5 reason why not to move san diego, ca. (Los Angeles, Chula Vista: university, live in)

[gingerdancer]

Originally Posted by sdurbanite

When did you live in SD? It sounds like it was in mid 90's.

Lots of big trucks? I'm guessing you've never been to the South? These days, the only people who have big trucks are gardeners and building contractors, but you'll still see them occasionally in East County, the beach areas and Oceanside (Military). It's more about Priuses now. As a matter of fact, San Diegans rank near the bottom when it comes to owning American gas guzzlers:

The Car Snob Index: Why America's Richest Cities Don't Buy American Cars - Rohin Dhar - Business - The Atlantic

You really need to quite bringing PB up and thinking all of SD is like that. Downtown has 30,000 residents now and there are plenty of singles there who aren't wearing flip flop everyday, partying till the wee hours and working on their tans. And I'm sure the single guys in Del Mar, Solana Beach, Carlsbad /Encinitas all have jobs.

Did you ever think the type of guy that you were interested in, might not have been interested in you? It works both ways here.

I moved out in 07. No it was not the 90's. I was there in my late 20's. Altho given your last dig, in your final paragraph, I don't really think this warrants a response. Nowhere in my top 5 list did I mention that I couldn't get a date or didn't attract attention. In fact, for most of the time I was in relationships, so I am quite confident that these men in whom I was interested (who were exceptions, as there always are) were, in fact, interested in me since they were in relationships with me. So nope, that didn't occur to me, especially since it was not the problem, nor was it a problem I listed. My top 5 "Cons" did not include that men were not interested in women, or specifically me. Nor did it include a bevy of complaints of men in whom I was not interested. In fact, only the 1st one was specifically about dating, and I guarantee you that many women complained about the same thing - as they do in any beach communities. Obviously not every man showed up in flip flops, but some would, and it seemed accepted there to do so.

And don't tell me to "quit" - not "quite," bringing up PB when you brought up PB and I was explaining to you what you were referencing. This is the now the 3rd time: I did not spend time in PB, my experience involved the people I would meet in general - whether single or in relationships.

This post was to ask us our top 5 move or not move here. It was not to criticize, challenge and refute others' experiences.

One of the earlier poster's "top 5" cons was "rude people." As is illustrated on this thread, I get that.

[roadwarrior101]

1. Very provincial for a city of its size
2. Not very intellectual
3. Bad job market
4. Expensive housing
5. Unprofessional newscasters

[gingerdancer]

Well, let's see, the last two posters (as did many before) said essentially the same things that I did - lack of culture/sophistication, and not very intellectual. Why don't we bully them and tell them that women who are their type are not interested in them. That seems like a rational thing to do.

The monster truck thing running you over was sort of joke (if anyone had a sense of humor), but it did actually happen and there did seem to be far more large trucks than in any other west coast city.

[JamestheFin]

Meh...

I'm not impressed by any of the arguments ripping San Diego. Any city in the world is going to have its good and bad points. Whether a person has a good experience in those places is largely dependent upon them. Thankfully, we as Americans usually have the wealth and freedom to move to whatever place we want to and build the type of lives we want to. I don't think Americans realize how class/religion/race/ethnicity conscious many places around the world are. Often those societies are quite suffocating if not oppressive for people seeking to live the type of life they want to live and many have little opportunity to change their lives.

Anecdotally, I've noticed that the people who complain the most about whichever place they live in are typically going to complain anyway. It often reveals a quality of unhappiness in them and their character. FWIW, I've lived in Los Angeles, Washington DC, New York, Denver, London, Bangkok, Edinburgh, and Singapore and while I enjoyed each place I still prefer San Diego over them all because there's a quality of freedom and life in SD that just isn't present in those other cities.

[sdurbanite]

Originally Posted by gingerdancer

Well, let's see, the last two posters (as did many before) said essentially the same things that I did - lack of culture/sophistication, and not very intellectual. Why don't we bully them and tell them that women who are their type are not interested in them. That seems like a rational thing to do.

The monster truck thing running you over was sort of joke (if anyone had a sense of humor), but it did actually happen and there did seem to be far more large trucks than in any other west coast city.

Get over yourself. You didn't like San Diego and San Diego didn't like you. You are the one who revived this dead thread. Move on.

[gingerdancer]

Originally Posted by sdurbanite

Get over yourself. You didn't like San Diego and San Diego didn't like you. You are the one who revived this dead thread. Move on.

You are representing the men in SD with shining colors. (I am shocked if you are a women.)

[PosterExtraordinaire]

Originally Posted by robertpolyglot

This thread is ancient. Five reasons:

1) Expensive and not worth it
2) Shallow, materialistic people - it proclaims itself "America's Finest City" - if that isn't full of shyte enough for you
3) Lack of culture, unless Old Town and the trolley to Tijuana cut it for you
4) It's at an "end" - from LA, the 2-hour driving radius offers phenomenal opportunities, from San Diego, these options are constrained by Mexico
5) It's really not THAT beautiful...sure, you have the curve of the bay, Coronado, Point Loma and La Jolla...but it's pretty vapid until you get to Julian and the mountains to the east.

I can't believe that, when I was a teenager in LA, I thought San Diego was the greatest city in America. It made for a great road-trip when you're 16 and were mastering the freeways. I grew up and know differently now.

I'm a LA native who has lived in SD. I always felt it to be a LA-lite in everyway. This is the place where you can live the LA-lite lifestyle for the LA-lite price.

No, it's not more beautiful than LA. In fact, I think LA is way more beautiful than SD if you include all her areas but when I lived in LA I felt 'boxed' in my own neighborhood. Going to the beach was an exotic several time a year trip for me. All the positives about LA were so distant from my everyday life, that I may as well not have been living in LA!

In SD I got a place on the ocean. I could see the sun set over the ocean horizon from my porch. I could never dream about being able to afford that in LA. In SD I sorta managed.

The vibe was more accepting and laidback than in LA (at least in OB). I never fit in the hippy scene down in that beach being a boy from south LA but they left me alone (like I them) and when I walked INTO a restaurant, shirtless in sweats, ordered a beer and some fish tacos. No aggro, no bs, no stares, no judgement.

In the end, SD never separated from LA. It may sound weird to just about everyone in this thread but they were connected at the hip for me. Maybe because of all my family and friends in LA meant I was back there a couple times every month.

And don't knock Mexico! TJ is a party spot, but it fills out SD's scene. You actually get the 5am clubs down there, many suck but some are great. But the baja is just beautiful and when times were tough, I just took off into Mexico and stayed until things looked up. Driving down the baja, you can wind through some dramatic cliffs with the blue pacific and then cut through the mountains and green vineyards until you're on the other side at the turquoise and warm sea of cortez all in 2 hours. Did you know when you get south of ensenada you lose all radio? You have these beaches with what looks like NO ONE around? Everytime I think back to SD I just remember taking different girl after different on that drive and exploring Mexico and falling in love. Why doesn't Mexico count as the ultimate road trip/culture option for SD?

Julian is beautiful in the fall but I have to admit I only did it once.

[PosterExtraordinaire]

I did notice some chip on the shoulder of San Diegans towards LA and maybe that's what you picked up on.

About half (who were born and raised) had grown sick of San Diego and viewed LA all starry eyed, as a way for them to grow and stretch. They often asked me why I left LA lol. The other half viewed LA as the antithesis to all things San Diegan. It's too polluted, too ghetto, too sprawly, has too much traffic, too many rude people, the beaches are polluted etc All garbage I heard a lot from the average resident there on a frequent basis. I got defensive too and I liked to point SD was nothing but a big town (a lot of the people there like to see SD as a big city ).

In the end though LA is so big it becomes small. Like I said, I felt 'boxed' in. Traveling anywhere was hard and a chore (I had to think my way around the traffic) that I only ended up going around to show people around, to hit some spots, or to meet up with people. I'm not going to say I was driving around SD for the hell of it, but I felt a lot more able to just move in SD without bumping into people and cars lol I dunno, don't knock the city until you live there. Like I say about both LA and SD, neither city is gonna grab you on a quick trip. You need to spend some time and let everything make sense first before you start to enjoy it.

[oddstray]

Originally Posted by JamestheFin

Meh...

I'm not impressed by any of the arguments ripping San Diego. Any city in the world is going to have its good and bad points. Whether a person has a good experience in those places is largely dependent upon them. Thankfully, we as Americans usually have the wealth and freedom to move to whatever place we want to and build the type of lives we want to. I don't think Americans realize how class/religion/race/ethnicity conscious many places around the world are. Often those societies are quite suffocating if not oppressive for people seeking to live the type of life they want to live and many have little opportunity to change their lives.

Anecdotally, I've noticed that the people who complain the most about whichever place they live in are typically going to complain anyway. It often reveals a quality of unhappiness in them and their character. FWIW, I've lived in Los Angeles, Washington DC, New York, Denver, London, Bangkok, Edinburgh, and Singapore and while I enjoyed each place I still prefer San Diego over them all because there's a quality of freedom and life in SD that just isn't present in those other cities.

^^^This.

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by JamestheFin

Meh...

I'm not impressed by any of the arguments ripping San Diego.
Anecdotally, I've noticed that the people who complain the most about whichever place they live in are typically going to complain anyway. It often reveals a quality of unhappiness in them and their character. FWIW, I've lived in Los Angeles, Washington DC, New York, Denver, London, Bangkok, Edinburgh, and Singapore and while I enjoyed each place I still prefer San Diego over them all because there's a quality of freedom and life in SD that just isn't present in those other cities.

Nobody is saying that SD doesn't have many redeeming qualities. This is a topic on "5 reasons not to move to SD", not about how great SD is in other areas. This is more about pointing out that SD isn't the utopia that others claim it to be and that all places have pros and cons. Get over yourself!