days isn't long enough to get anything but a superficial feel. New York is huge; there is nothing like it in California. Los Angeles is a large city but in a different way than NYC. I would really like to live in New York some day just so I could really experience life in a heavily concentrated urban region plus all the history. Having distinct seasons that includes snow would also be fun.

I think the OP is lucky to have the choice of living in either Los Angeles or New York. I am biased toward Pasadena but it is so different than anything I saw in the metro New York area. Maybe cities out on Long Island would be similar to Pasadena.

[rapidtrader]

I lived in California as a child, but then my family moved away to the east coast where I spent most of my adult life. I returned to San Diego on business recently, and was reminded of the stark difference in People... Scenery... and Lifestyle... And with that, I made the decision that I will soon return to Southern California for good.