Moving from Chicago to California (San Francisco, Sacramento: houses, school, living in)

[lincolnpark]

We are looking to move from Chicago to Laguna Niguel. I am wondering if we should continue our search in Southern CA or look in Northern CA. I know CA life is different from Chicago, but I would like to find an area w/ restaurants/shopping in walking distance if possible. I have a toddler currently enrolled in cooking school, art and a music program. Keeping with that is more of a priority then walking, but would enjoy an area that is full of life and activities. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

[missionhome]

Laguna Niguel is a wonderful community and a great place to raise a family. The thing is you aren't necessarily walking distance to stuff. The community is super hilly, which I know you aren't used to in Illinois. South Orange County is all rolling hills so you can walk to a shopping center, but it usually means a walk up a hill. You can drive to everything you want and there are running and walking trails everywhere. Basically, people walk to get their excercise, not to do their chores. A great trails runs from Chaparossa Park to Salt Creek Beach. Laguna Niguel has perfect weather and is right near the beach so there are plenty of activities.

Just so you know, Northern Cailfornia is not more walkable. Unless you plan on living directly in the city of San Francisco (which is walkable), then you are going to need a car. Palo Alto, Marin, San Ramon, Castro Valley, Livermore, Santa Clara, etc.... are some of the many suburbs of San Francisco in the bay area and they are NOT walkable for everyday things. The vast majority drive in the suburbs and their traffic is just as bad as Southern California. My sister lives in San Ramon and has never even been on the Bart subway/train into San Francisco and she has lived there for 12 years! Sacramento is not walking friendly either. Essentially, unless you plan on living in San Francisco, Nor Cal is no better than So Cal in regards to walking places.

---There are lots of nice places to walk around in So Cal, like the beach communities, downtown Laguna Beach (near Laguan Niguel), Old Town Orange, downtown Huntington Beach, Balboa in Newport Beach, etc..., you just need to drive to get there. Trust me, you will get used to driving and then walking once you arrive at your destination.

[hsw]

Only areas w/walking in CA (if at all) are really BeverlyHills and PaloAlto...

OC has some of worst grub on planet (aside from restaurants at MontageLaguna)....

Would argue LA's Westside (esp BH area) has better restaurants than SF now...rivals Chic/NYC/LV in quality/breadth of restaurants...

PA has awful restaurants, but excellent produce/grocery stores (much better than stuff in Chic), and SF is an easy 40min drive for occasional dinners....PA's ethos is arguably most intellectual/high-achievement-oriented of any town in world...only direct rival is really Greenwich (same awful restaurants; immense wealth/IQ; much worse weather, etc)...

City of SF, despite popular claims, is not a walking city....upscale crowd lives in houses in PacHts/PresidioHts (sort of like Chic's GoldCoast/LincPk) and easily drives around SF to office, restaurants, etc (very much like the upscale crowd in Chic)...but, unlike Chic, where the high-end jobs are heavily Loop-based, SF is essentially an upscale, distant suburb of SiliconValley, so many residents of PacHts drive the 40mis down to SiliconValley, where the economy of the SF region is actually based....

[eureka1]

Concur with the previous posters,they are righton. I assume you're moving because of the weather which is the ONLY thing California has over Chicago. Good luck to you but don't be surprised if it takes awhile to get used to spending half your life in your car.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by hsw

Only areas w/walking in CA (if at all) are really BeverlyHills and PaloAlto...

San Francisco
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Everywhere else.

Would argue LA's Westside (esp BH area) has better restaurants than SF now...rivals Chic/NYC/LV in quality/breadth of restaurants...

Actually, San Francisco has overall better food, In fact, to be honest, nowadays and I think LA is actually just below or maybe equal to Oakland-Berkeley as far as good food. One thing about the Bay Area is that excellent restaurants are found all over the metro area, whereas in SoCal, no comment.

PA has awful restaurants, but excellent produce/grocery stores (much better than stuff in Chic), and SF is an easy 40min drive for occasional dinners....PA's ethos is arguably most intellectual/high-achievement-oriented of any town in world...only direct rival is really Greenwich (same awful restaurants; immense wealth/IQ; much worse weather, etc)...

City of SF, despite popular claims, is not a walking city....upscale crowd lives in houses in PacHts/PresidioHts (sort of like Chic's GoldCoast/LincPk) and easily drives around SF to office, restaurants, etc (very much like the upscale crowd in Chic)...but, unlike Chic, where the high-end jobs are heavily Loop-based, SF is essentially an upscale, distant suburb of SiliconValley, so many residents of PacHts drive the 40mis down to SiliconValley, where the economy of the SF region is actually based....