Moving To Gilroy (San Jose, Fresno, Morgan Hill: neighborhood, high school, college)

[operastar08]

So, I'm southern, originally from North Carolina and I have just graduated from college in Ohio. I am moving to Gilroy in August and I wanted to know more about the city from someone who lives there, or around there. My fiance will be teaching at a local high school and I am opera singer, what can we expect? We can't seem to get a constant answer from any relocation agency and I don't want to be too surprised.

[krudmonk]

Gilroy is in transition from hick town to suburb. It's in a nice region, though, so scenery is plentiful.

[ferretkona]

Garlic capital of the world. You can smell the garlic as you drive thru town. I would not have thought it big enough to have a high school.

I would take a flight or train out and check it out before moving. It is a great part of the state but it may not be large enough for some people.

[Capt. Dan]

Gilroy is in a nice part of the state. It DOES have a highschool. Although it is far enough from SF and San Jose to not be as expensive as those 2 cities, I think you, being from NC will go into sticker shock!

[sonarrat]

I used to spend a lot of time there because I lived in Morgan Hill. The main shopping center, with a Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Lowe's, and Costco (yes, all in the same place!!) is at the junction of 101 and 152 coming from Fresno and Los Banos, so it's incredibly popular and almost intolerable during the holidays. Very hot during the summer, heavy Mexican flavor.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

Very hot during the summer

Yeah, that's what I remember from my trip to the garlic festival a couple years ago. It was so hot, people were crowded under any bit of shade they could find (tents, shadows from semi trailers, etc) like animals in African under the lone shade tree on the savanna.

[Don Vito]

Gilroy has a lot going for it i think. Outlett mall has some cool stores. Eagle ridge is a wonderful neighborhood with a top rated golf course. Gilroy is more of a commuter suburb/exurb. A farm town sort of tansitioning into a suburb. Most consider it the outskirts of the south bay. The end of the line before you get into the hinterlands. Affordable housing for middle class people, access to san jose and san fransisco via Caltrain, have attracted many people to the city. A couple kids who i knew in college who grew up there said it was boring. I could immagine this. One of the things that has helped gilroy as opposed to other inland towns like tracy, antioch, and fairfield did not do is they controlled their growth. They knew when and where to develop, like brentwood and didnt glut the whole area with massive tract developments. Im pretty sure the population of gilroy is around 40,000 so it gets pretty sleepy sometimes, which is nice because it keeps it safe. Outside of a few "barrio's" as locals call it, there usually isnt too much crime. Demographics of the city pretty much is whites are a majority but hispanics are only a few percentils behind. This is the case with most inland california towns, and gilroy is no exception...very rich in hispanic culture and history. Over all the city gave off a sleepy commuter town middle class vibe.