Southern California is better than Northern California
People in NorCal (Northern California) are not very outgoing or social and too hypertrendy and self-conscious. I expected to find SoCal (Southern California) people fake and unfriendly, but this could not be further from what I experienced. The people are airier, kinder and had much less angst. SoCal is mainly Los Angeles, Orange County, and the valley. NorCal is mainly San Francisco, Silicon Valley, etc. SoCal is full of mainly Hispanics and Whites, along with some Blacks along the way. Northern California is mostly Asians (who do not mind becoming robotic, mechanized and regimented) and Whites and it is really not as diverse as Southern California. NorCal is like Colorado, Seattle and parts of the East coast.
The differences
1. Northern Californians are workaholics, extreme conformist and *bland* all at the same time. Southern Californians are more relaxed and much more frank about physical attractiveness as cultural currency than Northern Californians, both their own and that of others. SoCal-ers are much more likely to say to your face “You look great,” whereas NorCal-ers just seem to say “Nice to see you.”
2. The various families in the northern order are relatively solitary by choice (they are not people who thrive on romance, social connection, or meaning), preferring to “living to work” lifestyle. Meanwhile, the various Southern genus samples seek notice, and even fame, at every opportunity.
3. Southern Californians are in-your-face about being rich, successful, famous, sexy, “ballers” etc., if they are. And even if they aren’t. Northern Californians seem to adopt a more circumspect, stealthy, understated approach to success and achievement, bordering on almost disingenuous modesty in the vein of the Harvard Slouch. They either have or adopt a somewhat neurotic air, despite their quite evident success. In Silicon Valley, there are 6,000 registered Ferrari’s. Good luck finding one. Seems every Ferrari owner drives a Prius to work. Go into Atherton, Los Altos Hills, Woodside, Portola Valley, Alamo, Blackhawk, Hillsborough or Marin County (NorCal’s homes for the wealthy) and good luck finding a Bentley or Rolls or Lambo. They are there I imagine, but people don’t seem to drive them.
3. Southern Californians prize being very nice and positive to everyone about everything, even if it seems totally fake. Northern Californians seem very willing to provide constructive commentary, assuming that failure is a good learning experience.
4. Southern California is all-accepting of fashion, behavior, eye contact, speech, oversharing, general weirdness, everything. The only rule is to be original and put yourself out there. Northern Californians are bland, cliquish, closed and have a tendency to blend in resulting in groups to enforce rigid and arbitrary rules. People from San Fran, and more specifically the blow ins i.e techies moving there, hipsters, yuppies with the eco-friendly badge, confused pseudo feminists, indie cats, etc are too pretentious. Always acting a part, never really themselves and ironically enough considering all the chillness and tolerance that are often cited.
5. The women in SoCal look far better than the women of NorCal in general. They just put in more effort into their appearance. However, I would say the best looking women in CA are in Santa Barbara. LA supposedly has plenty of them but for some reason you just don’t see them walking down the street… they are kind of hidden at exclusive locations.
The people who always talk about how great the SF bay area generally haven’t spent significant time anywhere else and/or are druggies. SF is a druggie mecca. If you love to do drugs – come to SF