8 Things the East Coast Doesn't Understand About the West Coast

8 Things the East Coast Doesn't Understand About the West Coast
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Credit: Flickr/Adam Baker (edited)

Whether they've been here or not, East Coasters tend to have pretty strong opinions about what it's like "out west." And, sure, a lot of the cliches are true; we're bad dressers, flakiness is kind of our thing, we consume an ungodly amount of avocado, and when we insist In-N-Out is better than Five Guys and Shake Shack, it's because it is. Still, there are some things people "back east" (looking at you, Northeast) just don't seem to understand about what it's like to live here, especially the fact that the West Coast is unquestionably the Best Coast.

1. The "West Coast" is not just California
Los Angeles may be the biggest city on the West Coast with 3.8 million people, and everyone knows San Francisco has impossibly great weather year-round, but there are actually a plethora of other cities worth visiting outside of CA: Portland, Seattle, hell, even Tacoma. Have you seen the behemoth that is Mount Rainier?

2. Not everyone is blonde
Despite what The Real Housewives of Orange County would like to have you believe, not everyone on the West Coast has a year supply of Sun-In in their bathroom cabinet. And as far as natural blondes go? You're way more likely to find a higher concentration of those in Minneapolis or North Dakota.

3. We don't all surf
We do have some of the best surf spots in the US, but that doesn't doesn't mean we all skip out of work at noon to hit the waves for a midday sesh. Some of us enjoy activities more suited to terra firma, like hiking, rollerblading, or just laying there pondering our many nuances the East Coast just doesn't seem to understand.

4. Not everyone in San Francisco is gay
Okay, so SF has the highest percentage of adults who identify as LGBT in the top 50 metropolitan areas. And, fine, Portland has the second highest. But still, in SF that is only 6.2% and in Portland 5.4%. New York is inhabited by 4.6% millionaires and no one's running around claiming all New Yorkers are loaded, right?

5. We aren't all bleeding-heart liberals
We're well aware people call it the "Left Coast." And sure, that's great. But once you get away from the coastal areas, there's no shortage of staunch Republicans. Hell, in 2012, there were more Mitt Romney voters in California than in Texas and let's not forget (though we'd like to) that we once elected Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor.

6. It actually snows here
So much so that lucky school kids in Northern California get a week-long vacation called "Ski Week" every year. Also -- current drought aside -- our mountains are way better than any on the East Coast. Sorry, not sorry Vermont.

7. That means we don't spend all of our time at the beach
Despite what The Beach Boys and Gidget make it seem like, we don't spend all of our leisure time down by the beach. In fact, while the waves are good (actually, BECAUSE the waves are good), we don't even go in the ocean most of the time because the water is freeeeezing.

8. We don't all wear flip-flops
Seattle's average high during December and January is 46 degrees. Portland's is about the same. In fact, even Malibu, the most cliché of beach towns, only hits around 64˚ during that same time. So, no. We don't wear flip-flops year-round. Sometimes we also wear UGGs.

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Whether they've been here or not, East Coasters tend to have pretty strong opinions about what it's like "out west."

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