Notably, there is a lot of coastal area in southern California that shares the same climate zone as the Mediterranean.

Comparison is with rest of the US.

It has the best weather of any "real" city. San Jose and San Diego aren't "real" cities. Parts of LA get too hot. Florida is too humid. Redwood City is the obvious winner for weather, but it doesn't have sports teams, concerts, museums--big city amenities.

"sports teams, concerts, museums--big city amenities"

Which, arguably, was more important 50 years ago.

This isn't obvious to me. Why aren't these as important?

Because mass media allows us to replace experiences that previously required physical participation (if only going to a specific location) with consuming those experiences anywhere we want - a trend that is only expanding/intensifying.

Watching a concert on Youtube or seeing a baseball game on TV are completely different than seeing them in person.

* * *

The GP literally said "...some of the best in the world"?

I just looked things up for SF and I have to say I would not regard it as some of the best in the world. Pretty temperate, with mild annual swings: summer highs of 23C and winter lows of 7C - that's actually a little on the cool side for me hah. But the rain is wrong way round, IMO wet summers and dry winters are better, and it seems like it's also quite humid?

My experience is obviously limited, and weather preference is subjective, so read the above as if it's coming from one idiot on the Internet.

Midwest = Kansas... Minnesota?