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But when I say SF is the economic center of gravity of California, I am talking about the FACT that SF is the financial center of the state, the location of the biggest concentration of billion dollar companies, the most influential and most innovative titans of finance and tech are in the Bay, and SFs lead is actually expanding.
So that makes it the center of innovation. This is true for San Francisco GLOBALLY. No one doubts those qualities.
Nonetheless, it is still second to LA in California. Now, if it can keep this level of growth for a good decade or so, and Los Angeles stays stagnant, perhaps that will change.
Don't expect LA to stay stagnant though. It's a volatile giant, but it is always ready to re-imagine itself and it isnt afraid of change.
SF is the Boston of the West Coast. Both clearly are incredibly innovative and hot beds of progressive politics. They punch way above their weight class too. Nonetheless, they are in the shadows of giants to the south. Nothing wrong with that. It doesn't stop SF or Boston from being top dogs in their respective fields.
Nope. LA may be the largest city in California but the political and economic center of gravity of the state is actually San Francisco.
Lot of Homerism going on in here , L.A. people saying L.A. is number one San Francisco people saying San Francisco is number 1, ask anyone outside of California especially in the South what the number 1 California city is I guarantee you 80-90 percent of the time the answer will be LA,......Quick what's the first city you think of when you think of California and again most people outside of Cali would say L.A......and by the way I thought Sacramento is the political center of California
Last edited by BlueRedTide; 04-18-2015 at 01:45 PM..
It's weird and it extends beyond C-D. In the local media like on SFgate.com they get all butthurt when they aren't ranked #1 or as high as they think they should be for whatever random list/ranking.
That was by far the most annoying part about living in SF. Constant complaining when SF wasn't the #1 at something. Sorry, not every city can be #1 at everything. And now that I've been out for nearly a year, the deep-seated hatred is gone, but I can still say with 100% certainty that SF is the most insecure city in the world that I have ever been to and I have no idea why. Being 2nd to LA is not a bad thing--it's a top world class city that not many others beat. If they were 2nd to Chicago or NYC, they would be MAYBE okay with that--still some sulking around and blaming other people. But simply because they're 2nd to LA, it creates this insecurity. The complete hatred for LA has to stop from NorCal. It's not reciprocal. It's a total one-way hatred so clearly there is something behind the hatred (jealousy?).
I'd be willing to bet money that if I went around and asked people not from CA (like here in Louisville) whether they believed LA or SF to be CA's #1 city, the majority would say LA. The only part of the country that would believe otherwise would be SF itself, and maybe a few other parts of the PNW.
What about this article? Kinda strange having LA as the top city in the world, but it's a pretty credible source with a breakdown of the data to support it. Idk if I would ever agree that LA should beat NYC or London on this ranking, but the fact that it did and SF is below them, that's saying something to LA being #1 in CA at least. The world cities with the most powerful brands - get the data | Cities | The Guardian
But once again, even with my dislike for SF, it's obvious that LA is CA's #1 city. The only states in which SF wouldn't be #1 are Illinois, New York, and California. That's still really impressive. And honestly, if SF and LA had the same population, I'd be willing to bet that SF would be CA's #1 city. With a fraction of the population, but still rivaling it in many rankings and GDP, it would only make sense that if it were the same size it would most likely be better.
Lot of Homerism going on in here , L.A. people saying L.A. is number one San Francisco people saying San Francisco is number 1, ask anyone outside of California especially in the South what the number 1 California city is I guarantee you 80-90 percent of the time the answer will be LA,......Quick what's the first city you think of when you think of California and again most people outside of Cali would say L.A......and by the way I thought Sacramento is the political center of California
Let's try this out together haha. You're in TN, I'm in KY. Let's see what people actually say here. Because I'm almost positive the only support for SF being CA's #1 city is coming from SF and other parts of NorCal.
Just asked a friend from KY her opinion. This is her response word for word:
"LA. When i think California i think 'LA' hahaha. I’ve never been like “omg i wanna go to SF” I’m like I wanna go to LA b/c California... not SF. I only wanted to go to SF when thats so raven was based there on disney hahaha"
Friend from NJ just replied:
"LA duh. I didn’t even know SF was “cool” til like a few years ago. I always knew LA was california and california was LA. That's a dumb poll to even have. No one is going to pick SF."
Last edited by jessemh431; 04-18-2015 at 01:54 PM..
So that makes it the center of innovation.
This is true for San Francisco GLOBALLY.
No one doubts those qualities.
Nonetheless, it is still second to LA in
California...
Okay, you keep saying that, but as far as controlling the dialogue in Sacramento, as far as controlling the financial sector in California, and as far as being 'The City' for two thirds of the state's geographic area and 15 million people, SF doesnt really feel second. Odd, no?
lmao.
Last edited by 18Montclair; 04-18-2015 at 03:00 PM..
Just asked a friend from KY her opinion. This is her response word for word:
"LA. When i think California i think 'LA' hahaha. I’ve never been like “omg i wanna go to SF” I’m like I wanna go to LA b/c California... not SF. I only wanted to go to SF when thats so raven was based there on disney hahaha"
Friend from NJ just replied:
"LA duh. I didn’t even know SF was “cool” til like a few years ago. I always knew LA was california and california was LA. That's a dumb poll to even have. No one is going to pick SF."
Yawns.
Net Domestic Migration, 2010-2014
Bay Area CSA +48,321
Los Angeles CSA-179,237
No offense against the crowd you run with, but wealthy and educated people are flocking to the Bay from all over.
Location: Watching half my country turn into Gilead
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 18Montclair
Okay, you keep saying that, but as far as controlling the dialogue in Sacramento, as far as controlling the financial sector in Calufornia, and as far as being 'The City' for two thirds of the state's geographic area and 15 million people, SF doesnt really feel second. Odd, no?
lmao.
Still boosting San Francisco beyond reason? Great city, no doubt, but not on L.A.'s level. They definitely compliment each other, and SF has unique strengths over L.A., but L.A. clearly wins this matchup--to say nothing of NYC (which demolishes SF lol). But keep boosting--it's entertaining!
Okay, you keep saying that, but as far as controlling the dialogue in Sacramento, as far as controlling the financial sector in Calufornia, and as far as being 'The City' for two thirds of the state's geographic area and 15 million people, SF doesnt really feel second. Odd, no?
lmao.
It shouldn't feel like a second, but it does simply b/c LA is just a few hours south in the same state. Geographic area shouldn't matter in this. More people belong to the Greater LA area alone than all of NorCal. And if we're talking city to city, SF doesn't even own the tech companies you're all raving about. They're in Mountain View and more or less the San Jose area. LA's entertainment, tech, banking, beaches, tourism, etc. are all in the city of LA. Venice Beach, Marina del Rey, Playa Vista, Downtown LA, Century City, Hollywood, Studio City, Universal City, Port of Los Angeles, Wilshire Blvd corridor (minus the part through Santa Monica). Those are all in the city of LA. I get that SF's geography is smaller, but for an argument like this, geographic size is irrelevant. By that logic, NYC is quite irrelevant, but Denver and Salt Lake are very relevant.
Net Domestic Migration, 2010-2014
Bay Area CSA +48,321
Los Angeles CSA-179,237
No offense against the crowd you run with, but wealthy and educated people are flocking to the Bay from all over.
You ever think that negative migration is the poor people being priced out of LA and moving elsewhere? These are law students actually, so chances are they're more educated than the vast majority of people in the country.
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