Beautiful Towns Outside of Southern California Cities (Riverside, Moreno Valley: condos, homes)

[erinnelizabeth]

Beautiful town, uncluttered, peaceful, etc. with sunshine, that's inspiring for an artist, but within a couple of hours or less of places with concerts, nightlife, dancing, major airport, etc. anybody with personal experience?

That's not unheard of near New York City with trains barely an hour from even the most gorgeous scenery of suburban towns in surrounding states, there's got to be towns like that here, snow simply isn't my favorite thing!

[Sassberto]

Originally Posted by erinnelizabeth

Beautiful town, uncluttered, peaceful, etc. with sunshine, that's inspiring for an artist, but within a couple of hours or less of places with concerts, nightlife, dancing, major airport, etc. anybody with personal experience?

That's not unheard of near New York City with trains barely an hour from even the most gorgeous scenery of suburban towns in surrounding states, there's got to be towns like that here, snow simply isn't my favorite thing!

Do you like the desert?

Within an hour of a major SoCal city you are looking at suburbia. LA sprawls for miles into the desert. Beyond the cities you are looking at rugged mountains and desert with some scattered resort areas. It's not like NY state with lots of inhabitable land - much of Southern California is downright hostile terrain.

Take a look at Big Bear, Idyllwild, Palm Springs. Further north, Sequoia National Park would be an option.

[erinnelizabeth]

Palm Springs is gorgeous and the desert is beautiful, but that maybe further out than I'm looking, unless there's another major city with nightlife and music within less than two hours that I'm overlooking?

What about Cabazon, Upland, Hemet, Moreno Valley, Lake Elsinore, Calabasas, Woodland Hills, Murrieta, etc. could any of those be compared to there? Thank you for your advice, it's an amazing help!

[Sassberto]

Originally Posted by erinnelizabeth

Palm Springs is gorgeous and the desert is beautiful, but that maybe further out than I'm looking, unless there's another major city with nightlife and music within less than two hours that I'm overlooking?

What about Cabazon, Upland, Hemet, Moreno Valley, Lake Elsinore, Calabasas, Woodland Hills, Murrieta, etc. could any of those be compared to there? Thank you for your advice, it's an amazing help!

Those places are just suburban stripmall sprawl, nothing of interest there really. Upland is basically just suburban LA, Moreno Valley is low-income, Calabasas and Woodland hills are just suburbia.

[UB50]

You have to go further outside of LA to hit something that would be considered it own "town." Everything else just kind of runs together.

[erinnelizabeth]

Back home "town" and "suburban" are interchangeable terms and exactly what I'm looking for -- they're not rural, but certainly not urban -- basically everything in between. I could live happily on the outskirts of a suburban town, maybe explaining the definition in my mind would help..

They're areas each with their own charm, mostly single family homes, but often condos or gated communities, no skyscrapers or excessive crowding, small areas of shopping and restaurants, possibly a main downtown strip, many wide roads, highways within twenty minutes, city within a couple hours, etc. anything like that?

[mono#9]

You seem to be describing idyllic little towns that have all the benefits of bigger towns but none of the downside. I'm not sure they exist. You might, however, take a look at the following which were listed in the article posted yesterday about best (and worst) mid-sized city downtown areas. Here are some they listed in SoCal:
1. Pasadena
2. Santa Barbara
3. Ventura
4. Riverside
5. Santa Monica
6. Valencia
7. Fullerton

[BeenAroundTheBlock]

Not far from Ventura is a little town called Ojai. Check it out.

[LivingLikeAGradStudent]

Carlsbad might fit some of these criteria.

[SaintLaurent]

Santa Barbara.