While you may or may not get a chance to prescribe in clinic, I'm sure you will be able to view/see/shadow/learn from ODs and OMDs working in the clinic. If I remember correctly from my interview at SUNY, they said that you can ask to shadow in any department, so you aren't limited to just the set curriculum. Your education and experience is always what you make of it.
Also, SCCO is in Fullerton, CA. It's in Orange County and in a very laid back area. The community around SCCO is a very safe neighborhood. It's also not too far from LA, so you can always go into the city for fun. Rent around the area runs from $500-700 for a single room in a shared apartment. The tuition runs around 35k/year.
Berkeley is in the vicinity of SF. It's located across the Bay Bridge, but easily accessible by BART (public transportation). I'll be headed up there for an interview on the 4th (excited!), so I can't give exact details regarding rent/living costs in the area yet. I do know that rent in SF is expensive, but living in Oakland/around Berkeley will probably run around $600-800 for a single room in a shared apartment (that's a guess/estimate). The tuition at Berkeley is lower. It is a state school, so it doesn't run as high as a private. It is slightly more than SUNY though I think.
I have spent a good amount of time all over California (SF/LA/SD), and I would say that the cities aren't comparable to NYC. They aren't as buzzing and exciting as manhattan.