Why doesn't everyone move to San Diego? (Los Angeles: transplants, sales)

[Sunnydee]

San Diego is a wonderful city with ideal weather. Unfortunately, the cost of living there is prohibitive for most of us.

[BacktoBlue]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

I lived in SD for two years before moving to the Bay Area back in 07. It's a great place to live if you want a simple life and enjoy the beach, but it's nowhere near as dynamic, diverse, or exciting as LA or the Bay Area. I just spent last week down there surfing and hanging out at the beach and I had a great time. It reminded me why I loved living there so much, but it also reminded me why I headed up North. The problem is that everyone in San Diego think it's the greatest place in the world, when really it's just a nice city with great weather. It's one of the most relaxing places I can think of, but there is nothing exciting about it. Downtown is overrated and trying too hard to be like LA. I actually liked it better a few years ago than now- lots of yuppie d-bags that think they're better than everyone else. The little brother mentality SD has is kinda silly, it's never gonna be LA and it should stop trying so hard to act like a global city.

if people would stop comparing it to LA, it wouldn't have a "little brother" mentality!

For the lack of culture, yes we really don't have one, but honestly who cares. Does LA have culture? Not really, it's more like culture of rich and famous, culture of gangsters and drug dealers, culture of crime, culture of traffic culture of being over populated. Does it mean LA sucks? Hell no. The West coast as a whole is just laid back, this might explain why we lack culture I guess.

Personally I'm not the type of person that likes theater, or goes to musicals, goes to art galleries, and whatever else people consider "cultural". It's hard to pinpoint what culture truly is, culture can come from family values, religon and beliefs, diversity of interests, job offerings, diversity of people.

I believe the vast majority of San Diegan's LOVE this city, and lots of other people would LOVE to move here if they could!

Also comparing SD to other big "More important" cities is unfair. It's just that we bloomed so late, and massive development didn't take off in San Diego up until the 40's and after WWII. LA and SF are just as old as SD, but yet developed at a much early time period, LA took a lot of industry jobs away from San Diego, people flocked to LA, because that's where everything was happening at the time, jobs, housing, goods.

Now if you want to talk about the Bay Area, shallow, boring, un-fun, low-self esteem people. Plenty of scenesters, status whores, fake liberal yuppies, social climbers and wannabes. Genuineness is a rare, precious commodity.I am mainly speaking of SF but make no mistake the boringness is pretty much also a feature everywhere else in the Bay Area.

Just my 2 cents.

[04kL4nD]

Gotta love the ad-hominem attacks on Bay Area people. I think it's dumb to generalize all people in a city, but in SD a lot of them are shallow, superficial, uneducated, materialistic, vapid, etc... Just like they can be anywhere else

[BacktoBlue]

I don't understand why people compare SD to LA like some sort of measuring stick. You never see cities like Portland or Cleveland compared to LA or SF. San Diego is just a simple laid back beach city. People comparing it to LA or SF are completely off base.

[BacktoBlue]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

Gotta love the ad-hominem attacks on Bay Area people. I think it's dumb to generalize all people in a city, but in SD a lot of them are shallow, superficial, uneducated, materialistic, vapid, etc... Just like they can be anywhere else

Actually, its very, VERY close as far as sheer number.
Adults Age 25+ with a Bachelor's Degree, 2008
San Diego 195,926
San Francisco 191,261

Adults Age 25+ with a Master's Degree, 2008
San Diego 82,591
San Francisco 79,414

Adults Age 25+ with a Professional Degree, 2008
San Diego 31,017
San Francisco 32,694

Adults Age 25+ with Doctoral Degrees, 2008
San Diego 23,995
San Francisco 18,224

Adults Age 25+ with a Bachelor's Degree or Higher, 2008
San Diego 333,529...40.7%
San Francisco 321,593...51.2%

Both are very impressive actually

[BacktoBlue]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

Gotta love the ad-hominem attacks on Bay Area people. I think it's dumb to generalize all people in a city, but in SD a lot of them are shallow, superficial, uneducated, materialistic, vapid, etc... Just like they can be anywhere else

There is NOT a very materialistic mentality in San Diego. I was born and raised here and the only areas of San Diego that I have experienced ANY materialistic, stuck-up, superficial vibes were in Coronado, La Jolla, and Del Mar (all white richy-rich areas). But even in those places, it's pretty decent and laid-back compared to parts of the OC (in fact, the OC should be avoided at ALL costs; that is where all of the negative stereotypes of So Cal actually originated from and the only area where they actually exist, outside of West LA). Orange County is really the only place out here where the majority of the people are full of themselves, shallow, stuck-up, materialisic, plastic, sheltered, and spoiled. You will find that most people in So Cal are friendly, not rich, and work their tails off for everything that they have. If you are looking for the best social experience in So Cal, then you will definitely find it in San Diego County, which is home to the friendliest people in So Cal.

[Newbe10]

Some people don't move to SD because for them, it is not paradise like it might be for others. Sure cost of living is probably the biggest turn-off, but I' am sure that there are other reasons as well. Everyone has their own version of paradise, and for some, it may be NYC, SD, OC, Hawaii, Moscow, or Timbuktu. Besides, who really wants everyone in the country living in SD anyway? There wouldn't be enough room for everyone! lol. Even if the city built up like crazy, it still wouldn't work....

[sav858]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

I lived in SD for two years before moving to the Bay Area back in 07. It's a great place to live if you want a simple life and enjoy the beach, but it's nowhere near as dynamic, diverse, or exciting as LA or the Bay Area.

And LA isn't as dynamic, diverse, or exciting as NYC , SF isn't as dynamic and exciting as places like LA and Chicago, etc... Unless your living in NYC, London, or Tokyo there will always be some other place bigger that has more going on. Must say something about SD if it's always being compared to much larger cities for it to be cut down yet its peer cities like Portland, Minneapolis, Denver, Cleveland, etc..don't get compared to places like SF, LA, etc..nearly as often, if at all.

I just spent last week down there surfing and hanging out at the beach and I had a great time. It reminded me why I loved living there so much, but it also reminded me why I headed up North. The problem is that everyone in San Diego think it's the greatest place in the world, when really it's just a nice city with great weather. It's one of the most relaxing places I can think of, but there is nothing exciting about it.

Why is that a problem? Doesn't seem to bother you that plenty of people in the Bay Area think it's the greatest place on earth when for many it's not at all, it's interesting how much it bothers some people that SD is highly regarded among others. You say "it's just a nice city with great weather" as if it's a bad thing, kind of sounds like saying "yeah well it's just paradise" (for some of course). Guess you probably can't wrap your head around why places like Hawaii are paradise for many people too.

Again what exactly is so "exciting" about the Bay Area? haha, really please let me know so I have something new to do around here. SF is a more vibrant, bustling city as it's much denser so I can see how the atmosphere is more "alive" but I don't really see what "exciting" things are going on here that you can't find elsewhere. Outside of SF, I don't really see what sets the Bay Area apart from most other places, especially in terms of cool, exciting things to do. Oakland and SJ are pretty tame places that don't have much going on , aside from sporting events I guess.

Downtown is overrated and trying too hard to be like LA. I actually liked it better a few years ago than now- lots of yuppie d-bags that think they're better than everyone else. The little brother mentality SD has is kinda silly, it's never gonna be LA and it should stop trying so hard to act like a global city.

And in what way is Downtown SD trying to be like Downtown LA? Is it attempting to be dead after 5pm and on weekends? haha. Downtown SD offers more for residents and tourists than Downtown LA as it has better shopping, better dining, much better nightlife, and better attractions and events. Downtown LA is a joke, especially given the city's size. Unless you're Mexican looking for that Tijuana-esque shopping experience along Broadway or Santee Alley, Downtown LA doesn't offer a whole lot besides Lakers games imo. It's improving but Downtown SD is ahead of it in terms of improvements and redevelopment.

How is SD trying to be like LA? They redeveloped and improved their downtown before LA and have done a much better job at it too. SD even had a light rail system before LA. You complain about SD not being enough of an exciting city yet also complain about it when it tries to improve itself. Just because it's maturing, growing, and improving doesn't mean it's trying to be like anyone else. I guess you could also say similar things about SF with it's improvements and redevelopment; why is it trying so hard to be like NYC when it will never be on that level? Why is Seattle trying so hard to be like SF? Why is Portland trying so hard to be like Seattle? See just how dumb statement like that is, you can say that about pretty much any city that is maturing and improving.

And not to mention the irony complaining about yuppie d-bags when you live in the BAY AREA of all places, easily one of the most yuppified places in America full of plenty of d-bags that TRULY think they are better than everyone else. They just tend to be a different breed. More of that annoyingly, ultra fake liberal, wannabe Sex and the City pseudo-intellectual urbanite/hipster/faux-hippie d-bag. The Bay Area has a national reputation for that, just watch that South Park episode. Don't get me wrong though, most people in the Bay Area are perfectly fine and normal like SD and pretty much everywhere else. Both places have some really annoying types of people imo.

[Newbe10]

Originally Posted by BacktoBlue

There is NOT a very materialistic mentality in San Diego. I was born and raised here and the only areas of San Diego that I have experienced ANY materialistic, stuck-up, superficial vibes were in Coronado, La Jolla, and Del Mar (all white richy-rich areas). But even in those places, it's pretty decent and laid-back compared to parts of the OC (in fact, the OC should be avoided at ALL costs; that is where all of the negative stereotypes of So Cal actually originated from and the only area where they actually exist, outside of West LA). Orange County is really the only place out here where the majority of the people are full of themselves, shallow, stuck-up, materialisic, plastic, sheltered, and spoiled. You will find that most people in So Cal are friendly, not rich, and work their tails off for everything that they have. If you are looking for the best social experience in So Cal, then you will definitely find it in San Diego County, which is home to the friendliest people in So Cal.

Hey, I know that we may not see eye to eye on some things, but I definitely agree 100% with what you are saying here. So no hard feelings right? Also, I feel the exact same way about OC. When I lived in SD and would go to places like LA, OC, and San Fran, I would notice the stark differences in the overall mentality and attitudes of the people in those areas compared to SD. Unlike most people I knew in SD, people in those other areas had a major superiority complex and a "I' am better than you because I live here" attitude.

Orange County is definitely where almost all of the negative So Cal stereotypes come from; the best examples of the plastic, shallow types being Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Anaheim, Dana Point, MV and Corona Del Mar. If I had to choose between SD or any of the other areas of So Cal, I would most definitely choose SD. The people in SD are indeed the most friendly and laid back in So Cal and maybe the entire state.

[runtrails]

What is everyone's feeling on the rather strong military presence in SD? Do you notice all the uniformed officers? Do you feel safer?