other towns that "feel" like Davis? (Los Angeles, San Diego: smog, motel)

[KyleM]

I recently posted a thread called "How would you systematically explore the state?" in which I explain that my husband and I are taking 6 weeks to check out towns around California. You might want to see that thread for a little more background regarding our situation (middle-aged, seeking more sun than Seattle, and unsure of our next jobs. Also, we will be renting.) ... but, here's my new inquiry:

So far we've been focusing around the Bay area, and we knew beforehand that most of those places would not be suitable because they are either too remote, too big or small, without much charm (Santa Rosa) or too chi-chi. Oakland and Berkeley have their attractions but we are trying to get away from the middle of a big population center and traffic. So, we crossed off Healdsburg, Sebastopol, Sonoma, Mendocino/Ft. Bragg, all the little wine towns, Walnut Creek, Concord, the Monterey Peninsula.

One place we DID like quite a lot, though, by poking around there for an afternoon, was Davis. It felt right. The vibe was good. It had parks, good cafes and lots of downtown street appeal, where people hang out. I understand that the students aren't there at the moment (even though we saw lots), and that the beautiful leafy canopy over the whole town goes dormant in the winter... but overall, it felt like a "normal" town, unprententious, a good size, with a sense of community. We don't have kids to worry about (I saw a thread about schools in Davis). And we won't be buying one of the $600,000 houses since we won't be back in a buying position for a long time.

So my question is, what other towns on the cooler side of the state (I know, Davis is hot) have a similar feel to Davis? You might say SLO and we are headed there this weekend. I would love to find a town closer to the ocean than Davis... that has some sense of community. But, there's some wiggle room... the reason I love Mexico, one reason at least, is that each town or city has one or more public zocalos (Squares) where people gather and hang out. American towns don't have much of this except the malls, which I avoid like the plague...

[cityx]

Originally Posted by KyleM

So my question is, what other towns on the cooler side of the state (I know, Davis is hot) have a similar feel to Davis? You might say SLO and we are headed there this weekend. I would love to find a town closer to the ocean than Davis... that has some sense of community. But, there's some wiggle room... the reason I love Mexico, one reason at least, is that each town or city has one or more public zocalos (Squares) where people gather and hang out. American towns don't have much of this except the malls, which I avoid like the plague...

I agree with you. My parents spent last month in Spain and Portugal and they told me the exact same thing. Many town squares, and communal gathering places that don't entail a Nordstrom or Jamba Juice.
I always liked San Rafael or perhaps Guerneville. Ashland, OR would be ideal but I know that's way to far out.
If you are Los Angeles tolerant, there is always Venice Beach which I love so much!!

[CA central coast]

San Luis Obispo. I've never been to Davis, but from what I've read it sounds nice. I'm curious to know what you think of SLO. I think you'll love it. If possible, try to be in SLO Thursday night. Farmer's Market downtown. You should pass through Paso Robles on your way to SLO. If you have time get off on Spring St. in Paso Robles and head toward the city park downtown. It's a nice downtown area centered around a park. Paso Robles probably has the 2nd nicest downtown area in SLO county. "Old Town" Arroyo Grande is small and historic, it can be accessed right off the freeway in Arroyo Grande, if you are passing through and have time.

[TimC2462]

Originally Posted by KyleM

I recently posted a thread called "How would you systematically explore the state?" in which I explain that my husband and I are taking 6 weeks to check out towns around California. You might want to see that thread for a little more background regarding our situation (middle-aged, seeking more sun than Seattle, and unsure of our next jobs. Also, we will be renting.) ... but, here's my new inquiry:

So far we've been focusing around the Bay area, and we knew beforehand that most of those places would not be suitable because they are either too remote, too big or small, without much charm (Santa Rosa) or too chi-chi. Oakland and Berkeley have their attractions but we are trying to get away from the middle of a big population center and traffic. So, we crossed off Healdsburg, Sebastopol, Sonoma, Mendocino/Ft. Bragg, all the little wine towns, Walnut Creek, Concord, the Monterey Peninsula.

One place we DID like quite a lot, though, by poking around there for an afternoon, was Davis. It felt right. The vibe was good. It had parks, good cafes and lots of downtown street appeal, where people hang out. I understand that the students aren't there at the moment (even though we saw lots), and that the beautiful leafy canopy over the whole town goes dormant in the winter... but overall, it felt like a "normal" town, unprententious, a good size, with a sense of community. We don't have kids to worry about (I saw a thread about schools in Davis). And we won't be buying one of the $600,000 houses since we won't be back in a buying position for a long time.

So my question is, what other towns on the cooler side of the state (I know, Davis is hot) have a similar feel to Davis? You might say SLO and we are headed there this weekend. I would love to find a town closer to the ocean than Davis... that has some sense of community. But, there's some wiggle room... the reason I love Mexico, one reason at least, is that each town or city has one or more public zocalos (Squares) where people gather and hang out. American towns don't have much of this except the malls, which I avoid like the plague...

Off the top of my head: Carmel, Pacific Grove, Santa Cruz area (near the UC Santa Cruz campus).

Davis a great town.

Tim C.

[CA central coast]

Santa Cruz does have a nice downtown area, with Victorian homes nearby. Very similiar to San Luis Obispo.

[Unkllars]

Davis has that small town feel. It also has the smell of cow pies one those foggy mornings. Carmel, SLO and surrounding cities, or all the way down in Carlsbad area down in San Diego. Check out Carlsbad Village.

[coredneck]

Kind of interesting, I just got back home to Colorado. For the past few days, I was in Santa Cruz and Davis. I really like both towns. I would prefer Davis since it is very bicycle friendly and has a very vibrant downtown. Yesterday evening, I had dinner at Crepeville at 3rd & C and then walked around downtown for a couple of hours. I stopped by the Bistro further down 3rd and there was a live R&B band. I stood there for a while and listened.

Back in March, I applied for a couple of positions at UC Davis in the IT Department and got interviewed. I didn't get the position but the people I talked to were friendly and nice. If somehow I got a job offer, I would have been hard pressed to leave Colorado where it has been home for me for about 13 years but at the same time, there would have been a 75% chance I would have accepted the offer and moved to CA. I would have found some way to find a place to live in Davis so I could ride my bike to work versus having to drive. The biggest negative on Davis is the cost of housing is very expensive. The biggest plus is the quality of life, members of the community being active and protective of their community such as keeping Wal-Mart out for example.

[KyleM]

Ok - we are back from our trek to southern CA...thanks all for your input!

Cityx, Ashland looked great but I hear it's not sunny in winter, and we also thought it might be a bit remote and smallish....We didn't make it to Venice Beach, sorry to say... I did get to Laguna Beach and spent the day there.... see below comments about LA in general. CACentralCoast, thanks - see below about SLO, we did like it quite a lot! Paso Robles even with its main square seemed small and a bit spread out/suburnbanish... TimC, yep, I liked Santa Cruz quite a bit too. Hubby not so much, due to the amusement park on the waterfront, which I agree is a bit tacky. (Carmel too chi-chi, Pacific Grove too quiet but awfully pretty!) Unkllrs, didn't make it to Carlsbad I'm afraid... I hope we didn't miss something essential! Coredneck, that's good feedback about your experience in Davis. I agree, it feels vibrant downtown and with some good community spirit, and the bike to work aspect would be great. I don't know if all the students in school in Sept. would drive me nuts, or the summer heat, but I'll research more on that.


We took 5 days to scout out San Luis Obispo and the surrounding towns, and then down to Santa Barbara.... and, we hit a wall when we got to the LA area. Meaning, a wall of smog, which I kind of knew about. (Also an emotional wall, since we are getting traveler's fatigue after 3.5 weeks of exploring the state. I'm not sure how objective we can be anymore!) Hubby's sister lives in Upland so we drove 210 as far east as Corona, and we both knew within that drive that LA wasn't for us. I am sure there are some great neighborhoods and towns within the region, but we just couldn't picture ourselves living under that cloud of smog or within the tangle of freeways. It just felt all wrong. Since Corona was desert and I know San Diego is more of the same, we decided to bag the San Diego portion and head home.

We did like SLO very much, as predicted... it could be a tad small/quiet for us, though. I love the Cal Poly Campus! Also, for some reason we saw a lot of hummingbirds outside our motel. I don't mind the foggy mornings because, as here in Oakland, they seem to burn off into pleasantly warm days. And then nighttime cools down again. I loved the mountains too. The job situation may be difficult for us there, though, so that could rule it out.

I liked Santa Barbara a bit more than hubby... beautiful. But again, the scarce jobs, not to mention what a local said about middle aged people being pretty hard to find there, could rule that out as well.

So! We have no idea what to do next but we are going to rest up a bit. Then perhaps go back to Davis and spend a couple days there getting a better feel for the place.

[TimC2462]

Originally Posted by KyleM

Ok - we are back from our trek to southern CA...thanks all for your input!

Cityx, Ashland looked great but I hear it's not sunny in winter, and we also thought it might be a bit remote and smallish....We didn't make it to Venice Beach, sorry to say... I did get to Laguna Beach and spent the day there.... see below comments about LA in general. CACentralCoast, thanks - see below about SLO, we did like it quite a lot! Paso Robles even with its main square seemed small and a bit spread out/suburnbanish... TimC, yep, I liked Santa Cruz quite a bit too. Hubby not so much, due to the amusement park on the waterfront, which I agree is a bit tacky. (Carmel too chi-chi, Pacific Grove too quiet but awfully pretty!) Unkllrs, didn't make it to Carlsbad I'm afraid... I hope we didn't miss something essential! Coredneck, that's good feedback about your experience in Davis. I agree, it feels vibrant downtown and with some good community spirit, and the bike to work aspect would be great. I don't know if all the students in school in Sept. would drive me nuts, or the summer heat, but I'll research more on that.


We took 5 days to scout out San Luis Obispo and the surrounding towns, and then down to Santa Barbara.... and, we hit a wall when we got to the LA area. Meaning, a wall of smog, which I kind of knew about. (Also an emotional wall, since we are getting traveler's fatigue after 3.5 weeks of exploring the state. I'm not sure how objective we can be anymore!) Hubby's sister lives in Upland so we drove 210 as far east as Corona, and we both knew within that drive that LA wasn't for us. I am sure there are some great neighborhoods and towns within the region, but we just couldn't picture ourselves living under that cloud of smog or within the tangle of freeways. It just felt all wrong. Since Corona was desert and I know San Diego is more of the same, we decided to bag the San Diego portion and head home.

We did like SLO very much, as predicted... it could be a tad small/quiet for us, though. I love the Cal Poly Campus! Also, for some reason we saw a lot of hummingbirds outside our motel. I don't mind the foggy mornings because, as here in Oakland, they seem to burn off into pleasantly warm days. And then nighttime cools down again. I loved the mountains too. The job situation may be difficult for us there, though, so that could rule it out.

I liked Santa Barbara a bit more than hubby... beautiful. But again, the scarce jobs, not to mention what a local said about middle aged people being pretty hard to find there, could rule that out as well.

So! We have no idea what to do next but we are going to rest up a bit. Then perhaps go back to Davis and spend a couple days there getting a better feel for the place.

How about Rohnert Park, California? It is directly west of Davis and home to Sonoma State University. I know a guy from the local golf course that attended that college there. He loved the cooler weather and the atmosphere, but he came back home because it was too expensive to live there. The population would be the same to SLO though, around 45,000.

If not Rohnert Park, then there's always Davis! Good luck.

Tim C.

[wburg]

Arcata.

It might be a bit remote, but it's a college town, has an active cultural life, it definitely stays cool, and it has a town square (the Arcata Plaza) that is the hub of activity for the town (other than the university quad): street fairs, farmer's markets, spontaneous drum circles, and assorted weirdness. No mall.

Imagine a smaller version of Berkeley (population 20,000) dropped just off the coast, with redwoods and mountains (not the Berkeley hills, but mountains) just on the other side.