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Anyone live in SoCal?

#41
macaroni tony said:
I 2nd all the craptacular stuff said about California. It costs waaaay too much to live here, unless you live in the middle of nowhere like Perris or Fresno, and then what's the point? Traffic, no jobs, spoiled,entitled children, ghettos...I can't wait to get outta here :D
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Dude. You're in Long Beach.

I've lived in San Diego (when I'm not at Groom) for over 60 years. I've been a lot of places in and out of the U.S., and I've never seen a single place I'd want to move to. Any place you go will have the same "craptastic" stuff if you look for it.

I'm going to stick with my original advice for the OP. Get an education (somewhere else, where it's cheaper) - a real education, in a major that has some economic utility (this pretty much eliminates liberal arts and humanities). Then move to SoCal. There still won't be any guarantees, but at least you'll have a shot at making it. Moving here at 18 with no meaningful skills is a silly dream - although you could conceivably make it as a male prostitute.

One hint: The big money for the uneducated is parking cars at a major hotel. Seriously. Some guys make as much as $80K.
 
#43
Munjibunga said:
Dude. You're in Long Beach.

I've lived in San Diego (when I'm not at Groom) for over 60 years. I've been a lot of places in and out of the U.S., and I've never seen a single place I'd want to move to. Any place you go will have the same "craptastic" stuff if you look for it.

I'm going to stick with my original advice for the OP. Get an education (somewhere else, where it's cheaper) - a real education, in a major that has some economic utility (this pretty much eliminates liberal arts and humanities). Then move to SoCal. There still won't be any guarantees, but at least you'll have a shot at making it. Moving here at 18 with no meaningful skills is a silly dream - although you could conceivably make it as a male prostitute.

One hint: The big money for the uneducated is parking cars at a major hotel. Seriously. Some guys make as much as $80K.
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Yeah I was pretty much saying the same thing. Just highlighting the fact that, despite what you see on TV, as an 18 yr old kid you're pretty much stuck with the craptacularities of life out here :D

And what do you mean about me living in Long Beach?
 
#49
macaroni tony said:
I wasn't sure if he was going that way, or the other way with Long Beach. Some people hear "Long Beach" and think Belmont Shore, or those lofts on the water. Others hear "Long Beach" and think Snoop Dogg.
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Back in the '60s they had the All-Western Band Review there (maybe they still do). We used to love going to that so we could go down to The Pike after the parade. I drove through there on my way to the peninsula a couple years ago, and I was skeered.
 
#55
EricF said:
There are condominiums in Idylllwild??

;)
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Summer rentals and for those who don't mind the cold wind and snow drifts, there's Winter Rates too.

It falls under the Apartment Owner's Association just like a condo does if it's rented out.

Fortunately I dumped all that Idyllwild stuff when the market was ripe. Ergo: I'm retired.

Where were you when I was selling my business in Santa Ana? I let it go for $1.00 just to make it legal and get rid of a good money-maker under any but California rules and regs.
Licenses, fees, compressor inspections, CAL/EPA zone, HazMat and fire plans and Garage Owner's insurance plus Workman's Comp killed that big-time.​
I even hadda make maps of the schools in the 5-mile radius of the shop with their emergency phone numbers so I could call them just in case a small yield nuclear cloud should somehow be emitted by my arc welder.

They inspected my toilet seat to make sure it met Cal-OSHA regulations and could take someone standing on it to use it. Ya gotta create a sick-o mental pix of that to see what I was thinking there!

They worry about my dangerous welding fallout and let the sexual perverts and kiddie fiends live next to 'em. Go figger.

This place is broken.
 
#56
I live in Koreatown - Los Angeles. I don't make a lot of money but I'm able to get by. There's a lot to do here: the art scene is huge, music scene (speaking of music, the week after Coachella is always bangin' in L.A.--a lot of acts stop here & do pop-up shows). We have great surf spots from Rincon to SD. Snowboarding isn't comparable to Utah or the Rockies but it is accessible with some driving.

If you intend to go to college I recommend Santa Monica College which has a pretty good transition to UC system, albeit UC is $$$. But like most mentioned, if you don't have an area of expertise or haven't landed a job prior to arriving, & without a support system, I would be wary of moving here.
It's a lot of fun, or can be depends on what you're into, and you can have fun without subscribing to the lifestyles you see on tv. I don't.
Where's the money at in CA? Film & tv production (check every major studio's website for jobs). It's TRUE most production are shot in other states or countries due to tax incentives for studios. And every field of production has a union, which you must be a part of to be employed.
What else: auto insurance maybe? Gasoline?--that is, if you own a gas station.
CA provides half of the US's produce but good luck with that; it's already tight & you don't strike me as a farm/landowner.
It's hard to get a job here. Running joke in L.A: "You're an actor? What restaurant?" And like many ppl you read about, you have to do more than one thing to stay afloat. So if celebs are model/actress/singer/songwriter/poet/painter how much more does the little guy have to work in more than one field?
I work in finance & I'm a photographer on the side.
One more thing, it helps to have a car & a bicycle. our public transportation is crap. SF has good public trans; LA does not but it's slowly improving.
 
#57
SurferJoe46 said:
Summer rentals and for those who don't mind the cold wind and snow drifts, there's Winter Rates too.

It falls under the Apartment Owner's Association just like a condo does if it's rented out.
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I guess my mental image of a "condo" was a little different, that's all. Not exactly what you see in Idyllwild.

My family has owned a tiny cabin off North Circle Dr. for a few generations, and I get up there once or twice a year to relax.
 
#59
SurferJoe46 said:
Off by Bogart? Pine Cove?

I've done a lot of remodels up there and as a consultant-over-agonizer from the whacked-out electrical systems there.

Strawberry Creek is running right now and there's some nice trout in it.

I actually owned a house close to the [DEL]Drinking Club[/DEL] Elk's Lodge.
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Montgomery Lane. The place is about as big as a 2-car garage. When my family gets together up there, we rent the cabin next door, too.
 
#60
Noseferatu said:
I'm 18, gettin to the end of my senior year, and I'd like to move to SoCal while I'm in college. What can you do to afford living in SoCal? I want that lifestyle sooo bad. I want to experience it before I get to be too old.


Any tips??
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I havent read the rest of this thread yet, so if its been said, please just disregard this advice.

If you want to afford the California Lifestyle, get a job making grilled cheese sandwiches. Its fairly easy, and you dont even need a kitchen!
 

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