What advice would you give-

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Alex

... In 'n' Out aren't as good as people tell you they are, but they're local inventions so civic pride is at stake.

Alex knows not of what he speaks. In N Out IS that good. Carl's - meh.

Originally Posted by Strangler Lewis

When I lived in southern California in the 70s, we always spoke of the Santa Ana Freeway (5), San Diego Freeway (405), Newport Freeway (55) and the Garden Grove Freeway (22). Only the 605 was the 605. I don't know if everyone else did this or if it was just my family's holdover from how we spoke of the highways in New York.

We did this quite a bit and some of the traffic reporters still do.

It is interesting to note that the I-5 is only the 'Santa Ana Freeway' between downtown LA and the merge with the 405 in Orange County. As JWBear noted, it is the 'San Diego Freeway' south of there. North of downtown, it is referred to as the 'Golden State Freeway.'

Some other freeway names that I am familiar with:

• 710 (formerly the 7) - Long Beach Freeway
• 57 - Orange Freeway
• 118 - Ronald Reagan Freeway
• 10 - It is known as the Santa Monica Freeway west of downtown and the San Bernardino east of downtown (I am not sure where it stops being the San Bernardino).
• 101 - This one is interesting. "North" of the interchange with the 170 and 134 freeways, it is the Ventura Freeway (I am not sure at what point north it stops being the Ventura Freeway). South of this interchange (170/134), the 101 becomes the Hollywood Freeway. However, the 170 Freeway is also called the Hollywood Freeway. The 134 is, I believe, the Glendale Freeway. But if you look at a map of this interchange, the 101 Ventura Freeway and the 134 are a straight line. Weird.
• 91 (between Anaheim and Corona)- the Worst Freeway in the World. Well, that's what I call it. Others call it the Riverside Freeway.

Originally Posted by Nephythys

What areas ARE good to look at? (like NA's Long Beach info)

As Alex mentioned, it is hard to give advice until you know where you are going. California is a too widely varied state to just give simple advice.

The basic info is that Orange County and San Francisco are very expensive. San Diego (IMO) has the best overall year-round climate. The closer you are to the major population centers, the more expensive it is going to be. The better places to live (depending on your definition of course) are going to cost more.