And to be honest, the bad parts of Oakland are no less horrid than the bad parts of Chicago or LA.

Oakland has rich neighborhoods of all ethnicities. You can get any type of food anywhere. Unless you want to spend $200 on dinner, it has a better food scene than SF. It also has the second best zoo on the West Coast and amazing urban parks like Tilden Park and Lake Merit. A walk through the eucalyptus and oak forests in Tilden Park during spring is about as nice a stroll as you will find in any large city in the world.

Admittedly, its not for everyone. I personally like gritty, ethnically diverse places with great food, nice parks and good weather. But to me, a place like Oakland is WAY more interesting than glass towers and strip malls 75 percent of the large cities in America.