Eureka (San Francisco, Oakland, Hayward: sale, crime rate, new home)

[keepitalive305]

What is this town like? Is it a cool place to live? Also is it expensive? Any info would be helpful.

[Angelstar490]

Well I have been gone from Eureka for quite a few years now but I did live there and in Arcata the better part of 17 years. Lots of fog in the summers, cool weather, laid back life style are what I remember. Also too many drugs and too little work.

[TheDragonslayer]

Eureka is 28,000 strong and the county seat of Humboldt county. The neighboring towns of Arcata and McKinleyville are in the 16,000 and 17,000 range. Arcata and McKinleyville have a crime rate that is lower than the state average and Eureka's is higher. To the south of Eureka are Fortuna and Ferndale. Fortuna is a logging/ranching town and Ferndale is a beautiful full blown victorian town that was featured in the Jim Carrey movie " Majestic " . McKinleyville was just listed in the "Parade" Sunday insert as one of three city ies on the west coast where the bargains are. The only one in California. The weather here is much like San Fransisco's or Berkeley's, depending on the day and where you are in the Humboldt bay area. McK is unincorporated and is considered rural. The median home price here is just under $300,000 and it will buy a new 3 bed, 2 bath house on a descent lot. An ocean view on 1/2 to 2 acres is around $500,000 to $700,000 and close to the beach. Eureka has a varied architecture from many periods, there are some beautiful victorians and fine craftsman homes there and the price is fair. We do not have traffic like the bay area's. There is plenty of shopping with malls and there is a costco and target , a nice big K in McK, there is just way to much to mention. We do have a lot more rain here; 36 to 50 inch's a year is not uncommon , but is mainly from November to March. It is never really too hot or too cold and the humidity is always high which makes it seem very warm when it is in the 70's and low 80's like it has been for the last two weeks here.

I used to live in the bay area till I lost all my garden jobs in the Oakland/Berkeley hills fire in 1991. I moved to Humboldt county in 92 and love it here. It reminds me of what it was like in the contra costa county area in the 60's , there are farms all over with dairy and ranching still a strong way of life here. The water and the sky is clean and clear and there are only 128,000 people in the county total.

Martin

[keepitalive305]

hmm that all sounds very nice. I'll look into these other towns as well. I'm interested in working in non-profits, specifically with an organization that deals with the arts or perhaps the environment. Would Eureka/Arcata and the other areas in Humboldt be a place that would provide opportunities for this field? Also, I feel that the importance and contribution of the work outweighs the need to make a lot of money doing it, and as non-profit organizations will not provide the larger paychecks of say, workign for a successful private business, I consider the type of work to be worth this difference in pay. With that said, is the Humboldt County area affordable for even a salary like 30-35,000?

[TheDragonslayer]

I typed " humboldt county californis non profit organizations " in google and at the top of the first page is a link http://northcoast.com/durbin/nonproft.htm (broken link) that has all the non profit organizations in Humboldt county. As to theater typ arts there is Theatre Del Art they are a non profit theatre group and are hilarious. Arcata is a hotbed when it comes to non profit o's , but then it is a college town. I have seen a huge amount of growth in the 15 years that I have been here. For such a small community, we have an abundance of stores and theaters and more are built every day. It is starting to remind me of when Pittsburg Ca started to grow in the 70's.

[abstrak_tokatl]

well there are super lasers, free food, holographic em miters, and a giant rocket launcher in the middle of.... oh... you weren't talking about the tv show... my bad. =P

[keepitalive305]

Ok I have browsed some of the rents for places and also the price of homes. Things aren't incredibly cheap but compared to Miami, seem cheaper, PLUS the homes are much nicer. Here in Miami a lot of the homes are cookie cutter type houses that are still quite expensive, unless you want to spend closer to 7 figures and live in one of the nicer neighborhoods. Also, I am sick of the Miami weather with the hurricanes, heat and humidity and want something cooler, and the foggyness described of the Eureka area actually sounds appealing to me. Anyway I know its not always possible to forecast these types of things, but is there expected any major change in the price of living in this area? I still have a year and a half left before i graduate college but I'm very interested in moving to California and this area is a place i'd visit/strongly consider because it fits a lot of what I'm interested in.

[TheDragonslayer]

The price of a home here in 2000 was $135,000 for a 4 bed, 2 bath new home. 2 years ago it hit a high of close to $500,000 and the market collapsed to a current low of $250,000 to $300,000 for a comparable home in one of the newer devisions in town. McKinleyville is the only town around with significant room for growth. The rest have expanded to their limit without changing county growth allowances. The market here is dependant upon the influx of new comers from places with higher home prices . I take care of gardens for clients from Hayward, Santa Barbara, Castro Valley, San Fransisco to name a few from California and a few from out of the state that bought here more than ten years ago when one could buy a home on one or two acres for under $100,000. When you see a surge in Bay Area home prices, expect it to trickle its way up here.

This summer has been phenomenal for the north coast here. The past three weeks have been in the high 60's to low 70's with a few mid 80's thrown in. It is the nicest summer in the seven years I have been at this location in the county. Now: last summer was what the long time locals say was the normal for here, at least it was twenty years ago, last summer was foggy from June through to early September with maybe eight or nine days over 70 and one at 83. The rest were foggy to patchy foggy and in the sixties. Today it was 94 at a friends house/cabin that is inland about 45 miles and as we came back to the coast it steadily go cooler till we got in town and it was 74 degrees and patchy foggy. It felt almost as hot as it did at my friends house, but I could the relief of the humidity. At my friend Pams place it was 40 last night and 94 when we left at 4 pm, here it may only drop to 50 or 55 and get to mid 70's in the day with the few 80's in the rare summers. We have had four of those rare summers in seven, maybe it is global warming and we are becoming more like the coast south of Monterey. I would not mind at all, just as long as it did not get too hot.

[o2noit2]

Originally Posted by keepitalive305

What is this town like? Is it a cool place to live? Also is it expensive? Any info would be helpful.

I used to live in neighboring Arcata, CA and spent quite a lot of time trolling around all of the little towns.

First of all, in my opinion Eureka may be the better place to get a job in that part of humboldt county but it is the least pretty. (Forgive me eurekites.) It looks like some some forgettable town in anywhere usa. But the mall, costco, the new car lots and other bigger businesses are there.

It is quite expensive up that way. I have always wondered if it was because there was no trains or big (or even medium) air port. Maybe it is because it would costs to get supplies in some other way.

Down sides ended.

You would be surrounded with all sorts of history and redwood trees! You can literally go hiking in the beautiful redwoods daily. (It rains lightly but quite a lot...depending on what you are used to.)

To me the best thing is the old victorian homes. They can be seen in the original interesting color motives. Here are a list of the many small towns that are near by: Ferndale known for its victorians, souvineer stores and a very quaint old cemetary complete with interesting headstones. (No play on morbidy.) Patrick's point . On the ocean side you will be reminded of some old east coast lobster town. Klamath houses the Ca Conservation Corp. (My sister was a member). The young people (Male and female) build trails through the red woods that look as though nature made them babbling brooks included. (I'll bet that a wheel chair could navigate through them. Also going up towards Crescent City (way up next to the Oregon Border) is a very informative American Indian museum that has John Bunyan and Babe outside. It is of the Yurok tribe.

Oh! If you ever get that way, please check out Arcata! It has a honest to good hippy atmosphere. There are young Humboldt state students walking around reminiscent of old days of the 1960! A lot of them wear tie died clothes. I did not see many people in Arcata who were over thirty (I kid you not) as Humboldt state is near by.

Please do not let people con you into thinking that everyone have a black belt in smoking ganga. I lived in a culdesac where there where families that worked hard for their living. I seldom saw anyone smoke it.

Last if you should have any more questions let me know.

by the way. If you are a military veteran as I am, there is not a va hospital for seven hours. (San Francisco.) There is a little dispensary dr.s office for vets and many docs and Mad River Hospital in Arcata.

I hope that I was of some help

[new2eureka]

i just moved here about 9 months ago from nightmare FLORIDA.

Everyone told me the weather sucked and the prices were high and my hubby and I would never get work....

We both got jobs in 10 days, lived at EDD (job center), got a 2 bedroom duplex for 600 a month that allows our dog and we can make it here!

IFFFFFFFF you merely put forth the effort, you can too. I think they're trying to keep people from moving here and lieing about the weather too.

I've been here almost full circle of a year. The winters are COLD but im FROM Niag Falls NY, so this isnt COLD COLD to ME.... 38 is the lowest and that was maybe 1 week total out of the winter. We are the WEST most part of the entire state of calif so there is a.m. fog/clouds - but then sun most of the time. I don't know what they are talking about? We were told it's never sunny here. I almost had to go to the hospital sitting out at my yard sale the other day for 5 hours. Came in the house and i was a mess red lobster.

Downs are: the biggest store is Target. We need a walmart, so, you have to purchase electronics via internet or drive 7 hours to oakland or Sanfrancisco...

they need something for the younger folk so they dont do drugs!!!! entertainment/arcade - something for teens and immature adults like myself (ha ha...)...

Really need a Red Lobster and Olive Garden would be nice also. The only thing we really have is an Applebees. Not much to do. It's more woodsy, country type... slower paced.... people are the nicest ive ever met and I've lived in 7 states and God knows how many cities.

Drugs ARE a factor here. Very bad. If you're an addict, DONT move here! If you do, you can always go to Teen Challenge. 86% success rate ha ha...

anyway, thats that! hope it helps. Also, Im 49, so, this would NOT have suited me when I was younger, not enough to "do" if you know what I mean.

After Florida, this is HEAVENNNNNNNNNNN to me. You dont HAVE to have a car (Ive had medical problems so we LOST our one car after FIVE YEARS of paying on it, and the other one, a lady ran me off the road and totaled my BRAND NEW CONVERTABLE !!! GRRRRR)....

So, that's that, hope it helped.