I am not a native myself. But as someone who has lived here 6 years or so, this comment from SD Lookup that sums it up for me.

http://www.sdlookup.com/Forums/RegionsNeighborhoods/tabid/62/forumid/192/postid/1193/view/topic/Default.aspx

I used to live in Carmel Valley and it’s a boring place. Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas on the Coast is fine but anything East of the 5 is boring for boring people with boring lives and cookie cutter mentality.

I really like the village atmosphere of the older coastal towns like Del Mar and Coronado, but the rest of the county is pretty much a cultural vacuum compared to other places I have lived. The trouble is you need to be doing very well for yourself to be able to relocate to a nice house in one of those desirable areas.