[Maxim S]

The weather gets brought up frequently, but it's a pretty small fraction of why I like living in CA. For me, it's all about what's here. A thriving car culture with tons of tracks and other great places to drive, tons of shops to get parts and get work done, and an enthusiast community for whatever you own. Tons of people into whatever else you might be interested in. Access to snowsports without having to shovel your driveway all winter. Huge ethnic communities means there's awesome food all over the place, and much of it is stuff you won't find at all in many parts of the country. Great small businesses everywhere you look. (Not as many here in Sac, though.)

So, what sucks? Rent and drugs. The former is the price you pay for the good stuff. The latter, unfortunately, is going to get harder and harder to avoid as the tide turns toward legalization in more and more states. The state I'd most like to live in outside of CA is CO, and they've made it even more legal than we have.

There are other places that offer many of the same things CA does, but they're even more expensive to live in than LA and have drawbacks of their own. (NYC and Tokyo are standouts, but both make having a car really difficult, and the latter obviously has a major language and culture barrier to contend with.)

By the way, on vehicle regulation - I don't disagree with it, but I think the way it's done doesn't make sense. Right now, I can have a pristinely modified car that won't pass smog simply because some part on it isn't approved. Registering a kit car is nearly impossible. On the other hand, some piece of crap rusty deathtrap can be on the road as long as it doesn't run any dirtier than it did when new. I wouldn't be opposed to something like the British MoT system, where cars are thoroughly inspected, and it doesn't matter what it is or what's in it, as long as it's safe and doesn't pollute beyond the standards of its year of manufacture.