Well hey I live in L.A. proper. Los Feliz area which is very, very nice, shops bars, restaurants all within walking distance, the Griffith Observatory and Griffith Park nearby. Where I work we have wonderful views of the San Gabriel Mountains (I don’t work in L.A. proper), when the smog isn’t oo bad. So smog is a definite negative, as is traffic as is the price of housing. Two out of those three L.A. shares with SF. The culutral/ethnic diversity of Los Angeles is probably unrivaled in the whole world (except maybe New York).
Pull up a couple chairs, young 'uns and let me tell you how it was in my day. IIRC they didn’t have a computer science major; instead you majored in “Applied Physics And Information Sciences”, or APIS. I wasn’t in that department or anything like it; I majored in German and linguistics; probably the only one who did that in Revelle’s history. Having ended up as a programmer nonetheless I always thought it was weird that programming would be grouped with applied physics.
And man, that APM building was cold!
I was indeed an AMES TA but I was very well liked if you believe the reports in CAPE. I was pretty recognizable, long curly hair almost down to my ass. Well, that narrows it down to two of us. I was the thin one not named Scott.
They got rid of APIS my freshman year and spit it into AMES (ME) and EECS (EE and CS). When I was in grad school, EECS got split up but it has all since changed again.
Everyone has heard of Santa Barbara though. They always ask me about that soap opera.
Man, tell me about it. If I told anyone I was from near Santa Barbara, that always got a big reaction. It was then a little difficult to convince anyone that Santa Maria is the poor cousin, with no beaches or fancy lifestyles–only good BBQ to recommend us. 
The ocean’s garbled vomit on the shore - Los Angeles, I’m yours.
Names and addresses, please. The wife and I try to do the Santa Ynez Valley once a year or so, and I’d like some decent eats to go with the wine tastings.
Look no further
or if you get tired of the best steaks in the Santa Ynez try Mattie’s Tavern
That was my 2nd choice neighbourhood because I wanted a metro line into downtown but I felt priced out. Not that Pasadena is cheap but I felt I was getting a nicer apartment for slightly less money, and closer to a metro stop (plus Pas has free parking garages and lots for 2 stops). Also, I had about 1 day after the bar to find a place and since I was taking the exam in Pasadena I copped out to laziness. I still hang out in Los Feliz on weekends, though, it’s a lovely neighbourhood. Though still in that vein if Silverlakey hipsterish. I sort of feel square when I’m there, like I should be wearing cat’s eye glasses and skinny jeans.
Now that I’ve grown to really like Pasadena I have a hard time mustering the will to move to yet another part of L.A…
The Griffith Observatory has been closed since I moved here but I saw a bus stop sign that said it was open again. I’m going to go see it as soon as I come home from Thanksgiving vacation.
bwahahahahahahahaha. That makes 2 of us on the boards that get it. The Sutter Buttes used to be a rattlesnake infested abandoned cold war missle silo site billed as the “Smallest Mountain Range in the World.”
Sheesh, times change. Leave for 30 years and now there’s an Indian casino and a State Park. Methinks, you put lipstick on a pig, and it’s still a pig. No matter how you spruce up that shithole, there’s no escaping the smell of prunes for one month every year. :eek:
This is a pet peeve and sore subject for fans of the University of California, Berkeley’s football team. And it gets worse, because the athletic department and the University administration have differing viewpoints. In a nutshell:
Berkeley was first (1868), the flagship, the original “U of C”. The other 9 branches came later. But the Regents have decided that all branches are equal, and refer to all of them as “U of C, (city)”. So any academic marketing or press release will use this form.
Athletically, the sports teams of Berkeley have laid claim to the name “California” (commonly abbreviated as “Cal”). This follows the same pattern as all other state schools throughout the country: the flagship campus gets the state’s name, and the branches get an acronym. there’s Wisconsin, then there’s Wisconsin - Green Bay. There’s Texas, and there’s UTEP. There’s Alabama, and there’s UA-Birmingham. Etc. The UC’s are unique, though, in that the flagship and a branch play in the same division, and are rivals. UCLA likes to goad Cal by referring to Cal as “UCB”, but they never get anywhere with that.
I think in most public university systems in the U.S. there are differences and specializations from branch to branch, but the UC system has avoided this for the most part. This wasn’t always the case; UCLA started out as UC Southern Branch, and only taught the first two years, and even today there is still some specialization within the system, like that of UCSF, and then there are certain graduate programs only available at one or two campuses. And one would have to go to UCSD to study oceanography, not UC Riverside. But having attended two different campuses for two different programs, I can honestly say I felt as if they were the same university.
Sports teams are a whole different issue though. Most UC alums seem to loathe the other UC teams.
There’s a lot in this. From reading a memoir of one of the Doors, when they went to play SF for the first time, they were automatically despised because they were from L.A. The crowd might even have booed when they went onstage.
It just wouldn’t have occured to an L.A. audience to despise a group that had come down from S.F.
On the other hand, I’ve always been treated very well personally by San Franciscans.
No; just UCLA. I have nothing but mildly positive feelings about the other campuses. 
I grew up in the shadow of UCLA so I know that their hate is totally reserved for USC. Berkeley isn’t hated anymore than any other Pac10 team other than the Trojans.
What’s No-Cal got that So-Cal ain’t got? Bridges. Great big suspension bridges, iconic works of engineering, and they’re useful for getting from place to place!
All that L.A. has is the ugly-ass Vincent Thomas Bridge, which goes nowhere, can’t be seen from anywhere, and really serves no purpose except as a movie prop.
On the other hand, L.A.'s got better sushi, and the ski resorts are closer. 
There is also the Colorado Strett Bridge which is actually pretty cool, especially at twilight when it’s lit up.
While anyone would concede this point regarding the Golden Gate Bridge, the Oakland Bay is pretty drab and industrial looking IMO. The GGB does make a wonderful backdrop while eating at Alioto’s, which I understand no true San Franciscans have ever set foot in, because it’s on the Embarcadero.
I am a native San Franciscan. I have eaten at Alioto’s. Next time don’t go upstairs… directly below is Sabella & LaTorre. Not as fancy, not as expensive, no view, much better food. Now that they’ve taken down the freeway there are lots of great places on the Embarcadero, but I’ve never avoided the wharf as a policy. Usually it’s too crowded, but there are jewels there too.
Regarding the OP, I have never understood this discussion. I’ve enjoyed visiting LA, I have friends and family in LA. I wouldn’t live there, but the reasons have more to do with what I have hear than with what I’d miss there. I also have the desire to difuse arguements, probably a left-over hippie attitude 
'Twas but a joke; inspired by something I read in a recent thread along the lines of “You know you’re a true ------- if you ------”.
And one of the ones for San Franciscans was that you wouldn’t be caught dead on the Embarcadero.