[Aloysius]

I'm a big LA booster. Incredibly variety / choice wrt food, nightlife, culture, people etc. etc. It's a bit daunting initially cause it's rather huge, and most people stick to their knitting upon moving here (don't leave 5 mile radius of where they live unless they have to), and may have a narrow view of metro LA. But one of LA-area's assets is that it houses incredible diversity and you can get urban, suburban, ocean, mountains all in a reasonable drive.

Also, once you begin to understand the different ethnic enclaves and what they have to offer, your experience in LA area becomes much richer, imo.

Traffic on the Westside freeways (especially along the 405) is pretty miserable (and on some other freeways) so you have to kind of just get over that to enjoy LA.

Of the cities I've lived in for >2 years (post-undergrad) I'd rank them:

1. LA
2. NYC (it's very close to LA though)
3. SF (not very close, although it's a cute city with beautiful views)

-Al