As briefinterviews mentions above, the Bay is stereotypically full of pretentious, crunchy granola hipsters and gentrifying techies. SoCal is all superficiality, pollution, and traffic. In reality, both places have great people and charm. The nature is nicer up here, the beaches are better down there. I can only really speak on the Bay and I like it for its social consciousness, art, food, and mild weather. I've enjoyed SoCal every time I visited though. As long you find the right people and build a community around you that you like, either place is fine because the west coast is the best coast, etc etc hahaha.