What Do San Franciscans Think Of Los Angeles? (San Francisco, Pasadena: smog, gated)

[18Montclair]

If its any consolation,
San Jose is hardly alone in being totally misunderstood by outsiders and at least your far enough away from SF that you can breathe, poor Oakland is in a huge cold shadow day in, day out.

LOL

[krudmonk]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

If its any consolation,
San Jose is hardly alone in being totally misunderstood by outsiders and at least your far enough away from SF that you can breathe, poor Oakland is in a huge cold shadow day in, day out.

LOL

Yes, I know. People down here are not so nice to it, either. It's quite hypocritical being that we have a huge chip on our shoulder. A good friend of mine recently moved near the MacArthur BART station and I've had the chance to explore the city with him. I dig it and hope that more people have that opportunity. With any city, I would hope that personal experience is the only basis for judgment.

[whoIam]

There's ^^ something that I've only seen happen on a message board..
* kisses all around *

[Taboo2]

Originally Posted by Materialism

With the exception of a few places, Los Angeles is really ugly and dumpy.

I love them both.
Places in SF I love: The City, Sebastopol/Hessel, Sausalito, San Anselmo, Half Moon Bay, Palo Alto, Santa Cruz, Los Gatos, Niles/Sunol, Danville, Castro Valley, Walnut Creek, Emeryville, Rodeo.

Places in LA I love:Ventura, Calabassas,
Pasadena, West Hollywood, Toluca Lake, Silver Lake, Los Feliz, LaCanada Flintridge, Bradbury, Topanga, Santa Monica, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Venice, Rancho Palos Verdes.

[krudmonk]

Originally Posted by Taboo2

I love them both.
Places in SF I love: Sebastopol/Hessel, Sausalito, San Anselmo, Half Moon Bay, Palo Alto, Santa Cruz, Los Gatos, Niles/Sunol, Danville, Castro Valley, Walnut Creek, Emeryville, Rodeo.

So....white areas?

[gellio_sf]

Originally Posted by krudmonk

If San Franciscans know nothing about places an hour away, why would you take their opinion on Los Angeles?

That's a HUGE generalization. I know tons of people here and every single person I know travels a lot, including myself. That being said, I really see no point in going to the South Bay when Monterey, Stinson, Sonoma, Napa, Miur Woods, and Tahoe are within driving distance, and I can easily fly to LA, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver or San Diego. I'm a busy person....and I would never choose to spend a moment of my free time in the South Bay. I'm sorry, but San Jose and the surrounding areas are as typical American as typical gets. Not my cup of tea, which is why NYC, SF, Boston, and Chicago (even though it's sort of typical) are the only places in the U.S. I would want to live in. If I were to ever think about moving out of SF, I'd just leave California all together. There would be no point in paying so much to live in this state if I were no longer living in it's best city. That's my opinion.

[gellio_sf]

Originally Posted by krudmonk

What I've come across repeatedly on several forums over the years:

-thinking any other city within the same conurbation is a suburb
-thinking that SF is "European" for mostly aesthetic reasons (disregard skyscrapers, city grid, etc.)
-calling any place with cars "too smoggy"
-calling any place with sunshine "too hot"
-believing that places without high culture have no culture at all

I won't apply this ignorance to you personally, but it's hardly a case of talking to one jerk and assuming it's representative of San Franciscans. Then again, most of my friends up there aren't like this at all. Perhaps it's the filter of a message board like this. People seek out an outlet for their excessive zeal and these forums become concentrated with chest-thumping and insults. Oh well, so goes life on the internet.

You really need to let this European thing go. The city reminds me, and a lot of other people, of Europe. So what? To us - it's European. I have friends from Germany who say it reminds them of Europe, a friend from London who said the street I live in reminds her of her street in Greenwich (in London) and she thinks Noe Valley reminds her of Greenwich as a whole, I have friends from Barcelona who say it totally reminds them of home, and I even have a friend from Sydney, who said SF reminds him a lot of his home. And, yes, I know Syndey is in Australia. My point - things remind people of different this. People certainly can't say that for a huge majority of cities in this country. Who cares? It seems like you're envious or something because people view San Francisco as a worldly place and perhaps the most unique of American cities. I say envious, because it's ridiculous that you take such issue. My love of Europe brought about my love of San Francisco. I had been to Europe numerous times before I ever set foot in San Francisco. I was always depressed about not living in Europe...then I came here and thought "WOW, this place totally reminds me of Europe in so many ways." It's why I'm here. Drop it already. Your constant ranting about it isn't going to change the fact that people will always say San Francisco is European-like.

I also think you're generalizing San Franciscan attitudes. I happy to hate LA (sometimes) and love it (sometimes). I can see all the things LA has to offer, but yes, to me it is very suburban - i.e. you cannot survive there without a car - everything is sprawled out. When one is talking about LA it is perfectly acceptable - and correct - to refer to LA is suburban. Because it is!

I've never paid too much attention of the smog there. I guess I've been lucky on my visits, because it didn't seem like that much of a problem.

On the too hot comment - you acclimate to the weather. Jeez - I'm from the midwest. Since I've been on the west coast 50 is cold and 70 is hot! So, yes, when I got to LA and it's 90 degrees it's "too hot!" It's even worse when I got to the midwest in the summer - it's too hot.

[krudmonk]

The jet set crowd is back! Oh so fancy!

[Alisande]

I absolutely HATE LA. Traffic, smog, people. I just hate it.

[12buttons]

Originally Posted by gizmo980

Basically, I see LA & SF as two different states... after all, you could get from DC to Atlanta in the time it takes to drive between them! As for myself, I think LA is way too hot, smoggy, worse traffic, sprawling, and no offense to them, but I'm not too fond of the people either - generally speaking, of course, they seem more shallow and materialistic than San Franciscans. I also think this area is much prettier, at least when you're comparing downtown/central SF & LA.

Now on the upside, the LA area has a lot of opportunities, depending on what you do for a living... I'm a musician, and have always dreamed of being a studio (soundtrack/show) musician down there. If only it weren't for all the negatives I listed above, I'd move there in a heartbeat & pursue that career. They also have a more reasonable cost-of-living, since there are many "affordable" suburbs within 20-30 minutes of downtown LA. Finally, I do like the "scene" down there, which has a more punk/funky vibe than SF - lots of good tattoo shops & music clubs.

apples and oranges...they should just annex LA back to Mexico.

SF riffs off a COMPLETELY different vibe...culturally, physically, geographically, you name it. You ONLY reason to live in LA is if you are in the entertainment biz. And that is NOT LA.. it just happens to be there...imo