Why Does San Diego Feel Like a Small Town? (Los Angeles: low income, sales)

[the topper]

Originally Posted by spoonman1

Kind of seems like you are in a bit of a bubble . San Diego is a gigantic area from the 78 freeway to the border. Nobody in Chula Vista runs into people they know from Escondido at the market or whatever. San Diego is 50+ miles from one end to the other. Hanging out in local coffee shops or whatever is different than the 9-5ers busting ass driving down the 15 HOV lanes every day or stuck in traffic on the 805 trying to get to their gene lab in Sorrento Valley, going to 32nd street, or taking the LRT. To live on some sleepy street in one of the streetcar neighborhoods and run into college kids you know is completely different than the experience of the average San Diegan or Southern Californian with a real career and busy life. Sorry.

PS: The media is shrinking (local and national) due to online, Netflix, Hulu, etc. You will see more of this. Also, Horton Plaza is getting redeveloped into a larger project so it's not exactly dead. Also, Qualcomm employs over 33,000 workers in over 224 countries, so I think they'll be OK. Chargers, I can't explain it better than to say they wanted a handout and the city didn't blink. There will likely be NHL, MLS, and NBA teams to replace them.

Qualcomm is about to be gobbled by Broadcom. If they don't: painful slow death of the company

[spoonman1]

Yep, because nobody uses wireless chips or devices anymore.

[NW4me]

Why should San Diegans worry about being "overshadowed" by LA or the SF Bay area?

[malcorub16]

...And as much as I like visiting LA, which San Diegans actually want SD to become LA.

The city/county continues to grow, traffic is immensely worse year by year and the skyline has at least 5-6 cranes working as we speak...so it is not just so po-dunk town. Most of of us do, however, wish that the job opportunities were on par with the Bay Area, LA or even Irvine in OC.

[SandiMMXVIIISandi]

Originally Posted by malcorub16

...And as much as I like visiting LA, which San Diegans actually want SD to become LA.

The city/county continues to grow, traffic is immensely worse year by year and the skyline has at least 5-6 cranes working as we speak...so it is not just so po-dunk town. Most of of us do, however, wish that the job opportunities were on par with the Bay Area, LA or even Irvine in OC.

I agree but the census is showing that since 2000 population growth has decreased. So I don't understand how traffic is getting worse if more people keep leaving. Maybe they are day visitors? Or maybe all the jobs are concentrated in select areas.

[SandiMMXVIIISandi]

Originally Posted by methodman101

People keep saying San Diego is not as good as it used to be. These are people who have grown up here or have lived here before and came back to visit. The dynamics of the city have changed I guess?

But it DOES feel like a small town, its so spread out, that is why people run into each other again, because there are small neighborhood areas that lots of people go to such as North Park, PB, Little Italy, etc... So because of that, you will often run into or date someone who knows someone else you know. That can be good or bad, because everything is everyone else's business.

Often doctors and other professionals will be here and then leave (I have had 3 doctors in the last 2 years because they quit or moved to another city) that is something I'm not used to at all.

The pace of life is slow and the work ethic is slower than normal. Driving is another story, I can't say drivers are slower, I do notice hostility or impatience on the roads.

But it makes me wonder if San Diego was ever really a mega city despite it's size? The football team is gone, Horton Plaza Mall is going, Channel 6 closed down last year after 65 years on the air, I never heard of a local tv station shutting down completely, Qualcomm has let a lot of people go to downsize, there are more examples I can't think of right now.


But aside from my examples it seems I am not the only person who has felt this way....

According to Wikipedia as far back as the 1920s people were saying San Diego just can't compete with other major cities...
"San Diego had the great harbor and the weather; it seemed poised to become a world-class metropolis. But it was overshadowed by both San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Businessman John D. Spreckels expressed the enthusiasm of San Diego's boosters in 1923, as well as the disappointment that it had not fully developed.:

It seems John D. Spreckels wants San Diego to be the next Chicago...but it is not. Simply put San Diego is a border town, the same with El Paso and other cities along the border. Do you hear people expecting El Paso to be the next Chicago? No...so why do people expect it from San Diego? It does not make sense.


San Diego is mostly tourism, beach people, and transients who move around often. It is not corporate heavy city, it is not a cosmopolitan city...a matter of fact people are about 10 years behind on the fashions out here. It is not a city that Type-A personalities can handle either.


If you are a type-A personality there will constantly be things people do in San Diego that will get on your nerves. It is not for the type-A, and you will realize this within soon enough.

As far as people being sensitive, i'm kind of offended that you feel we are sensitive. When people constantly talk about having to walk on eggshells around other in San Diego it irks me...because if they seen the way people behave when they drive out here it would be the opposite!

It seems those kind of people want to live in areas where everyone is rude and "tells it like it is" but that is not San Diego either. We are very PC here and it has always been that way.

[Losfrisco]

Originally Posted by spoonman1

Kind of seems like you are in a bit of a bubble . San Diego is a gigantic area from the 78 freeway to the border. Nobody in Chula Vista runs into people they know from Escondido at the market or whatever. San Diego is 50+ miles from one end to the other. Hanging out in local coffee shops or whatever is different than the 9-5ers busting ass driving down the 15 HOV lanes every day or stuck in traffic on the 805 trying to get to their gene lab in Sorrento Valley, going to 32nd street, or taking the LRT. To live on some sleepy street in one of the streetcar neighborhoods and run into college kids you know is completely different than the experience of the average San Diegan or Southern Californian with a real career and busy life. Sorry.

PS: The media is shrinking (local and national) due to online, Netflix, Hulu, etc. You will see more of this. Also, Horton Plaza is getting redeveloped into a larger project so it's not exactly dead. Also, Qualcomm employs over 33,000 workers in over 224 countries, so I think they'll be OK. Chargers, I can't explain it better than to say they wanted a handout and the city didn't blink. There will likely be NHL, MLS, and NBA teams to replace them.

When I lived in Columbus running into the same people was a big problem. It has hardly ever happened to me in San Diego. The only time I can recall is running into the same people at different ends of Point Loma, and even that is rare, only recognizing them because they live in my building.

I"m not even making the argument that San Diego is a peer to San Francisco, just that the margin between them is comically exaggerated in San Francisco's favor, while San Diego's presence as a large metropolis in the Americas is always downplayed with the same talking points. It's contiguous location with the fifth largest city in Mexico is usually ignored, the fact that it introduced modern light rail to America is always forgotten in service of "muh giant suburb" talking points while San Francisco's relationship to other cities nearly two hours away is thrust front and center.

[SoCalSunnyShine]

San Diego has an urban waterfront, something that LA wish it had.

[spoonman1]

Originally Posted by SandiMMXVIIISandi

I agree but the census is showing that since 2000 population growth has decreased. So I don't understand how traffic is getting worse if more people keep leaving. Maybe they are day visitors? Or maybe all the jobs are concentrated in select areas.

Growth may have slowed but the city has grown in absolute numbers. Also, more people are working meaning more traffic.

[spoonman1]

Originally Posted by SandiMMXVIIISandi

It seems John D. Spreckels wants San Diego to be the next Chicago...but it is not. Simply put San Diego is a border town, the same with El Paso and other cities along the border. Do you hear people expecting El Paso to be the next Chicago? No...so why do people expect it from San Diego? It does not make sense.

Comparing San Diego to El Paso. Wow.

Where are you from? Where in SD do you currently live?