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I see there are already 6 pages of replies, so this may not be necessary. But if you are an active person at all who cares about anything besides acquiring material indoor possessions... choose San Francisco, or you will regret it. Mark my words.
If you read the OP first post and it tells you its not San Francisco, but Mt. View. Mt. View and SF are totally different in layout and culture. They want to keep their cars and it would not be wise in SF, but much more likely in MV. I'm sure they will aquire indoor material possessions in MV also.
Tough Choice. If I was really rich, I would live in San Fran. However, I am fairly poor, and hate long commutes to work, so I would choose Vegas. You can find a nice size house there, not too pricey. Go skiing on the weekends at Mount Charleston, go to Brian Head in Utah, go to St. George and go hiking. Lots of night life and places to go in Vegas too. Decides on what you want, your lifestyle, what you want to do. After I re-read your initial post, I would do Vegas is a heartbeat. Don't listen to people who have never lived here. There is a lot to do here aside from casinos, they just came here for the weekend, and never left the strip. Most people who live in Vegas never go to the strip. You could buy a boat, go boating on Lake Mead on the weekends. Vegas has excellent schools, nice areas to live, and is a nice place to raise a family. Don't believe everything you see and hear. You can fly pretty cheap to San Fran for the weekend if you want, with the money you will be saving on your house payment/rent and state income tax. Really, you need to post this in the Vegas area. Why don't you fly there for the weekend, and go to Red Rock Canyon, Mount Charleston, St. George, or Lake Mead, choose a couple of places. Maybe take a day trip to Oatman, Az. Drive around the residential areas, like Summerlin, Green Valley, Centennial Hills, see some different areas of Vegs before you make a decision.
Last edited by kek1993; 10-03-2009 at 05:33 PM..
Reason: sp
Take my word - I'm half Danish and have grown up both in the US and Northern Europe, and I can assure you as a European you will not be happy in Las Vegas. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into by living there. The traffic in LV is just as bad as SF, but the difference is there is no adequate public transportation to speak of. In addition, the city is a magnet for the scuzziest people in America...I am not getting you when I say this. There's a serious lack of solidarity in the culture of LV - people use it as a pad to make a lot of money and then get the hell out. It's not pretty off the strip, and you being used to compact European cities, it's going to seem like one big plastic, very seedy city. If you have kids, it's an even worse place to expose them to - girls grow up fast there, and there's a hell of a lot of drugs. Take it from me, I have family that live there and regret ever raising children there.
I can promise you, that while life in California might cost more, you will get so much out of it. While in LV you have the fun of the strip, there's no where else to really go besides monotonous chains and malls...it's a completely suburbanized city dominated by the car. Being in the Bay Area you will have access to probably the most progressive and culturally rich/diverse region in the country after New York City. You have the ocean, nature, and urban life always within miles of eachother. SF is extremely walkable and has tons of things to offer, from interesting unique neighborhoods and attractions, and in addition, each region of the Bay Area has a different vibe to it. East Bay has a lot of cool places to explore too. To shorten my point, the Bay Area offers so much more in terms of quality of life (and the people in the Bay Area are also some of the most educated and sophisticated in the US).
Las Vegas is a great place to travel to for the weekend no doubt. It's inexpensive, it's fun, it's a party place. But one place it's not, is a liveable, interesting city. Once you get off the strip it becomes a grim, very cookie-cutter place. There's a lot of seediness to it that drives many European visitors after awhile off the wall. It's one thing to have strip clubs here and there, but on nearly every boulevard you drive on (as well as having slot machines in supermarkets, gas stations, and convienience stores) it gets old. Not only that, but gravel instead of grass in many housing communities becomes quite an eyesore. You being from green, lush Ireland might be a little bit taken aback when you see the kind of bleak landscape LV offers. The Bay Area is very beautiful and lush, with dramatic coastline to farmlands, to rolling grassy hills and clusters of forests.
I promise you...honestly...the Bay Area is probably better suited for you. City Data forums are full of people who are broke and desperate, but you have a job...and for your first time settling down in the US, I think you should be in a more realistic enviornment.
Wow, you really hate Vegas. One thing I would to clear up is the public transportation in Vegas is excellent. I ride the bus to the strip and back on the weekends. The city buses here even run 24 hours. Now, where I am originally from (Phoenix AZ), the city bus service is terrible, but not here.
I would say San Fran, I moved from Ireland to San Fran 18 ,months ago and love it here. LV does not seem balanced.
If you are good at what you do. Your job offers will improve when your here. I can not imagine anyone picking LV over SF.
Wow, you really hate Vegas. One thing I would to clear up is the public transportation in Vegas is excellent. I ride the bus to the strip and back on the weekends. The city buses here even run 24 hours. Now, where I am originally from (Phoenix AZ), the city bus service is terrible, but not here.
Its difficult to understand what it means when people say that LV has no culture if you haven't experienced life other than Walmart and Hooters.
While the Bart system isn't as great as Metros like NYC, Paris, or London, it wipes its butt with the LV bus system. If you never experienced riding around in these cities its easy to believe that the LV metro is outstanding.
Same with dining and entertainment.
People who think Buffalo bob wild wings, chillis, and TGIF are the highlight for the weeked nights have never experienced life in a "progressive and culturally rich/diverse" city as destroycreate describes. They argue that LV is great because they have only known life that of Walmart Culture.
By being a walkable city, people in SF are integrated into the community. Mixed use neighborhoods have bars, pharmacies, grocery stores at a pedestrian scale. Rich yuppies, dorky Techy-metrosexual-try-hard types, grungy dredlocks hippies all find their pace and identity within this hip modern city. Scale-wise it is densely populated but not as harsh as NYC. Although SF will always be compared to as the little sister of NYC, I like it better, it has the convenience of city life near the downtown district, but the outer areas with the 3 story houses/apartments context scales everything down to a more personal level. Yes Golden Gate Park is a rip off from again, NYC's Central Park, but it still services the purpose of a great park with duck ponds, walking/jogging trails, and the occasional bison paddock
LV offers tract home-suburban-crawl where you jump into your car and drive to megabox outlets in a sea of asphalt parking lots. Along the way you pass Carl's Jr, KFC, Jack in the Box, megaboxes like Home Depot etc., etc., etc. Sure you can get a 4bedroom house for $250,000 but you spend most of your time in it because 9 months of the year its either too hot or too cold to step outside. The other 3 months you can go play in the sand, engaging in the rich cultural activities of dirtbiking and gun shooting. Or go to the strip and spend $40 cover charge and buy $12 drinks to mingle with tourists who try dearly to show off by paying for $300 bottle service.....Yeah classy.
Last edited by lost_traveler1; 01-30-2011 at 04:58 PM..
Its difficult to understand what it means when people say that LV has no culture if you haven't experienced life other than Walmart and Hooters.
While the Bart system isn't as great as Metros like NYC, Paris, or London, it wipes its butt with the LV bus system. If you never experienced riding around in these cities its easy to believe that the LV metro is outstanding.
Same with dining and entertainment.
People who think Buffalo bob wild wings, chillis, and TGIF are the highlight for the weeked nights have never experienced life in a "progressive and culturally rich/diverse" city as destroycreate describes. They argue that LV is great because they have only known life that of Walmart Culture.
By being a walkable city, people in SF are integrated into the community. Mixed use neighborhoods have bars, pharmacies, grocery stores at a pedestrian scale. Rich yuppies, dorky Techy-metrosexual-try-hard types, grungy dredlocks hippies all find their pace and identity within this hip modern city. Scale-wise it is densely populated but not as harsh as NYC. Although SF will always be compared to as the little sister of NYC, I like it better, it has the convenience of city life near the downtown district, but the outer areas with the 3 story houses/apartments context scales everything down to a more personal level. Yes Golden Gate Park is a rip off from again, NYC's Central Park, but it still services the purpose of a great park with duck ponds, walking/jogging trails, and the occasional bison paddock
LV offers tract home-suburban-crawl where you jump into your car and drive to megabox outlets in a sea of asphalt parking lots. Along the way you pass Carl's Jr, KFC, Jack in the Box, megaboxes like Home Depot etc., etc., etc. Sure you can get a 4bedroom house for $250,000 but you spend most of your time in it because 9 months of the year its either too hot or too cold to step outside. The other 3 months you can go play in the sand, engaging in the rich cultural activities of dirtbiking and gun shooting. Or go to the strip and spend $40 cover charge and buy $12 drinks to mingle with tourists who try dearly to show off by paying for $300 bottle service.....Yeah classy.
Ahhh I see...those creatures living on the sidewalk along Market Street are actually gourmets in training? Saving each dime they beg to pay for there visit to the French Laundry out towards Napa..
The wealth of the Bay Area is not SF...it is the peninsula. Which bares a striking resemblance to older Las Vegas...
Ahhh I see...those creatures living on the sidewalk along Market Street are actually gourmets in training? Saving each dime they beg to pay for there visit to the French Laundry out towards Napa..
The wealth of the Bay Area is not SF...it is the peninsula. Which bares a striking resemblance to older Las Vegas...
You can come up with side remarks unrelating to my post, generally because you know what I say is exact. Generalizing that the Strip is better than the nightlife of SF and that all people in the Bay area are snobs, mean nothing except indicate your individual preferences. Hey if its not for you then fine, enjoy the desert, but by needing to shout to the world how great you life is there doesn't really help the Op.
Maybe your lifestyle is geared towards Walmart Culture but it doesn't necessarily mean that the Op would favor so, especially coming from Europe. Like I said its easy to misunderstand the expectations and desires toward quality of life, if you haven't traveled and appreciate culture, arts, foods around the world. If your life is that of midwestern fly-over cities where the mentality is insular, then it is easy to not value variety and have desire to seek new experiences.
You can come up with side remarks unrelating to my post, generally because you know what I say is exact. Generalizing that the Strip is better than the nightlife of SF and that all people in the Bay area are snobs, mean nothing except indicate your individual preferences. Hey if its not for you then fine, enjoy the desert, but by needing to shout to the world how great you life is there doesn't really help the Op.
Maybe your lifestyle is geared towards Walmart Culture but it doesn't necessarily mean that the Op would favor so, especially coming from Europe. Like I said its easy to misunderstand the expectations and desires toward quality of life, if you haven't traveled and appreciate culture, arts, foods around the world. If your life is that of midwestern fly-over cities where the mentality is insular, then it is easy to not value variety and have desire to seek new experiences.
I like the Bay area a lot. I do not however like SF very much. It is overwhelmed with it view of its own greatness.
It is actually a quaint little town of small size and import with a rather ugly climate.
Now the peninsula is a nice place. Very similar to Las Vegas actually.
I have seen a more than sufficient portion of the world to understand that SF is pretty much second rate except in the minds of its inhabitants.
But live on in your fantasy...just make sure you keep reality out of view.
And to the OP.. That was a while ago and the guy was going to Mountain View...which is culturally and physcially different than SF. And the issue was well worked at the time.
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One thing I would to clear up is the public transportation in Vegas is excellent. I ride the bus to the strip and back on the weekends. The city buses here even run 24 hours. Now, where I am originally from (Phoenix AZ), the city bus service is terrible, but not here.
