Possible relocation to California--Santa Cruz? Monteray? Watsonville? (San Jose, San Francisco: to rent, crime)

[dragonflyer]

I am looking to relocate in the area of Watsonville, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Jose. My husband and I have no children, in our early forties, may start a business. I will be visiting in a few weeks.

Can anyone who actually lives in the area tell me the best and worst things about living and working there?

What is your preference of these cities and why? I don't want to tell you where I am from, because I don't want any comparisons. I really want to know what you love or hate about where you live.
Thanks so much.
Jenn

[Snort]

It's all about money. If you can afford it, live in Pacific Grove, Carmel, or most parts of Monterey. Capitola's nice too.
If you want to be out in the sticks, go for Aromas or halfway between Monterey and Salinas.
Salinas, Watsonville, Seaside, and Marina get a vote of no confidence from me, but your mileage may vary.
Although you'd be on the other side of the mountains, San Juan Bautista is a very nice town too.

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by dragonflyer

I am looking to relocate in the area of Watsonville, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Jose. My husband and I have no children, in our early forties, may start a business. I will be visiting in a few weeks.

Can anyone who actually lives in the area tell me the best and worst things about living and working there?

What is your preference of these cities and why? I don't want to tell you where I am from, because I don't want any comparisons. I really want to know what you love or hate about where you live.
Thanks so much.
Jenn

If you want to live in Santa Cruz county you may find that Santa Cruz, Capitola, Aptos or Soquel are preferable.
There are parts of Watsonville that are fine but you must know the area and take care there.
Also, much of Watsonville is farther from the coast than the rest of the county so it tends to be much hotter.
Santa Cruz and Capitola are more hectic than Aptos and Soquel.
The entire county has extremely high rents (with the exception of much of Watsonville) and that is the one and only complaint that i have.
It is a lovely place to live if you like the ocean and redwoods and if you enjoy a meditarranean climate.
It's great if you garden!
Summers are warm (but rarely too hot) and there is often fog near the coast that rolls in and out depending on various factors.
I love the fog .... it's not oppressive and it's a welcome relief during hot days.
People come over the hill from San Jose to cool down and have some fun.
Winters are rainy but with long stretches of sunny days between the rains.
The Santa Cruz area is liberal, tolerant, diverse and friendly.
You can live in a very rural area but be only minutes from shopping, etc.
And/or there are many nice neighborhoods throughout the entire county that have a more suburban / neighborhoody feel .... many lovely little houses, lots of gardens, etc.
Monterey is just down the road (40 min.) and San Francisco is less than 2 hours to the north.
There are great beaches here in S.C. county and if you like to surf, bike, mountain bike, hike, etc., this is a good place to do it.
San Jose is just over the hill and i can drive there in less than 40 minutes when there isn't traffic.
The commute, however, to San Jose (over HW17 ... a roller coaster of a road) in the a.m. rush hour and back in the evening is brutual.
San Jose is HOT and the air is not clean.
I certainly recommend living on this side of the hill.
Monterey and Pacific Grove and Carmel are lovely too ... expensive.
That area is a bit "older" and more stayed than Santa Cruz.
If you can afford it, of the locations you mentioned, i'd say to stay near to the coast as possible.
And if you're interested in Santa Cruz, don't limit yourself to S.C. proper.
The whole county is basically Santa Cruz with each town having it's unigueness.
The bus system is excellent here and it's very easy to access the entire county by bus or car or bike.
It's an easy place to manuever in once you get to know it.
That's all i can think of at the moment.
I love Santa Cruz.
Happy Trails. Good luck.

[dragonflyer]

Thanks for your response. It was very helpful. I will be checking out the areas you mentioned next week.

I know someone who works in Watsonville. I am curious as to your reservations of this particular area. Not set on this, just learning what the locals feel are concerns to them.

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by dragonflyer

Thanks for your response. It was very helpful. I will be checking out the areas you mentioned next week.

I know someone who works in Watsonville. I am curious as to your reservations of this particular area. Not set on this, just learning what the locals feel are concerns to them.

well, it's just a personal preference but i like to be as close to the coast as possible and, for me, the cleaner the air the better.
watsonville has some crime issues that the rest of the county doesn't which is not to say that the santa cruz, capitola, aptos and soquel don't have have some activity but watsonville has more.
where i live in soquel (which is the most mellow of all the towns in the county) we don't even lock our doors.

[MtnSurfer]

I live in Pacific Grove with my family and love the area. We have friends and co-workers in all the areas you mentioned. I think Coyoteskye summed this up pretty good overall.

We used to live in SoCal until it got too crouded and crazy. Then we moved out of state to CO where we really enjoyed the wide open spaces and room to breath. But I have always been near the ocean and have had a love for the sea. So after a while we decided to move near the coast again. First we were headed to OR which is gorgeous BTW. But with family in CA and more job opportunities here we picked Monterey as our first choice. Monterey, Carmel and Pacfic Grove are small towns with essentially zero population growth. Plus we have huge wide open spaces including Big Sur in our backyard. Its a great place to live with some larger cities amenities. It feels like another state which is much slower paced than the larger CA cities such as LA, SF, SD, Sac, OC, and SJ.

Our next favorite area is Apots and Soquel. I have an old college friend living in Aptos and he really likes it.

Some CO friends of our moved back to San Jose after a *seemily* great job offer was made to the husband. Then after moving the whole family out - wife + 3 kids he was told the project was canceled. So we were up in San Jose this weekned helping them pack up for their move *back* to CO. Fortunately their home hasn't sold yet. San Jose has many more ppl than Santa Cruz or Monterey and worse air quality and traffic as well. We could actually see the smog layer this Saturday up there - yuck! Its too dog eat dog and big city like for us - no thank you! Many call the work environment cut throat. I am sure it varies depending on where you work of course, but still not a first choice for us.

Anyway your best bet is to visit the areas as you plan to do to get a feel for them yourself. Then if you do decide to move out I highly encourage you to rent before you buy. Unlike some parts of the country these areas vary a lot because of the geographic and economic diversity. You have everything from the ultra wealthy living in Pebble Beach to the poor farm laborers living in many parts including Salinas, Watsonville, Castroville, etc... The weather is also very different on the coast vs. inland a bit. In some of the poorer areas like Salinas there are frequent gang related shootings. So it is good to learn to avoid certain rougher areas.

Derek

[coyoteskye]

that's a good post by MtSurfer.
depending on where you're starting from you can do a good loop and cover all the places you're considering.
when you explore the santa cruz area, find soquel drive.
it runs from downtown santa cruz all the way to freedom blvd which will then head you in the direction of watsonville.
soquel drive will be a better way to get a feel for the different towns in the county of santa cruz.
it runs through santa cruz, then soquel and then aptos and finally onto freedom blvd.
capitola village will be on the coast side of soquel drive and you can't really get an appreciating for it (a very quaint little sea-side town with neighborhoods fanning out) unless you get off of soquel drive.
if you need to know how to do that, let me know.
this is just a tip so you can see and feel the towns better than if you're just zipping down HW1.
it's also a good way to orient yourself and it's easy to get off of soquel drive, explore neighborhoods, etc., and find your way back onto it.
it basically, for the most part, runs parallel to the HW1
and, btw, there are nice parts of watsonville.
you just need to know where they are and i'm not the best person to guide you in that regard because i don't know watsonville so well.
i just know the freedome blvd ride as it takes me to target, etc., although there is a target coming to the capitola mall (for what that's worth ... i'm babbling).
from watsonville, after you've found your way to the center by way of freedom blvd, you can find your way back to HW1 and head down to the monterey area.

the san jose area is over the hill on HW17.
just avoid that crazy drive during rush hours.
avoid going to san jose from santa cruz in the morning and visa-versa in the evening.
you don't want your intro to this area to be about dealing with that brutal commute.
during non-rush hour times, it's a breeze.
just keep both hands on the wheel on 17.
it's a roller coaster of a road and a somewhat dramatic way to come into santa cruz from san jose.
best to do it without the traffic.

[miss cali]

It really does depend on what you are looking for. If it is a business you are starting, I would go for a bigger city like San Jose.

Capitola and Watsonville have just the same in terms of crime rate. I love Watsonville and for me, Watsonville would be my pick. I love Pajaro Dunes Beach. However, Watsonville is predominately Latino and an agricultural area. Business peak would be during the summer and agricultural season. During the winter, the town is almost empty.

Salinas is high on crime but if you want your business there and live out in a calm relaxing atmosphere I would recommend you live in Prunedale. It is lovely there and just a few minutes away from Salinas, Las Lomas and Watsonville.

Good luck with your pick!

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by miss cali

Capitola and Watsonville have just the same in terms of crime rate.

where do you find that statistic?
that sounds strange to me ... that capitola and watsonville have the same crime rate.

[Snort]

Fewer gunshots per week in Capitola, compared to Watsonville. That's what I think.