Since moving to Palo Alto, I have to think that this area resembles more of a small town that you describe rather than a large, cultural city. Local brewed beer is rare to non-existant. Pub beer labels read the usual brands you'd expect. We're skewered between San Jose (go Sharks!) and SF(go Giants & Warriors!) and save for a few brief weekends of Stanford football are completely void of our own sporting events. Our skyline is worse than lacklustre, it's non-existent. In fact the lack of tall building means Stanford's own belltower has some singular local prominence. Except for the fact that nearly every building is emblazoned with the Who's Who of tech company branding, it would be difficult to pick out Palo Alto from any other sleepy college town.