What defines the West Coast?

[pw72]

I think State boundaries should be respected here. Any State that has a boundary with the Pacific Ocean, (or Atlantic, for that matter), should be considered West Coast or East Coast. Hawaii is an anomaly, as it is surrounded by the Pacific, and is so far away, so the jury is out on that one. Alaska, definitely. I understand the Florida controversy, but it IS technically, an East Coast State.

However, within States, sometimes the vocabulary can be different. For example those in far Eastern Washington, (Spokane), sometimes call only the western part of the State the "west coast". These are regional differences and should also be respected.

What ticks me off the most is when easterners only consider California, or even Southern California, "The West Coast". How uninformed.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by Carlite

While we're at it, I put Sacramento in with the coastal cities rather than the valley cities in California, because of its political-cultural connection to the coastal cities.

I'll second that, Sacramento is definitely "West Coast", considering it is the Capitol City of California. Sacramento's culture is "Bay Areaen", the City of SAC is "liberal-west coast", Metro Sacramento is overall politically moderate. All of NorCal is "west coast" as far east as Reno, NV.

[pw72]

Agreed. Sacramento is west coast. Reno is more debatable. They are definitely still in the Pacific Time Zone, but psychologically aim more toward the mountain west. I think Reno has more in common with Salt Lake than San Francisco. Though there are influences of both. Yes, Reno attracts Bay area vacationers, and Lake Tahoe attracts the same, the city is actually quite conservative, much like Salt Lake.

[Montguy]

Originally Posted by hipcat

Is it the Asian influence?

I tend to associate "Asian influence" with coastal British Columbia more than I do the U.S. West Coast. Beyond the China towns, I've failed to notice any particular Asian cultural influence (if cultural influence is what you're referring to, that is).

Originally Posted by hipcat

The Liberal Politics?

Most of the coastal cities are indisputably quite left-oriented and electorally influential, but to generalize the West coastal states as "liberal"(I'm referring mostly to WA and OR here) based on their electoral blueness is kind of a failure to recognize that "blue state" doesn't necessarily mean "resoundingly liberal" in terms of socio-politics.

Originally Posted by hipcat

The live,and let live mentality?

This mentality does exist quite strongly on the West Coast, but I don't think it's observable in the more urban locations, at least not those close to the water. From my personal experience, I would never characterize cities like LA, SF, Oakland or Seattle as being "live and let live" in essence (though one could understandably claim it to be true of Portland).

Originally Posted by hipcat

If we're talking about the major coastal area cities
The cosmopolitan nature of the cities?

Yes, I do associate cosmopolitanism with the coastal area cities, even if I find it to be somewhat superficial, if not politically motivated.

Originally Posted by hipcat

Or is it something different?

Not really. Most of the characteristics you put forth are largely fitting of the West coast to one extent or another.

[ScottsdaleBrat]

I don't usually hear people talk about living on the (fill in the blank) coast.

Usually it's "Out West", "Back East", "Up in..." (for example Chicago, MI, the Northwest, etc.), "Out in..." (Hawaii, CA, AZ), "Down in..." (for example TX, Florida,), "Back in..." (for example Kentucky, TX, etc...).

It sort of depends on where you are vs. where you are talking about.