--warm, dry climate
--palm trees
--freeways
--smog
--car culture
--gun violence
--drive-in restaurants with waitstaff that come to your car
--shopping malls
--sprawling suburbs
--gated communities
--poor neighborhoods made up low bungalows
--carjackings
--fear of crime
--white flight
--unemployed young black men with guns
How Johannesburg is not like Southern California:
--no beach (no ocean, for that matter)
--gold mines (the gold was in Northern California)
--no movie industry
--no Latinos
--small East Asian community
--ubiquitous minibus taxis