I have to disagree with your assessment of people in California. Having lived in the MidWest, New England, the South, and out West, I can say that the people in

I have to disagree with your assessment of people in California. Having lived in the MidWest, New England, the South, and out West, I can say that the people in California (at least in Los Angeles where I am) are very friendly. I chat with them in the store and at the pump all the time. I can also say that it is the place where it matters the least what you look like when you talk to people you don't know. Skin color, clothing, etc. don't really seem to change people's attitudes too much here, whereas those other places all had very strict expectations of how people doing certain things should look. I've also found that people here are far less afraid to try new and different combinations of just about anything - clothing, food, working with people from different disciplines. It's fascinating. I'd bet that most of our impressions just come down to the luck of who we met when we lived in these different places. But my experiences definitely don't match yours. (My experiences in Arizona have been unmemorable. People seemed "normal" to me - neither rude nor overly friendly. I'll be going back next month, so we'll see if my impressions change one way or the other.)