Retiring to SoCal: Los Angeles or San Diego?

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by FromPhillytoSoCal

Hi folks, my wife and I are from Philadelphia and we are planning to retire to Southern California hopefully within the next year or so. We'd like to be closer to our son and grandkids in the Bay Area, but we would rather be in Southern California for the weather (a cliche, we know).

We've been to Los Angeles several times, but only once for a day to San Diego and we liked both. We didn't want to post in the City vs. City section because we'd rather not turn this into purely a popularity contest (naturally, I assume most people from each city prefer their own respective city). We'd like some real and specific information as to the differences (and similarities, for that matter) between the two.

We know that LA, of course, is a much bigger city, but what else truly distinguishes them? (For the record, we are principally looking at Santa Monica, and the housing market is not a tremendous concern as we are looking for a 1 or 2 bedroom condo.)

Have you given any thought to going a little bit north of Los Angeles, like maybe Ventura County? You would be just that much closer to the bay area..Just a thought. If you are only going to consider the 2 areas you have mentioned, just for convenience, I would say Los Angeles as it is closer to the bay area although San Diego is an awesome place.

Nita

[TurcoLoco]

Anywhere from Lompoc to Santa Cruz or south of Laguna Niguel (San Juan Capistrano/San Clemente) all the way down to San Diego would be my suggestion.

For a retired couple, pretty much anywhere but LA County.

[SoCal35]

Nice of you all to suggest other areas to the OP. That said, the original post clearly stated a preference for Santa Monica.

I suppose it's human nature to suggest areas (we'd prefer) to people asking for input. But maybe, just maybe, this couple actually LIKES (gasp) Santa Monica...and all that an urban culture has to offer. Ventura County is nice but quite BORING compared to Santa Monica....