San Jose is not a nice looking place. However, the locals are pretty cool. There are nicer places on the peninsula and in the south bay, if you are looking for suburbs. Menlo Park, San Mateo, Mtn. View, Palo Alto etc.
I find the East Bay much more livable, in particular the nice parts of Oakland and Berkeley. Streets seem to be designed for pedestrians (or bicyclists) instead of cars. Plus the weather rarely gets in the 90s, which is invaluable for me.
Anybody that is interesting and that has traveled a bit, will avoid that hellhole at any cost.
And let's not mention the fakery of places like Santana Row. It is almost comical.
Addition: Call me crazy, but I think that living in a boring enviroment, might make one boring, over time. Just as boring jobs affect a person's brain, there is a chance that living in a place where there is little human interaction, (car driving everywhere), might affect a person in the long run. No matter how strong a individual is, the enviroment around affects us a great deal.
Live in a interesting place, where there is a lot going on, might affect creativity in the good way.
Most of my friends tend to be foreign, or born from first generation immigrants, as they are probably more similiar to me, German, French, Half Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Turkish, Australian, Nigerian, so basically a lot of very different cultures, which came to the US for varios reason, and ambition seems to be a common trait.
SJ you are judged by the car you drive. And, yes, my SJ co-workers talk about cars that want to buy, that are expensive enough they probably couldn't afford, if they didn't live with their parents, to impress the ladies.
I know, it is a small sample, guys in their 20s, but they fit the car obsesed stereotype pretty well.
Every place has people who will judge you based on some physical attribute. Ignore them. Don't let them sour you on the cool stuff because then you lose.
An environment's 'boring quotient' isn't necessarily related to it's physical attributes. I think that who you are surrounded by is more important than what your are surrounded by.