LA definitely feels very different to me too. It's similar politically if you take only one bit of information, "votes mainly for Democrats", in which case yeah it's also liberal. But that's a very broad lens for understanding the political and cultural climate of an area. SF has far more of a very specific kind of liberal, the affluent white liberal who is focused primarily on social issues. LA's median Democrat is instead Latino and makes $50k. His or her politics are also likely to be left-of-center, but not quite in the same way. In some ways probably more left, in other ways less left, but not the same profile of issues or overall cultural feel.