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Old 10-10-2014, 05:09 PM
 
Location: Northern Colorado
4,932 posts, read 12,703,933 times
Reputation: 1363

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Quote:
Originally Posted by nightlysparrow View Post
I was being nice. And I was being informative. I am very familiar with Chicago and its metro, and I also know SB & SLO Counties well (live 1 county south). There is a drastic difference between the Chicago metro and the Central Coast, and I was illustrating that for the OP.

For one thing, Cook County (Chicago) has 5.2 million people, not even counting the surrounding suburban counties! The combined population of the 2 counties where the OP wants to move is only 711,000 (SB County has 435,00, and SLO has 276,000). Quite a contrast.

Also, Chicago's suburbs often share a contiguous border with the city; there is no separation. But in the CA Central Coast area, there are greater distances people need to drive to get to other towns, entertainment, better shopping (not just Wal-Mart or Target, sorry) and other activities. Not so in the metro Chicago area. The City of Chicago is very compact by California standards---only 22 miles long and 8 miles wide! Even the suburbs are not that far out. By contrast, it's 80 miles from SLO to SB, and SLO is itself far from a major city---220 miles to LA and 220 miles to SF. This would impact the need for international airports, cutting-edge medical centers, national entertainment performances, and other big-city assets, which the OP may be used to having a lot closer at hand.
I was talking about the Santa Maria bashing...
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Old 10-10-2014, 07:47 PM
 
Location: TOVCCA
8,452 posts, read 14,946,733 times
Reputation: 12528
rmigolf3, have you toured these areas with Google Street View? Strongly suggest this if not. Some of those towns are very picturesque but tiny. Very tiny. SY is a few streets. Solvang is a repo of a Danish village, has a town feel with lots of shops and restaurants, cute, and gets the most tourism.

You may do better trying to rent a house than an apartment in all the chosen areas.

House for rent in SY: http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...0_M27426-45109

Apartment complex in Solvang: Alisal Oaks Floor Plan
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Old 10-10-2014, 08:47 PM
 
Location: Northern Colorado
4,932 posts, read 12,703,933 times
Reputation: 1363
Quote:
Originally Posted by nightlysparrow View Post
rmigolf3, have you toured these areas with Google Street View? Strongly suggest this if not. Some of those towns are very picturesque but tiny. Very tiny. SY is a few streets. Solvang is a repo of a Danish village, has a town feel with lots of shops and restaurants, cute, and gets the most tourism.

You may do better trying to rent a house than an apartment in all the chosen areas.

House for rent in SY: http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...0_M27426-45109

Apartment complex in Solvang: Alisal Oaks Floor Plan
Each one has about 5,000 population or 4,000 population. Orcutt has 28,000 population.
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Old 10-10-2014, 10:40 PM
 
Location: TOVCCA
8,452 posts, read 14,946,733 times
Reputation: 12528
Quote:
Originally Posted by the city View Post
I was talking about the Santa Maria bashing...
LOL, I knew exactly what you meant. And I stand by my opinion of Santa Maria. But by all means, please extoll the unique virtues of the city. I would like to explore them on my next visit.

Orcutt may be nicer, but it's not a city; it's like the more affluent side of the tracks of Santa Maria. But it's run by Santa Maria.

The differences in ethnic makeup are significant, even though there is no "official" boundary---68% Hispanic in Santa Maria, 21% in Orcutt. The stark contrast, separated by only a few blocks, makes me wonder what is going on there, frankly.
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Old 10-10-2014, 10:45 PM
 
Location: Northern Colorado
4,932 posts, read 12,703,933 times
Reputation: 1363
Quote:
Originally Posted by nightlysparrow View Post
LOL, I knew exactly what you meant. And I stand by my opinion of Santa Maria. But by all means, please extoll the unique virtues of the city. I would like to explore them on my next visit.

Orcutt may be nicer, but it's not a city; it's like the more affluent side of the tracks of Santa Maria. But it's run by Santa Maria.

The differences in ethnic makeup are significant, even though there is no "official" boundary---68% Hispanic in Santa Maria, 21% in Orcutt. The stark contrast, separated by only a few blocks, makes me wonder what is going on there, frankly.
Orcutt is not run by Santa Maria. Orcutt has it's own school district, governed by the county of Santa Barbara, and enough space in between to be completely different.
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Old 06-19-2015, 11:35 PM
 
Location: Southwest
720 posts, read 800,120 times
Reputation: 770
Default And right now, in 2015

Quote:
Originally Posted by the city View Post
Orcutt is not run by Santa Maria. Orcutt has it's own school district, governed by the county of Santa Barbara, and enough space in between to be completely different.
Orcutt is in full gentrification swing, with new businesses established and more coming in to a delightfully growing Old Orcutt. It is close to the ocean one way and close to wine and horse ranching country the other way. I think Orcutt rocks compared to Santa Maria and Lompoc.

I wonder where the OP ending up living?
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Old 06-22-2015, 12:41 PM
 
5 posts, read 8,171 times
Reputation: 20
We ended up finding a place in the northern part of Grover Beach, near the border of Pismo Beach. SLO and the beach communities north of Grover Beach were too expense for us to purchase anything, and the rental market was very tough for us to find something of good quality that would allow dogs.

We're making the move in mid-July, which is about 3-4 months later than we were anticipating. Nevertheless, we're looking forward to all that SLO County and central CA have to offer.
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Old 06-22-2015, 04:58 PM
 
Location: Santa Maria
54 posts, read 95,410 times
Reputation: 56
Sounds like a good location. I hope you love it. The winters will be easier than Chicago!
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Old 02-20-2017, 11:17 PM
 
22 posts, read 23,556 times
Reputation: 49
Default questions on weather and hiking

Hi, hope you don't mind my jumping in, I just got a project offer in Santa Marie for the summer, couple of questions on orcutt, what is the weather like? is it hot like atascadero in the summer or cold like the monterey bay area? Also, I'm a hiker, are there many places for hiking closeby? Thanks!!!
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