> All I could think while living there for 5 years was how damn cool it must have been in the 60's/70's with literally half as many people.

There are places that are, today, what California was in the 60's/70's. It's springtime, get out there and look for them. I found one and I love it here.

Just don't waste your time asking the urbanist hipsters for directions... back in the 1970s they would've been trying to convince you anything outside of NYC was "provincial" -- including San Francisco.

Perspective.