Traffic isn't as bad as everyone thinks. The sprawl is desirable if you want to live in a big city but still be able to afford a place with a yard and driveway.
11 years in LA here. The traffic is awful around rush hours, worst I've seen anywhere outside of DC. But off-peak can be fine. And, honestly, you just get used to it. You take it into account, everyone else takes it into account, that's how it is.
The sprawl isn't as much of a factor as some might imagine. You tend to stay within 10-15 miles of home anyway, so it doesn't matter that there's another 50-60 miles of sprawl beyond that. Besides, it's not like SV is sprawl-free.
LA is much bigger than SF, and that's mostly a benefit. More options for most everything.
As far as dating, just avoid anyone in any way connected to entertainment and it's fine. I'm sort of kidding. Sort of not.
It's cheaper than SV, for sure. Though the upper end can compete with the upper end of SF as well. It's a city where you can spend as much as you'd like, there's not really a ceiling.
Los Angeles gets a bad rap culturally, but in reality it's second only to New York in just about any cultural way you'd care to name. There's a LOT of creative people here in just about every creative arena.
One thing I really like about LA is that there's probably more people trying to live their wildest dreams than anywhere else on earth. I think that's admirable.
Biggest downside? Weather. I hate the lack of rain. Something I hear a lot from people who are from elsewhere. Summers are quite tedious.
