Calif. v. CT People (San Diego, Orange: homes, quality of life, organic)

[sav858]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

I said there are materialistic people everywhere. Doi. Can't deny that.

Second, you can't tell me LA, OC and areas around SD are more modest than fiscally conservative New England. C'mon...

Many in CT's wealthiest towns still drive their old 1990 Volvo. Around here, it's considered trashy to be flashy.

I'm not telling you they are more modest at all or any of them are more modest than the other. I'm saying you can find materialistic people in both areas. The Keeping Up with the Joneses attitude is just as prevalent in parts of the NYC Metro area as it is in parts of the Bay Area and SoCal. Not the entire metro is like that for each region, just certain parts.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by sav858

The Keeping Up with the Joneses attitude is just as prevalent in parts of the NYC Metro area as it is in parts of the Bay Area and SoCal.

I strongly disagree.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

I strongly disagree.

okay...but a lot of people have said that about all three regions; the term even originated from a comic strip in an old NY newspaper, but keep telling yourself what you need to to get through the day....

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by sav858

okay...but a lot of people have said that about all three regions; the term even originated from a comic strip in an old NY newspaper, but keep telling yourself what you need to to get through the day....

It's called an opinion - and I don't generate my opinions from what "people have said." I experience them before I give my opinion (and something tells me you've never been to Connecticut).

Good try though!

[sav858]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

It's called an opinion - and I don't generate my opinions from what "people have said." I experience them before I give my opinion (and something tells me you've never been to Connecticut).

Good try though!

So you've experienced living in the Bay Area and Southern CA?? If you've just visited that does not mean you've "experienced" anything remotely close to what its like to live somewhere. And yes I've never lived in the NYC Metro so I'm just going off people that I'm friends with that grew up there say and what I've read. Stereotypes, despite being gross generalizations, do exist for a reason.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by sav858

And yes I've never lived in the NYC Metro so I'm just going off people that I'm friends with that grew up there say and what I've read.

Not a great idea as different people have different experiences. I'm generally not a fan of hearsay or secondhand information.

And I lived in Santa Monica for 5 months. That's enough time to get to know the general area, IMO.

[missionhome]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Not a great idea as different people have different experiences. I'm generally not a fan of hearsay or secondhand information.

And I lived in Santa Monica for 5 months. That's enough time to get to know the general area, IMO.

So what did you think about Orange County then? What gave you a bad vibe when you were there?

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by missionhome

So what did you think about Orange County then? What gave you a bad vibe when you were there?

I loved OC, and I love all of CA. I didn't get any bad vibes - people are friendly (less standoffish than here in CT) and the area is beautiful. It just seems like people over there often spend what they don't have.

A friend who lived in SD on a modest income (actually pretty low for SD) downgraded his apartment to a studio from a 1br to have extra $ so he can get a new Lexus. Is this bad? No...just a little materialistic. What I took from it was that money there means more to people than it does in Connecticut/NYC areas, especially if they don't have it. Don't get me wrong, we have plenty of people in CT who are like this - but it's generally looked down upon.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

I loved OC, and I love all of CA. I didn't get any bad vibes - people are friendly (less standoffish than here in CT) and the area is beautiful. It just seems like people over there often spend what they don't have.

A friend who lived in SD on a modest income (actually pretty low for SD) downgraded his apartment to a studio from a 1br to have extra $ so he can get a new Lexus. Is this bad? No...just a little materialistic. What I took from it was that money there means more to people than it does in Connecticut/NYC areas, especially if they don't have it. Don't get me wrong, we have plenty of people in CT who are like this - but it's generally looked down upon.

so do you think it's more accepted here or something?? I really don't think it's fair to generalize a region based off the actions of one of your friends b/c those types are everywhere, most people I know and encounter are nothing like that. That was pretty much my point, that the NYC Metro, the Bay Area, and Southern CA all have people like that. Some people say Southern Ca is more materialistic than Northern CA, but having lived in both I find them about equal in that department. Pretty much anywhere you go across this country where there are wealthier, upper class enclaves there are those types. Miami, Phoenix, Dallas, etc...all have their cohort of $30k a year millionaires and those trying to keep up with the Joneses.

[tkindred]

Originally Posted by connkid

I moved to Northern Calif. (San Francisco Bay area) from Windsor, CT, five miles north from Hartford and it is definitely a culture shock, to say the least, especially regarding the people in CA vs. CT.

People in CA, for the most part, tend to be very superficial and shallow. They are very much from the school of me-me-me, and to blazes with you! CA is the embodiment of a hedonistic and narcissistic society, where people are so keen to keep-up wth the Jones', and measure other people, not by their character, but by what vehicle they are driving, or the $150.00 designer jeans you're wearing! The almighty dollar in CA is God, and they use the dollar sign as a measure of the individual. They are friendly, but for the most part it's a facade.

When it comes to people in CT, or from the Northeast, for that matter. New Englander's may appear to be a bit stand-offish at first when you meet them, but what you find is that once they get to know you -and you are genuine in character-you have a friend, not an acquaintance, or fair-weather friend as you find in CA folks! Since living out here, I always remember this statement quite frequently: 'In CA it's easy to have a lot of acquaintance's, but true friends are hard to come by!'

There is one statement that I'll always remember as long as I live in CA, and I believe succinctly sums-up the Golden State. I hadn't been living in CA very long when I met a gent from NY (Brooklyn). We were comparing notes on the people in CA vs. the Northeast. After we had finished discussing-and agreeing on our 'laundry list' of items about the 'right coast' vs. CA, - (one of which is the lack of genuine friendliness on the part of Californians') -he turned to me and said 'I've found the unfriendliness to be an inherent part of the state's landscape, and I know why the people act the way they do here' I asked him what he had found in this vast cultural wasteland. He stated: 'You know what? California is a lonely mans' paradise!" A truer statement one could never make about the mass of humanity they call California!!!

If there other fellow Nutmeggers in the SF area, let us know your thoughts.

You are taking way to small a sample size to generalize about all Californians. The people SF is totally different than the other parts. I can get along fine with most of people in California but many of the social aspects in SF irritate me. My brother, who lives in the Bay Area, is fed up and is moving to Southern Cal for relief. I am leaving too in a few months, but overseas.