Moving to Jacksonville...

In My Humble Opinion
1

So, DH and I are moving to Jacksonville, Florida from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Whoo Hoo! Problem is, we need to be there in three weeks (this has all happened very suddenly), and we’re dirt poor, which means that we can’t afford to fly there ahead of time and do a scouting mission to decide where in Jacksonville we want to live. We have no friends and no family there to help us out with this. So I turn to you, almighty Dopers!

We can look up apartments, etc. online, but I’m having trouble finding information about the different neighborhoods. We need to know what parts of town we need to avoid due to high crime, etc. I’ve found a few different apartment complexes that look promising in the Arlington area near the University of Jacksonville, but I have no idea if that’s a good part of town or not.

It would just be nice to at least have a general area in mind when we get the car loaded up and drive all the way out there. We’re going to be traveling with a cat so I don’t really fancy living out of a hotel for a week while we look all over the city for a nice place to live. (Not to mention paying the price of a hotel.)

So, any Jacksonville Dopers who can give me the scoop? Or anybody know a good website that has this kind of info?
My first post! Go me!

2

I’m not a current Jax resident, but I’ve lived there on two different times for a total of about 5 years. I last lived in Jax about 18 months ago.

Here’s a good website for brief descriptions of the main neighborhoods and an interactive map of jax: http://www.myjaxchamber.com/jax_information/life/hoods.asp

Overall, here are some random thoughts about Jax:

It’s huge. Really huge. And really spread out. If you’re moving there for college or a job, you want to think about how far away you’re willing to live. I know lots of people who commute 50+ miles each way every day.

The general layout is with the city and its immediate neighborhoods are about 20 miles inland. Three main roads run east to the ocean (from north to south, Atlantic, Beach, J Turner Butler). “The beach” is really four separate towns (north to south) - Atlantic Beach-quietest mostly residential. safe, but probably fairly pricey these days
Neptune Beach-more commerical, but more opportunities for night life
Jax Beach-used to have real problems in JB, but I’ve heard its much cleaned up these days. Most night life here.
Ponte Vedre-million dollar mansions on the beach, The Players Club. No more to say there.

In the vast tracts between Jax proper and the beach, you’ll find the most affordable housing. But it’s not really quite near enough to the city nor to the beach.

Very few people live right downtown.

Do you know where you’ll be working/living?

What kind of neighborhood are you looking for?

The last time I was in Jax, we lived in Riverside. Riverside is quite hit-or-miss. 50 years ago it was all grand old houses, 15 years ago they were mostly in complete disrepair, but urban renewal has hit and there are lots of well restored old houses and funky apartments / duplexes. There’s a funky, artsy energy in the area (at least as much you’ll find funky artsy energy in Jax). Springfield has similar housing, but I think less funky-ness.

3

Go eat at Beach Road Chicken (if it’s still there).

4

My wife lived in the Avondale area in the early 1960s and loved it – a quiet, middle class residential neighborhood reasonably close to downtown but without the noise and stress of downtown life. We visited there in the early 1990s “to see the old neighborhood” and a cursory review then found it largely unchanged. I can’t speak to anything else about Jax but I can furnish that bit of fairly-dated information.

5

My in-laws live in Mandarin, which is all residential. NIce and quiet, not ultra-expensive. It’s a big drive to go anywhere, though. I’d live there if I could.

6

I just left the Jax area 2 months ago. If you want to be in Jacksonville itself, I’d recommend the Mandarin or southside areas. We lived in Orange Park, which is in the county just south of the westside of Jax - it’s a pretty nice area, too.

If you want to email me with specific questions, I’ll be happy to tell you what I can. fairychatmom at yahoo dot com.

7

Mandarin and the Southside are good. I grew up living off of Baymeadows Ave and it was a really good place to live, especially if you plan on having kids. Beauclerc is the local elementary school (walkable!) and it’s awesome. Low crime, good community feel.

8

I know Jacksonville pretty well and my hubby knows it like the back of his hand. Maybe you could elaborate on exactly what you are looking for…