All you (n)ever wanted to know about Ridgecrest (Los Angeles: real estate, apartment complexes)

[pizzicato66]

Golly, it sounds like we found a place to put all those people griping about the cost of living, and the "illegals" and gangs! They won't have to worry at all about seeing brown people and will have great conversations with people they can relate to in their nice cheap house.

Finally! ;-)

[David Aguilar]

Exactly. I guess the unintended point of my original post is that the residents of Ridgecrest don't have a whole lot to complain about, that is if you don't or don't want to know any better.

You mentioned three of the most common "complaints" about California and Ridgecrest "suffers" from none of these. The only way Ridgecrest is expensive is if you refuse to work. The "illegals" in Ridgecrest are the common assimilated English-speaking Latino. I used my learned-in-high school Spanish on a daily basis in Riverside, but after living in Ridgecrest I have virtually lost it. Many people don't know any better but they ostracize any newcomers to town by labeling them a bad element. Reading the op-ed section of the Daily Independent will give you the credo of the town.

I remember I was riding through San Bernardino with a long-time Ridgecrest resident and he asked me if there were gangs in San Bernardino. I said sure, and he had to ask me what gang activities entailed, so there you go. Of course, every town has it's punk kids who try to get in trouble, there's not even any graffiti to be found, and when it does show up it's a big deal but you know it isn't from real gang members because it is legible!

Your last sentence, pizzicato, summed it up best, isn't that the heavenly town "everybody" is looking for?

[Cheryl Laves]

Hi Jangel, What a refreshing outlook on your view of Ridgecrest, 'sometimes in life it doesn't matter where you live, how much money you make or what kind of car you drive, family is important' - I also believe home is where you hang your hat, and if you are positive in your outlook on life, things somehow fall into place and you would be happy living almost anywhere. You are right, priorities do change as you get older and possibly we get wiser. As you say Ridgecrest isn't for ever and my daughter and son- inlaw intend to make the whole experience an opportunity in the education of life, as my daughter's motto is - 'nothing ventured,nothing gained'. Having a very social lifestyle back here in Australia, daughter and son-inlaw are enjoying the slowed down pace of Ridgecrest. My husband and I look forward to our visit in early December. By the way Jangel, my daughter finds the shopping OK, but wonders why the cheese is so yellow! Bye for now.

[Cheryl Laves]

Hi David, thanks for the reply. Are you familiar with the area between Drummond Avenue and West Las Flores Avenue ? My daughter lives in the area bounded by North Downs St,to the west and North Norma St to the east. On Google Earth it looks very suburby and her photos of their residence, picture a quiet neighbourhood. Would this be so in this particular area? A mother's curiosity ! Thank you if you can enlighten me.

[David Aguilar]

Yes, that is my favorite part of town. It is known to longtime or well-informed residents as the Deeter Tract. My stepson attended school at Las Flores Elementary which is in that neighborhood. If, for any reason I was forced to live within the city of Ridgecrest again, it would have to be in that neighborhood. That is the only real, well-to-do, city neighborhood in town, with older housing stock and shade trees. Most homes were built in the 60's and 70s. Actually, I would consider it less suburban than some of the other neighborhoods in town, as most other Ridgecrest neighborhoods are much newer with seemingly identical homes. It is also in the middle of town. It is a very quiet neighborhood, with very little thru traffic, the way the streets are laid out make it inconvenient to travel through the neighborhood. While in that neighborhood, it is very easy to forget you are in the middle of a very hot desert, you'll love it.

Originally Posted by Cheryl Laves

Hi David, thanks for the reply. Are you familiar with the area between Drummond Avenue and West Las Flores Avenue ? My daughter lives in the area bounded by North Downs St,to the west and North Norma St to the east. On Google Earth it looks very suburby and her photos of their residence, picture a quiet neighbourhood. Would this be so in this particular area? A mother's curiosity ! Thank you if you can enlighten me.

[Cheryl Laves]

Thanks once again David. If I have any further questions I won't hesitate to ask. Your knowledge of Ridgecrest has been very helpful.

[Ethel Burge-Zagala]

Just finished reading the description of Ridgecrest and boy, is it on target. I lived there for 20 years and my three daughters all went through school there.

All three girls left for college and never came back. Two live in the Portland, Oregon area and the other in San Diego. My present husband, a native of Ridgecrest, and I now live in Morro Bay.

I laughed out loud when I read the comment about "San Diego being heaven" to local teens growing up in Ridgecrest. That was my husband's dream. I was puzzled about that--now I understand that was a part of his heritage from being born in Ridgecrest.

The medical facilities in Ridgecrest, by the way, are quite limited and in my opinion, extremely poor.

Finding this link afforded me my best laugh in quite awhile.

My experience of Ridgecrest is that it was a very safe environment to raise my daughters. The schools were very good and my daughters were well prepared for life outside the Valley.

[David Aguilar]

First off, thanks for reading my post!

I never understood the whole obsession with San Diego either. Los Angeles is much closer with more to do. Is it too big, wild or crazy for them? It's almost like folks in Bellingham, WA overlooking Seattle and being obsessed with Portland. Hmmm, well, I digress.

I'm glad you mentioned the medical facilities, they have to rotate in ER doctors from out of town, and it seems like if you had the qualifications to work in the medical field, why would you choose to live in a small, isolated desert town to work? There is the legend that a bunch of doctors and their wives came to town in a helicopter to see the town and possibly move there to work, but the doctors' wives wouldn't get off the helicopter after seeing Ridgecrest from the air. However, there are some very good doctors in town, but as a whole the health care system is terrible, you get the bottom of the barrel when it comes to health care there.

Ridgecrest is very safe in terms of violent/property crime, although it is the only place I've had a gun pointed in my face, and I also had caught a guy trying to break into my house.

The schools there are very good, however, I found the folks at Gateway Elementary to be very strict, pushy, elitist and judgmental. I was very pleased with Las Flores Elementary however. Children can get a good education and upbringing in Ridgecrest, but there is a culture there where kids' (older) main goal is to be cool, which usually involves neglecting studies to impress friends. I found there to be a huge drug problem along with high rate of teen pregnancy. I knew more young Ridgecresters who had dropped out of high school than had actually finished, it's unfortunate. Ultimately, it is up to the parents as to how well their kids do, as is the case with anywhere.

[Ambrecht]

Just wanted to give another perspective to people considering ridgecrest. As the topic creator mentioned, Ridgecrest is not for everyone. Here's what I will have to say.

I moved here in 2000 from Oxnard CA and went to highschool in ridgecrest for three years. Just random memories from when I first got here : So many white cars, churches EVERYWHERE, relatively zero grafitti, and people mentioning they dont lock their doors at night!!

It was a bit of a culture shock. So anyways, went to college in San Diego, graduated, and decided that for what I want to do, China Lake had the best offer and now I find myself back in Ridgecrest at the age of 22. Here's why.

I feel that you need to enjoy the simple things in life to like Ridgecrest. Yes, Bakersfield and Lancaster are where you would go if you wanted to go to the mall or Costco (say 90ish miles away) . Yes, if you are use to a big city, the restaurant/bar and shopping situation might not be ideal for you. However, if you enjoy a slower pace of life and feeling relaxed... I say Ridgecrest is pretty good for that. I gave up several job opportunities in San Diego because it was too hectic for me and the fact that I would be paying outta my eyeballs for a decent place to live.

So here's just a lil more to add on to what i am poorly trying to say.

Pro's:
- Friendly "small" town feel
- Open views
- Cheaper housing
- Really in the middle of some awesome areas of California (given they may be 2+ hours away)
- Not much in the likes of graffiti and gangs
- You could essentially ride your dirtbike from your driveway to the desert (given you dont live in the CENTER of town) This place is awesome for riding.
-Clean Air
-Outdoor hobbies are easy to get into. Meaning, you dont have to go far to go fishing, dirtbiking, hiking, camping, anything, it's really got that going for it.


Con's:
- Some of the businesses in town act like they don't want your money... i kid you not, require some type of service? hope you have had better luck than I have.
- Not much in terms of eating out if you are that type of person, thankfully I am not.
- You have really smart people that work out here, and then you have the white trailer trash type of people.... actually, it's pretty amusing.
- The Roads are horrible!
-Summer heat


I basically wanted to live somewhere that I could buy a nice house relatively soon (that isn't half a mil and only 1000 sq ft) and get out of the city. The commute to work rocks! hah.

[David Aguilar]

Hi Ambrecht! Ha, someone that moved from Ridgecrest to San Diego after high school, who would of guessed?

Just kidding.

Yes, there are churches everywhere, actually I think Norma St. should be Church Ave.

I never knew anybody that didn't lock their doors at night, people in Ridgecrest seemed to be smart in that respect, because not locking your doors anywhere I think is ridiculous. It's just one of those things small town people like to brag about (not needing to lock your doors).

I don't blame you for wanting to leave San Diego, can't really enjoy life if you are paying through the nose for housing, along with knowing you will probably never be able to purchase a decent house. I don't understand why people live in overpriced areas, it just isn't worth it, when in reality you probably are only paying for geographical features, or a "prime" location.

You are definitely right about the businesses in town, they act like they are doing you a favor by being there, same holds true for auto repair shops. There really is a contrast in types of people out there, you have the well educated, and the dropouts, probably in equal amounts.

I hope you don't miss San Diego (or city life in general). Being young, I hope you don't run out of things to do, but hey at least you'll be paying a lot less for living expenses.