San Luis Obispo - suburban or urban?

[carp killer]

Originally Posted by the city

Okay, back to the original topic. Has anyone considered SLO being an ex-urb of Santa Maria? A successfull outer suburb of Santa Maria or total another urban city?

Santa Maria is way different than SLO. Totally different demographic, and according to some friends that live there, different out look on life. My friends hate living in SM.

[CA central coast]

Originally Posted by the city

Okay, back to the original topic. Has anyone considered SLO being an ex-urb of Santa Maria? A successfull outer suburb of Santa Maria or total another urban city?

No, I think SLO is an ex-urb of San Gabriel. I'm pretty sure that's what Father Junipero Serra intended. So, the answer is, another urban city.

[the city]

yeah, I think it's another urban city. a green-tree hugger-college hippy urban city.

rural
susanville
gardenville
san benito
ukiah
clearlake
indio
hemet
red bluff
cedar ridge
crescent city
bishop
mammoth lakes
yucca valley
king city
barstow
nevada city
Ione
Orland
Colusa
Fort Bragg
Weed
Yreka
Truckee
San Andreas
Ridgecrest
Frazier Park
Corocan
Gonzales
Placerville
Hayfork
Madeline
Alturas
Davis Creek
Canby
Redway
Westport
Lone Pine
Klammath
Orick
Orleans
Fort Jones
Quincy
Happy Camp
Platina
Jamestown
Mono Lakes
Oakhurst
Arnold
Dinuba
Porterville
Atascadero
King City
Lake San Anatonio
South Lake Tahoe
Eureka
Yuba City
Chico
Paso Robles
Victorville
Merced

Suburb
Temecula
Irvine
Ontario
Davis
El Dorado Hills
Santa Monica
Pomona
Ventura
Santa Clara
Newport Beach
Mission Viejo
Anaheim
Huntington Beach
Thousand Oaks
Hayward
Santa Clarita
Moreno Valley
Orange
Clovis
Fullerton
Compton
Hanford
Tulare
Lancaster
Palmdale
Roseville
Northridge
Monterey

Urban
Los Angeles
San Francisco
San Diego
San Jose
Fresno
Long Beach
Sacramento
Santa Ana
Bakersfield
Oakland
Stockton
Modesto
San Bernandino
Oxnard
Visalia
Redding
San Mateo
Vallejo
Santa Maria
Santa Barbara
Napa
Santa Cruz
San Rafael
El Centro
San Luis Obispo

[keriish]

San Luis Obispo (the city) is not a suburb. If anything, it is the centric city of the county (being San Luis Obispo County). SLO is the dividing line between north and south county. The nearest "large" cities are Santa Maria (about 30/45 minutes to the south of the city of SLO) and King City, about an hour north of the city of SLO. Neither of these cities compare in size whatsoever to LA or San Francisco.

San Luis Obispo County is smack in the middle of no where, more or less. It's a 4 hour drive to the nearest major city (SF or LA) and at least two hours to the west of Fresno or Bakersfield.

Calling SLO a suburb is like calling a chicken a noble bird.

[the city]

so it would be safe to say that costco is mainly in urban, ex-urban, urban with rural fringe, and sometimes in suburban.

most suburbs and urban cities and boom-burbs have Macy's. Which is typical since Macy's started in New York and in it's wealthy suburbs.

and in semi-rural and rural cities you see a wal-mart or wal-mart super center.

alright, here is another look at things i've learned:

types of communities:
~rural (1 acre plots, farms)

~semi-rural/rural and suburban mix/edge city (rural city with suburban core)

~suburban (suburbs, tract housing)

~ex-urban (commuter cities, grid housing)

~urban (high density, tall buildings, all urban)

~urban with rural fringe (urban core with rest of area suburb or rural mix, 75-100ft buildings, high density)

~boom-burbs/suburban and urban mix (suburbs that build very small urban cores or urban areas with high population)

other terms: college towns, resort towns, tourist towns, farming town, etc...

[LAboy1]

not urban

[mccrea9]

Hi all
Lotsa data here but isnt slo city or county the most perfect area in the country to live in/ im moving there in May
Mike

[CA central coast]

Originally Posted by mccrea9

Hi all
Lotsa data here but isnt slo city or county the most perfect area in the country to live in/ im moving there in May
Mike

This area is probably the nicest area in the entire continental United States to live. I actually prefer living in Morro Bay or Los Osos over the city of SLO. Having said that, I still think the city of San Luis Obispo is the nicest place to live in the U.S. I just can't imagine a better city.

[mmouwse]

Originally Posted by the city

I think the San Luis Coast region is a ex-urb (way outer suburb) of the LA metro.

But, then again. As I was talking to the mayor today. SLO is more like a small urban city with surrounding small suburban and rural cities and then has rural fringe w/ the paso robles valley. Same deal with Santa Maria Valley with the rural fringe of the santa ynez valley. and the same deal for santa barbara with the rural fringe of the lompoc valley.

[JetJockey]

I just don't understand why it matters....SLO is SLO... it doesn't need a Macy's (current businesses can't even stay afloat, why would they bring in more?) it's not 'urban', it's not even 'suburban'... it's just a weird little college town that does it's own thing.

Please, don't try to label SLO and make it something it's not. It's a beautiful little area. I already moved out of Atascadero because of all the bs that's going on there, I'd really rather not have to move away from SLO because of the same stuff.