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Up until now I've been looking for small towns in Northern California for relocation (from Oakland, originally from Maine). I love Paradise, Mt. Shasta and surrounding towns, Weaverville, foothill towns like Angel's Camp. I like mountains and nice scenery with lots of parks. A little snow is nice. A place where I would be able to buy a house with an acre in the next few years on a teacher's salary is a must. Animals (small livestock and a bevy of cats) have to be welcomed. Ideally an already established animal rescue community. I don't need nightlife or entertainment - I don't use it living in the city and won't miss it. I see a movie in a theater once or twice a year, for instance.
But it looks like things might be lining up for a job in the Lone Pine area, making me have to rearrange my whole thought process about this. For one, not living in Northern California - I've never considered anything else. More remote (not necessarily a bad thing to me, just something to get used to). A farther ride from where I am now, precluding making a lot of visits back to Oakland.
So I've read a few things on this forum about Bishop and Lone Pine, but it was kind of vague. I've looked at the stats too, but what I'm really looking for is a "feeling" about the place. Can anyone describe to me what it's like to live in one of these eastern sierra 395 towns - how often do you go shopping, what do you do during the day, etc. What does it look like? Can it be compared to any of the towns I mentioned previously?
I'm planning on driving out to some weekend this May ... I do have a friend who lives out that way who can hopefully show me some of the ropes. But I'd love to have an idea before I spend all that gas Will I like it?
Since it is on the eastern side of the Sierra Neveda Mountains, it is in somewhat of a rain shadow and it receives less rain. It is probably kind of dry. My impression from trekking up to Mammoth and June for skiing, backpacking or fishing over the past 30 years is that it is kind of isolated. Some people might like that.
You might want to research new developments in the Owens Valley water story. There is a historical animosity between the Owens Valley and the City of Los Angeles. Has to do with water. I saw an LA Times photo of Mayor V doing something out there - maybe a publicity stunt...maybe legitimate restitution?? I don't know...look it up.
Some of those animal interests might not be supported in a smaller town??? I don't know. Bishop is about an hour north; it's the biggest town for things like chain shopping or eating.
So I've read a few things on this forum about Bishop and Lone Pine, but it was kind of vague. I've looked at the stats too, but what I'm really looking for is a "feeling" about the place. Can anyone describe to me what it's like to live in one of these eastern sierra 395 towns - how often do you go shopping, what do you do during the day, etc. What does it look like? Can it be compared to any of the towns I mentioned previously?
I know all the towns up 395 from LA, been through them and stopped in them hundreds of times, even had friends who lived in Lone Pine and Bishop.
The most important thing is that these are small towns, Bishop is the biggest, Lone Pine one of the smaller towns, and there is virtually NOTHING between them and NOTHING outside of town. Shopping is very limited and you're fortunate you don't need any nightlife because that's probably limited to drinking in a few bars. Get that satellite TV. You'll need it.
The area is surrounded by desert, what we call the 'upper' desert. As said above, rain shadow and all that. You won't see much snow and if you do don't expect it to stick to the ground. Winters are cold, summers are hot. The High Sierra mountains are a very short distance west of Lone Pine. Several small streams flow out of the mountains and you might find one or two with trout. In fact the outdoors are where most people find their recreation; hunting, fishing, hiking, exploring, horse back riding, skiing up at Mammoth and June Lake. The best fishing spots are north of Bishop, on up to Bridgeport, and you've got more streams, rivers and lakes than you can shake a stick at! There's some interesting ghost towns to explore, Aurora and Bodie, and not too far to the south you've got Death Valley, very pretty for desert lovers. I like it.
You wouldn't want to live in Lone Pine unless you have employment there. It's quite a small town but the people I've met were friendly, just not very many of 'em.
You'll have to drive to LA for major shopping. Mojave is on the way but forget about it. Well that's about it for me, feel free to ask if you want any elaboration or if you have any questions I didn't cover. I haven't lived in Lone Pine but I expect I know more than most people know about it. The biggest benefit for living in Lone Pine (for me) would be the pretty mountains to the west, the quiet and peace of living in a small town, and the convenience to the outdoor recreational possibilities up in Bishop to Bridgeport. The biggest liabilities would be long drives to serious shopping and zero anything for teenagers or young adults unless they like horses and fishing and that stuff.
If this is what you want then you'll probably like it.
By "major shopping", what exactly do you mean? I wouldn't want to go to LA. I see that Ridgecrest is 1.5 hours drive away - what kinds of stores would they have? Basically I'd need a grocery store, a feed store, and some kind of Target/Walmart/Kmart/get-a-lot-of-different-kinds-of-stuff store, and I see Bishop has a Kmart. As it is here in Oakland, I can't think of any other retail I use on a regular basis!
I found an area animal rescue organization online I'm assuming the area is remote enough not to have to worry about zoning for animals? Though I don't know anything about zoning anywhere, frankly, so I could be wrong about that - please tell me if you know!
Employment would not be a concern because I'm only considering going to this area if I do take the particular job I've applied for. But whether I take it or not depends on what I think about this place!
It's just me, no kids, so no worry about entertaining anyone.
I guess I'm really just going to need to see this desert-scape... I've never lived in that environment before and my experience is limited to a drive to Utah through the desert 5 years ago. The quiet sounds very nice. Scenery is important and it does sound lovely, but different than what I always had in mind.
I guess as far as an airport, it's Las Vegas and a loooong drive? And when Tioga Pass is closed, to get to the Bay Area it would require driving south around the parks and then back north?
Actually I can't recall going through Ridgecrest although I know I have. Most likely it's not worth remembering. (Sorry, Ridgecrest.) There isn't enough population in Lone Pine to support big box stores, nor as far as I know not anywhere near by, not even Bishop, or at least not Bishop last time I looked (4-5 years ago, and Bishop is not what I would call a rapidly growing area). I'm sure there's at least one market in Lone Pine but not what I'd call a supermarket, and not a great selection of groceries either. If you can't find what you want in Ridgecrest you might try Barstow or Victorville, but you'd probably be better off shopping in Lancaster and Palmdale, or down into Los Angeles.
I'm pretty sure you'd find feed stores in Lone Pine, probably more than one. People have horses around there. They must have horse eats, right? I can't tell you about zoning, but wherever you live in Lone Pine I bet you could walk to where you could pet a cow, assuming you can run fast enough to catch one. (You can't.)
Some people like the desert, many don't. Lone Pine isn't as much a sand, sand and cactus desert. It's more of a sand and sagebrush and cattle desert although only parts have enough water and feed for cows. That's more or less generic for all 395, lots of BLM grazing land. Also lots of rocks and sand fit for nothing but rattlesnakes. I really love the desert although there are deserts and there are deserts, and the Owens valley is not my favorite desert. Death Valley is really close by and it's really pretty. IMO YMMV
There's airports up and down 395 but they are for private aircraft. Actually there are no major highways leading to Las Vegas (there are minor ones) so you'd probably find it more convenient to go down to Los Angeles, to Ontario, Burbank or LAX. The highways down to LA are multi-lane. The ones to Las Vegas are mostly one lane each direction.
If I were you, single and no kids (actually, same here) I would be a little concerned about social isolation. Myself, I would never move there for that very reason. You'd have to be pretty good making friends in small towns, and probably also not have any strong social needs. If you're religious you might meet friends that way. Or if you keep and ride horses, you might meet other horse enthusiasts. You said you teach so I presume you'd meet people through school.
It would be really good for you to go visit Lone Pine, get a motel and stay a few days and scout it out. The town's not very big. You could drive every street in a couple hours. Twice.
Here's a map for you. You would probably need to live a bit out of town if you want to keep a horse, or board your horse a bit out of town. Town is only a few blocks in any direction so you wouldn't need to go far.
Well, you've heard a lot about Lone Pine. I agree with most of what's been said. As for shopping, Ridgecrest is a decent option. It has all your basic amenities, though I'm not sure about everything (feed stores especially). There is at least a Kmart there, as there is in Bishop. Bishop is, more or less, the commerce center of the Owens Valley, so it has most everything you would need. Both Bishop and Ridgecrest offer most of the same amenities, such as the aforementioned Kmart, hardware stores, drug stores (i.e. RiteAid), restaurants, car dealerships, and so on. Bishop probably has more in the way of sporting goods, due mostly to its proximity to the "Eastern Sierra" which is a very popular recreation destination. Ridgecrest is the nearest town to the China Lake Naval Air Station, so it supports a lot of military personnel and their families. For this reason, I suspect that it offers more in the way of recreational facilities, such as movie theaters and possibly a bowling alley. Either of these towns is within just over an hour's drive of Lone Pine, so you have options in that area.
Lone Pine actually offers some amenities, too, though they are limited. I believe there is a hardware store there, a couple of sporting goods stores, as well as an Auto Parts store. There are also a few restaurants and at least one grocery store (Joseph's Bi-Rite Market). There is even a small airport, but no commercial flights in or out as far as I know.
Twenty miles north is another small town: Independence. Like Lone Pine, it has only a few amenities, but is a nice, quiet town that you might want to consider. It's only 40 miles from Bishop, so it might be a good compromise if you end up working in Lone Pine.
Big Pine is about 25 miles further north than Independence. It's another nice, quiet, small town with a few amenities. Of the towns mentioned, it has the fewest amenities of all of them. On the other hand, though, it's only about 15 miles from Bishop.
As for flying in or out of the area, about the only airport I know of with commercial flights is Mammoth, which is about 40 miles north of Bishop. I don't know how many flights there are, though, and I expect they are expensive. Ridgecrest may have commercial flights in and out, but I don't really know. Palmdale has a few, as well. Reno may be a better bet than Las Vegas because it's right up Highway 395 from Lone Pine and Bishop, though it's a 4 to 5 hour drive.
For traveling to the Bay area, Tioga pass is probably the most direct route. There are a few other passes north of there that are possibilities, too, though all of them are subject to winter closure. There is Monitor Pass and a couple others near Lake Tahoe.
Overall, I love the Owens Valley, especially the area around Bishop. I've stayed in all the towns I've mentioned, and have liked all of them. I would recommend that you visit the area, especially Lone Pine since that's where you would be working. Also check out some of the nearby communities to look at what your housing options would be. I would suggest that you stay north of Owens Lake, though, because of the blowing dust that it's famous for. If you have any other specific questions about the area, I'll do my best to help answer them.
Thanks, everyone, this is great info. Yes, if the job prospect goes anywhere, I'll definitely be out to visit. Even if I decide against the move, I'm now intrigued enough about this place to want to come check it out sometime anyway!
One thing my friend in that area told me - she said that rents are inexpensive compared to what I'm used to here in the Bay Area (she made the same move last year), but that real estate prices are still pretty high. That's a bummer to me, because I really am looking for a place where I can buy a house within a year or so. What do you think? Is this accurate or would it actually be possible to find a small house and an acre for under $250,000?
I think you are going to be more likely to afford a home in Lone Pine than in any metro area. However there is a down side; you will find it far more difficult to sell such a house if you decide you don't like the area. I recommend you rent for at least a year and then decide then if you like it enough to invest in home ownership. It would be foolish to do otherwise.
Please tell me you like at least one of the following: hiking, horseback riding, fishing, hunting, back packing, camping, skiing, exploring, back roading. If you have a solid "no" then I worry about you.
If you like hiking, camping or fishing (maybe hunting) then spend a few days and explore (north of Bishop) Rock Creek, Rock Creek lake, Crowley Lake, Convict Lake, Crowley Lake, Hot Creek, Mammoth Lakes, Devil's Postpile NM, June Lake loop, Lee Vining, Mono Lake, Bridgeport. This is your recreational playground if you move to the Owens Valley. If you don't love going there then maybe you'll be happier elsewhere.
Extra credit: Death Valley. Saline Valley.
Personally I'd never live there (anywhere in the Owens Valley) but I really love visiting all those areas, over and over. I couldn't live in a small town. It's just me. Nothing wrong with small towns.
Lone Pine is indeed very isolated. City-Data stats say that the 2000 census put the population at 1,655! I agree that it's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. And like most high desert areas, it can get extremely windy there.
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Will I like it?
I can't tell you about zoning, but wherever you live in Lone Pine I bet you could walk to where you could pet a cow, assuming you can run fast enough to catch one. 
I agree that it's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. And like most high desert areas, it can get extremely windy there.
