San Fran is a very scenic city, so I would choose to go there on vacation. I've heard LA is rather dirty.
LA is something if you dont go you won't miss anything speacial, sure the weather is nice but it doesn't offer anything that you won't find here on the other hand San Fran is totally different place than Houston so I suggest you to go there instead.
LA doing better then I though. And I really like LA. I voted San Fran. (might help if you said what you were hoping to do?).
As someone who lives in L.A., let me just say that it's not nearly as bad as people (incidentally people who have mysteriously never actually been here) will lead you to believe. The evolution it has gone through (mainly in having assuaged the violence and crime rates) since the 90's has been Renaissance-like. Hiking, beaches (Venice, Newport, Santa Monica/Malibu, you can't really go wrong); cultural institutions like the Griffith, LACMA and the Getty; Downtown is much improved and has a lot of architectural history, if that's your thing, and so on, not to mention the number of historical neighborhoods throughout the county (Pasadena comes readily to mind). Also, the stereotypical Hollywood if you're really so inclined, you could always check out Capitol Records. L.A. is an Alpha world city. It gets a bad rap because of its car culture, but the public transport is much improved and can get you to a lot of places. You can't go wrong with either town if you ask me, although objectively I must say that SF might be better for a visit due to its more immediately accessible beauty. It would probably be less high-octane and more stress-free to visit SF, too.
Sorry for the double-post, but I just have to address the "phoney" stigma. I know you're probably making this post in jest, but I think it's unfair how easily L.A. gets the phoney label. Sure, it's cause of all the weirdos and pretentious hacks that crowd around L.A. because of Hollywood, but this is a county of 10,000,000 people trying really, really hard to make their way in a tough town, and they don't need the rest of the country dubbing them as a bunch of "phonies". I think people will also be surprised with how kind some Angelenos can be, as well. We don't all live and die by our steel bubbles. I don't mean to attack you on this, rocketsjudoka, it's just that the "phoney" thing is a pet-peeve of mine. This city is so incredibly diverse that you can find all kinds of people, ranging from the cultured intellectual to the air-head boob-jobber.
I visited DC in March and liked it. Great public transportation. I couldn't stop laughing when i came back and saw our "lightrail"..aka snailrail. It was good weather when I went (60/sunny). Walked everywhere. Great food. Lots of things to do and see. When I go to other cities..I try to see and do the "must do" things. I enjoy eating the best of each city. Things that worry me about LA are the transportation..having to rent a car, traffic, location of places (how spread out it is), which airport?
San fran is nicer in every way. That being said, it can get pretty overcast and rainy in san fran. LA is like Houston with parts , spread out... San fran is 7 miles wide and compacted in one area. LA does have disneyland and universal studios. I would say still even with the potential for bad weather I would go with san fran 999 out of a 1000 times.
This is a very reasonable worry, and unfortunately L.A. is not to the point where it is feasible to visit without a car. If walking and public transport is your thing, well, you can do that in L.A., but SF is the more obvious and better choice. As I said, SF is better for a visit as it will be a lot less stressful and will feel more like a vacation.
I went back in December and it was pretty depressing. Cloudy skies and drizzle nonstop. From the people I talked to, that's pretty much the only time of the year not to go.
I live in LA but voted San Fran to visit hands down. from your experience did you encounter many phonies when you were in LA?
would rather live/work in LA area -- especially Orange County. I love it there. BUT, much more interesting stuff to do in SF as a tourist. LA is just "eh" as a tourist, in my opinion.
