Woo Hoo, I’m movin’ to Santa Barbara in three weeks!
(gloat). Just in time for Oregon fall and winter to arrive.
I like S.F., but couldn’t afford to live there in the manner to which I am accustomed. My SO swears that Humboldt (Arcata, etc) is the greatest place in the world and wants to live there when he grows up. I visted east of LA (Claremont, etc) a few times and it was very nice.
I moved to the Bay Area seven years ago from Tennessee, and I thought it was heaven on Earth. I still do, although the insane cost of living is making it totally unlivable for everyone but the very wealthy. We recently moved to the outskirts of the Bay Area which is very blah, but we’re still close enough to the better parts.
My few experiences with the LA area are very negative, but I’ve heard that there are nice places on the outskirts. The air quality in the San Fernando Valley is so bad that I don’t know if it actually qualifies as air at all.
I have heard that the Humbolt County/Arcata area is very beautiful, but the economy is non-existant. Everyone I know that’s ever been to San Diego loves it.
Barstow is the absolute worst place I’ve ever seen, the vestibule to hell. Fresno and Bakersfield aren’t much better.
I have only been here (Santa Rosa) for 2 months, living in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. I must say I love it. the weather is perfect, the people are friendly, there are beaches, and redwoods, and WINE! I say come on over!
seriousart…
I’d like to know why you changed your mind about your original choice.
I grew up in TX, and couldn’t wait to get away. When my chance came I grabbed it.
Well, to make a long story short, I was trapped in Hotel California for sixteen years! The only way I managed to finally escape was to leave all of my pride there (ego is the state’s biggest cash crop–after marijuana, of course).
Seriously, I got fed up with the fakeness of the people there. Everybody trips over themselves trying to out-politically-correct each other.
When I got back to TX I felt an overwhelming sense of relief. I had had no idea that I missed the place so much.
Sure the women wear too much makeup and the men have a macho image that they feel they have to live up to, but most Texans are, for the most part, real. The racists and sexists here are outspoken, but at least that helps you to identify and avoid them. Unlike their ilk on the left coast who will (I’ve seen it!) smile and laugh and appear to be having a good time with and like someone and, as they part, mutter under their breath “goddamn (enter racial epithet here)”.
On the plus side?
If you really like fair weather and postcard views you can’t do better than CA.
Put in another vote for NorCa/Bay area/San Jose.
I love it, I’m a native to San Jose, and I’t will take a whole helluva lot more than housing costs to drive me away. Honestly, any moron with knowledge of computers can get a decent job affording him/her to live comfortably.
Great people, good scenery, E-Z money! 
-Sam
Since California is larger and more diverse than many countries, you can probably find someplace there that suits you. Too many people mistake LA or SF for all of California. I lived there most of my life, spending years in San Diego, Hollywood, Culver City, San Fernando Valley and Ventura, among other places, and I would move back to Ventura in a shot. An hour from LA, right on the beach, down the road from Santa Barabara and Ojai. Close to lots of stuff without being in the middle of it. But you can drive two hours out of LA and swear you’ve arrived in Deliverance country (if like me, you are unlucky enough to have your car break down on the 5 near Coalinga. Scary place.). Or there’s Bishop, out in the high desert. Or Eureka, which is practically a rain forest.
One word:
Alturas
I’m sure that it is lovely for some, but my experience in California was not pleasant. Then again, I lived in the lovely city(?) of North Edwards (next to Boron), which did not even have a gas station.
But it did have Bubi North (Booby? Boobie?) not too far from the north gate at EAFB. Good burgers, as I recall. I think it eventually burned down.
I LIVED in LA (many years ago) Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach - Loved it! But I could never afford to live there now!
About 4 years ago, my employer decided to reloacte to Sunnyvale (Silicon Valley)- even then impossible!-$400,000 for a run-down ranch house on a postage stamp lot!
Except-found a lovely house in COLMA (south of SF).
One slight problem-everybody (almost) in Colma is DEAD!
Don’t move to California. There’s way too many people here now. You’ll only become part of the problem.
…and hey, egkelly, I think you’re prolly gonna have to explain why Colma is where all the dead people live…
I’ll poach on that question. There aren’t any cemeteries in San Francisco (and haven’t been for a LONG time.) So, people are buried in the small town of Colma, which adjoins San Francisco.
BART goes there now.
Since there is interest, I will explain. COLMA is a fully-incorporated town. It has a post office, a zip code, and a police and fire dept. I have no idea if any school age children live in Colma-preumably they attend classes in SF.
But think about it-all of your neighbors are dead-so no gangbangers, no noisy neighbors…just peace and quiet!
Presumably the real estate taxes are low…dead people don’t need much in the way of services.
There is a Colma Elementary School, but it is in Daly City. Kids in Colma probably go there or to South San Francisco (the Industrial City as it is known.)
Born and raised here in the Bay Area (with a four years school stint in Chicago.) SF is great, though INCREDIBLY expensive. Unless you’re moving from Manhattan, the sticker shock for housing is likely to give you cardiac arrest. It’s probably even worse than whatever you’ve been reading. If you’re a foodie of any stripe, then there’s no question that the SF bay area is the place to move. You can still find reasonable places to live in some scattered pockets if you look long and hard enough. Oakland is going…going…
I’d also like to second the recommendation for craigslist, a remarkable occurance of community building on the web.
Both LA & SD are fine, though I found SD to be somewhat more…segregated. Provincial. But only in Comparison to SF & LA. YMMV. Compared to the rest of the country, (except mayve NY & DC), all three metro areas are amazingly diverse. Have you visited here before? It can be a trifle overwhelming.
I’ll second GaWd’ post.
The Bay Area’s a great place to live. I was born in the east bay and lived in SF for eight years before moving to Silicon Valley. If you have any computer know-how at all you can get a good enough job to live comfortably(maybe even land a good stock option package). The only other areas I would consider moving to in CA are Santa Barbara or San Diego.
Another Bay Area vote here. I grew up in L.A. and hated it…too big, too hot, too smoggy, too many vapid ‘industry’ people. I grew up accepting as normal the idea that even in suburbia it would take at least 30 minutes to drive to any of my friend’s houses.
I now live in Alameda, which is an island in the San Francisco Bay, about 50 yards off of Oakland. The town has an older, very midwestern feel to it, access to everything, great food, and you can walk to the beach from everywhere. It’s actually still cheaper than a lot of other places because most bay area folks have never been here. There was a navy base here which closed down a few years ago and housing prices are still a little lower as a result of the mass evacuation. It also has the best weather and air quality of any city for 50 miles.
I’m renting now, but planning on buying within the next year or two, and I hope to stay in the same neighborhood when I’ve got the money together.