Relocating from Southern California to Southwest Louisiana (Baton Rouge, Lake Charles: middle-class, how much)

[cinpress]

I am retiring in a few months and moving back to southwest Louisiana. I have not lived in the south for over 40 years. I am a black professional who has lived in middleclass suburbia for over 40 years and would love to live in the Lake Charles area. I am not sure how much things have changed in terms of neighborhoods being integrated. I would prefer to live in a neighborhood which offers diversity. Can someone who is familiar with the Lake charles area provide me with information

[ms lem]

Hi cinpress, I am also a former Southwest Louisana professional. I no longer live there nor would I cosider retiring there. I visit on a somewhat regular basis because of family and friends. I can't comment on living in Lake Charles because I have never lived there. I grew up 70 miles north of Lake Charles.Yet, seventy miles north or south things have not changed very much. If you think that the south is the new Hancock-Park, Baldwin Hills, even Rancho Coucamonga, it is not. When you speak of diversity, do you mean race, gender, age or all of those factors? Hopefully my response will generate the answers you need from people who live in the Lake Charles area. During my visits to Louisiana I find that tolerance is the key word not acceptance. Money can put you in any 'burb in Louisiana, will you be welcomed there, by some you will and others you will not. If by diversity you mean will your neighbors be Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native American, or Indian of India, more than likely not. If you mean senior living remember suburbs usually mean families with children. Unless you are still having children would you want to live in a neighborhood where kids are running around using your property as an extension of theirs to lengthen their playing field? Diversity means many things besides whether or not a neighborhood is integrated . If you choose to live in a neighborhood that is not integrated geuss what it is now integrated. I would not live in Louisiana if they were paying people to live there. The one thing I miss is the food and thanks to UPS I can have that shipped to me. I sleep well every night knowing that I live in a neighborhood where my Black, Native American, Asian, Indian, Hispanic, neighbors feel just as safe and accepted as I do. We concentrate on the things we have in common not our skin color. Good luck to you. Hopefully this will get you the response you are looking for from Lake Charles. People are more apt to tell you what they perceive themselves not to be rather than what they are.

[BetaBeta]

ms lem you would be surprised. Yes there are still issues here (mostly around politics), but not nearly as bad as it once was. I live in Baton Rouge on the edge of the city limits, we have all races in our neighborhood and guess what, we socialize, help each other out when needed, etc. Louisiana may have a ways to go in some aspects but has come a long way in others.

Also I moved back after being gone for over 20+ years. It was not by choice, I had a terminally ill father and and a mother in her 80's. Someone needed to be here for them, being the only single one in the family that someone turned out to be me. I was fortunate to find an excellent job, a nice neighborhood and life is well. Yes I miss the big city, but I have found things here to make me happy and content as long as I need to be here.

That is the way life is, sometimes you have to do things you would rather not, but you learn to adapt and live on. So never say never, your circumstances may change and you might have to live here one day. I pray that never happens, but if it should remember, its not hell nor the end of the world. Its just a place to live and it can be as good as you make it to be. As far as acceptance from others, you won't die if you don't get it and it will be pleasant when you do.

As a side note, I lived in South Pasadena at one point and people there felt as strongly about Baldwin Hills and Rancho Cucomongo as you do about Louisiana, LOL... they called those areas gang city as the street gangs were infiltrating the neighborhoods.

To cinpress I assume you must have family in Lake Charles and that is why you want to live there. I haven't been out that way in probably 30 years, but feel free to consider Baton Rouge.

[Phil75230]

cin,

SW Louisiana is not very likely to give you the diversity of the SoCal calibur, but it is there if you make an conscious and deliberate effort to look. Having said this, your best bet is to focus on the URBAN neighborhoods that are at least partially "walkable" (usually the pre-world-war-two middle-class neighborhoods closest to downtown that are close to cultural amenities, they usually did the best job resisting "white flight" over the years). They may not be super-diverse, but they are likely to be reasonably tolerant (the next best thing). They also tend to be the "hippest" areas of town as well; which if not directly good for you, then certainly good for any 18 year old grandchildren you may have (or will have).