What is wrong with San Diego (Los Angeles, Santa Clarita: homes, school, living)

[bhcompy]

Originally Posted by sav858

No it's not very similar to LA at all. Different pace of life, different people/mentality/vibe, less crime, less traffic, less pollution, less crowding, less problems, etc...

Angelenos are an odd bunch, many of them live in a bubble and rarely leave LA and can many times believe its the center of the universe. There are also a lot more pretentious people in LA that like to put down San Diego b/c it doesn't feel like a big, crowded dirty city that LA is. Also SD has a much better reputation around the country and the state of CA than LA as it is cheaper, has much less crime, cleaner air, cleaner beaches, less traffic, less illegals, less Hollywood types and basically a higher quality of life overall. I'm not sure if its jealousy, stupidity, ignorance or just a combination of them all but the big city elitists in LA, and to a certain degree San Francisco too, like to snub their nose at SD for whatever reason.

Visitors tend to have a better view and experiance with San Diego compared to LA. Just compare to the two cities in Travel + Leisures annial "America's Favorite Cities" rankings and you'll see San Diego beat LA in pretty much every category: America's Favorite Cities 2008 | Travel + Leisure

sure, but the response to the original post is about why hasnt this la area person went to san diego when its only two hours away, and the answer is that there isnt much offered there that cant be had in LA. living there and visiting are two different things. san diego is a desirable place to live, but living in LA, its not that much of a desirable place to visit unless you have a special need(pro football, sea world, etc)

[sav858]

Originally Posted by bhcompy

sure, but the response to the original post is about why hasnt this la area person went to san diego when its only two hours away, and the answer is that there isnt much offered there that cant be had in LA. living there and visiting are two different things. san diego is a desirable place to live, but living in LA, its not that much of a desirable place to visit unless you have a special need(pro football, sea world, etc)

And this is somewhat of the problem I have found with SOME Angelenos, many people don't travel or visit new places b/c they "need" to but rather for a change of scenery and new experiance with a different city/place. Given that LA is the nations 2nd largest city, you can pretty much find things there that you can find in almost every other major city in the US and more, so why even leave at all right? Like I said, some Angelenos from my experiance do not travel that much outside of the LA/OC bubble yet they make these stupid assumptions that another place is not worth visiting. How can one knock a place to visit if they've never even been there? It's just typical big city elitism imo, nothing new really so my advice for the OP is to take what those Anegeleno's say with a grain of salt and put it into context.

[NorthernCalifornia]

This all says more about LA than San Diego.

[pll]

Originally Posted by NYC1DAY

WHAT IS WRONG WITH SAN DIEGO?

Nothing is wrong with SD. I lived there for over 30 years. I tried to avoid LA as much as possible. Too much traffic and smog.

[SurekRZA]

Having lived in both, Ill tell you why L.A. city residents disregard San Diego.
San Diego is a beautiful city but its not what one might expect from pictures(just like any other city for that matter) but I've constantly heard people with high expectations of San Diego come out of there like "Thats it?" but Ive also herd people who walk out of San Diego with dreams of one day living there. The best aspects of San Diego are its weather and scenery(imo). The bad are that the city is slow paced, not too many cultural events, nightlife is okay, and basically not a lot happens in the city. If you love tranquility, beaches, year round sunny wather and city taste you'll definately like SD, but unfortunately for many like me, it doesnt cut it. On the other hand, theres always something going on in L.A., whether its a movie premier, awards show, concert, film set or anything in between you can find it daily in L.A. The truth is that, if you live in L.A., you soon begin to notice that this city has EVERYTHING and beyond! so why would we drive to even Long Beach? the beaches arent as nice as San Diego but Manhattan beach, Redondo and others are just down the street from L.A. city and they are just as beautiful. Not only that but try getting out of the L.A. metropolis!? it can be a nightmare during traffic hours. You dont have to be rich to enjoy L.A., and the definition of quality of life varies for each individual. Some would much rather have the excitement of L.A. and put up with traffic and smog while others want less traffic and clear sky's in a tranquil city.

[drshang]

San Diego is a great city to live in and a great city to vacation in if you aren't from southern california. The issue with LA residents is they don't really fit either of those two categories - they don't live in SD, and they don't really need to go there to vacation - after all, why would they? It's a great city and in many ways I like it more than the LA area, but most people who live in LA have about as much reason to go there as they do Irvine...which is none. It has nothing to do with the quality of the city and everything to do with the fact that it's more of the same as what's found in LA...great weather, beaches, etc. The smog and the fact that SD is so laid back are great reasons to live there, but not really great reasons to leave LA for two days to go visit.

[Forever Blue]

I live 2 hrs from San Diego (1-way drive). I like spending the day there every several mos. It's great for a weekend getaway every once in a while.

- Their zoo is a lot better than L.A.'s.

- I love strolling through Seaport Village, which is a lot better than it's replica in Long Beach.

- I love the Fashion Valley mall & UTC mall. (I think it's UTC)

- I like strolling the grounds of the Hotel Del Coronado.

- Of course there's Seaworld!

- The Bazaar Del Mundo area where the Whalry House is seemed to be not as good as when I 1st visited though.

- I still have yet to visit the downtown area.

[AnUnidentifiedMale]

When traffic is bad, it takes just as long to drive from Long Beach to downtown L.A. (about 37 miles) as it takes to drive from Long Beach to San Diego (over 100 miles).

If you want to attend special events in L.A., great, but is it worth the hassles of living in L.A. from day to day? A logical analysis would suggest that it is not.

This addresses the topic pretty well - specifically when choosing between a larger versus a smaller metro area:

Choosing Where to Live | Gongol.com

[NYSD1995]

Here's the thing - LIVING in San Diego is much nicer than living in LA - but if you live in LA already... is there really anything in San Diego that LA / OC doesn't have too? They have beaches, we have beaches. They have great coastal towns, we have great coastal towns. Aside from a few attractions (the zoo, maybe the hotel del, downtown SD), most of the stuff in San Diego is geared towards out-of-state tourists as opposed to day-trippers.

I think that San Diego, while a gorgeous and unique city, doesn't really have too many attractions or amenities that are going to encourage repeat visits from people in LA... with the exception of perhaps the beaches on summer weekends and the races in Del Mar.

And I know I will be roasted for this, but I think San Diego is right on track to be a smaller LA. For all the hatred of LA we seem to be making the exact same mistakes they made 20 years ago - too much growth, too fast, with too little infrastructure investment into transportation, water, schools, public safety.

[AnUnidentifiedMale]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

And I know I will be roasted for this, but I think San Diego is right on track to be a smaller LA. For all the hatred of LA we seem to be making the exact same mistakes they made 20 years ago - too much growth, too fast, with too little infrastructure investment into transportation, water, schools, public safety.

Although San Diego may be making mistakes, Sass, the difference in living conditions between the two places is stark enough to make me believe that it'll be a long time before San Diego is as bad as L.A. in a lot of areas. On top of that, most people believe that L.A. is only going to get worse, so even if San Diego's quality of life deteriorates, it'll still be better than L.A. for day-to-day activities.