I’m not from the US, so pardon my ignorance. But holy shit, this place looks depressing as fuck. I don’t know if it’s the concrete jungle or the lack of walkability, but it just looks sad
It’s the barren concrete taking up 3/4 of the view with a hint of lawn behind more concrete. Europe was built before modern vehicles and has narrower streets with more residential in between businesses and has some cobblestone and what not. USA was built around railways and highways so everyone has a car and walking was an afterthought.
Edit: additionally ever wonder why Europeans say how far a distance is in kilometers and Americans answer with “it’s about 25 minutes”? It’s partially that reason plus the physical distance is larger (some states are larger than countries) so miles mean less to us than knowing the time, post logistics.
Just to emphasize your point, California is larger than Great Britain. It takes about 14 hours and 30 minutes to go from San Diego to Crescent City, from the Mexican border to the state border of Oregon with a largely straight route. For comparison the route from Portsmouth England to Thurso Scotland is only 12 hours thirty minutes, and the route through Scotland is rather windy.
I got my journey time from google maps.