Excellent topic.....
My experience both locales:
Born/reared central Florida east coast, small town.
Lived Los Angeles area SF Valley 1989-1995.
Miami off and on most of my life.
Lived in Brazil, Spain (costo del sol), Colombia, short time in Costa Rica.
Santa Monica Pros
- big city w/lots to do
- cultural stuff galore
- high end people w/passion
- wealthy people
- semi-close to LAX, with traffic 2 hours?
- great views from cliffs
- nice bike path and view of beach
- dry, energetic climate (never rains)
- good place for over 40 singles
- attractive people/healthy vibe
- movie people
- mountains, desert short drive away
- big alternative sports: BMX / skateboarding invented in SM
- 5 hours mexico
- 6 hours vegas
- 7 hours yosemite
- 8 hours NorCal
- PCH and all the mountains, scenery, great landscapes of california within hours drive away
Santa Monica Cons
- wealthy people means spoiled people w/attitudes
- Lots of homeless people
- heavy traffic all hours
- high maintenence women, spolied women, she-man type power women driving SUVs
- everbody in a hurry on the cell, running like someone died
- stupid expensive ($1M+ for small 2/BR crib)
- very cold ocean water
- 5 days per week huge fog blanket rolls in AM. Burns off 1PM. Feels like Seattle!
- people can be rude/hurry/pushy
- after 6pm gets COLD, you need a coat, not sweater!
- earthquakes
- average guys must compete with wealthy/famous actors/athletes/models
- high taxes
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Miami Beach Pros
- no fog. wake up clear blue skies at 7am!
- nice people for most part (maybe b/c southern US)
- miami vice every show shot on location in miami
- movie people
- easy to get around. yamaha zuma all u need
- located in big city with huge options to latin america
- great real estate home prices. $150k buys 1/BR, re-stored old style building. $600k buys you really nice 2/BR luxury crib in Consortium @ tip of SoBe
- blue/torquise ocean water, same color in bahamas and cuba
- warm, relaxing water
- attractive people/healthy vibe
- awesome climate nov-april
- PERFECT at night/nice breeze (flip flops/baggies/t-shirt no problem)
- huge sports venue superbowl 2010 landshark stadium 25 minutes north, up collins to sunny isles, cross over bridge
- beautiful bal harbour world class shopping and super rich area (mostly jewish)
- immigrant ground zero, pretty latinas/brazilian babes (big butts)
- pro sports: marlins, dolphins, heat
- MIA 30 minutes straight shot over causeway to 8th w/traffic!
- large alterntive sports scene BMX / skateboarding
- excellent fishing / scuba diving
- language diversity. great area to learn new languages/meet new friends from abroad
- over 30 single destination
- 1 hour to bahamas (over 45 more/less)
- 45 minutes cuba
- 1 1/2 hours key west
- everglades national park
- SoFL only sub-tropical climate all north america
- 4 hours to bogota direct aviance
- 7 hours to rio de janeiro direct avianca/tam
- 8 hours buenos aires direct
- laid back people for the most part. (people chill, no typical american power women bulldozing (in SUV) down the road glued to her cell yelling at her hubby to shut up... Latin women let men wear the pants
- low taxes
Miami Beach Cons
- humidity: climate sucks may-october, you really sweat in july/august
- hurricanes, although most move past/around miami and head up north
- latin immigrants: bad drivers, some dont speak english/dont wanna learn/dont respect american culture
- heavy traffic (but not as bad as LA)
- a lot of posers/wanna bes/trust fund kids/punks
- bugs/mosquitos (mostly in summer months)
- high end buildings are very expensive
- large diversity of people/lots of jewish people w/I am the best attitude
- anglo resentment from back when SoBe was all white/jewish/retired folks
- high maintenence women. average latin women from colombia/brazil stepping off the plane go from avarage to top notch
- average guys must compete with pro ballers/models/actors/trust fund kids
- loud hip hop gangster punks, mostly young black men from NY/NJ bored/vulgar/pants done his knees/needs a mentor to kick his shaggy ass
- low energy/passion summer months - humidity brings you down/feel lazy/cold showers
- thrunderstorms in summer. rains every day at 2pm for 45 minutes. feels hot/sticky