Where do I go now? (Los Angeles, San Jose: apartment, rent, job market)

[shanond]

I just don't know what to do with myself. I am almost 24 and can't decide where to move next. I am not inclined to move back near family, I quite enjoy being at least a 3 hr drive from them. My SOs family is about 45 min away which we would like to change. So as you may see in previous of posts of mine I have been looking EVERYWHERE from Sacramento to napa( which doesnt seem to great) ALL THE WAY DOWN THE LINE San Jose to Monterey to SLO county. I am a small town girl so San Fran, or LA are not for me. As far as COL we have a roommate so can afford up to 1200/mo. Some things about us:
-We all work in the food industry! My roomie and I are both line cooks, and have managerial experience. I graduated college with a chef certificate as well as a baking cert.
-I wanna bake! Or cater, but no more damn line cooking! If I must, I will line cook but ideally I would like to bake in a large production bakery to get experience and maybe open up a shop somewhere ONE DAY.
-My SO is an artist of sorts(mostly paintings and sculpting) and is a very simple person who does not want nor need much nor do I. He is a prep cook and barista right now. We just want to live somewhere that sparks our creativity and inspires us to do great things.
- We aren't into a crazy nightlife.
- We have one dog(purebred Aussie shepherd) who has lived in an apartment since she was 9 weeks old. She will be a year old by the time we start looking for places. She is vaccinated and will be getting spayed next month.
- I would like to bicycle or walk to work.
-Ideally, I want this place to be the last move. But we are all young, so I am aware that this in unlikely.

The places that are sticking out to me are Monterey and Paso Robles/ Atascadero, all of which I have never been. I've been to Santa Cruz and pismo beach but never right in these cities. Monterey is highly appealing for the obvious reasons like being seaside, the jobs seem plentiful for our expertise as well as being able to walk and cycle places. I heard it is starting to get cruddy though?? I grew up on the low class end of the spetrum and am used to visiting family in fresno so I am not some snooty person who is all that concerned for how manicured the lawns are and kids playing in culdesacs with the bads areas of town. I can handle that kind of cruddy. Paso and Atascadero seem nice because of rent but I hear we will be competing with college students for housing. I also am not sure about the job market over there.

Another thing I am having a hard time with is choosing to live somewhere cheaper like in Sonora and just work at a savemart bakery or something. But I feel like that is settling, and that I should just go live in different places where there are better opportunities but are more expensive to live because int he end it will be worth the little bit of hard times.

I need some words of wisdom people! Thanks for reading my long naive thread.

[nightlysparrow]

Look at Palm Springs, with its many gourmet restaurants and catering services. It also has a heavy focus on the arts, galleries, art festivals, etc. Still affordable despite many affluent people in the area. Even has its own airport. Naturally your ability to tolerate a desert climate is a factor.

Another option is Ventura, which has some good restaurants and a good arts focus, but your budget would be very tight for even a 1-bedroom. Nearby in Oxnard some rents are lower, but the restaurants there are mostly chains. Naturally your ability to tolerate a seaside climate is a factor.

Both have 2 hour access to Los Angeles, where there are large commercial bakeries, a large market for artists, and, well, you know.