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let me ask you just one question then i wil answer.
have you stood in the parking lot and watched the shoppers coming out at fashion valley? i can count more than 2 marie antoinette lookalikes in an hour.
My husband and I just moved from San Jose to Downtown SD. Keep in mind that the job market is much better in SJ than SD. We moved to SD because we love the beach! SJ was close to the beach, but not close enough. Plus, you can actually enjoy the beach here because of the warmer weather. I've noticed that San Diego is not too pretentious. I don't see too many luxury cars around here compared to what people drive in SJ. We've been here since August and we absolutely love it, except for the fact that the job market sucks and I settled for a pay cut.
I have some important points about the materialism in OC and SD. I have lived in OC for 4 years and SD for a year.
As you pass north of Camp Pendleton, things become quite more "polished," the medians in the roads are more landscaped, the people are wealthier, dress nicer... There is a tree planted every five feet. Older parts such as all areas west of PCH tend to be less so. San Clemente is less so and is like the transition city into SD. there is much less pretense there, and most residents could care less that the closest mall is 20 minutes away.
SD is generally more casual, blue collar, and less pretentious. Places like Encinitas add natural rocks and neutral colors to their parks, not flaming white plastic fences. Lot of old money in Point Loma and Coronado. While La Jolla and new parts of Aviara (Carlsbad) give Newport a run for it's money.
Some East County places like Lakeside, Jamul, Granite Hills, and Alpine feel like the unprententious long lost part of Texas and could care less what the Jones have.
I am starting to see more wealthy people in SD, especially in downtown because of all the new development super expensive high rise condo's and such. This was never the case, downtown was a ghetto 10 years ago, now all the yuppies, hipsters have taken over because of the new development which has seriously gentrified many parts of the city. The saddest thing is, you still see a ton homeless walking around like if it was night of the living dead. Many older buildings have been demolished or plan to be demoed in the near future for the sake of attracting transplants from the East Coast or rich people from overseas, it's sad. I'm telling you, the city of SD are in bed with the big developers, because nothing but residential properties are being built today in downtown SD, which doesn't make sense when so many other recently built condo towers are sitting vacant, or have a ton of unsold units.
I noticed overall more people driving really expensive luxury cars around town, and I am not talking about $40,000 luxo rides, but more like $60,000-over a $100,000 luxury cars. I can't imagine what these people do that allow to afford such expenses, non the less the ability to get a massive car loan in today's economy with banks being strict in all. These people have to be working for themselves in order to achieve such wealth, because there is simply not enough high paying jobs in SD County that allows people to purchase extremely high end vehicles, especially compared to the OC job market. Everywhere I go I am starting to see more and more of this, even major home rehabbing.
Home remodeling seems to have taken off like crazy in San Diego recently, not just homes but commercial property and older apartment complexes. I remember neighborhoods in El Cajon, La Mesa,Spring Valley and even Lemon Grove which a lot of homes were beat up, run down, everything look like it was falling apart, but flash forward one year later, now all the same homes I remember looking like crap, are all fixed up and now look pretty, even parts of the ghetto in SD is starting to get major rehabbing. I don't understand how and why these things happen in a quick amount of time or all at the same time. It's like people see there neighbors fixing up there home,so they wind up doing the same, like a domino effect, I understand the purpose behind it all which is trying to raise the value of their home, but the days of over inflated housing prices are over, yet these greedy people are still thinking they can cash in soon one day in another possible housing boom,plaaheaase! Also, another question is, where are these homeowners able to get the money to totally remodel there property? And how are they able to even get loans in a bad market if that's what they are doing? Are homeowners refinancing like crazy or what? Many people are in massive debt in this country, but we continue to spend money we don't have, and if this keeps happening, the economy wont recover at all. SD will be shaken up for years to come and will struggle forever with this crisis.
IDK, but OC in my mind is much wealthier than SD, South OC makes the wealthiest of San Diego's neighborhoods look middle class or substandard, I definitely see way more high end auto's in OC, even there freeways are better maintained then here, people also dress better. One major difference though, is even though South OC is very wealthy, the wealth of the people come from all different ethnic backgrounds, for instance while working up in Irvine again for a job last month, I had to go the Irvine Spectrum. I saw a lot of different nationalities of people, unlike in SD where the majority of the wealthier people are White, OC rich people are Asian, Hispanic, Indian, Arabic, White and whatever else. That was the perception because there was much diversity in the upscale malls like the Spectrum and even South Coast Plaza which is a really upscale mall for the rich.
Last edited by sdlife619; 01-16-2010 at 03:22 AM..
I am starting to see more wealthy people in SD, especially in downtown because of all the new development super expensive high rise condo's and such. This was never the case, downtown was a ghetto 10 years ago, now all the yuppies, hipsters have taken over because of the new development which has seriously gentrified many parts of the city. The saddest thing is, you still see a ton homeless walking around like if it was night of the living dead. Many older buildings have been demolished or plan to be demoed in the near future for the sake of attracting transplants from the East Coast or rich people from overseas, it's sad. I'm telling you, the city of SD are in bed with the big developers, because nothing but residential properties are being built today in downtown SD, which doesn't make sense when so many other recently built condo towers are sitting vacant, or have a ton of unsold units.
I noticed overall more people driving really expensive luxury cars around town, and I am not talking about $40,000 luxo rides, but more like $60,000-over a $100,000 luxury cars. I can't imagine what these people do that allow to afford such expenses, non the less the ability to get a massive car loan in today's economy with banks being strict in all. These people have to be working for themselves in order to achieve such wealth, because there is simply not enough high paying jobs in SD County that allows people to purchase extremely high end vehicles, especially compared to the OC job market. Everywhere I go I am starting to see more and more of this, even major home rehabbing.
Home remodeling seems to have taken off like crazy in San Diego recently, not just homes but commercial property and older apartment complexes. I remember neighborhoods in El Cajon, La Mesa,Spring Valley and even Lemon Grove which a lot of homes were beat up, run down, everything look like it was falling apart, but flash forward one year later, now all the same homes I remember looking like crap, are all fixed up and now look pretty, even parts of the ghetto in SD is starting to get major rehabbing. I don't understand how and why these things happen in a quick amount of time or all at the same time. It's like people see there neighbors fixing up there home,so they wind up doing the same, like a domino effect, I understand the purpose behind it all which is trying to raise the value of their home, but the days of over inflated housing prices are over, yet these greedy people are still thinking they can cash in soon one day in another possible housing boom,plaaheaase! Also, another question is, where are these homeowners able to get the money to totally remodel there property? And how are they able to even get loans in a bad market if that's what they are doing? Are homeowners refinancing like crazy or what? Many people are in massive debt in this country, but we continue to spend money we don't have, and if this keeps happening, the economy wont recover at all. SD will be shaken up for years to come and will struggle forever with this crisis.
IDK, but OC in my mind is much wealthier than SD, South OC makes the wealthiest of San Diego's neighborhoods look middle class or substandard, I definitely see way more high end auto's in OC, even there freeways are better maintained then here, people also dress better. One major difference though, is even though South OC is very wealthy, the wealth of the people come from all different ethnic backgrounds, for instance while working up in Irvine again for a job last month, I had to go the Irvine Spectrum. I saw a lot of different nationalities of people, unlike in SD where the majority of the wealthier people are White, OC rich people are Asian, Hispanic, Indian, Arabic, White and whatever else. That was the perception because there was much diversity in the upscale malls like the Spectrum and even South Coast Plaza which is a really upscale mall for the rich.
Almost all of what you have said is totally false. I guess you have never heard of Rancho Santa Fe which is wealthier than any place in OC. Downtown San Diego was NOT a ghetto 10 years ago. It was pretty seedy 30 years ago but that all started to change in 1985 when they built Horton Plaza downtown and the Gaslamp area. There is no area of SD county as bad as Santa Ana in OC.
As to the OP's original question, the answer is that OC is much more materialistic. San Diego is more laid back and most of the people don't have an attitude like in OC.
Having grown up along the north county coast of San Diego and spent several years in Orange County, I think I have a decent perspective on this. Around the mid-80's, my part of San Diego really changed. Development took off and new towns were being built to the east of the I-5. At the same time, west of the I-5, where I grew up, became more and more expensive. Now it's ridiculous and almost everybody that grew up there are long gone (priced out of the market). When I was little, our town had several gas stations and had a laid back surf vibe. There was a grocery store, drug stores, and barbershops. In other words, it was a functioning town. Now there are loads of boutiques, fancy hotels, and no gas stations. As a consequence to all this upheaval, practically everybody that lives there is from somewhere else and the place has no soul. The northern SD coastal area has become like Newport/Laguna Beach. It is naturally, unquestionably beautiful and I still like to go there, but it is a different place, lots of transplants and pretentious. Drive your 15 year old Ford through there and you'll get some dirty looks (but that's almost everywhere in So. Cal. I was pulled over in Newport at night because of the car I was driving. It seems like the type of car you drive is the most important thing and identifies who you are. I just don't think it's too bright to sink tens of thousands into a hunk of metal, especially when it's unaffordable. A friend of mine said, "People get up in the morning, get dressed, and put on their car"! I'll stop my bellyaching now. Other parts of the country don't sound too bad but the weather here is the best
Location: Miami (prev. NY, Atlanta, SF, OC and San Diego)
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San Diego is definitely less materialistic than OC....the only area of SD where I observe snootiness is in Del Mar and it is funny--when I lived in OC, most of the snobs I knew specifically would stay in Del Mar when visiting SD....La Jolla is actually a sleepy beach town and is confident with its wealth. Del Mar suffers from penis envy of La Jolla,...of course, there are many parts of San Diego that are more Whittier and North Long Beach....I live downtown and notice there is a dramatic absence of professionals and successful male role models--sure, there are attorneys that work downtown but the overwhelming majority live elsewhere. Downtown is more like Fullerton or Anaheim where the majority of the population is looking to become the head bartender at Fluxx or open a tattoo shop by age 35.
Almost all of what you have said is totally false. I guess you have never heard of Rancho Santa Fe which is wealthier than any place in OC. Downtown San Diego was NOT a ghetto 10 years ago. It was pretty seedy 30 years ago but that all started to change in 1985 when they built Horton Plaza downtown and the Gaslamp area. There is no area of SD county as bad as Santa Ana in OC.
As to the OP's original question, the answer is that OC is much more materialistic. San Diego is more laid back and most of the people don't have an attitude like in OC.
Agree!
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