San Francisco vs San Diego vs Los Angeles 2013-2014 (poll) (places, living)
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Having that said, it is a small town with a larger than life influence on the world...nonetheless, still a small town. We're better off comparing it to Boston than L.A. Los Angeles beats San Francisco in all categories except, possibly, restaurants (which per capita, SF has a lot of quality), bars and economy. When it comes to bars, is not that they have more or better bars per se, but the set up of the city means you are easily a couple blocks away from home, or a cab or bart ride. There is nothing better than being to go out with friends and not having to worried who will be DD. Dance clubs in San Francisco are horrid...a couple notches below LA and Las Vegas. I listen to a lot of house/edm/trap etc, and the scene door always leaves me wanting. Perhaps the hip hop scene is better...I wouldn't know though.
Also, for the most part, I've found it much easier (less cliqueish perhaps) to talk to people when I visit SF. So even though I think Los Angeles beats San Francisco on so many criteria, I would still prefer to live in the bay, just due to the charm of the city. Los Angeles is getting there though, with its ever expanding metro and growing pro-urban culture.
San Diego isn't even in the mix for me. IMO it offers the least of the three when it comes to overall variety...but I wouldn't exactly mind living there, as it has great weather and plenty of outdoors activities. Oh, and the craft beer there blows BOTH LA and SF out of the water!
He** I googled it, and I'm not into the gay scene.
The neighborhood is gay (and Russian, ironically) but the event itself attracts thousands upon thousands of people (mostly young - meaning below 30) from all backgrounds - gay/bi/straight, men/women, black/white/latino/asian, rich/poor/middle class...it's people from all stretches of L.A. celebrating our favorite holiday (Halloween is a big deal out here.) One of the largest costume parties in the world
I'll try my best to lend a serious analysis with such criteria...
Bars (nightlife) - this is completely subjective. Of all the bars located in one city, has one ever visited all of them? The number of bars is not so important as the quality of bars. Another factor to consider is the type of person you're going to encounter at these bars. In San Francisco, prepare for broad generalizations, one might encounter persons working in the tech industry, in Los Angeles you might expect people in the entertainment industry and in San Diego you could expect to meet an entrepreneur who has just launched a start up after a surf session. With all this in mind, I'd have to say it's a tie. Numbers aren't the absolute answer. Location of bars is huge, I'm not familiar with placement of bars in L.A. or S.F. but in San Diego many are on the coast or centered around Balboa Park and Downtown, a strong plus for some.
Dance clubs (nightlife) - from my own personal experience, I would have to say Los Angeles takes the trophy in this specific analysis. It seems there are always warehouse parties, new clubs opening, and certainly attention centered around such clubs. I would imagine San Francisco packs a pretty strong punch in this category as well. Many will find that the vast majority of San Diego nightlife is centered around bars.
Shopping - All three cities offer more than enough of this. You have Rodeo Drive, The Grove, and Santa Monica Promenade in L.A., Fashion Valley, The Village in La Jolla, and UTC in San Diego, and Union Square and Soma in S.F.
Restaurants - San Francisco is known for an abundance of these. L.A. is also known, as is San Diego. Bringing numbers into the game, San Francisco or L.A. are your two larger contenders, but as with bar scenario... you're more than likely to find delicious food at various restaurants across all three cities.
Friendliness - This is something San Diego is known for, something San Francisco has been known for, and something L.A. is less-often than not known for. People smile often in San Diego and greeting someone as you pass them in traffic, at the grocery store, or on the beach is common. That being said, there are friendly people everywhere! If you're a friendly person you'll more likely than not meet the same kind of people.
Activities - Choose your lifestyle! What are you going to be doing? In San Diego you'll have your pick of outdoor activities that range from surfing to mountain biking or wandering the new exhibits of Balboa Park, in San Francisco you can go to parks, museums, and take day hikes in Marin County! In Los Angeles take your pick all of the above. All cities offer the same activities, though to greater or lesser degrees, you wouldn't necessarily find yourself lacking.
Traffic - All three cities have notorious traffic times and you'll find that residents of all three agree! It's a matter of knowing when to not be on the interstates, which side roads to take, and when you should have ridden your bike instead.
Weather - This is something that each person will relate to and prefer differently. Statistically, San Francisco is a foggier city than the other two, Los Angeles and San Diego are both very sunny and bright, though L.A. deals with a smog issue at times and San Diego has a bay area like fog in the Winter and Spring that hugs the coastal areas for a few hours a day in the morning.
Economy - Another numbers game that goes hand in hand with the metropolitan populations of all three. Los Angeles has the largest, followed by San Francisco, and then San Diego. As for industry, each city has unique specializations in tech, military, finance, entertainment, biotech, manufacturing, and what not.
Housing - Affordable housing exists in abundance in all three metropolitan areas, though you might be driving a lot longer than you would like to reach desirable and interesting areas. That being said San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego rents are among the highest in the nation, with housing prices to match. Neither city is so undesirable that it lacks multi million dollar homes are zip codes frequently in the nations top 20.
Lowest crime rate - San Diego takes the trophy on this one, it's the safest large city in America. With that in mind, there are certainly safer and less safe areas in all cities. Certain neighborhoods will never even hear whispers of crime while in others it might be an evening occurrence!
Cleanliness - Each city could do more to clean areas of their respective neighborhoods known for messiness. I'm sure someone has walked through every city on a bad day and thought "Wow! How dirty" and on a good day "Wow! It's so clean here!"
Overall Cost of living - You get what you pay for, what you want, and what you need based on how you live your life! All three cities have high costs of living simply because they are known for their natural beauty, abundance of opportunity, recreational activities, and cultural experiences. You will not find one city sorely lacking in much.
Overall: Can you tell yet? There really isn't a winner, each city will mold to your lifestyle differently and you'll find yourself doing more of something in one city than you would in another. They compliment each other by being so unique and in a state like California, it's great to have such choices. Enjoy visiting all of them.
I'll try my best to lend a serious analysis with such criteria...
Bars (nightlife) - this is completely subjective. Of all the bars located in one city, has one ever visited all of them? The number of bars is not so important as the quality of bars. Another factor to consider is the type of person you're going to encounter at these bars. In San Francisco, prepare for broad generalizations, one might encounter persons working in the tech industry, in Los Angeles you might expect people in the entertainment industry and in San Diego you could expect to meet an entrepreneur who has just launched a start up after a surf session. With all this in mind, I'd have to say it's a tie. Numbers aren't the absolute answer. Location of bars is huge, I'm not familiar with placement of bars in L.A. or S.F. but in San Diego many are on the coast or centered around Balboa Park and Downtown, a strong plus for some.
Dance clubs (nightlife) - from my own personal experience, I would have to say Los Angeles takes the trophy in this specific analysis. It seems there are always warehouse parties, new clubs opening, and certainly attention centered around such clubs. I would imagine San Francisco packs a pretty strong punch in this category as well. Many will find that the vast majority of San Diego nightlife is centered around bars.
Shopping - All three cities offer more than enough of this. You have Rodeo Drive, The Grove, and Santa Monica Promenade in L.A., Fashion Valley, The Village in La Jolla, and UTC in San Diego, and Union Square and Soma in S.F.
Restaurants - San Francisco is known for an abundance of these. L.A. is also known, as is San Diego. Bringing numbers into the game, San Francisco or L.A. are your two larger contenders, but as with bar scenario... you're more than likely to find delicious food at various restaurants across all three cities.
Friendliness - This is something San Diego is known for, something San Francisco has been known for, and something L.A. is less-often than not known for. People smile often in San Diego and greeting someone as you pass them in traffic, at the grocery store, or on the beach is common. That being said, there are friendly people everywhere! If you're a friendly person you'll more likely than not meet the same kind of people.
Activities - Choose your lifestyle! What are you going to be doing? In San Diego you'll have your pick of outdoor activities that range from surfing to mountain biking or wandering the new exhibits of Balboa Park, in San Francisco you can go to parks, museums, and take day hikes in Marin County! In Los Angeles take your pick all of the above. All cities offer the same activities, though to greater or lesser degrees, you wouldn't necessarily find yourself lacking.
Traffic - All three cities have notorious traffic times and you'll find that residents of all three agree! It's a matter of knowing when to not be on the interstates, which side roads to take, and when you should have ridden your bike instead.
Weather - This is something that each person will relate to and prefer differently. Statistically, San Francisco is a foggier city than the other two, Los Angeles and San Diego are both very sunny and bright, though L.A. deals with a smog issue at times and San Diego has a bay area like fog in the Winter and Spring that hugs the coastal areas for a few hours a day in the morning.
Economy - Another numbers game that goes hand in hand with the metropolitan populations of all three. Los Angeles has the largest, followed by San Francisco, and then San Diego. As for industry, each city has unique specializations in tech, military, finance, entertainment, biotech, manufacturing, and what not.
Housing - Affordable housing exists in abundance in all three metropolitan areas, though you might be driving a lot longer than you would like to reach desirable and interesting areas. That being said San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego rents are among the highest in the nation, with housing prices to match. Neither city is so undesirable that it lacks multi million dollar homes are zip codes frequently in the nations top 20.
Lowest crime rate - San Diego takes the trophy on this one, it's the safest large city in America. With that in mind, there are certainly safer and less safe areas in all cities. Certain neighborhoods will never even hear whispers of crime while in others it might be an evening occurrence!
Cleanliness - Each city could do more to clean areas of their respective neighborhoods known for messiness. I'm sure someone has walked through every city on a bad day and thought "Wow! How dirty" and on a good day "Wow! It's so clean here!"
Overall Cost of living - You get what you pay for, what you want, and what you need based on how you live your life! All three cities have high costs of living simply because they are known for their natural beauty, abundance of opportunity, recreational activities, and cultural experiences. You will not find one city sorely lacking in much.
Overall: Can you tell yet? There really isn't a winner, each city will mold to your lifestyle differently and you'll find yourself doing more of something in one city than you would in another. They compliment each other by being so unique and in a state like California, it's great to have such choices. Enjoy visiting all of them.
Quite rare to see a neutral post on this forum. Nice job!
LA...it's the undisputed 'capital of California'. Only NYC can compete with it on a national level in terms of cuisine (variety), culture, and things to do. LA also has way better beaches and weather than San Francisco.
San Diego is nice but not very exciting, so I'd say SF is a better city than San Diego, but I'd prefer to live in San Diego over the Bay Area.
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