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Comment by justinzollars | Hacker News Reader

LA is so ugly compared with SF.

As a foreigner who's been to both, I'd say LA is a little better. There seems to be less urine in the streets. If you're talking about pure visual aesthetics, I'd also say LA wins, just by a little and primarily because of Santa Monica.

In the grand scheme of things though, I don't think either rank very high, even among American cities. Chicago and New York have far nicer architecture.

Santa Monica isn't LA, like San Jose isn't SF.

And anyways, Seattle and even Portland beat both of them.

I would argue that Santa Monica is much closer to LA in proximity and culture that SJ is to SF.

Sure, SF is a much smaller city area wise than LA. There is a lot in between SF and SJ, Santa Monica borders LA.

FWIW, I see Santa Monica as being more akin to Berkeley, or even San Francisco, than to LA.

To me, Santa Monica's politics seem much more engaging, idealistic and left-leaning than those of LA. Santa Monica is also much wealthier, on average, than LA.

Because of its greater wealth (or its idealism, you decide) Santa Monica seems to be a better run city with what appear to be better maintained streets and public facilities. It's the kind of city LA residents like to escape to from time to time, if they can afford it.

It's perhaps relevant that Stephen Miller, an influential element of the Trump administration, forged his identity as a reactionary provocateur in the politically correct crucible of Santa Monica High School.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/trump-advisor-steph...

Just my 2 cents ...

Why is it important to point out that Santa Monica isn't the same as the city of Los Angeles? If you live there, you probably know already. If you don't live there, it doesn't matter anyway. They're neighbors. And it's not like Santa Monica is any more culturally unique than the dozens of communities that make up L.A. proper.

LA is kind of a bad place to live, Santa Monica isn't.

No one would confuse San Jose with San Francisco, Evans if they didn't live there.

Living in LA could mean anything from Brentwood or Bel Air (which I'd strongly argue are not bad places to live) to ghettos in South Central. Most people speak in terms of neighborhoods in LA, and most people consider Santa Monica a kind of neighborhood in LA even though it's a separate city.

Like if I say I live in Marina Del Rey and I have a friend in Santa Monica invite me over, it's not a big deal. That's what important. If I live in SF and a friend in San Jose invites me over, I'm like hmmm do I really want to drive an hour..

Thats like saying living in the tenderloin is a kind of bad place to live but noe valley is not. Both are in SF just like both Santa Monica and downtown LA are considered part of the same "greater LA"

Well, both LA and Santa Monica are part of Los Angeles County. Plus, Santa Monica is bordered on all sides by the actual city of LA. People frequently do refer to many cities in the county as living in LA.

San Jose and San Francisco are in separate counties and are 48 miles apart, while downtown LA to Santa Monica is 16 miles. Also they do not border each other.

Portlandia! San Francisco has some rough corners. Even thing adjacent to Market street is terrible. Went to some clubs in the Tenderloin with a bunch of friends. Always trouble.

That's what I like about LA. Keeps out the superficial people, and draws those who can see past appearances.

California native here. This is the first time I've ever heard anyone say this about LA. Most generalizations usually go the other way; this is new.

To be clear, all the generalizations are bad, IMO, but this perspective is new, and I think maybe the least accurate.

I think you mean rationalization. It was pretty egregious, though, yes.

Pretty sure it's a joke ;)

Generalizations are usually considered good when we are talking about code. But ya, LA is the definition of superficial.

This is the first I've heard about LA not having superficial people.

Q: How many Northern Californians does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: Hella!

Q: How many Southern Californians does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: Totally!

Hella Nor Cal or Totally So Cal? The Perceptual Dialectology of California [1]

"This study provides the first detailed account of perceptual dialectology within California (as well as one of the first accounts of perceptual dialectology within any single state). Quantitative analysis of a map-labeling task carried out in Southern California reveals that California's most salient linguistic boundary is between the northern and southern regions of the state. Whereas studies of the perceptual dialectology of the United States as a whole have focused almost exclusively on regional dialect differences, respondents associated particular regions of California less with distinctive dialects than with differences in language (English versus Spanish), slang use, and social groups. The diverse sociolinguistic situation of California is reflected in the emphasis both on highly salient social groups thought to be stereotypical of California by residents and nonresidents alike (e.g., surfers) and on groups that, though prominent in the cultural landscape of the state, remain largely unrecognized by outsiders (e.g., hicks)."

Extra credit question:

Can you locate the isogloss [2] designating the "101" / "The 101" line? [3]

[1] http://stanford.edu/class/linguist159/restricted/readings/Bu...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isogloss

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4347ZE0NQM

As someone who grew up mostly in SF/Oak and now lives in LA, I'm not sure I'd agree. They both have some truly beautiful areas but large parts of SF aren't particularly aesthetically pleasing, at least to me. I grew up mostly in the sunset and I found it fairly drab.

Its ugly compared to most places tbh.

More of it was built pre-automobile. There are nice neighborhoods in LA but you'll find the rest looking much like Silicon Valley.

"Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man."

dude

Please stop moving down here and importing your $3K+ rents, kthx then.

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