San Diego
San Diego
chiguy wrote:
Having lived in both for quite awhile, Chicago hands down.
Chicago winters can be brutal, but there's some character building there. Besides, I travel a ton, so if I want to get away for a weekend or go to a beach somewhere, I do.
LA really has nothing. The biggest mistake I made when I moved to LA was thinking I was going to be hanging out at the beach and enjoying the weather. When everyday life set in and I realized that the average guy has to work his azz off as soon as he graduates til he's 60, reality smacked me in the face.
LA has a plastic nightlife and zero substance. Chicago has some of that, but it also has the neighborhood feel and corner bars that LA can never have. Chicago is a city. LA is a bunch of suburbs pieced together. Sports wise...no comparison. All you need to know is LA can't even keep an NFL team. Terrible fans. Chicago has better restaurants, bars, museums, shows, and to my surprise the lakefront in the summer is amazing. Unfortunately, summers only seem to last about three weeks.
If you're a pansy and can't handle snow and cold in exchange for some genuine culture and great life experiences, don't live in Chicago or NY. If you're a collar popping douche who wants to be on a reality show, live in LA.
Agree with almost all of this. Chicago is a big city that's liveable, sophisticated and crude. Food is better, even the Mexican food. I can't imagine a better experience when young of living in a neighborhood, working downtown, walking to the Art Institute during lunch, walking to a restaurant after work to meet friends and then go bar hopping all night and doing it again the next day, on the weekends hang out in the neighborhood, ride a bike to the lake shore and play a pickup game of volleyball.
A great thing about LA is that for a long time it did not have an NFL team. The biggest TV market in the world told the NFL it wasn't interested and USC and UCLA college football was enough, but it's the biggest market so they kept trying. As other people have mentioned the weather and geography is what makes LA attractive despite being on the verge of unlivable. A laid back attitude is almost a survival skill. Bordered by the ocean, mountains, and desert. Having lived in Chicago before the lack of winter seemed pathetic but skiing and other winter stuff are a few hours away and Chicago doesn't do anything with winter anyway other than as a character builder. (A lot of life in Chicago seems to be about character building, toughen you up with mustard not ketchup.) Year round good weather means you can do more and live more. LA has a mean undervibe (that visitors often miss until they make the mistake of moving here) that's the American west attitude which takes a while to get used to, but the other side of it is the individual freedom of everyone minding their own business.
LA
Would be better if it was further south like Huntington Beach.
Lived in both. Both have ups and downs. Overall I'd choose LA because of the Chicago winters.