No, San Clemente is much more residential in character, even along the waterfront. Surfing is popular there, but nightlife is lacking. Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz are all "superior" beach communities in terms of range of activities; however, each city has unique offerings. Coronado is nice, but nightlife occurs across the bridge in downtown San Diego, which is not walking distance. Also, keep in mind that Santa Cruz is quite a bit further away from Palm Springs than the other cities you mentioned, so you may not want to go there unless you don't mind a bit of a drive. (The drive is nice, for the record!)

We enjoyed surfing in San Clemente over the 4th of July weekend, it's a gorgeous area. You may want to consider spending time in nearby Laguna Beach. They have gorgeous beaches, several nice places for lodging there that are oceanfront and great restaurants. You will be close to Dana Point, Newport and Huntington Beach, also. :)

The other posters are correct. I live in San Clemente and we would love to have you, but this isn't any of the other places you mentioned. It used to be a VERY sleepy little community until they added a lot of homes inland.

Dining in San Clemente has gotten much better. I would even go so far as to say we have 2 or 3 GREAT restaurants.

There is one new place in town called the OC Tavern that has a lot of TV's ala sports bar. Then brings in some entertainment. http://www.octavern.com/

People come here to surf and play golf. Let me know if you want more info on the golf.

BTW - September is beautiful in San Clemente. The year we moved here, there was a hand written note on the chalk board at the pier where they do surf conditions... it said "September - why we live in San Clemente"

Thanks everyone for the help your suggestions helped us make our decission, we decided on Laguna!