[Porsche-O-Phile]

I really don't understand some of you guys - are we supposed to be impressed by your claims that SoCal is a Club Med sort of destination for only wealthy people? Haha! Speaking as someone who has lived there (and could go back there tomorrow if I could take my present income with me - too bad there's no work there...) this is hardly an accurate picture. Geographically most of the region is pretty poor - working class or below. Oh sure you get the occasional Costa Mesa or La Jolla or Newport Beach, but there are a lot more modest areas like everywhere else in the country - the Anaheims and Garden Groves of the world. Ever been to North Long Beach? Very pleasant little area about 5-10 miles from the water. Ditto Hawaiian Gardens. How about City of Industry? There's a fun place to visit. Want OC? You find richness and cultural elitism in Irvine? Cmon guys - you're painting with an awfully broad brush to claim it's all super-duper awesome and everywhere else sucks. Maybe you're just channeling the ghost of snowman but instead of being a shameless shill for SJC you guys are doing it for the entire region. Let's call it what it is shall we? A place like any other with nice areas and not-so-nice areas.

I don't get all the vitriol and hate either. For guys trying to make the case for what a wonderful utopian paradise if is you certainly come off like a couple of spoiled, bratty children (I hate you because you don't agree with me, waaaaah!)

I'm glad you guys have found a place that you like. So have I. So have a lot of people on this board. I don't really see why anyone needs anyone else's approval to live wherever makes sense to them. I certainly don't see why anyone should be impressed by someone's zip code. Again from personal experience, most of the ostentatious, "look-at-me-and-how-much-money-I-have" types really don't have all that much - 7 times out of 10 it's all hype and little or no substance, they're just trying to keep up the image 'cause it's all they've got...

Thus far I haven't seen a convincing case made for people to either move to CA or return to it. Maybe try reining in the government oppression, taxation, kicking out the illegals and getting the educational system into the top 20, or at least out of the bottom 5. Maybe then... Try fixing the roads, getting better traffic management protocols in place, etc. Most importantly do something about that 11% unemployment rate - or is it 12%? I forget offhand. Create opportunity again, create the "fun" environment that once-upon-a-time made CA an exciting place to be and where people went to succeed. It happened once but sadly it doesn't seem that that California will return for at least a couple of decades. There's a lot to be fixed and until it is, the brain drain will continue leaving only illegals, apologists, dreamers and self-absorbed narcissists who want to pretend they're something special because they live in a once-prosperous locale.

YMMV.