SoCal isn't what it was 10 years ago. When I talk to people who have been here longer (20, 30 years and more) they're horrified to see the direction this region is trending - and the accelerating pace of it.
Personally I think the region is circling the drain and will eventually collapse into ruin. There will always be "nice" areas, but I see the lower-income, less-educated, trashy/ghetto areas becoming more and more expansive as time goes on and the nicer/more desirable areas becoming smaller, more expensive, more "squeezed" and harder to find.
In another 10-15 years I think the entire region will pretty much look like North Long Beach, East L.A., Watts, Compton or Wilmington. Maybe even Tijuana. Overcrowded, run-down, trashy, poor, uneducated, gang-infested and "ethnic" (i.e. not inclusive, but dominated by one particular demographic with all others being shunned or excluded) and generally not a pleasant place to be.
Very sad to see. I'm already making my plans to relocate (unfortunately we can't go too far because of the wife's job) but I can at least get us far enough from the onslaught of the decline. Yes, part of it is old-fashioned "white flight" but part of it is simply being fed up and sick of the congestion and overcrowding, declining quality of life and paying more and more each year for the "privilege".
I don't care how bad it gets though - I still wouldn't go back to the northeast or midwest though. I have my standards.
