What's Chico Like? (Oakland, Fremont, San Luis Obispo: real estate, to rent, house)

[ArtinUS]

My husband and I live in NYC. I'm 27, White, a writer who was born and raised in NYC and never lived anywhere else. My husband is African American, a painter and graphic designer, originally from Miami, Fl.

We are tired of NYC including the people, the expense, the dirtiness. It's not the NYC I grew up in, when life was actually affordable and fun. Now it's all commerciallized. But we thrive on the diversity, the fact that we can walk around, the parks, and the art community.

Maybe I'm looking for a paradise that doesn't exist, but would Chico be a good place for us to move to?

We want:
- Outdoor recreation and a reasonable drive to the coast
- An art community (not arts & crafts)
- Diversity (which is hard to find anywhere!) But at least an acceptance of it since we are a mixed race couple.
- Young People. I'm 27 and my husband is 29.
- Reasonable real estate. Rent a 2 bedroom house for $1,000. Buy a single family home or cottage for $250,000.

I've never lived outside of NYC and I'm afraid of moving and feeling isolated.

Thanks a million for any of your thoughts!

[pukeko]

I would think Chico, from what I've heard of it, might give you culture shock after NYC. But, then again, it could be the break you're looking for.

I'm a big fan of Oakland and the East Bay, personally. Lots of different neighborhoods with different housing densities. Many pockets of unexpected green. A little more expensive than what you're looking for, but still affordable in city terms and you do get what you pay for IMHO. Great parks up in the hills. Public transit. Diversity. Lots of artists and writers. But maybe it's too much like what you're trying to get away from.

[sav858]

Chico State is the biggest party school in Ca and it's a college town in the middle of nowhere basically. There are nice, family friendly parts to the town but I would defiantly visit it first. The downtown is basically over taken by college kids, I had a lot of friends go to school there and it is party central and lots of drugs and drinking. I probably wouldn't make this your first place you live outside of NYC.

There is a town nearby called Paradise but it doesn't really seem anything like that, but I don't much about it; just seems like a regular, small town.

[CA central coast]

You'll never find a home for 250k, but you may like San Luis Obispo. Clean city, bit of an artist vibe, college town. Living within walking distance downtown, the parks, weekly Farmer's Market, perfect weather, 10-15 minutes to the beach, may be what you are looking for? interracial couple? non-issue here.

[ArtinUS]

Originally Posted by CA central coast

You'll never find a home for 250k, but you may like San Luis Obispo. Clean city, bit of an artist vibe, college town. Living within walking distance downtown, the parks, weekly Farmer's Market, perfect weather, 10-15 minutes to the beach, may be what you are looking for? interracial couple? non-issue here.

Thanks CA! SLO looks great! I like it's fairly reasonable proximity to both LA and SF. Now I'm growing inpatient for our trip to scope the place out. Any reccommendations for what we should try to see in order to get a feel for the lifestlye there? We'll probably make a trip in January.

Best wishes!

[CA central coast]

Originally Posted by ArtinUS

Thanks CA! SLO looks great! I like it's fairly reasonable proximity to both LA and SF. Now I'm growing inpatient for our trip to scope the place out. Any reccommendations for what we should try to see in order to get a feel for the lifestlye there? We'll probably make a trip in January.

Best wishes!

I'd expolore the downtown. It's very walkable. Start or head toward the old mission (one of the original CA missions), it sits next to a creek, beautiful area. It was featured in the movie Murder By Numbers as were the towns of Los Osos and Morro Bay, which are nearby. Walk around downtown, have lunch, just enjoy the day. Maybe take in a movie at the Fremont, beautiful theatre or the Palm (art movies). SLO is no NYC, maybe 45k ppl, but probably has one of the nicest downtowns in all of CA for sure. Maybe visit the Cal Poly campus, if you're interested. It has a fairly new performing arts theatre. For an absolute certain, be in SLO on Thursday. For Farmer's Market Thursday night. You'll get a good sense of the community. I'm not an artist or run in those circles, but IMO art and music is alive and well here. THe beaches are close by. Pismo and Avila Beach as well as the beaches of Montana De Oro SP (which is in Los Osos) and Morro Bay. Avila's micro-climate makes for a sunny, warm watered beach, when the surrounding beaches may be foggy. Montana De Oro is a gorgeous area with secluded beaches. Cambria is about 1/2 hr.+ north of SLO. Beautiful coastal community surrounded by pine trees. Cambria is starteing to be know as an enclave for writers and artists who are relocating there. You have to take a look at the cemetary, sounds morbid I know. If you can, absolutely drive north of Cambria/San Simeon on HWY 1 toward Big Sur. This is truly one of the most beautiful areas in the world. I believe I am truly fortunate to have been born and raised here, to me, this is paradise.
Palm Theatre, San Luis Obispo
SLO Downtown Association
Christopher Cohan Performing Arts Center
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[Steve97415]

Originally Posted by ArtinUS

We want:
- Outdoor recreation and a reasonable drive to the coast
- An art community (not arts & crafts)
- Diversity (which is hard to find anywhere!) But at least an acceptance of it since we are a mixed race couple.
- Young People. I'm 27 and my husband is 29.
- Reasonable real estate. Rent a 2 bedroom house for $1,000. Buy a single family home or cottage for $250,000.

Chico
outdoor recreation: YES
reasonable drive to the coast: NO
diversity: SOME, but low by California standards
young people: YES
reasonable real estate: YES

SLO
outdoor recreation: YES
reasonable drive to the coast: YES
diversity: SOME, but low by California standards
young people: SOME -- it's a college town, but there is also a significant proportion of retirees and older residents.
reasonable real estate: IN YOUR DREAMS!

[CA central coast]

Some young people in SLO? The two colleges in SLO, Cal Poly and Cuesta College, together account for about 30k students. The City of SLO has 45k ppl. Now are 30k of them college students? no, I know they don't all live in SLO, but most do. So, I'd say 30k college students account for quite a bit of young people in the area.

[truckzter]

I'd also thrown in my vote for SLO (good luck finding a house for $250K, though) ... visit the surrounding beach communities (Morro Bay, Pismo Beach, Avila Beach) to get a feel for the area. We're a relaxed community where big time city folks (LA and San Fran) like to visit. Thursday night Farmer's Market in SLO is a MUST. We Central Coasters like our organic, local produce (and Trader Joe's!), and festivals (car shows, wine festivals, etc.).

[kate.bell]

I've noticed not many, maybe none, of the ppl who replied are living in Chico. I moved from there in June, and only lived there for 7 or 8 months, but I really liked it. There's definitely a lot of young ppl, wouldn't imagine your interracial relationship would be a problem, and there's lots of wonderful trees. I moved back to the coast because I couldn't stand to be away from the gorgeous ocean, which is about a 3 1/2 hr. drive, well less to the Bay Area. I don't know if you think that is too far, but the Mendocino coast line is absolutely breathtaking, and well worth the drive. They also have great Bed and Breakfasts. Anyway, I have a 2 yr old and was pleasently surprised (coming from a very small town), how family friendly Chico is. Everyone in general was very polite and friendly.
You can find a place to rent for the price you're looking for, but def. not buy for that price. My parents were looking at real estate there, and probably because the market is the way it is right now, you can get a nice 3 bd place for like $350k. Coming from where I live, that is very cheap!
There are lots of parks and trails, Biking is huge there as the town is very flat.
Also, someone said something about downtown being overloaded with college kids, which yes, the university is RIGHT smack dab in downtown, but there's a nice fountain park downtown where they have concerts in the park, etc. with all kinds of music and ppl attending them. And a pretty good Farmers Market.
Hope that helps.