Is Los Angeles Magical? (San Diego, Huntington Beach: houses, unemployment rate, neighborhood)

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Userdavey

I definitely see the point made here. I have wondered what it would be like to live in Santa Clarita, Lancaster/Palmdale, maybe Corona or San Bernardino. Sure you're not right in the action, but the cost of living is probably lower and if you can find work in those areas, then a short commute adds to the appeal. And then of course if you want to go to Hollywood or the beach or downtown on the weekends, it's only a few hours away.

Does this theory work in Southern Cal?

Those places you mentioned are typically considered suburban (minivans, soccer moms, generic restaurants) with some jobs near them. However, commuting out of any of them to a job in the LA metro is typically pretty bad.

Santa Clarita to most things in the LA metro is about an hour on weekends unless there is really bad traffic (there's always some traffic). You can get to the beach in no traffic via the 126 out to Ventura.

Of those you mentioned Santa Clarita has the better schools and has in the past been more favorably written about on City Data.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by Userdavey

I definitely see the point made here. I have wondered what it would be like to live in Santa Clarita, Lancaster/Palmdale, maybe Corona or San Bernardino. Sure you're not right in the action, but the cost of living is probably lower and if you can find work in those areas, then a short commute adds to the appeal. And then of course if you want to go to Hollywood or the beach or downtown on the weekends, it's only a few hours away.

Does this theory work in Southern Cal?

Imagine Castle Rock or Parker, except 1.5 hours from DTC and 2.5 hours from downtown. The outlying areas are sort of like that. There's not a lot of good paying jobs and they're far from the big job centers.

[vegaspilgrim]

Palmdale (and same for Lancaster) is a city on the edge of the Mojave desert. I personally love the climate and landscape of the high desert area (love the pinion pines and Joshua trees) and I like the fact that it's pretty much all new up there, with beautiful new Spanish-style homes. I've been up there a few times exploring the north slope of the San Gabriels on the weekend. Ultimately though, despite being tempting, I think that place is a worthless place to live. The place has been ruined with section 8ers and gangs, living off gov't welfare who moved up there from south central. The only reason to live there is if you work at Edwards air force base, otherwise the commutes to LA would be sickening. And even though it's much cheaper and nicer (housing wise) than LA, the home prices are still a ripoff up there! Also some of the meanest, worst drivers I've experienced in my life are in the Antelope Valley. I've experienced SEVERAL road rage incidents up there, worse than anything in LA proper. IMO, the AV had potential, but it's a place full of human scum. I'm sure there's some decent people there too that have to put up with a lot of crap. The only place up there I think would be attractive to live is if you owned property with land and horses in the Juniper Hills area-- and only as a weekend house or if you're retired. I think if you're looking at California's high desert locations, you might as well just move to a different state with similar climates and natural settings (Las Vegas, St George UT, northern AZ, NM, southern CO, etc).

[Suburbanite08]

Originally Posted by Userdavey

I have visited LA/OC several times. The first was 28 years ago when I was 12. I was immediately in love with the palm trees, the air, and just the feel of the place. It seemed so magical. Recent trips only confirm my love affair with the atmosphere there. Does that ever go away if you live there?

I lived in LA for 27 years and my wife moved there when she was 6 months old. The magic did go away. I have fond memories of High School, the beach, parties, LA nightlife, music venues, restaurants, museums, botanical gardens, etc. However, around 10 years ago I really felt LA was declining. For us the myriad of obvious problems such as traffic, pollution, bad schools, extremely high cost of living, overcrowding, rudeness, gangs, crime, etc. coalesced to make it a very undesirable place to live and raise our kids.
We moved to Austin, TX 2 years ago and we love it. Clean air and water, great schools and Universities, low cost of living, low crime, light traffic compared to LA, great live music scene, very green, abundant parks, rivers, lakes, great active and athletic outdoor lifestyle, friendly people, etc. It's a much smaller city, 16th largest as opposed to 2nd largest for LA, but in many ways it reminds us of what some parts of LA were like 20 or more years ago. Although the local vibe is more like Berkeley/San Francisco. At any rate many friends ask us if we plan on moving back to LA and unequivocally we say "not in the foreseeable future." Ironically many fellow Angelinos and OC friends have followed us here. In the last 2 years I have met so many Californians here that it feels as if there is a mass exodus and almost every former Angelino that I've met said they left because of similar reasons.

[matt_sfl]

Awesome is more of a word I'd use to describe LA. In fact I think the LA metro area should be listed right with the 7 wonders of the world. The first I visited there was around '94, I drove up from San Diego with my brother. I kept thinking we must be in LA now, yet we were only in the south bay area. The concrete just went on forever. Then finally I got that glimpse of downtown! We were both really into weightlifting and spent the whole day in Venice and Santa Monica. I even saw JJ Walker from Good Times at Gold's Gym. I think I thought I was going to follow Arnold's footsteps or something. The plan was to move to LA, but by the end of the day I chickened out and convinced my brother into staying in San Diego, I always regretted that. I think I was just overwhelmed by the magnitude of LA, I felt like nothing there in this huge place.

[Userdavey]

Still the climate. I almost can't say weather when talking about LA, because it seems as if it's climate controlled. Like it doesn't even have weather. Not too much sun, a little fog, not real windy, nicely humid and plants everywhere that look so beautiful they seem fake. Shiny black German cars driven by guys half your age and all those little reflective bumps for lane departure warning. It's got a lot going for it.

The stability of the weather does indeed make it seem like air conditioning. Plus, it's LA...It's the center of so many universes, the capital for nearly everything. Everything happens there on a never ending schedule of constant motion. From the container trucks to the soaring overpasses, it is big. It is the concrete jungle, and compared to many places it's also a real jungle. The plant life simply thrives. It flourishes so much, it actually shows off. So many colors and varieties and textures of plants. Trees that would never survive in a non-climate-controlled atmosphere agree...it is paradise.

It's a thousand miles of concrete racetrack running through a never ending metropolis that is dotted quite heavily with palm trees and covered in ivy and graffiti. But it's all backed up and clogged. Oh well.

[ZenMaster2008]

Originally Posted by Userdavey

Still the climate. I almost can't say weather when talking about LA, because it seems as if it's climate controlled. Like it doesn't even have weather. Not too much sun, a little fog, not real windy, nicely humid and plants everywhere that look so beautiful they seem fake. Shiny black German cars driven by guys half your age and all those little reflective bumps for lane departure warning. It's got a lot going for it.

The stability of the weather does indeed make it seem like air conditioning. Plus, it's LA...It's the center of so many universes, the capital for nearly everything. Everything happens there on a never ending schedule of constant motion. From the container trucks to the soaring overpasses, it is big. It is the concrete jungle, and compared to many places it's also a real jungle. The plant life simply thrives. It flourishes so much, it actually shows off. So many colors and varieties and textures of plants. Trees that would never survive in a non-climate-controlled atmosphere agree...it is paradise.

It's a thousand miles of concrete racetrack running through a never ending metropolis that is dotted quite heavily with palm trees and covered in ivy and graffiti. But it's all backed up and clogged. Oh well.

Not too much sun??????

You do realize it's sunny a vast majority of the time here. And it gets VERY windy in some areas.

[Userdavey]

Originally Posted by ZenMaster2008

Not too much sun??????

You do realize it's sunny a vast majority of the time here. And it gets VERY windy in some areas.

This may be the case, but firstly let me say that I love the fog and overcast days. They're great for photography and there's no glare. I think these conditions add to the "Magic."

Secondly, I guess that when I have visited there, the weather has been predominantly overcast. There's been sunshine too, but I remember the overcast skies the most.

Thirdly, if you look on City-data.com, the weather average charts support my statement in question. I live in Colo Spgs right now, so that's what I compare LA to. Compared to here, LA is way, way less windy, (If you don't believe me, drive around here and look at all the downed and newly replaced cedar fences everywhere - we've had several days and nights of 60+mph winds with gusts reaching 80mph this season already. Go on NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and check the local conditions. Aside from the Santa Ana winds, LA seems very calm compared to here.) a little less sunny, and more humid. It's also cooler in the summers and way, way, way, way, way warmer in the winters.

[Green Irish Eyes]

Originally Posted by Userdavey

Secondly, I guess that when I have visited there, the weather has been predominantly overcast. There's been sunshine too, but I remember the overcast skies the most.

You may remember the overcast days the most, but that's not what's typical for Southern California:

Climate Graphs for Los Angeles County

[Brandon26pdx]

Originally Posted by Userdavey

Shiny black German cars driven by guys half your age and all those little reflective bumps for lane departure warning. It's got a lot going for it.

Funny comment, but it is true people tend to fuss over the appearance of their car a lot more in places like Florida and SoCal. Hard to say if the nice weather and clean roads makes people more likely to buy a nicer car and keep it better detailed, or if all the "car guys" simply prefer to live there because of the car culture.