Oakland = mini LA? (San Diego, Long Beach, Fremont: how much, living, moving)

[CirclingLogan]

Originally Posted by mr bolo

I thought Sacramento was more like a mini LA? seems like a lot of people from Sacramento used to live in LA

Yeah, I don't know. Maybe. I've never been to Sacramento. I framed the entire reason to find a comparison city for Oakland was for friends from out of town, and no one outside of CA has any sort of perception of what Sacramento is like.

Average Yearly High/Low:
Oakland: 67/51
LAX: 69/56

I dunno, some guy on the internet said 20. These state-verified numbers must be wrong.

[pistola916]

Originally Posted by mr bolo

I thought Sacramento was more like a mini LA? seems like a lot of people from Sacramento used to live in LA

In what way? Sac doesn't have the glitz and glamour; it is nowhere near the ocean; there are no hills or mountains; Sac is flat as a pancake. traffic is not terrible; no smog.

I would say SJ is like a mini LA. SJ has warm weather. Its near a body of water. It has the tech industry as oppose to the entertainment industry. SJ has hills and the mountains are nearby. SJ area has Stanford whereas LA has USC. There are a ton of LA transplants in San Jose.

[beb0p]

Originally Posted by pistola916

In what way? Sac doesn't have the glitz and glamour; it is nowhere near the ocean; there are no hills or mountains; Sac is flat as a pancake. traffic is not terrible; no smog.

I would say SJ is like a mini LA. SJ has warm weather. Its near a body of water. It has the tech industry as oppose to the entertainment industry. SJ has hills and the mountains are nearby. SJ area has Stanford whereas LA has USC. There are a ton of LA transplants in San Jose.

I had always thought Sacramento is like the inland empire of LA.

The truth is that LA is a big sprawling suburbs and cities like Sac and SJ, which are also sprawling suburbs (but not to LA's scale) do share some similarities.
.

[drunk on kool aid]

Originally Posted by CirclingLogan

I know a lot of people from back east who have no idea what to think of Oakland. They have perceptions (not always accurate) of LA, SF, Portland, Seattle, San Diego, but Oakland draws a big blank outside of some murky conception of it being pretty rough.

I used to say a cross between Portland and Baltimore, but it never quite struck me as particularly useful.

Then, I was looking at a map of LA and realized how similar much of it is.

<snip>

I get that there are some similarities but why are you reaching so far to compare Oakland to LA instead of to SF? Oakland and SF share land size, the Bay, climate, homes on hillsides, diversity, liberal politics, BART, actual people, etc...

This is akin to the city of Long Beach trying to compare itself to Chicago instead of LA.

People from the east have such a distorted view of LA, that comparing Oakland to LA is going to be so inaccurate that you'll save time by just accurately describing Oakland.

Why not say Oakland is like a less dense, less urbanized SF?

There almost seems to be some tacit "don't dare link Oakland to SF lest the City becomes tainted."

Originally Posted by CirclingLogan

Obviously some major caveats. Replace the entertainment + beach culture with quirky/alternative + burgeoning tech.

Stereotyping. You think there's more "quirky/alternative + burgeoning tech" in Oakland than LA?

[sarah1222]

Originally Posted by ccm123

In some ways, yes. But, there are differences between Oakland and LA, especially the vibe. LA is "glitzy", while Oakland really is not. Some neighborhoods in Oakland, such as Rockridge remind me of neighborhoods in LA (such as Pasadena).

I agree, LA has a much much more vibrant and active night life.

[04kL4nD]

Originally Posted by drunk on kool aid

I get that there are some similarities but why are you reaching so far to compare Oakland to LA instead of to SF? Oakland and SF share land size, the Bay, climate, homes on hillsides, diversity, liberal politics, BART, actual people, etc...

This is akin to the city of Long Beach trying to compare itself to Chicago instead of LA.

People from the east have such a distorted view of LA, that comparing Oakland to LA is going to be so inaccurate that you'll save time by just accurately describing Oakland.

Why not say Oakland is like a less dense, less urbanized SF?

There almost seems to be some tacit "don't dare link Oakland to SF lest the City becomes tainted."




Stereotyping. You think there's more "quirky/alternative + burgeoning tech" in Oakland than LA?

Eh, Oakland isn't a playground for the wealthy elite and techies. At least not yet. A lot of SF natives say Oakland today is what SF was like 20 years ago.

[L.A.-Mex]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

10 degrees =/= 20 degrees

Look, you were the one that claimed that "Oakland is a lot colder than LA". If you think that 10 degree difference is a lot, that's fine, but I don't. I lived in San Diego and it got just as 'cold' in the winter as Oakland does. If you are from anywhere outside of coastal CA, 'winters' are a freaking joke here. It may get cold for a week or two (30s at night), but we have plenty of days in Jan/Feb/March where you can where shorts and flip flops in both NorCal and SoCal. The biggest difference between Oakland and LA to me is rainfall, but given the 3 year drought we've been in, I honestly haven't noticed much of a difference, and I'm down in SoCal frequently.

One of the biggest selling points of Oakland is the year round mild weather we get to experience. Believe it or not, but some people prefer mild/moderate climates to warm/hot ones, while some prefer chilly/cool weather (parts of SF). Feel free to exaggerate all you want though.

Cities in Coastal Socal have never seen a frost but yet oakland does. that is quite a difference.

"Winters a Joke", high temps in from mid 50s to upper 50s up north in winter compared to mid 60s to low 70s highs down south wouldnt be too much of a joke, but to 90 % of other americans living in other states yes it is a joke.

Jan/Feb/march, those days you speak of must be with highs in the 70s but right away you need to warm up cause night temps drop into 40s.

look LA isnt just LAX to the coast its hunreds of square miles inland, into valleys and up hills. so yes overall LA is much warmer than a city that rarely sees 80 F heat and when it does its people are dying of heat. the coast is warmer than oakland (depends on which beach it goes from warmer, to much warmer like Long Beach), then inland into south LA it gets warmer, then from Downtown/East LA inland to valleys it is much warmer with yearly average highs near or above 80 F, a temp that Oakland sees too little.

[18Montclair]

80 is too hot and so is LA. You can keep that weather:-)

And nobody is impressed by the oppressive heat in the San Fernando Valley. Congrats, its hot like Fresno. Yuck.

[04kL4nD]

Apparently NOAA isn't impressed either, given that they ranked Oakland as the #1 climate in the US.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by L.A.-Mex

Cities in Coastal Socal have never seen a frost but yet oakland does. that is quite a difference.

You must have a really selective memory, it doesn't happen often but I can remember several times frost and temps in the low 30's along the coast in San Diego.

Freezing temps reach San Diego | FOX5 San Diego

"Winters a Joke", high temps in from mid 50s to upper 50s up north in winter compared to mid 60s to low 70s highs down south wouldnt be too much of a joke, but to 90 % of other americans living in other states yes it is a joke.

Jan/Feb/march, those days you speak of must be with highs in the 70s but right away you need to warm up cause night temps drop into 40s.

And don't you need to warm up at night in Long Beach or anywhere else in Coastal SoCal too during winter as they average lows into the 40's as well? The average low in Jan in Oakland is 44 vs. 46 in LB.

look LA isnt just LAX to the coast its hunreds of square miles inland, into valleys and up hills. so yes overall LA is much warmer than a city that rarely sees 80 F heat and when it does its people are dying of heat. the coast is warmer than oakland (depends on which beach it goes from warmer, to much warmer like Long Beach), then inland into south LA it gets warmer, then from Downtown/East LA inland to valleys it is much warmer with yearly average highs near or above 80 F, a temp that Oakland sees too little.

I think everyone is aware of that but it still doesn't make any sense to compare Oakland to the San Fernando Valley.

You really don't seem to know what the climate up here is like at all and don't even seem to get it right about it in Southern CA.