Possible move Fall 2014. Questions from a So. Cal person! (Cleveland: how much, school)

[Cleverfield]

Originally Posted by mortey

Awesome! I can tell the one thing I will probably miss the most from Southern California is the Mexican food. It's my favorite food and I realistically probably won't find anything close to it. However, all of you have really gotten my fiance and I super excited about moving in the Fall and can't wait to go! Our first thing is to find out where exactly our jobs will be and then plan accordingly. We're going to rent for sure just to get a lay of the land and then go from there.

How are the bugs? There are mosquitos in the summer, right?

As for mexican food, while it's certainly not going to be as abundant as SoCal, there is a growing Hispanic population here, and I know of a few authentic Mexican owned restaurants around town. The one that comes to mind first is Los Habaneros in Shaker Heights. There's also an excellent restaurant in Ohio City called Momocho, which is like a gourmet American twist on Mexican food. There are mosquitoes but they're really not that bad. Nowhere close to colder climate places like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northern Michigan.

[Peregrine]

There's a few really great ones. And a bunch of those "franchisy types".

[treat]

Mexican food is not Cleveland's forte and it's not that popular here, no. The bugs here are not bad at all, excluding midges/canadian soldiers. For about two weeks out of the year midges take over downtown and other areas by the lake. However, they don't bite and die off as quickly as they appear.

Rocky River doesn't generally have that many one family rental homes, but there are a lot of doubles there if you're up for that. Other posters have mentioned Lakewood as having a lot of rentals, and I'm surprised no one threw out Parma or Parma Heights. Broadview Heights, Seven Hills to the south have a lot of rentals. As mentioned before most of the suburbs on the east side have a lot of rentals and the inner ring suburbs don't get hit with the same amount of snow as further east.

I'd really recommend visiting Cleveland to get a feel for it before making the jump to move here. I mean, I like it, but I feel like going from sunny California to a grey and slush-filled Cleveland might make you depressed. We have a LOT of grey days and winter can seem to stretch on and on.

And for the record, Melt is delicious, though I do hate the way the restaurants are decorated.

[ess.ess.ess.esq.]

The secret to a happy winter is how you dress. I finally learned that! As a kid, i HATED winter, i was always cold and wet...now, i wear a nice insulated jacket to go outside, a cap, gloves, and waterproof shoes or low boots....and I am FINE ! No need to dress like an Eskimo...I even ride my bike now in January if it is over 15 degrees and no wind. [Note---the average January high temp is 32 degrees, so this is NOT like Alaska or the North Pole here...and a 50 degree day in winter is not at all unusual...one thing you will notice....in late fall, when the Lake is still warm and the air is getting colder, this creates a lot of clouds, so Clevetown can be a bit gray in late fall until the Lake cools down. But in winter, there are many crisp clear sunny days. On clody days just get outside and walk or bike, you'll feel better! I'd say we have 7 of the very best months of weather on God's green earth, April through October...March and November can also be pleasant...December and January and February will be chilly, but, as i said, you can do a lot outdoors if you dress for it! [this is better than the 7 month long Florida "summer" when you cannot dress for the jungle humidity and heat]---one last point...driving? was tricky in the old days of rear wheel drive cars and plain old tires. NOW, with front wheel drive and all-season tires, it is pretty much a snap. I had far more commute traffic jams on SUNNY WARM days, when people were driving badly, than I ever had on a snowy day.

[Cleveland_Collector]

Originally Posted by mortey

Awesome! I can tell the one thing I will probably miss the most from Southern California is the Mexican food. It's my favorite food and I realistically probably won't find anything close to it. However, all of you have really gotten my fiance and I super excited about moving in the Fall and can't wait to go! Our first thing is to find out where exactly our jobs will be and then plan accordingly. We're going to rent for sure just to get a lay of the land and then go from there.

How are the bugs? There are mosquitos in the summer, right?

You are correct. The Mexican food is always better where there is a large Mexican population (something we don't really have). However, the Hispanic ethnicities do have decent representation here. The Mexican-ish places I can directly recommend are:

Momocho
Lopez
El Carnicero
Rincon Criollo (Puerto Rican)
Barrocco Grill (S. American - good arepas)


There are lots of food/taco trucks, a ton of mid-level places, quite a few hipster taco/burrito joints, and several Mexican/Latino markets (if you like to make your own). You just won't find refinement in the abundance that SoCal has. It's basically just geography. However, most other cuisine styles are well represented and of very high quality. You won't be lacking. Cleveland is a great food town.


The mosquitoes are here, but they aren't too bad. Mostly, they're just annoying. We also don't get the nasty large tropical varieties up here. Basically, if they bite you, the bite will itch for a day. Rarely, if ever, is it worse than that. To avoid them, just wear light clothing to cover up at night and, if in a wooded area, apply a small amount of Off!. As for other bugs and such, they are minimal and generally not aggressive -- nothing like the deep south or anything close to that. No highly venomous spiders or snakes and certainly no scorpions, fire ants or African bees.

[mortey]

I would say El Carnicero looks the most like a SoCal mexican food joint but not similar enough. Maybe that would be a good business for me to open up?? hah. I totally understand why there aren't that many authentic mexican places and that's just something I'm going to have to get used to. It'll give me an excuse to come back to SoCal! Thanks for the awesome suggestions. When I go and visit I will stop by one of these places and give it a shot. I'm absolutely willing to try new foods.

Interesting about the bugs! We really don't have any bugs at all in SoCal (just another reason people come here and the home prices are so much) so any bugs are more than I'm used to. I've been camping many times though and have experienced all sorts of bugs. Sounds like if I live anywhere but SoCal I'll have to deal with bugs, humidity, and occasionally snow so it's something I think I can get used to.

So how long can you expect snow to fall? I've heard anywhere from 3 months to 6 months, does that sound about right? Honestly, I'm not that worried about grey skies. I've always wanted to live in Seattle which is notoriously known for grey skies so it shouldn't be that bad. Just colder I'd imagine. Then again, I haven't lived in Seattle yet so I'm not sure. @ess you're absolutely right about just going out and doing stuff. I will remember that!

[L2DB]

You can get snow as early as October or as late as April (May?), but more realistically, snow season doesn't start until mid-late November or early December and is usually done by mid-late March.

[citymama]

Snow is off and on from Nov-April. Not consistent, not everyday, but the chance is there. There are also the random days of 50 degrees. We moved in last feb 1. and it was in the mid-60's!

I think, and correct me if I'm wrong, that once the lake freezes, the towns right on the lake have a higher chance of lake effect snow...where it just pops up, swirls around the lake, and we get dumped on. Before then, we are a little protected from storms and don't get as much.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by citymama

Snow is off and on from Nov-April. Not consistent, not everyday, but the chance is there. There are also the random days of 50 degrees. We moved in last feb 1. and it was in the mid-60's!

I think, and correct me if I'm wrong, that once the lake freezes, the towns right on the lake have a higher chance of lake effect snow...where it just pops up, swirls around the lake, and we get dumped on. Before then, we are a little protected from storms and don't get as much.

I think it's the opposite. Once the lake freezes, there is no more lake effect.

Maybe a meteorologist can help out here?

[citymama]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

I think it's the opposite. Once the lake freezes, there is no more lake effect.

Maybe a meteorologist can help out here?

lol!! Ok, i just googled and you are correct, it's opposite!