Northern California DUers: What do you think of Southern California?

[SidneyCarton]

I say this as the few Northern Californians I have known have all considered living in SoCal to be a sojourn in purgatory. (Or at the very least objectionable) I myself have never been further north than Fresno, so I cannot pass judgment on Northern California, as I've never really been there.

So if you don't like Southern California, let me know why? As a native Southern Californian, I can take it, and I find the outside viewpoint on my home fascinating.

[roody]

1. I love to bike and skate near the Santa Monica pier.

I would not live there because when the sh** hits the fan, you will be without water.

[SidneyCarton]

2. Ah, yes the water problem.

That is a pickle, after all aquaducts can break in the event of a major earthquake, the Colorado River is running dry and we have no running desalinization plants. (And even if we did, how many would we need in order to supply demand, and how much electrical power would it take to run them?

Yeah, water is a big problem here, and if we don't begin conserving soon, we're screwed.

[Sequoia]

11. I miss it so !!

I used to ride my bicycle to Venice. It was sunny and warm and the ocean breeze would waft through my shiny locks. I like to travel the 405 and the Grapvine since it was the road to Yosemite (okay, so I had to take the 99 and then highway 41). I like all the various places to eat and all the salsa that was as plentiful as sand. Now I live in Nor Cal. Here, I like the clean air and the river and now all the mustard is growing in lush green fields (it's the rain!), and the lovely Russian River. I guess I don't like Orange county much though.

[Throd]

3. There is a lot to like and not like about SoCal

I lived in OC and Long Beach for 21 years. I can go on and on about the positives and negatives. I think the problem a lot of people in the North have is a certain attitude held by many in the South that the universe revolves around SoCal and people who live anywhere else are slack-jawed dimwits. We have regionalism up here too. Living in Sacramento, we find many San Franciscans quite full of themselves. But Sacramentans look down on Stockton. I'm sure Stockton pisses on Turlock or some such. It is an ancient and world wide dynamic.

Ask people in Santa Monica what they think about Hemet or Pedley.

[SidneyCarton]

4. Hell, ask them what they think of anyone who lives in the IE.

You have a point. Southern Californians are portrayed as over-stressed self-centered celebrity-obsessed lunatics, and we, in turn tend to look at our northern neighbors as either provencial yokels, or a bunch of granola-headed ex-hippies who never left 1968. The realities are, as always far more complex than the stereotypes.

[thatsrightimirish]

5. I like Southern California

And living in SF I can say a lot of people say they don't like Southern California but go on vacation and even go to college there. I don't like how you have to drive to get to ANYTING down there.

[mackerel]

6. All I have to say is ...

We want our water back!

[EFerrari]

7. I lived in Santa Monica for a few years and you know what,

by the time OUR water gets down there, it's NOT OUR WATER! The water itself rebels and turns into some toxic liquid that is unrecognizable!

[mackerel]

8. Actually 30% evaporates from the heat as it goes down

the aqueduct.

[Mollis]

9. I like it in small amounts.

It's quite crowded, but I don't mind as long as I'm not there for too long. It has a lot more things to do then here, though.

[XemaSab]

15. You're right

Davis, Sacramento, and the Bay Area ARE crowded, but they also have more going on than Redding. :shrug:

[shanti]

10. first off

i've lived in SoCal and NorCal and wouldn't consider Fresno to be SoCal. Y'all are in the central valley, but if you want to call it that, it's on you. I was born and raised in SoCal (OC) and moved to NorCal (Sac) in 1984. I just got sick of the cement jungle, the fake people, and the high cost of living. Don't see it as much up here...The climate down south i do love tho...and much of my family is still there, so I still visit on occasion. I'd NEVER move back!

[SidneyCarton]

17. Ahhh. but even we find Orange County rather weird.

I went to school at CSU Fullerton for a year. It's a great school, but there is something very different about OC that is odd even for a native of the Inland Empire like me.

[ourbluenation]

20. we are DU twins. I love to visit family and I love the climate but I'd never live there again.

Grew up in the OC area and moved up north in 86.

[Xithras]

12. Nice place to visit, wouldn't want to live there.

Too hot, too dry, too many people, too many cars. It takes forever to get anywhere, and that brown haze never goes away in the summer.

I visit LA on occasion for business and vacation trips, but I couldn't imagine living there.

[kestrel91316]

26. I never go anywhere anymore, it's such a hassle. I just stay pretty much

in the SW corner of the San Fernando Valley and pretend it's its own little city. I've been thinking about trekking over to Ikea in Burbank, but it's SO FAR and takes so long, it's like going down to Denver was when I lived in Ft. Collins - why go to all that trouble?

[cboy4]

13. I'm not a big fan of the Calif. Aqueduct and seeing all of our

precious water flowing south.

That's for sure.

But otherwise, I like Southern California.

I have friends and family who live there, and I always enjoy my trips.

Why haven't you been to Northern California?

You've never been to San Francisco or the Napa Wine Country or Yosemite?

That seems odd.

[SidneyCarton]

16. I take that back, I've been to Yosemite.

My family growing up wasn't big on vacations, and before getting married I had no kin up north, and therefore no other excuse to go up there.

Much like the non-rolling stone, I have gathered a considerable amount of moss in my short life. I look forward to going up and seeing SF and going back to Yosemite and seeing the rest of my state someday.

[tanngrisnir3]

14. As a native Montereyan/Big Surian now living (again) in LA....

It's not nearly as bad as I was taught as a child (brought up to hate it).

I love parts of LA now, the Hollywood Hills, the food/cultural diversity, Malibu Mountains, etc...

Sure, it's not Molera Beach or Mt. Toro, but so what? I can always go home for that.

[kestrel91316]

27. The food. For me it's all about the variety of restaurants and food markets.

Heck, I live within walking distance of a dozen kosher/Middle eastern/Russian markets alone, where any spice you want is dirt cheap, and they sell these HUGE half gallon jars of sour cherries (pie cherries for the uninitiated) for about $7. There are Indian markets and Asian markets of all stripes and Mexican, of course. And just in the San Fernando Valley, you could eat out every meal of your life and not eat in all the restaurants.

[tanngrisnir3]

28. Yup. Just the internal variety in Thai food east of Western Blvd

is astounding.

[CreekDog]

18. i like SoCal. no i don't want to live in Riverside, but who does?

but i don't really want to live in Fresno either. :shrug:

I love the Southern California beaches and deserts especially.

San Diego is very cool too.

[mackerel]

19. I spent part of my summers in L.A. and had family there for

years. I just never took to it the way I did Norcal. I went back for a funeral 3 years ago and as we came up over the grape vine I just started getting this pressing on my sinuses and just felt a low grade pressure the whole time I was there.


For me being in Santa Monica, West Wood and Bel Air is just annoying. Very few people seem real to me or at least not part of my realm.

[BuddhaGirl]

21. i'm a So. CA native who now lives in No. CA

raised in the O.C. and my parents still live there (Huntington Beach). I've lived just outside of SF since 1997...each time I visit my parents it feels less like home. I regard it more like a vacation now. Marin is home now, and I've never been happier! :-)

[proud patriot]

23. The Bay Area is a very special place

I can't imagine living anywhere else .

[proud patriot]

22. SF Bay Area Native here ,

I have not been exposed to much of Southern California
Disneyland and then the desert highway like Bartow on
my way to AZ to visit family ..

I'm more familair with Sierra Mts east of Fresno
The North coast and Tahoe, lake Oriville , lake Folsom
Pinegrove and Jackson area a bit as well .

[inna]

24. dude, i LOVED living in LA for a few years.... despite all the warnings...

... from so many people here in the Bay Area who predicted that it would be nothing short of a... "sojourn in purgatory", exactly!

lol!


i'd go as far as to say those few years were the best ones in my life.

i absolutely love San Francisco, but i love LA as well.

i'm honestly at a loss why SoCal seems to have somewhat of a bad rep among many Northen Californians.

[AlCzervik]

25. I like Santa Monica but i'm a norcal person for sure.

[ronnykmarshall]

29. I lived in San Francisco for 15 years and loved it

and now I live in Los Angeles and love it.

I committed a mortal sin by SF standards.