Oakland is really lacking in a few ways though. Aside from the fact that you can't walk for more than a mile without seeing something really depressing, the thing that really creeps me out about Oakland (and I'm an East Bay resident) is the lack of shops. How can there be a city of half a million people with no malls and no department stores? Heck, there's hardly even any supermarkets.

Restaurantwise, there's a few good ones, but not really enough to satisfy your every whim. Barwise, once you've removed all the really unsafe ones you've got just a handful left, scattered among Oakland's three or four safe neighbourhoods and separated by miles of "don't go here at night".

The weather is better (slightly) and the rent is cheaper (much) though.