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Happiness in SLO
updated: Feb 28, 2013, 2:45 PM

By Edhat Subscriber

Having lived in SB about 40 years, somehow I've never visited San Luis Obispo, recently renowned for being one of the happiest cities in the USA. Do people seem noticeably happier up there?

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 379894	2013-02-28 02:48 PM
40 years and you've never been to SLO! and they say Americans don't travel
COMMENT 379896	2013-02-28 02:53 PM
best pot too.
COMMENT 379898	2013-02-28 02:56 PM
Not as snooty and "holier than thou" as SB is. If SLO was 10 miles closer to the beach, i'd be there instead of SB.
COMMENT 379901	2013-02-28 02:59 PM
896, you must not've been to the upper reaches of Northern California...
COMMENT 379902	2013-02-28 03:01 PM
SLO is like Santa Barbara and IV combined into a city. Similar downtown area but it has more bums, college bars, and students cruising the streets. There is also no Montecito/Hope Ranch money to offset the middle/lower class - so you have less high end stores - which can or can not be a good thing. Depends on how you define happiness.
COMMENT 379909	2013-02-28 03:22 PM
Lived there for 5 years. Would never move back. It's happy in a Stepford Wives kind of way.
COMMENT 379916	2013-02-28 03:38 PM
898 - It's funny, I never run into these snooty people in SB. Just the ones complaining about the alleged snooty people. I wonder how that works! I was just downtown today (and let me tell you, it IS a lovely day out, like mid summer!) and there were a lot of friendly, smiley locals out. This is my experience nearly every day. We live in paradise, folks. A small, cloistered paradise that seems to have the transformative effect of brainwashing some of us into thinking we have it "rough" compared to other places. Again, say it with me...PARADISE! :)
COMMENT 379917	2013-02-28 03:48 PM
OK 16 PARADISE....I agree SB is beautiful and if you look at people and smile they will smile back. I think people, like animals, sense bad energy. Have you ever noticed that if you are in a negative mood the whole world seems to respond in a negative manner, even the stop lights all turn red when you approach and on a happy day all is right with the world. I always wondered how that works, but it sure does seem to. I never noticed people in SLO seemed happier than people in any other beautiful mid size CA town. Wonder what the study was based on and how they arrived at that conclusion.
REXOFSB	2013-02-28 03:50 PM
They may be happy but I thought they were always kind of SLO.
COMMENT 380000	2013-02-28 07:35 PM
I go there a lot - it's always the gateway to a trip to Cambria or Monterey - it's a nice quiet place and people are cool. Happiness is wherever you want it to be.
COMMENT 380102	2013-03-01 08:08 AM
I like the fact that SLO bans ALL SMOKING from downtown streets - I believe one of the first cities to do this - and I wish SB would ban smoking on the street - I get sick of all the cigarette addicts walking around polluting the area - there is no fresh air to breathe downtown.
COMMENT 380112	2013-03-01 08:33 AM
102, do you give that lecture to smokers on the street as cars zoom by on the street belching smoke out of their tailpipes?
COMMENT 380120	2013-03-01 08:43 AM
San Luis Obispo is, in many ways, much like Santa Barbara was 40 years ago! Hopefully the Los Angeles cancer will not reach SLO as it has already spread beyond Santa Barbara all the way to to Santa Maria.
COMMENT 380161	2013-03-01 09:43 AM
Maybe the city of SLO is easier on local business... maybe you can earn a living wage there and buy a home that isn't over a million... maybe it's not so snotty and rich like it has gotten here.
COMMENT 380175	2013-03-01 10:03 AM
OP... if you've never been to SLO then I would surely recommend you change that this weekend. Visit the Cal Poly campus and take a hike up Poly Cyn you'll be surprised at what lies at the end of it. Tour the downtown area and look for Bubblegum Alley, it's marvelously gross! Get decadent at the Madonna Inn. Have a fish dinner at the Olde Port Inn in Port San Luis and enjoy a beach walk in Avila or perhaps rent a mineral spring spa at at Sycamore Hot Springs or linger at the Avila Hot Springs. If that hasn't tired you out yet take a walk/bike ride along the Bob Jones Trail. And if you still have energy to burn take a drive up to Paso Robles for some wine tasting of the best zinfandel around. Seriously... you could lose yourself for a whole week up there if time and money constraints are no option.
COMMENT 380296	2013-03-01 02:20 PM
They're definitely happier than those who live in Santa Maria, Lompoc, Bakersfield, Oxnard, etc.
RED CREEK	2013-03-01 04:33 PM
Lived in SLO for 6 years while getting 2 degrees. Quiet pace, much like old SB. College town atmosphere. Getting expensive, especially housing. Lots of outdoor recreation with the beaches and Big Sur and Cambria so closeby . SLO is a great place to visit and live, but SB is off the charts in beauty, location, climate and the arts.
COMMENT 380368	2013-03-01 05:15 PM
SLO looks like SB without all the attitude.

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