What is the best city to live in California?

I am moving there after I graduate High School in two years and I was wondering.. what is the best city to move to? I am more of the girly girl type of person and would love to live in Los Angeles. But I heard that it is ghetto in LA? Not so sure about that... but if you live in California would you tell me what the best cities are. Possibly the safest? thanks guys for your answers :)

Public Comments

1. You can live in Orange County (preferably Anaheim or Fullerton), near L.A., but not in the "ghetto" part as you put it. L.A. can be ghetto but it has some nice areas. I strongly advise you to reconsider L.A. as ghetto. North Hollywood and Los Feliz are fine communities in L.A.
2. If you'd love to live on the Death Star, by all means, live in Los Angeles. It's ugly, polluted, crowded, and full of fake people. San Francisco or San Diego are two good options. San Diego has to worry about the spillover pollution from LA, but that's no biggie.
3. san diego hands down. it's so much fun for a teenage girl!
4. i live in sf and it is gorgeous and a safer city in general. i have spent a lot of time in la and there are a lot of ghetto areas. it really isn't the prettiest city in america. in fact if you turn down the wrong block you can find yourself in dangerous territory. out of my experience with both i highly recommend sf. and there is great transportation here too.
5. San Diego is just awesome! Perfect weather year-round, incredible views, tons to do, nice people, you name it! It's a fairly safe city. I have family that lives there and they've never had a problem in 14 years, not one! However, it does carry the danger of any large city, so you're never gonna get away from that.
6. San Clemente, in south Orange County. It has a pier for eating and meeting and many surfers. Huntington Beach has great large and deep beaches with a happening main street. Balboa Island is a great place for roller blading and has an active arcade on the water along with boat parades throughout the year. Dana Point also has a pier, marina and music at night. Ventura is a little more inland but has a reasonable night life and is 2 hours north of LA and 1 hour south of Santa Barbara. San Luis Obispo is a great college town and so is Santa Barbara.
7. santa monica,san dieogo
8. As of right now, because of the economy, a job opening in Los Angeles is almost non existent. With the closings of Shoe Pavilion, Linens-N-Things, Mervyns, and Circuit City (soon to be), it's going to be EVEN MORE difficult. You will also need about $10,000 to start off. Decent prices start at $1000 mo. for either an extremely small studio or a 1bd/1ba apartment if you're lucky. There is no such thing as $550 mo. here. A minimum waged job alone will barely pay the rent. Remember, you need to eat, you need water, gas, electric, personal hygiene, etc. Bottom Line: Look elsewhere, in 3 months you will probably be back in your hometown with no improvement whatsoever. By the way: No matter where in the world you live, there is no such thing as a "SAFE" city. There's crime everywhere.
9. The safest city in California is Irvine. The best city to live is Lakewood, or Long Beach or Palos Verde or even Downey.
10. It seems like it's "I wanna move to California" day in this section. Please read "Mad Dog"s" answer. He is telling you the current facts of life in California. The recession has hit California harder than most other states. You would only be coming to what will soon become the most expensive and highly taxed state with no job, and no college education. This is NOT the time to come to California. By the way, actually living here is not at all like what you see portrayed on those silly "reality" television programs.
11. I think South Bay (San Jose, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara etc) is the best place to live in California. Its very diverse and a lot of people whom I can relate to and have a meaningful conversation. Certainly the best place to work for me since I am in Semiconductor industry. SF is close so you get to enjoy the art scene there without having to worry about everyday parking hassles.