i just wanted to add that, in case you were considering san francisco, it's frikkin' cold up there! a lot of peeps don't know that (i was one of them for a long time, being from new york). the cost of living is also ridiculously high. but they do have excellent restaurants, i would say far superior to l.a.'s, so if that's a top priority for you, you may want to consider s.f. let it be known, though, that i don't care for s.f. for a bunch of other reasons; i just wanted to throw out the restaurant thing. i wholeheartedly recommend los angeles .