Paradise ca (Chico, Ukiah, Susanville: homes, college, living)

[tootska]

What is Paradise like ? I am thinking about moving there and would like some input ! Thanks, Tootska

[WINNIEK]

What is your definition of paradise? What it is that you are looking for and where are you leaving from?

[LivingLikeAGradStudent]

The town Paradise? Near Chico? A friend of mine lives there and likes its rural-meets-suburban feel, not that far from a college town. Isolated from real cities but not a bad choice.

[tootska]

Originally Posted by WINNIEK

What is your definition of paradise? What it is that you are looking for and where are you leaving from?

I am looking for sunny weather, live in Wa. state now. My idea of paradise is nice weather, acreage for horses, not too many neighbors but close enough to a medium size town ! I had heard that Paradise, Ca. is a nice place to live.
I would like to hear more about Paradise Ca. Thanks, tootska

[tootska]

Originally Posted by LivingLikeAGradStudent

The town Paradise? Near Chico? A friend of mine lives there and likes its rural-meets-suburban feel, not that far from a college town. Isolated from real cities but not a bad choice.

Yes, the town Paradise. I would like get more info about it. Thanks, Tootska

[recycled]

Paradise, CA (the town) is in the Sierra Nevada foothills about 13 miles northeast of Chico, CA. My mother and step father lived there for many years. I never lived there, but I know the area well and spent a lot of time around there. I like the area, very pretty trees and varied topography - not hardly a flat place anywhere to be found. Paradise is built along several large ridges that range in elevation from about 1800 to 2500 feet. Summers are usually very nice - lots of people get by with little or no AC if they are above 2000' elevation and in a forest area.
Not much growth around Paradise any more because nearly all land available for development has been built on. Even though they get (some years) 70+ inches of rain in winter and spring, the town has often been on water limitations because they don't have a large reservoir for water storage during the 6 month long dry season (usually april - october). Paradise attracted lots of retired people in the 1980s and 90s, which still shows up on the older average age around there.
If you like exploring back roads country on dirt roads, there are thousands of miles of back roads in the foothills and mountains to the east. Mt Lassen and Lake Almanor areas are true gems. Not much in Paradise for entertainment, dining or shopping beyond the basic stuff. Chico is loaded with options in those areas. I would enjoy living around Chico because there pretty much everything you need right there, don't hardly need a car around town. People in Paradise wear out the highway to Chico driving there to get and do practically everything.

[judylew]

I was checking out the area, too. I was actually looking at Magalia which is a little further north of Paradise. Of the two, I preferred Paradise. Either one just wasn't for me. If you like small town living you'll like both places. The people in Paradise were very friendly. I happened to go the weekend when Johnny Appleseed Days were going on and the town was crowded. I may be wrong but it seemed there was only one road going there from Chico and the traffic was pretty heavy (again it was Johnny Appleseed Days). From that trip I discovered that I liked cities that were a little bigger. I have friends who love it there, though.

[tootska]

Thanks for the info ! Tootska

[lainie]

We have been researching Paradise as a possible retirement location and have discovered that all the homes have septic tanks...there is no city sewage treatment facility. Another poster mentioned occasional water limitations. However, these are probably minor concerns. We visited the city about 10 years ago and were impressed with the setting and the friendliness of the people.

[Woof]

There are quite a few ranches in Northern Cal that can have very reasonable prices, but you want to avoid killer heat or too much snow in some of the areas. If Paradise doesn't have good horse acreage I'd look on a map and locate cities of about the size you want to be near .... maybe Yreka, Red Bluff, Susanville, Ukiah .... I'm not sure of your exact needs .... maybe take a car ride down I5, then head out over to the west or to the east. Maybe go from Chico up to Paradise and on to Quincy and Susanville.

You can find out online newspapers or realtors in these areas to see if they have the kind of properties you need. For example you might google

"Siskiyou County" horse ranch