California Dreaming? 1 in 5 Americans want to live in Los Angeles, new survey says

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by ocman

Coastal California is considered a mediterranean climate zone. So it definitely would have more in common with southern Europe and parts of Australia than Florida which has a humid subtropical climate zone. But then Florida doesn’t feel like anywhere in the mainland USA either.

I'd say that Florida is the extreme of the subtropic region that starts in the mid-Atlantic. South Florida is basically the tropics.

South Florida has a very similar climate to the sub/near-tropic regions of the South American Atlantic coast. Rio de Janeiro and Miami have effectively the same climate. There are probably analogues for it in Africa and Asia as well.

As for California, its true twin region is the Chilean coast around Santiago. Even the mountainous Patagonia region straddling the Chilean and Argentinian border feels like a dead ringer for the mountainous regions in northern California.

[citywatch]

^ I've used the following site to get a sense of the climate throughout the world.

https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/5...nd-Los-Angeles

https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/1...-and-Barcelona

Mexico city has a climate that is even a bit more of a doppelganger of LA's, & based on that chart, has an even larger 'comfortable' range. So from that standpoint, among major cities of the world, Mexico's capital may take top billing. Which proves to me that climate is only one part of how I view a city. As with Marseille too, I haven't through the years had exactly the most positive impression of MC, which also has been true of various outsiders' feedback through the decades about LA.

As for some of the cities in southern Europe, I think their weather may range a bit lower than LA's, but I'm not totally sure...& I'm too lazy right now to double check the figures

As for Barcelona, it has a metro population of 5.6 million, while Marseille has a metro population of over 1.8 million. So from a standpoint of ppl mass, the former is a bit more similar than the latter. Barcelona is also Spain's 2nd largest metro area, which is a bit more than 1.6 million within city borders only.

LA has a population of 3.8 million within city borders only, a metro of over 18 million....no where near the huge mass of the 39 million of Tokyo, the largest metro area in the world.

LA has more urban decay & homeless poverty than various cities in europe & Asia do, but it also has a set of more quirky, interesting or up & coming features (as opposed to cities dating back centuries) too....


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[Crawford]

Originally Posted by citywatch

Mexico city has a climate that is even a bit more of a doppelganger of LA's, & based on that chart, has an even larger 'comfortable' range. So from that standpoint, among major cities of the world, Mexico's capital may take top billing. Which proves to me that climate is only one part of how I view a city. As with Marseille too, I haven't through the years had exactly the most positive impression of MC, which also has been true of various outsiders' feedback through the decades about LA.

Mexico City has really terrible air quality half of the year, however. And the other half, it has rain every day. So while temps are basically always comfortable, and you would basically never need AC and rarely need heat, it's hard to argue it has ideal outdoors conditions. It's either raining or polluted, even if temps are, if anything, even more ideal than LA.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by citywatch

^ I've used the following site to get a sense of the climate throughout the world.

https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/5...nd-Los-Angeles

https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/1...-and-Barcelona

Mexico city has a climate that is even a bit more of a doppelganger of LA's, & based on that chart, has an even larger 'comfortable' range. So from that standpoint, among major cities of the world, Mexico's capital may take top billing. Which proves to me that climate is only one part of how I view a city. As with Marseille too, I haven't through the years had exactly the most positive impression of MC, which also has been true of various outsiders' feedback through the decades about LA.

As for some of the cities in southern Europe, I think their weather may range a bit lower than LA's, but I'm not totally sure...& I'm too lazy right now to double check the figures

As for Barcelona, it has a metro population of 5.6 million, while Marseille has a metro population of over 1.8 million. So from a standpoint of ppl mass, the former is a bit more similar than the latter. Barcelona is also Spain's 2nd largest metro area, which is a bit more than 1.6 million within city borders only.

LA has a population of 3.8 million within city borders only, a metro of over 18 million....no where near the huge mass of the 39 million of Tokyo, the largest metro area in the world.

LA has more urban decay & homeless poverty than various cities in europe & Asia do, but it also has a set of more quirky, interesting or up & coming features (as opposed to cities dating back centuries) too....

Check out SF vs Viña del Mar, Chile: https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/5...C3%B1a-del-Mar

Santiago feels more like LA than Barcelona does to me, but they're all in very "Mediterranean" climates.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Santiago feels more like LA than Barcelona does to me.

My wife mostly grew up in Mexico City, but lived in Chile in high school, and lived in Santiago, and she always says it seemed very cold. I imagine it's generally significantly colder than LA? The beaches were more or less unswimmable and winters were pretty cold.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Crawford

My wife mostly grew up in Mexico City, but lived in Chile in high school, and lived in Santiago, and she always says it seemed very cold. I imagine it's generally significantly colder than LA? The beaches were more or less unswimmable and winters were pretty cold.

The coast near Santiago is similar to northern California, but Santiago is in an inland valley. It's about the same weather as LA during the summer, but a little cooler in the winter. It's not a cold weather city, though:

https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/1...s-and-Santiago

[citywatch]

^ LA vs Viña del Mar, Chile is interesting too...

https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/25809~1705/Comparison-of-the-Average-Weather-in-Vi%C3%B1a-del-Mar-and-Los-Angeles

The so-called tourism score, whichever methods are used in calculating that, are almost identical. In turn, Tijuana is just on the other side of San Diego, which has a very mild climate. But I don't exactly have a great impression of one of Mexico's northern border cities. So, again, weather is only a part of the total equation. But all things being equal, if a city like detroit had a milder climate, that would be one less hurdle to deal with.

As for crawford's comment about MC's air quality, it is a high altitude urban area, which I'm sure affects certain aspects of it. But I recall reading an economic analyst yrs ago saying that when the Disney Co decided to build a major attraction on the east coast, they chose an area full of swamps, insects, humidity, thunderstorms....yet we all know what a gold mine they've created. That's why climate is only one part of the entire picture.

[dave8721]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I'd say that Florida is the extreme of the subtropic region that starts in the mid-Atlantic. South Florida is basically the tropics.

South Florida has a very similar climate to the sub/near-tropic regions of the South American Atlantic coast. Rio de Janeiro and Miami have effectively the same climate. There are probably analogues for it in Africa and Asia as well.

As for California, its true twin region is the Chilean coast around Santiago. Even the mountainous Patagonia region straddling the Chilean and Argentinian border feels like a dead ringer for the mountainous regions in northern California.

Miami shares a similar climate (Tropical Monsoon -Am) with parts of Central America and SE Asia:

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by citywatch

^ LA vs Viña del Mar, Chile is interesting too...

https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/25809~1705/Comparison-of-the-Average-Weather-in-Vi%C3%B1a-del-Mar-and-Los-Angeles

The so-called tourism score, whichever methods are used in calculating that, are almost identical. In turn, Tijuana is just on the other side of San Diego, which has a very mild climate. But I don't exactly have a great impression of one of Mexico's northern border cities. So, again, weather is only a part of the total equation. But all things being equal, if a city like detroit had a milder climate, that would be one less hurdle to deal with.

Yeah, Valparaíso and Viña del Mar are tourist towns.

[TWAK]

So Cal got green!

Source

[badrunner]

^ Crestline isn't very green right now it's buried under 10 feet of snow! But SoCal will be beautiful this spring and summer. Already the hills are green and wildflowers are blooming everywhere.

[citywatch]

Yea, I realize that sopas's thread is about LA vis a vie other cities in the US. But since barcelona in spain has been pointed out, & since the following american youtuber did a walking tour of it....& since cities in general should be understood in order to understand any city in particular, including LA...I get a sense that American cities overall, from the West coast to the east, come up short because of things like if not weather than culture. Or if not culture than history. Of if not history than economics. Of if not architects than landowners. Of if not pedestrians than cars.

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Just as a Tijuana with good weather & a Detroit with bad weather both come up short, I'm not sure if a city with European beauty & history isn't necessarily affected by certain cultural or economic patterns. Or something analogous to NYC's Wall Street muscle of 60 yrs ago being somewhat outgunned by SF's or Nocal's Silicon Valley muscle of today. Or where cities of the past, such as in europe, are eventually outpaced by cities of tomorrow, such as in the wild, wild west, aka known as America.

[citywatch]

Compared with smaller coastal areas like Malaga or valencia, barcelona is a bit more of a doppelganger of LA. I'd swear this was in some area in LA...

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Something about LA, however, is a bit more complicated than spain's barcelona----in both good & bad ways. Although Barcelona is Spain's 2nd largest urban area, just as LA is the US's 2nd largest metro area, LA has features that are different in scale, closer to a larger city like madrid, spain or Paris, france. But with connections to things like hills, an ocean & a Mediterranean climate.

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[Segun]

As far as trees, I'm used to being surrounded by walls and canopies of trees most everywhere I go. (This of course refers to late spring - summer - fall) - Trees that look like they could envelop everything around them if their wild growth goes unchecked, streets that have a tunnel effect because they're so lush, forests with trees so thick you can barely see the sky, trees so thick that they block out development and neighborhoods if you view the city and suburbs from the air or far away (or even sometimes just across a street), trees full of noises in the summer from various insects and animals. That's most of the US. Psychologically, It would take getting used to not having that everywhere in LA, like I'm missing a part of me.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Segun

As far as trees, I'm used to being surrounded by walls and canopies of trees most everywhere I go. (This of course refers to late spring - summer - fall) - Trees that look like they could envelop everything around them if their wild growth goes unchecked, streets that have a tunnel effect because they're so lush, forests with trees so thick you can barely see the sky, trees so thick that they block out development and neighborhoods if you view the city and suburbs from the air or far away (or even sometimes just across a street), trees full of noises in the summer from various insects and animals. That's most of the US. Psychologically, It would take getting used to not having that everywhere in LA, like I'm missing a part of me.

Where do you live, if I may ask?

[Segun]

Chicago

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by Segun

Chicago

With your description, I assumed you were talking about somewhere on the East Coast (i.e. the Appalachian ridge (Atlanta - Greenville - Asheville - Charlotte - Pittsburgh) or in the mid-Atlantic Piedmont (Raleigh - Richmond - DC - Baltimore - Philly). Northwest NJ, NY (north of NYC) and Connecticut would also qualify.

I wouldn't occur to me to refer to Chicago or its environs as lush or green in any way (not to say it doesn't exist).

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

With your description, I assumed you were talking about somewhere on the East Coast (i.e. the Appalachian ridge (Atlanta - Greenville - Asheville - Charlotte - Pittsburgh) or in the mid-Atlantic Piedmont (Raleigh - Richmond - DC - Baltimore - Philly). Northwest NJ, NY (north of NYC) and Connecticut would also qualify.

I wouldn't occur to me to refer to Chicago or its environs as lush or green in any way (not to say it doesn't exist).

You've never been to the Great Lakes region?

[Crawford]

The Great Lakes region is less lush/green than the eastern seaboard, but still pretty green. Even having grown up in Michigan, there's a pretty noticeable difference on the East Coast. It rains a lot more here, the spring bloom comes up earlier and harder, and the peak summer cover is just denser, almost jungle-like if you're coming from a more arid area. This is true from basically Atlanta through Boston.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Crawford

The Great Lakes region is less lush/green than the eastern seaboard, but still pretty green. Even having grown up in Michigan, there's a pretty noticeable difference on the East Coast. It rains a lot more here, the spring bloom comes up earlier and harder, and the peak summer cover is just denser, almost jungle-like if you're coming from a more arid area. This is true from basically Atlanta through Boston.

I don't really detect much of a difference between the Northeast and Michigan. Different types of trees, but pretty similar coverage, IMO. The inner cities in the Great Lakes also tend to be greener than on the coast.

Atlanta has more wooded coverage than cities in either the upper Northeast or Midwest, though.