Considering moving here from Minnesota, any advice? (San Diego, San Francisco: school, salary)

[wasel]

ATL has a very large LBGT community and obviously hugely African American. Ticks a lot of your boxes.

[Another Place]

And since some of you decided to talk about "hotdish."

I always thought hotdish was the gorgeous blonde sitting at the end of the bar!

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by Another Place

And since some of you decided to talk about "hotdish."

I always thought hotdish was the gorgeous blonde sitting at the end of the bar!

Indeed she was! Until I sobered up the next morning!

[boulder2015]

Originally Posted by Another Place

When people say they want to move to California for the weather what they mean is that little daydream or fantasy that keeps playing up in their little Stegasaurus/pea-sized brain of theirs; the one of Palm trees, girls in bikinis throwing frisbies to each other on the beach and the soft sunny glow reflecting off their windshield as they drive past the front gates of Paramount studios...That fantasy.

As you and a few others have pointed out; California is a large state and has all different types of weather relating to different types of geographical areas.

Take for instance beach weather. The ocean and beach weather is completely different in San Diego compared to Huntington Beach which is in no way even remotely like Pismo Beach or Carmel, Half Moon Bay, San Francisco, Eureka.

Besides the beach there's Yosemite, Death Valley, Sacramento etc,...

A person really has to sit down and decide why they want to move to California. Whether it's a move relating work, education, or just a plain old superficial one, like wanting the California lifestyle - which is slowly disappearing.

While i agree with you about the diversity of the weather, i think many are not as naive as you claim. It is not so much what CA is as what it is NOT: humid, buggy, or 40 below in winter. Even a place with "rough" weather by ca standards like eureka or bakersfield or south tahoe pails next to missouri, minn, ohio, etc. Personally i no longer consider the weather wotth the other headaches but i dont blame someone who has lived a lifetime in buffalo for fantasizing of ca... ANY part of ca.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by boulder2015

i dont blame someone who has lived a lifetime in buffalo for fantasizing of ca... ANY part of ca.

People live in Buffalo?

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Indeed she was! Until I sobered up the next morning!

And then you had to gnaw your arm off to make your getaway!

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

And then you had to gnaw your arm off to make your getaway!

Oh hell: I quit drinking!

[Another Place]

Originally Posted by boulder2015

While i agree with you about the diversity of the weather, i think many are not as naive as you claim. It is not so much what CA is as what it is NOT: humid, buggy, or 40 below in winter. Even a place with "rough" weather by ca standards like eureka or bakersfield or south tahoe pails next to missouri, minn, ohio, etc. Personally i no longer consider the weather wotth the other headaches but i dont blame someone who has lived a lifetime in buffalo for fantasizing of ca... ANY part of ca.

True...true...and I understand what you are saying, but - I keep seeing the same type of posts from people wanting to move to California and it seems they have this dillusional idea of not just the weather, but what California really is. Back when I was in high school in the late 70's a guy transferred to my school and he was from New York. When we first started talking to him and asked what he thought of the place he said it wasn't anything like what he had thought it would be. He told us that all his friends believed that everyone in California, no matter what city they lived in, owned a surfboard and knew at least one celebrity. And this was 1978-79.

There is a big difference between a 20-year old back in 1975 packing up and throwing all their worldly possessions in the back of their Toyota and leaving their hometown in Iowa and heading to L.A. To "Make It Big" compared to the same 20-year old today from Iowa. The main difference that is so important is the technology that we live around, specifically cable TV and the Internet. You have no idea how much this affects people's attitudes and perceptions about the world around them. Twenty-year olds today have lived their whole lives in the presence of technology. Even as an adult they have that deep repressed memory of being a baby trying to wrestle their parents cell phone from them or being handed an IPad to be entertained while their mother goes about her housework. And so much of what plays into their perceptions relates to all areas of the entertainment industry. I don't know when it actually started but it must have been somewhere in the mid-nineties with the advent of reality shows that many people begin to really fixate on celebrities.

Back when I was growing up and through the 80's while I was getting my college degrees the only people who concerned themselves with celebrities or what was happening in Hollywood, along with who bought People magazine or tabloids, were your average Memaw, lonely housewife or dingbat college girl who was obsessed with her favorite soap opera. Today you can walk past a construction site and these big huge guys with hardhats are getting into arguments over Brangelina or Team Aniston. It's insane.

Unless they're moving here for a job transfer or the area of study they want to pursue can only be found at one of our universities, I really question the motives of any young person wanting to move here. I understand being young and wanting excitement around you 24-7 but so much of what I hear coming from young people relates to TV show, movies, actors and anything connected to that lifestyle. And what they fantasize about doesn't really exist - or at least in the way that they perceive it. Look - I was studying Marine Biology in Santa Barbara and had this epiphany that I should be making movies. Now, I had been shooting 8mm, Double 8, Super 8 and 16mm film since I was a kid, and I was a kid in the 60's. While I was in film school one of the things suggested to me was to get work as an extra. I wasn't interested in acting but my teachers told me that while being an extra I could watch how everyone worked on a film set, but most importantly, how a director blocked and instructed his actors. Being an extra was the most boring, and biggest waist of time I ever experienced. And since I live in a beach city the agency I worked for always sent me to shoots that were on the beach. I was always that young long-haired guy that was either waxing his surfboard or working at a shaved ice stand that the detectives came up and talked to. They'd come up to me, show me a picture, and my line was always something like this, "Oh yeah, he's over there," and I'd point. Or, I'd say, "Yeah I know him, but I haven't seen him around for awhile.". I did that same thing so many times in those 80's detective TV shows. And you know the best part, I almost never got paid. And if I did it was something like 30 bucks.

What I'm trying to say is that so many of our young people have grown up constantly being bombarded by media and technology and it has a profound impact on the way they look at the world around them. In college I took a class in my department relating to mass media and it was entitled Mind Control and Personal Freedom. I know how radio, TV and Film is used to manipulate people's attitudes about things. Once "they" get into your mind it's all over.

But yeah - overall California has good weather. My rant is over...

[Ceece]

Like everyone says, finish your education wherever you are and I would also get some strong experience before trying to move somewhere super expensive. Even then you'll be patch-working your existence with part time jobs and rotating roommates I'm afraid. It's not an easy or friendly place these days no matter who you are.


"I'd like to respond to the "tolerance" portion of your post. It amazes me how many times I see posts from out of state people wanting to move to CA and are concerned about places that may not be tolerant of LGBT people or whatever group...I'm making sure not to hit my cap button."

Coming from the opposite direction I think most posters asking these questions hope or think CA is a LGBT+++ mecca where everyone is open and welcoming of all lifestyles. That's just not the case. Mostly CA is a tolerant state and you won't be less safe because of your gender identity specifically. But people are people there is a limit to everyone's tolerance and you never know what it is until you run up against it.

[Dmitri95]

Originally Posted by wasel

ATL has a very large LBGT community and obviously hugely African American. Ticks a lot of your boxes.

ATL is cold in winter. I think Miami or New Orleans would be better for the OP.

OP, I'd recommend LA or San Diego for what you want. San Francisco is chilly and foggy for much of the year--even colder in summer than MN. Also, if you like rain and humidity, CA isn't the place for you. It's been suffering from a serious drought for years and isn't humid in the summer, except for the occasional monsoon coming from the desert southwest. CA is also very expensive, in particular the Bay Area.