@Amanda Zhang – I thought your observations were generally pretty spot on. I first noticed the difference of West Coast vs. East Coast Taiwanese Americans when I went on the Love Boat. The West Coast Asians seemed to know each other (i.e. UC Berkeley, UCLA, etc…), seemed to be more social and outgoing,and most of all, “louder.” I think East Coasters (and not just Asians), tend to be a bit more “elitist.”

John's California Asian American Culture Shock

Ernie's We Eating TV: San Francisco's Anti-Foodie Foodie Show

The comments on John's post are also pretty revealing. I grew up in a heavily Asian-American neighborhood in the Bay Area, and when I went to college on the East Coast, I similarly found the Asian American's on the East Coast to be pretty strange. They didn't “hang” in the same way. The Asian-American kids from Hawaii felt the same way as I did.

To be fair, I would have to say that Asian-American's from the West Coast are pretty diverse. Some are from mostly white neighborhoods, and others from working class multicultural neighborhoods, Ernie describes this second environment pretty well in his post, and I grew up in a similar kind of area. I used to think that the typical Asian-American is a guy like Homie Gus or Big Jon. In fact, during undergrad, I felt that I had a lot more in common with African-American students than with many East Coast Asians there. It's kind of the opposite of the stereotype for West Coast Asians that Vannie mentions, but as I said, the environs people grow up in are diverse. There are a fair number of rich materialistic Asian-Americans on the West Coast, and the handbag thing does ring true for some Asian-Americans and Asians too. I really like NDTitanLady's video on Stereotypical Asians

Vannie's question: Is there are different subculture for West Coast Asians? I'd say yes, and probably not just one, but a number, depending where you grow up. Even here in Silicon Valley, I can see that the Asian-American kids growing up in heavily Asian Cupertino are different from the Asian-American kids I see in my own neighborhood of North East San Jose. Where I live, the Asian-American kids have a much heavier Urban influence, just like Ernie and I did when growing up. After living on the East Coast and coming back again, it's weird to see my own kids grow up in that similar kind of environment.

I'd also have to agree with Kevin that in a lot of places in California, Asian culture is heavily represented and understood. Most everyone of all ethnic groups knows what to do with their shoes when they come into our house, as an example.

But even without race playing into the personalities of people on both coasts, there's still a cultural difference. West Coast people tend to be more open, laid-back, and isolated and East Coast people tend to be more aggressive, ambitious, and worldly. And even along the coasts there are cultural differences. In Seattle, a lot of people dress very casually but, say, in Southern California, people are very conscientious of the way they dress.