I stayed in SD for 4 or 5 months back in 94-95 and traveled around California a bit. LA, SF, the big cities. The skate culture was so deep and rich, it was a shock. I mean I grew up in the Paris area, there were practically no skaters left from the 70's generation, so we did not have much in the way of examples. I pushed mongo for over 10 years before I realized it's looked down upon and looks like shit! whereas in SD or SF, it's common to see pros skating, or just real good skaters.
Also, like many have said: perfect PERFECT weather, millions of good spots....and tacos haha yes!!
the negatives: you need a car to get around. In Paris, kind of like NY, we were always just skating from spot to spot and using public transport. And the bust factor. I never once got a fine for skating in France but I actually ended up in cuffs in SD, for skating on the SDSU campus.
and I'll gladly argue Paris sidewalks are way smoother than California sidewalks!