How is San Fransisco compared to L.A.? Just curious...I'm intrigued by the West Coast.
I grew up in the S.F. Bay Area, left when I was 19 and then lived in L.A. for ten years...now I live on the Central Coast half way between the two(near Morro Bay)...I live in a beautiful traffic and smog free environment right on the ocean, but i travel to S.F. and L.A. a lot for business...and in my opinion the S.F Bay area traffic is much worse, harder to negotiate, less predictable, worse drivers, again... my opinion. L.A. is always about the same, its kind of slinky like a Doors album...don't drive between 5 and 6:30 p.m. or your gonna get stuck, stay off the 405 if you can, and use the canyons and the coast highway to get around it all. Driving in L.A. can be an okay experience if you know how to deal with it, personally I'm okay with it. Smog can be bad, but if you stay on the west side or near the coast its rarely a problem. But you gotta know there are certain areas you just can't drive without experiencing gridlock, Santa Monica Blvd. from the 405 to Bev. Hills, parts of Orange County near Newport, parts of Sunset and Hollywood late in the evening, and like i said the 405 is a bad scene if you wanna move...but L.A. is a big sprawling place with lots of options for routes. And it smells much better than NYC.