They are cities. San Mateo is a city. San Jose is a city. Hayward is a city. Redwood City is... a city. Union City is... a city. Oakland isn't just a city, it's the eighth most populated city in the whole of California!

When he says cities I'm pretty sure he means "urban feel/culture" all those places, apart from maybe Oakland, do not have that urban feel.

You're taking this way to literally. Union City isn't a city. It's a small town at best. Redwood City is like a bigger town. Fremont is also town sized. San Carlos is literally a town I've visited in Indiana. None of these places are worthy of being called cities except for Oakland and maybe San Jose.

This is a truly insane take. San Jose, the 3rd most populous city in California and 10th most populous in the entire United States is _maybe_ a city?

It's a city with a long-dead downtown surrounded by sprawl.

(SJ native here)

By global standards, yes.

Yes, America sucks at urbanization.

Since San Jose is the 10th largest city in the US by population, perhaps you aren't the best gatekeeper when it comes to what constitutes a city, and what does not.

As it turns out there are actually definitions for these things, but it can differ not just by country but also by state within the US.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town#United_States

CA does not legally acknowledge any distinction between towns and cities. However, many states require a "town" to have fewer than 1,000, 2,000, 6,000, etc., residents (the bound varying by state). Union City has ~75,000 people, which would prevent it from being considered a small town in the majority of states that distinguish rigorously between towns and cities.

Some, like Los Gatos and Woodside, specifically incorporated as "Town of" in their name and public branding.

San Jose is larger than San Francisco.

Fremont's population is over 215,000

San Jose is a 1 million person suburb.

Assuming you aren't being sarcastic we have incredibly different definitions of small towns. My rule of thumb is when it becomes difficult to quickly count all the stoplights in a town in your head it often isn't a "small town" anymore. For example my wife grew up in a quinessential "small town" and it only has three stoplights.

A three-stoplight "town" is a village at best, more like a crossroads or a couple of junctions :)

Cities are urban. They have congestion, nightlife with noticeable quantities people on the streets in the evening, chance encounters as you walk around, and a general feeling of lots of stuff happening within a walkable distance.

Not in California. Source: I work for municipal government in the bay area

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_government_in_California...