I agree, it’s got weather but not much else. Unless you like not being able to find an open restaurant after 9PM (10PM on weekends), or you like the restaurant service typical of tourist spots (they’re not aiming for return customers, so jack up the prices and forget about quality). There are dozens of cities which rank much higher on public art, parks, libraries, etc. Balboa Park is a joke. I feel like there must be some subliminal brainwashing that hasn’t penetrated my thick skull but is convincing others that “San Diego is great, you are happy here, life is good here, marry here, consume here, reproduce here, have a beer and don’t think about it”. It’s like a retirement home for old folks.
Wow now I’m raving. Anyhow, a simplistic (read: San Diegan) rebuttal might be: so why don’t you leave? Well smarty-pants it’s simply because I make good money here in Telecom and I’m hooked on ocean/beach related sports. Really if it weren’t for the telecom industry, I wouldn’t be here. I wonder if that is the same for others. I think San Diego is darn lucky that the world needs telecom. I thank Irwin Jacobs.