What are your opinions of Camarillo, CA (Los Angeles, Oxnard: city hall, movers)

[puffle]

If you have school age kids, you better look into private school. The public schools in Camarillo suck. You are also surrounded by agriculture and farm workers which Camarillo was made up of in the past. They are converting farm land into quickly built tract houses. Go south of Camarillo to live like Thousand Oaks,Westlake Village or Oak Park. They all have the top schools in the state and the safest cities in Southern California. Feel free to ask questions.

[Tom_56]

Originally Posted by puffle

Feel free to ask questions.

...I do have some questions:

I'm German and kickin arround the idea to relocate to Camarillo, beginning of next year.

can you give me some figures about the average rent for a let's say 3 room furnished apartement or a small house (about 1000 sqft)?

what percentage of my gross income will be left, when everything is paid (taxes, health insurance, retirement provisions...)?

I do not have any idea of other living costs in that area. does anybody know a helpful link with some statistical information (basket of commodities)?

Sorry for my english, it should be better in a year... and thanks for your replies

[dennismpat]

I've never lived in Camarillo, but have visited there a number of times. It's a very pleasant area with nice neighborhoods and all essential services close by. As others have pointed out, the housing there is rather expensive. If you can find a job in the area or within reasonable driving distance (i.e., no farther than Thousand Oaks / Westlake Village), you'd be in good shape. Also, the weather over there is very mild and pleasant since it's so close to the ocean. If you have the opportunity to live there, go for it!

[B16Vtec]

First post so don't be too hard on me, I joined cuz i grew up in camarillo and just recently visited, Last week. I love Camarillo its a great town to grow up in, i loved to skateboard when i was a kid and the town is basicaly flat so its perfect for that. Very little crime, and the notorious "Barry St" is not big anymore but is still an active gang area.

Schools are not that great, Rio Mesa High School that i when to (actually in Oxnard by satticoy) was ghetto to say the least. I got no education whatsoever from that school, i learned how to stay out of the gang side of school and to ditch classes to avoid punk kids (only had problems with white people, i'm white). If you want and education go to Camarillo High, and still its only an OK school.

As far as shopping theres not even a walmart in camarillo, only target and kmart. theres outlets and plenty of other shopping areas but no malls even close by. You probably will find yourself going to Oxnard to shop for more specific hard to find stuff: car parts, appliances, cars, etc.

And the crime in Oxnard in NOT PLAYED UP, just like anyone whos actually lived in the area and went to a school or 2 there knows that crime it teribble. Don't think that if u break down somewhere and you walk a half mile to get gas and someone sees you (and they will) that you'll have a radio or valuables in your car when you get back. The only relatively safe parts for theft and violent crime are the new shopping center area and thats it! All of the rest of Oxnard is old run down Sh#t, thers no new buildings anywhere but the new shopping area. I've ridden busses through all of oxnard (thanks to the late detention busses) and theres so many ghettos and no nice areas its unreal. Oh and if your mexican an u like the cowboys ur not alowed to where a jersy or anything that says Cowboys on it. And you can't be out past 10 talking with other mexicans (gang injunction 4 los colonias gang).

Camarillo is a great town if you move on the side by mission oaks and thousand oaks and don't mind the traffic (pretty bad!). Later guys, hope this helps, Nick

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by B16Vtec

First post so don't be too hard on me, I joined cuz i grew up in camarillo and just recently visited, Last week. I love Camarillo its a great town to grow up in, i loved to skateboard when i was a kid and the town is basicaly flat so its perfect for that. Very little crime, and the notorious "Barry St" is not big anymore but is still an active gang area.

Schools are not that great, Rio Mesa High School that i when to (actually in Oxnard by satticoy) was ghetto to say the least. I got no education whatsoever from that school, i learned how to stay out of the gang side of school and to ditch classes to avoid punk kids (only had problems with white people, i'm white). If you want and education go to Camarillo High, and still its only an OK school.

As far as shopping theres not even a walmart in camarillo, only target and kmart. theres outlets and plenty of other shopping areas but no malls even close by. You probably will find yourself going to Oxnard to shop for more specific hard to find stuff: car parts, appliances, cars, etc.

And the crime in Oxnard in NOT PLAYED UP, just like anyone whos actually lived in the area and went to a school or 2 there knows that crime it teribble. Don't think that if u break down somewhere and you walk a half mile to get gas and someone sees you (and they will) that you'll have a radio or valuables in your car when you get back. The only relatively safe parts for theft and violent crime are the new shopping center area and thats it! All of the rest of Oxnard is old run down Sh#t, thers no new buildings anywhere but the new shopping area. I've ridden busses through all of oxnard (thanks to the late detention busses) and theres so many ghettos and no nice areas its unreal. Oh and if your mexican an u like the cowboys ur not alowed to where a jersy or anything that says Cowboys on it. And you can't be out past 10 talking with other mexicans (gang injunction 4 los colonias gang).

Camarillo is a great town if you move on the side by mission oaks and thousand oaks and don't mind the traffic (pretty bad!). Later guys, hope this helps, Nick

Gave ya' a +1 rep point for the description of Camarillo, B16Vtec, good job, but you describe Oxnard as a city that I just don't recognize. Promise I won't be too hard on you. It was the irony struck me more than anything: This was your first post on C-D. My first post was the exact opposite -- countering overly disparaging views on Oxnard. I find the city to be mostly ok. Yeah, there are rough parts, but it's not through-and-through.

I've lived and/or worked in Oxnard for 20+ years and have never had any problems with crime or other nastiness. Though this thread isn't about Ventura, but just to make a point, in Ventura I was a victim of an unprovoked violent crime (friggin' moron thought I "dogged" him by looking in his direction in line at a convenience store), and had my house burglarized in the middle of the day. Both crimes happened in low-key "good" parts of town. Then I lived in an apartment building next door to a crazy (white) guy who hated the building and used to blast "Country KHAY 101" at the building while hootin' & hollerin' obscenities, dancing around firing an electric skill saw in one hand and an electric drill in the other. Nothing like this has ever happened to me in Oxnard. My experience is that in Oxnard you can be yourself and be left alone. I attribute this to the city's diversity. There are so many different kinds of people in Oxnard that no one stands out. Be respectful, that's all anyone asks.

But I have a question, B16Vtec. Regarding the Dallas Cowboys football jerseys. If you know that the jerseys are worn by violent criminal gang members, why would you even WANT to wear one? And that the city and DA want to take a strong hand against that 2% of the population that cause most of the city's problems, I see as a good thing.

[KimK]

What is it like? It's boring. It is neither here nor there, this nor that. It is conveniently on the way to many things like Santa Barbara or L.A. Places that are on the way to somewhere else seem to me to struggle for identity.

[LaoTzuMindFu]

KimK is right. Camarillo is just a place you pass through on the way to better locales. I personally am not a fan of any place in the 805 area code. Just a bit too boring and slow for my taste.

The only good thing in the 805 is the Reagan Library. Thats about it.

[Sorcerer68]

Camarillo smells like fertilizer. This means the warmer the weather, the more it smells like s***.

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by Sorcerer68

Camarillo smells like fertilizer. This means the warmer the weather, the more it smells like s***.

Oh, that smell in Camarillo is from fertilizer? I thought it came from golf carts.

[Charles]

I used to commute from Moorpark and later Thousand Oaks out to Point Mugu via Lewis Road and Las Posas. When they sprayed that liquid fertilizer (Urea?) on the crops the smell was nauseating as hell. It was even worse when I would huff and puff on lunchtime bike rides out there. But that was at the farms. Not sure if I recall it smelling that bad in town. I guess it depends on the winds. But you never forget how bad that fertilizer smell is. Unfortunately, a lot of that fertile Oxnard Plain is being developed so farming may be decreasing around there. Too bad, I think I read that the Oxnard Plain is the second most fertile body of land in the Americas??? Something like 40 feet of topsoil. Soon to be covered up with Wal-Marts and Frys Electronics.