Help! Moving to Fort Hunter Liggett in Southern Monterey County, near San Louis Obispo county (King City: for rent, high crime)

[Rochellepotter]

We may be moving to Fort Hunter Liggett in the next 6 months with my hubby and 3 small children! I just wanted more info. Any military wives out there? Are there a lot of young families on the base?
I was just wondering where people go for doctors visits, shopping, soccer, stuff like that. What do other families do for fun on that base? Do you travel to Monterey Bay every weekend or so? So you go to Paso Robles for stuff as well?

[Snort]

That place is about in the middle of nowhere as any. Your closest big town is Paso Robles, which is about an hour and a half away. Monterey, according to google maps, is two hours, ten minutes. King City is about an hour away. Personally, I'd rather spend the extra car time to make my destination anything other than King City.

[CA central coast]

You're going to want to do all your stuff in Paso Robles. Forget King City, unless it's for the basics.

[jigger61]

We too are moving to Fort Hunter Liggett, but may have to live off post. I see King City is the closest town that offers any kind of services, but the information on the web says it has a high crime rate. Can this be true with a population of only 11,000+? Is this due to gangs or the high rate of unemployment?

[MtnSurfer]

Yeah,

I would say that crime is higher there because King City is kind of a poor area. It is mainly a farm laborer town. The schools rate very low and their are gang issues.

The up side is that if you head west down Nacimiento-Ferguson Rd you will reach one of the most beautiful stretches of CA coastline in Big Sur. I just took my son overnight camping there and it was great!

These are from N-F Rd:







And here is where we camped just past N-F Rd along HWY 1:




The key for you guys is to enjoy the really good stuff and avoid the bad. Maybe that means driving a little further for things like going out to eat with your family, etc...

Also some of the families from the base might shop in King City. It could be ok for shopping during the day. But I would not want to live there.

Derek

[jigger61]

Thanks so much for the pictures and your advice. I never imagined California so beautiful!!! We're keeping our fingers crossed that the military puts us on base or in some other small town. I'd rather live someplace safe with nothing to do, than to worry about getting shot at. We ended up calling the local police station and they told us straight up, it's gang activity. The town is fine during the day, but closes up at 9:00p.m. If you're out after that time they will stop you.

[dsrtstrmvt]

Originally Posted by jigger61

We too are moving to Fort Hunter Liggett, but may have to live off post. I see King City is the closest town that offers any kind of services, but the information on the web says it has a high crime rate. Can this be true with a population of only 11,000+? Is this due to gangs or the high rate of unemployment?

I am a DA Civilian on Hunter Liggett. I live near the base itself. King City is 30 minutes away but does have a big gang problem. I go there for basic shopping and some times for dinner. I have had no problems and for the most part the community is friendly. Paso Robles is a beautiful town. Has a walmart, kohls, panda express, etc. Paso is a community with money. There are 2 sub divisions on Lake Naciamento that alot of Soldiers and employees live in Heritage Ranch and Oak Shores. Both are gated communities and alot of places are for rent. near the base is Hidden View Trailer Park which is the closest place to base to rent. Lockwood also has a Trailer park and is more a traditional style of Trailer park (all next to each other in a line) unlike Hidden View which is more a rural park. If you are able to base housing its pretty nice. The base has a decent referal service in the housing office. Be sure to stop by and see what they have available on their board. Good Luck with your move.

[ZenArt]

Don't forget to mention the heat. I live about 45 mins south of Paso Robles along the coast. It has been bloody hot in Paso (which is not unusual)......getting up in the triple digits every day!!

[eureka1]

Don't forget to visit Hearst Castle. You might want to make a weekend of it. Check out SLO and the elephant seals. There are reasonable motels in both SLO and Cambria. Welcome!

[Den Mathias]

My brother and his wife worked at the Fort. They lived in Paso Robles and enjoyed the area quite a bit. He did have a fairly long commute. Paso is a very nice little town but it does get hot in the summer. And as the posters above say there are lots of natural beauty in the area.

Check out the past Paso threads. I think you will like it.

Don't despair, it is a very nice area.