5 reason why not to move san diego, ca. (Del Mar: 2014, hotel)

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by shmoov_groovzsd

Ugh I really dont like hearing stories like that. I suppose ignorance knows no bounds, even in some of our more affluent areas apparently.

Sorry to hear that has happened to the both of you.

I agree with Shmoov that I'm really sorry to hear that the both of you had to go through something like this. But I wouldn't necessarily assume there is a problem in San Diego with it. This type of stupid behavior from ignorant people could happen in any city. It sounds like it was a one time event for the both of you.

I don't think this type of thing is common there. Unfortunately you have ignorant people no matter where you might go.

[PharmboyinNC]

Originally Posted by earlyretirement

I agree with Shmoov that I'm really sorry to hear that the both of you had to go through something like this. But I wouldn't necessarily assume there is a problem in San Diego with it. This type of stupid behavior from ignorant people could happen in any city. It sounds like it was a one time event for the both of you.

I don't think this type of thing is common there. Unfortunately you have ignorant people no matter where you might go.

I COMPLETELY AGREE. My experience is not indicative of what to expect in San Diego. I feel San Diego is a very tolerant, yet conservative town, very different than SF (tolerant/liberal). My incident was very isolated; stemming from drunks who weren't happy that an Asian was with an attractive white woman...my wife.

Heck, I remember visiting NYC, Flushing to be exact, and visiting Koreatown there and experiencing a different form of discrimination. I was with Chinese friends visiting a recommended/popular dumpling restaurant nearby. We walk into the restaurant and were treated very nicely. When they tried to speak Cantonese to me, I stupidly said that I didn't understand and that I was Korean-American. Well, all of the sudden, no more tea or water, the food came out room temp and the dumping carts avoided our table. Not only that, they had two ponytailed guys stand just behind us, but wouldn't serve us. My friend complained, but that changed nothing. When the bill finally came, the guards looked like they were going to tackle me! I wrote down a huge tip, showed it to the guards hovering around us, then crossed it out and left with no tip. It wasn't until later that I found out of a nasty turf/property battle between the neighboring Chinese and Korean neighborhoods, and I walked right into the middle of it, where rival gangs have recently been vandalizing stores/restaurants. Discrimination has no bounds.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Originally Posted by PharmboyinNC

I COMPLETELY AGREE. My experience is not indicative of what to expect in San Diego. I feel San Diego is a very tolerant, yet conservative town, very different than SF (tolerant/liberal). My incident was very isolated; stemming from drunks who weren't happy that an Asian was with an attractive white woman...my wife.

Heck, I remember visiting NYC, Flushing to be exact, and visiting Koreatown there and experiencing a different form of discrimination. I was with Chinese friends visiting a recommended/popular dumpling restaurant nearby. We walk into the restaurant and were treated very nicely. When they tried to speak Cantonese to me, I stupidly said that I didn't understand and that I was Korean-American. Well, all of the sudden, no more tea or water, the food came out room temp and the dumping carts avoided our table. Not only that, they had two ponytailed guys stand just behind us, but wouldn't serve us. My friend complained, but that changed nothing. When the bill finally came, the guards looked like they were going to tackle me! I wrote down a huge tip, showed it to the guards hovering around us, then crossed it out and left with no tip. It wasn't until later that I found out of a nasty turf/property battle between the neighboring Chinese and Korean neighborhoods, and I walked right into the middle of it, where rival gangs have recently been vandalizing stores/restaurants. Discrimination has no bounds.

That story is pretty insane Pharmboy.

Yes I agree that those instances of complete intolerance and ignorance are not the norm here by any stretch.

So as far as top 5 reasons not to move to SD, this has no significance.

Sorry for the mini thread hijack.

[windnsea00]

I love San Diego but it's not a Tier 1 city (NYC, LA, Chicago, etc.) and having such expectations is unrealistic. Also, people complaining abut traffic...have you ever spent time in LA, DC, NYC or SF to name a few places? It's hardly bad here besides the normal rush hour that every city in the US has. Cleanliness? It doesn't get a whole lot cleaner for a decent size metro area. Materialism? It's there but I would hardly say it's over the top especially compared to our neighbors to the north.

I do agree on negative aspects of the "bro" lifestyle, mediocre food scene, lack of sophistication...however from my travels every city has its classy and not so classy aspects. I also think this city is only going to get better and more diversified in time. Much of southern California is "new" in comparison to New England, so a place needs to age and grow to have deep rooted culture.

[Clevelandgal]

I am curious -but not challenging or questioning peoples options about the food being a negative.
I think there is a very decent selection of ethnic eateries here. Maintaining a conservative entertainment budget right now, we have not tried that many farm to table type places, but I think there are likely some very good ones. I have never been a fan high end, chain or corporate places so if those are the problem, I would never know it. For a city the size of San Diego, in what areas is the food scene lacking? I could start to grouse about the sichuan I had but then realized that was not too fair since I was comparing it to dishes I had NYC, Chicago, and Beijing. Most cities don't even have an authentic place, and SD has a couple.

[Jaded]

Originally Posted by windnsea00

I love San Diego but it's not a Tier 1 city (NYC, LA, Chicago, etc.) and having such expectations is unrealistic. Also, people complaining abut traffic...have you ever spent time in LA, DC, NYC or SF to name a few places? It's hardly bad here besides the normal rush hour that every city in the US has. Cleanliness? It doesn't get a whole lot cleaner for a decent size metro area. Materialism? It's there but I would hardly say it's over the top especially compared to our neighbors to the north.

I do agree on negative aspects of the "bro" lifestyle, mediocre food scene, lack of sophistication...however from my travels every city has its classy and not so classy aspects. I also think this city is only going to get better and more diversified in time. Much of southern California is "new" in comparison to New England, so a place needs to age and grow to have deep rooted culture.

Nice, short, and true.

[Jaded]

I think the food is above average with some really good places. More spread out than other major cities though. California doesn't really have a "food" like other states have, even our Mexican food has to be shared with Texas, New Mexico, heck, even Mexico itself for the purpose of being known for a particular food/cuisine. Northern Cal (SF and Oakland) had some of the best Chinese food I've eaten; besides NYC. But honestly, I couldn't tell you what's sichuan from hunan - LOL! San Diego's food choices reflect its casual lifestyle I believe, it's not important to the residents as a whole to be known for having great food, IMO. This could be the reason people have mixed reviews of the food choices in SD.

[Clevelandgal]

excellent point about spread out food. When I was in Cleveland-which has an excellent food scene for the size, 95% of the best places- be they ethnic holes, or nationally award winning chef owned indie places- were in a 3-5 mile radius.
Here I would say 60% is in a 10 mile radius.

[mlarsen23]

Originally Posted by Clevelandgal

I am curious -but not challenging or questioning peoples options about the food being a negative.
I think there is a very decent selection of ethnic eateries here. Maintaining a conservative entertainment budget right now, we have not tried that many farm to table type places, but I think there are likely some very good ones. I have never been a fan high end, chain or corporate places so if those are the problem, I would never know it. For a city the size of San Diego, in what areas is the food scene lacking? I could start to grouse about the sichuan I had but then realized that was not too fair since I was comparing it to dishes I had NYC, Chicago, and Beijing. Most cities don't even have an authentic place, and SD has a couple.

I don't think most people are comparing San Diego's food scene to similarly sized metro areas such as Tampa, St. Louis, and Minneapolis. I don't know, but I would guess San Diego stacks up decently against those metro areas foodwise, although I am not so sure about the Seattle metro area, which is only about 500,000 people bigger.

But people don't really choose where to live based on the relative characteristics of a city, they choose based on absolute characteristics. I mean, someone who likes San Diego's weather is not going to be satisfied that Minneapolis has great weather for a city in the upper Midwest near the Canadian border.

[Radical347]

Originally Posted by Clevelandgal

I am curious -but not challenging or questioning peoples options about the food being a negative.
I think there is a very decent selection of ethnic eateries here. Maintaining a conservative entertainment budget right now, we have not tried that many farm to table type places, but I think there are likely some very good ones. I have never been a fan high end, chain or corporate places so if those are the problem, I would never know it. For a city the size of San Diego, in what areas is the food scene lacking? I could start to grouse about the sichuan I had but then realized that was not too fair since I was comparing it to dishes I had NYC, Chicago, and Beijing. Most cities don't even have an authentic place, and SD has a couple.

I agree with you...the inexpensive ethnic food in SD is as good & plentiful as anywhere, if you're not trying to compare to NYC, LA, etc. Plenty of chains/corp places in SD too. The high-end places on the other hand I'd say, for the most part, are pretty second rate and not particularly inventive, but again, you don't get much of that outside of tier 1 cities either.

Originally Posted by Jaded

I think the food is above average with some really good places. More spread out than other major cities though. California doesn't really have a "food" like other states have, even our Mexican food has to be shared with Texas, New Mexico, heck, even Mexico itself for the purpose of being known for a particular food/cuisine. Northern Cal (SF and Oakland) had some of the best Chinese food I've eaten; besides NYC. But honestly, I couldn't tell you what's sichuan from hunan - LOL! San Diego's food choices reflect its casual lifestyle I believe, it's not important to the residents as a whole to be known for having great food, IMO. This could be the reason people have mixed reviews of the food choices in SD.

Yes, very good point about being spread out. I disagree on CA not having a "food" though...they have it as much as most other states/regions (except for the South, which is really the only part of the US that has a distinctive cuisine.) I mean, I'm not going to immediately think of Boston every time I see Clam Chowder, Nebraska every time I see beef, etc. Cal-Mex is pretty different than Tex-Mex or, umm, New-Mex-Mex, I guess. There's California Cuisine, which capitalizes on CA's year-round fresh produce.