Moving to Bishop (Los Angeles, Lancaster, Palmdale: to rent, condos, how much)

[Colindp]

Hi,
Originally from the UK I will be moving to Bishop, CA with my family this October, What can you tell us about Bishop, where is the best areas to settle, I have been told that Big Pine is OK. What can we do there, any good shops, Restaurants etc.
My son is a keen Rock climber and we have been told that the Bishop area is great for climbing.... Any advice greatfully received.....

[AV Native]

Originally Posted by Colindp

Hi,
Originally from the UK I will be moving to Bishop, CA with my family this October, What can you tell us about Bishop, where is the best areas to settle, I have been told that Big Pine is OK. What can we do there, any good shops, Restaurants etc.
My son is a keen Rock climber and we have been told that the Bishop area is great for climbing.... Any advice greatfully received.....

Hi Colin, wow. . . you have done your share of world traveling already! UK to New Zealand is quite a long ways to travel. BTW, I know "Kiwis" well as I've professionally driven them around my country, the United States, in a tour coach while touring the eleven western states and western Canada. You folks are delightful to be around!

So you are moving to Bishop, eh? You are to be envied! Many Californians, native like me or not, would love to just get up and go to such a place. How do you get to do that? (smile)

Bishop, population around 3,500 (not including surrounding unincorporated area) is the gateway to the southeastern Sierra Nevada mountain recreation country, enjoyed by many Southern Californians and Angelenos. Housing should be the least of your worries. Should be no "bad" area of town to live due to the low population level. I've been to Bishop countless times, so I oughta know, though I live a couple hundred miles south. Find housing that suits your needs and settle down. Housing is overwhelmingly single family houses. Mammoth to the north has many more condos and townhouses than single family houses, if that's what you are seeking.

Now for the fun parts: Bishop is certainly in the region where rockclimbers are found. My experience is that serious rockclimbers are found in places like Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, on the west side of the Sierra Nevadas (and two to three hours away from Bishop via Tioga Pass, which is closed in the winter). The folks who like to be in the mountains in the Bishop vicinity are primarily hikers in my experience. In Lone Pine south of Bishop there are the Alabama Hills, where many old western films were shot. Every October Lone Pine has a festival celebrating that heritage, and has guided hiking tours to see the movie locations used in these old westerns.

Hikers may also enjoy seeing some unique geological formations such as Devils Postpile National Monument (nearby) as well as hiking up Mount Whitney, the highest mountain peak in the continental United States. Many other Fourteeners (mountains over 14,000 feet in elevation) are near Mount Whitney. . . and this is the home of California's highest mountain peaks. Go climb 'em!

Fishing is another big pastime here. June Lake Loop has several lakes (June Lake, Silver Lake) and is fishing paradise. Great for camping as well.

Don't overlook the fact that Bishop is in proximity to visiting Death Valley National Park. Bishop is in Inyo County, which has both the highest elevation (Mt. Whitney) and the lowest elevation (Badwater in Death Valley) in the continental US. There's an annual running race that goes from those two points. . . going uphill! Inyo County is also home to one of the world's oldest living things, the Bristlecone Pine.

As a camper/fisherman/outdoor type visitor to the area, I can't tell you about any shops or restaurants. They are there, but cater to the Mammoth snow ski trade primarily.

Make us all envious. . . move to Bishop and enjoy the scenic beauty! It gets cold there and snows there in the winter, but you knew that, right?

Hope this info is useful to you and your son.

s/AV Native

[Colindp]

AV,
Thanks for the information all very helpful my son is well pleased that he will be able to get some great climbing in. I prefer to keep my feet frimly on Terra Firma so I expect my wife and I will opt for the hiking option.
I am coming to work for Caltrans and will be based in the local office, I have been looking at housing in Bishop and Big Pine I expect to complete our move during October so hopefully we will get settled before the first snow arrives.

Once again thank you for replying with so much useful information....

Best Regards

Colin...

[Nicole]

Most of my family is from Bishop, some of them love it and still live there, a few didn't like it because they want to live in a big city. They have the best bakery I have ever been to, Schat's bakery. Overall I think it really is a beautiful small city.

[tweety]

I have passed through Bishop on the way up to Lake Tahoe and thought it was a nice little town. It reminded me of my small hometown in Michigan. How much snow does Bishop recieve in a typical winter? I would like to relocate from So. Calif. to some place greener, cooler and less populated.

[calwest]

Bishop is my favorite city, I love the Owens Valley. One could spend a life time exploring it, take your camera, hiking boots and fishing pole for starters.

[DeserTBoB]

Originally Posted by Colindp

Hi,
Originally from the UK I will be moving to Bishop, CA with my family this October, What can you tell us about Bishop, where is the best areas to settle, I have been told that Big Pine is OK.

Bishop is the commercial center of the Owens Valley, although Independence, somewhat south on US 395, is the Inyo County seat. Bishop, and indeed the whole valley, hasn't changed much since I remember it from the 1950s, and for only one, very big reason...the City of Los Angeles. LA's Dept. of Water and Power owns almost the whole valley, having purchased the land (and its water rights) for pennies in the 1900s. Do some research on William Mulholland and his Dept of Power and Light to get into regional history. Although many locals hate LA and Mulholland to this day, it's because of the big city and the big Irishman that the valley is a nice retreat today. Had Mulholland not done what he did, that valley would be a commercialized, overdeveloped mess like Palmdale/Lancaster by now.

Bishop is about 3500 people, and most homes in town are owned or occupied by DWP or So Cal Edison people who working the area, along with county and Federal employees. This makes the housing market desireably "tight," so expect high prices for what you get. Don't be surprised if you have to rent for a time whilst trying to find a property to buy; this is common. Best "areas" are east of US 395 and generally south of Line Rd., which goes up to the Bishop Creek hydroelectric plants and lakes. Try to avoid the reservation on the north side of town...that's where most of the "trouble" (if you can call it that) happens. It's VERY quiet there.

Big Pine's not so hot...not much commercial activity, an impoverished reservation on the south end of town. Of all the towns, I'd rather give Independence a go...not the size of Bishop, but a nice, very small town, and all the county and DWP services are there.

If you are "outdoorsy" at all, you'll have a full time job enjoying the area year 'round. On the valley floor, heavy snow isn't a problem usually, with accumulations of more than 4" being fairly rare. Summers are hot. However, the wind blows continually in parts of the valley, especially around Owens Lake (dry)...Cartago, Olancha, Barlett, etc....are good places to avoid, although they are historically interesting.

It looks like DWP will keep its hold on this valley for the foreseeable future, and that will keep greedy developers locked out. This is really desert territory...very little in terms of "green" since 1910, when Mulholland started diverting creeks and streams into the LA Aqueduct. A trip to the Eastern Sierras Museum in Independence will give you a lot about the local history.

Your CalTrans duties out of the Bishop yard will most likely have to do with US 395 and various state highways traversing the valley here and there, with an emphasis on Sherwin Grade and Devil's Gate. Snow removal on those grades, as well as Deadman's Summit between Lee Vining and Bridgeport are a big business in winter.

[azhelen]

Hello

I grew up in Bishop, and have Family still living there. If you like the outdoors you have losts to do.
My Fathers side of the Family are some of the First settlers to the Valley. My Mother is from England. So I have alot of History in the Valley.

Check out Laws it is just outside of Bishop. It is a good place to look at the History of the Valley.

There is a Sporting Goods - Hiking - Climbing Store in the center of town. That should be one of your first stops.

Before desiding on which one of the Five towns you should live in. Check them out. Bishop is the best I would say.

Not alot of Shopping you will need to go to Reno for Big Shopping Trips.

Were are you from in the UK???

Love Bishop but Live in Sunny Arizona

Helen

Adding to my reply about bishop.

Missed you are going to work for Caltran. My Dad and Grandmother both worked for them out of the Office in Bishop.

They People that they worked with are great. Each year they have a Party at the Local Park - We alwas had fun. Great Food.

I would say the best place to live it you are working for Caltran is Bishop. The gas prices are high and at least in bishop you can walk or ride your bike.

Bishop is the center of the Valley. Most everything go's on there. Lone Pine is the only other place that has Movie Days that is one weekend a year...

Enjoy the Valley

Helen

[PinkElephant]

Kids in fifth grade and up can ski on certain days. It's a geologist's and hiker's paradise.

Hope you like whereever you settled.

[jdavid93225]

If you like higher elevation living, there is Aspendell to the west of Bishop, at about the 7000 foot level. Of course there is also more snow, so getting to work might become a problem, especially if you're the one who needs to drive the plow.

Another nice area, from what I've seen of it in the past, is Round Valley, to the northwest of Bishop. It's only a little higher in elevation, but is more in the foothills.

From my experiences in Big Pine, I would say that it is a place I would enjoy living. It is very small, and only has basic amenities, but is also only 15 miles from Bishop. If you want something more rural, yet close in, take a look at Keough Hot Springs, which has just a few homes, but is between Big Pine and Bishop. I think that when you start looking around the area, you will likely find a community that is to your liking. Even some of the Mobile Home parks in the area are very nice (especially compared to those in SoCal).

As for housing, I've heard that prices there have skyrocketed in the last several years. I don't know what the recent housing slowdown has done for prices, though.

As for restaurants, you've got to have breakfast at Jack's Waffle House. It's one of my favorite stops when I'm in town. There are also several good places to eat lunch and dinner in town. For Pizza, I like the Pizza Factory, or Nik-N-Willies, which also has sandwiches and hot wings. For more selection, a 45 minute drive to the town of Mammoth Lakes offers numerous eateries ranging from sports bars to steakhouses. Many of the dining establishments in Mammoth are very good or excellent. They cater primarily to the ski crowd in winter, but manage to do pretty well with the camping/hiking/fishing crowd the rest of the time.

If you like beef jerky, buffalo jerky, turkey jerky, and other types of jerky, try the Meadow Farms smokehouse on 395 a mile or two west of the "wye." This is another favorite stop of mine.

There is a lot of outdoor stuff to do in and around Bishop, so if you enjoy that type of activity, you will very likely enjoy moving there. For rock climbing, the main attraction in the area, from what I've heard, is the Owens River Gorge, north of Pleasant Valley Reservoir. There are many climbing opportunities for your son there.

It looks like there are a lot of folks, like me, that love the Owens Valley area that can chime in with answers to any other questions you might have, so if they come up, just ask!