Tyler65, I can offer an opinion, but please keep In mind that it would be my personal opinion based off of my personal experiences. Everybody has their own personal preferences and unique manner of carrying themselves through various situations, and everybody relates to these places in their own way.
Personally I prefer the bay area. San Francisco has to be my favorite city. Then Oakland and Berkeley are just a short BART ride away, there are also smaller towns like Fremont, which has super cheap hotels, Newark and Fremont are connected, both little suburban type areas near Oakland, sometimes I would spend my days in SF or Oakland, then take the Bart to Fremont at night for a hotel, though honestly, most the time I just stayed on the haight and was fine, like they say "there's nothing but love on the haight" (I have always wondered if that was an ironic statement, as I have seen the haight and golden gate park eat people alive, I never had issues though)
(when you are entering golden gate park from the haight passed that McDonald's and through the little tunnel thing there is a pond, it's disgusting, full of used needles and other unpleasant objects, I have seen the punk rockers pretend to be friends with some oogle, then toss them in that pond... same thing happens in denver, the gutter punks will "Platte" oogles, this is where they invite them to the Platte river to drink, then throw them in, I probably shouldn't be saying anything, as most those people probably did something to deserve it, but seriously, be careful. You have two eyes, two ears, and one mouth, so you should be watching and listening twice as much as you are talking, try to get things figured out before you get too comfortable. )
Berkley is amazing.
It doesn't surprise me that alexander shulgin took up residence in the bay area, the place is still a psychedelic playground on many levels, and if you get in with the right people it can be a wonderland which one never wants to leave...
Heading south, Santa Cruz is pretty cool, there are lots of young people, great music scene. Its hella difficult to panhandle there though, specially on Pacific Avenue, there are all kinds of panhandling ordinances you need to be aware of, though most of the other street people should let you know what's up... The police are total dicks in Santa Cruz, I mean, even the Oakland cops treat you better than the pricks in Santa Cruz. its a city that can really drag you down if you let it, though I have always loved it. You know the movie "the lost boys", that's Santa Cruz, I always got a kick out of that. I get considered by most to be a hippy, so I usually hang out with a pretty mellow crowd, but Santa Cruz can be really violent, specially if you are on the streets, I guess that's just like anywhere though. In my case I never had to deal with violence, but I saw a lot of it. Again, I'm a peacenik who associates mainly with hippy types, which is probably the only reason I was able to avoid any conflict.
Personally, I love northern California, well, from Santa Cruz north. I seriously did not like southern California, and as a result don't go south of Santa Cruz. Los Angeles has to be the worst place on earth, I mean santa Monica was ok, but in general I really did not like the place.
Never made it to San Diego, but I hear its pretty cool, specially if you like skateboarding. They are supposed to have a really intense metal and grindcore scene out there. Crash Worship is from san diego, though most of you guys are probably too young to remember crash worship, or the insanity of seeing them live...
Ok, I am done rambling. I doubt I even managed to mention anything useful, but hey, at least I killed some time...
