Youngins looking for a "affordable" place in Southern Cali. Help residents please. (San Diego: fit in, apartments)

[Itzpdoe]

Hey guys, I've been wanting to live in Southern Cali for awhile now. I live in Florida at the moment and i LOVE the beach life. I just want some information on some towns in South Cali that are close to the beach, close to a college, and moderately safe. Here's a little info about me just so you see what i'm working with. I'm planing to reside in Cali after my service in the Marines, planning on going to college some where in Cali, i'll be splitting the price of the living area with two other dudes. We're all young.

[dexter14]

Affordable and close to the beach? I LOL'd

[Itzpdoe]

hahaha thats what i've heard. Is there affordable places in south cali?

[Itzpdoe]

Also the marines pay for my living cost by my zip code. So it makes it a bit easier.

[sponger42]

It's SoCal, not "Cali".

Port Hueneme is your best bet; it's inexpensive and reasonably safe for three dudes in the Marines. I wouldn't plan on raising a family there, but you'll be able to find apartments and maybe even a house you can buy walking distance from the water. The surf is pretty decent there, and there's lots of great spots within easy driving distance.

It's warm enough in the summer, but not the beach-babe scene of San Diego or even LA. The beach is more central California; big dirty sand with cobblestones and lots of washed up logs and seaweed. There's a huge military base surrounding the town, so you should have plenty of opportunity for job/life connections if your current or ex-marines.

Being comfortable with Hispanic people and the military is a must for this area. Also, there's a pretty significant drug and criminal presence, compared to more expensive nearby areas, but nothing like South Central LA. If you don't make yourself or your car/apartment a target by owning flashy stuff or getting involved with drugs, you should be fine.

For college, you can commute up to Santa Barbara (far, but not bad if you don't have classes every day), or down to Pepperdine (not so far, but incredibly expensive since it's private, in Malibu, and not a UC school). If you're not picky, you might find a low-level college nearby for cheap.

Be aware that this won't be at all like the Florida beach scene. You're going to be pretty firmly in the Central California beach culture, which is more pickup trucks, hot coffee, hoodies, and thick wetsuits for dawn patrols with 40-degree air and 55-degree water in winter when the surf is good. Summertime you'll have local families and local girls out on the sand, and you can hang out in your boardies at midday for a few months. But the surf culture is more about charging waves rather than chilling on the boardwalk Baywatch style.

Down south closer to LA and San Diego, where it's warmer, there's pretty much nothing you're going to call "affordable" within 2-3 miles of the water. You can go way inland (30 minutes drive) to places like El Cajone, if you're willing to be away from the beach culture.

[sponger42]

If the Marines are picking up the tab, try just south of Camp Pendleton in Oceanside or Carlsbad. Definitely Baywatch down there, with decent surf.

Generally, the closer you are to a military base, the higher the crime and the lower the cost of housing. The north side of Pendleton is fancy, though, for some reason.

[Itzpdoe]

Thank you for your response sponger! We have no intent in raising a family. Yet at least. I think I could fit in sense i'm hispanic myself and I know spanish.
I was orginally looking forward to having a place in Santa Barbara since the college there intrest me but I've heard its super expensive. I'm not much of the surfer but I have no doubt i'd pick it up in Cali since its something I've always wanted to do. How big is wakeboarding over in SoCal?

[sponger42]

Cali again.

There's pretty much every sport you can think of out here. Wakeboarding is going to be big on inland lakes like Casitas, Lake Mead, or maybe the Salton Sea. The ocean is far too rough for any sort of towing besides tow surfing. I only know surfing, myself, but pretty much every sport has a ton of enthusiasts out here. They generally are composed of:

1. Weekend warriors - Wage slaves who live in a midwestern-style house/yard/suburb (to give their kids good schools, dog, etc) and drive to the mountains/lake/coast to squeeze in a little time doing sport X... badly.
2. Rich kids - "Bros" who have the family money to spend their early lives doing sport X. They do not do not walk, drive, climb, or any verb other than "rock".
3. Burnouts - Same as 2, but without family money, so they hold down whatever job in order to do as much of sport X as possible.
4. Locals - Lucky a-holes who somehow happen to live near sport X spots and integrate a [un]healthy amount of sport X into their normal lives. Also includes retirees.
5. Yuppies - White collar guys with no family obligations who have money and time to do a lot of sport X [and Y and Z].

I've sorta been every category except for 2. The surf scene in Hueneme only has 3's & 4's.

SB is crazy expensive and has a real yupster vibe. You can live there if you really want to, just plan on high rents and kinda stuffy people. I don't know how the college kids are. Its sunnier and warmer than Ventura County (where Hueneme is) due to the local wind patterns and such. Unfortunately, there's no cheap options unless you go far enough north to be in Santa Ynez. I know nothing about that town. It is near a big lake, so maybe wakeboarding. No idea about commuting down to UCSB. Driving to UCSB from Hueneme is probably an hour 1-way as I hear traffic is horrible. Pretty coastline drive, though. If your classes let you avoid the rush hours it might be a little better.

Ventura is a cheaper option than Santa Barbara, and I like it better, but Hueneme is the place to go for low rents.

[Itzpdoe]

Oh haha my bad. Thats going to be hard to get used to since i'm used to saying and hearing Cali. I'm guessing people that actually live there dont call it "cali" haha.
You know a lot about Cal sounds like Sponger. Thanks for all your help really appreciating it! As i've been wanting to be Cal living for a long time.
That's interesting. Here in Florida its very possible. I'll check those towns out as I would rather live by a lake so I could wakeboard. I just dont want to live too far away from the beach. Close enough were I can be involved, if you know what I mean.
yeah SB looks beautiful but i'm afraid its wayy out of my budget. I dont want to be working just to pay for rent. I want to be able to enjoy Cal's beautiful weather and have money on the side to do as you would say "sport x" haha.

[sponger42]

"SoCal" or "California" not "Cal" Lol. I've never heard anyone say CentCal, and rarely NorCal. Sounds like snorkeling through your nose. Cali is fine until you live here.

I really love Ventura. There's cheaper places to live in the valley to the West, up Ventura Avenue. That's an area with a lot of homeless and some crime, but it's pretty tame compared to LA proper. There's some streets where I'd consider raising a family, and if I was a single guy I wouldn't think twice about pretty much the whole thing. However, the avenue isn't as cheap as Hueneme. You are pretty close to the water (easy bike ride) but it's closest to C-street, which is a cobblestone and boulder beach for surfers. A half-mile down the boardwalk and it turns into sand and (very hardy in summertime) beach bunnies.

There's a pretty fun bar and club scene in Ventura. It's an older crowd than the college partiers of SB, but not that much older. If you're going to school after your done with a few years worth of TODs, you'd probably be the perfect age to fit in with the locals at many of the spots. There's lots of military around. Also, being within biking distance (or a long walk) of downtown saves you the risk of DUI's.

West Ventura is the shortest commute to UCSB without actually being a millionaire, but again, I would only consider it if you can schedule your classes so you don't have to hit the rush hours. The drive is very pretty, though.

All that said, Ventura and Santa Barbara are sleepy beach towns compared to LA and San Diego. The scene is more wine-or-dive bars and hanging out with friends instead of dance clubs. If I was in my early 20's and still looking for action, I'd gravitate closer to LA proper. Ventura is a good place to settle down to family matters later in life, IMO. Then again, if you don't care about the city scene and you prefer the outdoorsy wilder side of the California coastline (without going all the way up north), it might be about right.