Thinking about moving to California

[Earache]

Originally Posted by Southpaw5

So, as the title says my wife and I are seriously considering a cross country move to sunny Ca.

Practica tu español

http://www.spanishprograms.com/

[matante]

I've been to San Francisco more than a handful of times, and I've always been cold up there. Don't go there if you want the stereotypical California climate.

Stick with L.A. or Santa Barbara if you want the climate, beaches, and creative/liberal lifestyle. Everywhere else in So Cal is fairly conservative, including Orange and San Diego Counties. I was born and raised in L.A. and have lived here almost my entire life. Feel free to ask me any questions.

[slobake]

Originally Posted by matante

I've been to San Francisco more than a handful of times, and I've always been cold up there. Don't go there if you want the stereotypical California climate.

Stick with L.A. or Santa Barbara if you want the climate, beaches, and creative/liberal lifestyle. Everywhere else in So Cal is fairly conservative, including Orange and San Diego Counties. I was born and raised in L.A. and have lived here almost my entire life. Feel free to ask me any questions.

You are right about the weather here, but that is only in the city itself. If you drive just a little in an direction everything changes.

[Misfit]

Originally Posted by Southpaw5

The Beach is a requirement for the wife, I can get by with Beach OR mountains, no requirement for both from me, but the wife needs the beach. I'm not a fan of most of the southern east coast, its humid like up here but worse. We both liked Arizona, so that could be an option, but I think she's pretty set on CA

I maybe have a narrow view point, since I'm someone from California who's desperate to get out. But, I would recommend the San Diego area. I think it has everything you'd be looking for. San Fransciso is very nice and quite unique in my opinion, but the cost of living there is beyond what I even would call outragous. It's like outrageous time 10. Anyone I know of who has moved there, was never able to stay, they simply couldn't afford it. I'd personally avoid the Los Angeles area, many parts of Orange County are nice. But again, I think San Diego is the ideal location in CA. If I lived there currently, I'd probably stay. But I live in small town CA, and I'm getting sick of this state, so I want to leave all togogether.

As someone else mentioned Santa Barbara is nice as well, but not cheap. Nowhere in CA is really cheap, but coming from Boston, probably nothing you're not already used to.

[nortonrider]

Originally Posted by Earache

Practica tu español

http://www.spanishprograms.com/

te has adelantado

[Mike N]

Originally Posted by MJ5150

I don't know how you made it this long. After 12 months, I am ready to leave, and the winter last year was mild. I wonder how I would feel after a more typical NE winter.

-Mike

Northeast not quite your cup of tea, Mike?

[MJ5150]

Not so far. Between the people and the little town I live in, it's not working out quite as I hoped.

-Mike

[ShredderMaximus]

Were you thinking of going NorCal or SoCal? There is a pretty big difference and might as well be thought of as 2 different states, imo.
Also imo:
NorCal>SoCal

[6jase5]

Living in San Diego is great for me. I would not move here without a job unless you've got a good reserve stash to get you by for 12 months. I own my place, but I'd say that if you want to get in to a decent place, think around $1500+. I lived in LA area (about 7 different cities within) for 10 years and SD for 7 years. I like SD much better, but there were pros and cons of each little city.

As said before, don't judge SoCal based on OC alone. There are great towns in OC as well, some not so much. Pretty much can be said of the whole SoCal area. 2 miles North, East, South or West from any one point won't look the same for the most part.

Feel free to PM any questions. There are a bunch of us from LA to SD that can respond and quite honestly as I've seen other threads, we all pretty much agree on our descriptions of SoCal.

[UncleFluffy]

I lived in SF for 12 years and am very, very glad I did. It's like the Manhattan of the Bay Area, expensive and full of interesting stuff to eat and experience. But, if you can figure out the rent part, you learn how to do the rest on a budget. If you move a little way out it gets "just about affordable", but to get "cheap" you have to start trading off commute and/or life expectancy. Don't expect to buy a house for anything approaching a sane price, and from what I hear rent has got equally insane over the last few years.

A bit further south is Silicon Valley, equally expensive, lots of jobs, but lots of strip mall hell unless you know where to look.

Further north or south it gets beautiful very fast, but jobs are harder to find.

(My experience of SoCal is limited to parts of LA, which didn't click for me but other people love it.)

Originally Posted by slobake

You are right about the weather here, but that is only in the city itself. If you drive just a little in an direction everything changes.

Heh. Walk three blocks and the weather changes.

edit: Why not take a week or two off and drive the PCH? I'd be happy to give you some tips on what to see/do/visit when you're in my part, and I'm sure the other CA TBers would be more than happy to do the same.

[xray]

No white sandy beaches out there. I believe that only exist in the movies and tropical island. Do you know most of the beaches out there have to have the sand replaced every winter. Lot of dredging going on in the winter. I prefer the isolation of HI, but my family lives in LA so I tolerate it every now and then. SoCal is hard on the "east coast" types - throw out the preppy look and get ready for some sandals, t's and shorts. There's plenty of bostonians so you wont be totally alone - incredible Redsox following from what I've seen.

Mexican food A+.

[matante]

Originally Posted by xray

No white sandy beaches out there. I believe that only exist in the movies and tropical island. Do you know most of the beaches out there have to have the sand replaced every winter. Lot of dredging going on in the winter.

There are white sand beaches in Mexico, and not that far south.

What do you mean by having the sand replaced every winter? What is that???

[TOOL460002]

San diego or sf bay area. Not a fan of oc/la. I personally think santa cruz co is the most ideal place to live, but the job market isnt huge. San jose/sf/oakland all have bigger job markets and you could find somewhere in the east bay, south bay, or south sf area. San Diego works if you prefer warm. Otherwise come to the SF bay area.

[Southpaw5]

Originally Posted by ShredderMaximus

Were you thinking of going NorCal or SoCal? There is a pretty big difference and might as well be thought of as 2 different states, imo.
Also imo:
NorCal>SoCal

Well, the wife prefers NorCal I think, and I'm undecided. We're visiting friends early next year who live in LA.

Why do you prefer NorCal?

[bassguppy]

I'm a transplant from upstate NY so I get getting away from dreary, cold weather. I live in Vacaville, CA which is about 40 minutes west of Sacramento and an hour to SF (without traffic). Rental housing in our area ranges from around $1000 for a 2BR apartment to $1500-2000 for a 3-4 bedroom house (+/- depending). You can buy a home in my locale starting at around $200,000. In Vacaville summers easily get into the 90's/low 100's (low humidity) but the temps drop drastically near SF Bay (40 minutes away). Winters get rain and temps daily into the 50's. Overall I wish it was cooler but it is no comparison to the Northeast for weather. Where I live it's a more conservative bent but not as conservative compared to the central valley/OC areas. It is expensive here but IMO if you can pull in around 80-90K combined you'll do fine.

[slobake]

Originally Posted by bassguppy

I'm a transplant from upstate NY so I get getting away from dreary, cold weather. I live in Vacaville, CA which is about 40 minutes west of Sacramento and an hour to SF (without traffic). Rental housing in our area ranges from around $1000 for a 2BR apartment to $1500-2000 for a 3-4 bedroom house (+/- depending). You can buy a home in my locale starting at around $200,000. In Vacaville summers easily get into the 90's/low 100's (low humidity) but the temps drop drastically near SF Bay (40 minutes away). Winters get rain and temps daily into the 50's. Overall I wish it was cooler but it is no comparison to the Northeast for weather. Where I live it's a more conservative bent but not as conservative compared to the central valley/OC areas. It is expensive here but IMO if you can pull in around 80-90K combined you'll do fine.

I work with someone who commutes from Vacaville to San Francisco every day. She uses a sytem called casual car pooling. There are designated areas where drivers pick people up and drop them off. This allows drivers to use car pool lanes and gives commuters another travelling alternative. It works pretty good for her. She also has a house with spare bedrooms that she rents to people in the USAF from a nearby military bass. Good renters, if there is any problem she calls their C.O and the problem is over. She has never had to do that though.

[Unrepresented]

Originally Posted by Southpaw5

Well, the wife prefers NorCal I think, and I'm undecided. We're visiting friends early next year who live in LA.

Why do you prefer NorCal?

NorCal is going to have a more familiar population to major east coast cities. Urban, educated, professional, especially in major cities. SoCal is a little more superficial, a little more corporeal IMO having lived on both ends of the state.

[Catbuster]

Originally Posted by xray

No white sandy beaches out there. I believe that only exist in the movies and tropical island. Do you know most of the beaches out there have to have the sand replaced every winter. Lot of dredging going on in the winter. I prefer the isolation of HI, but my family lives in LA so I tolerate it every now and then. SoCal is hard on the "east coast" types - throw out the preppy look and get ready for some sandals, t's and shorts. There's plenty of bostonians so you wont be totally alone - incredible Redsox following from what I've seen.

Mexican food A+.

The Red Sox seem to dump any contract they don't like with the Dodgers. (Manny, Gonzalez, Crawford and Beckett in the past 5 years.)

[Jawbone]

Come up to Humboldt - peace and quiet and more peace and quiet and did I mention some of the best meds in the universe!

God lives up here with us - he can't stand the superficial SOCAL scene ether (that's from SF south on the 5). North of the gate is good.

http://co.humboldt.ca.us/

[slobake]

Originally Posted by Jawbone

Come up to Humboldt - peace and quiet and more peace and quiet and did I mention some of the best meds in the universe!

God lives up here with us - he can't stand the superficial SOCAL scene ether (that's from SF south on the 5). North of the gate is good.

http://co.humboldt.ca.us/

Are people humble in Humboldt?