Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
In terms of friendliness and attitude would you say Santa Barbara is more like LA or a northern CA city like Santa Cruz or Monterey? People in the mid size cities in N.Cal seem somewhat friendly and welcoming. They are less likely to cut you off or give you the finger while in heavy traffic. They acknowledge you and are polite in restuarants, stores, ect. LA is the opposite. Is the hippie spirit(peace & love) alive in Santa Barbara?
In terms of friendliness and attitude would you say Santa Barbara is more like LA or a northern CA city like Santa Cruz or Monterey? People in the mid size cities in N.Cal seem somewhat friendly and welcoming. They are less likely to cut you off or give you the finger while in heavy traffic. They acknowledge you and are polite in restuarants, stores, ect. LA is the opposite. Is the hippie spirit(peace & love) alive in Santa Barbara?
Is it is alive and well in SB--But now they are rich hippies!
Location: Shallow alcove hidden from the telescreen
2,563 posts, read 5,862,998 times
Reputation: 1092
Santa Barbara is southern California and "feels" like it, but as has been stated, not always in a bad way. SB is also home to many L.A. transplants. Car traffic in SB can be fierce and unforgiving. Downtown is crowded with cars and the 101 is packed with commuters traveling long distances because of high housing costs in SB. Commuting up to 70 miles one way does not exactly spawn patience.
Santa Barbara had more of the hippie vibe 25 years ago. It's a liberal and conservative town rolled into one and yes...lots of money there. That said, there are still some hippie types there. It's got a pace more like San Diego but it's nicer (and smaller). There are still plenty of creative types. It's quite tolerant of many things including a very large homeless population (if that bothers you). Yes, many people commute a long distance but that happens in the northern CA towns as well. People have been known to commute obscene distances (is it worth it?). Friendly you ask? Yes and no, depending on your company.
Honestly I haven't been to Monterrey in years. Nice aquarium. IMHO the most likely places for me to get the finger while driving is not Los Angeles it's...Orange County and San Francisco. Monterrey seems somewhat but not completely insulated. Hippie central? Not my take. It's one of the least welcoming places in the area I've been to but I thoroughly enjoyed my visits. Santa Cruz is...and hippies with money. It's the only place you'll see a dirty late model Rolls Royce with a dent in it. They flaunt it...their culture that is. The funny thing is that they seem to be more accepting, welcoming and tolerant but with a little tiny bit of snobby smeared over the top as most of the nice "hip" N. CA towns have. More hippie than either of these places...Mendocino, hands down. Hippies flock to smaller towns.
Hi, I just joined this site and haven't done a lot of poking around yet but this thread caught my eye. I'm an East Coaster and my husband and I are reloacting to the Santa Barbara or LA area in the fall so he can pursue his PhD at UCSB. I work in media and will be looking for jobs or relocating in my current job to either downtown LA or Burbank. I know very little about the area and will begin to explore it in the next few months but my primary question right now is, do people recommend that we live closer to SB or LA? If we live near SB it looks like my commute into and out of LA will be brutal. If we live closer to LA maybe I can take public transit and my husband can be the one who commutes. Or we could live somewhere in between, but coming from New York City we're afraid we might go crazy in a town like Ventura or Oxnard. Any preliminary recommendations? Thank you so very much.
Location: Shallow alcove hidden from the telescreen
2,563 posts, read 5,862,998 times
Reputation: 1092
Quote:
Originally Posted by EastCoasterNYC
Hi, I just joined this site and haven't done a lot of poking around yet but this thread caught my eye. I'm an East Coaster and my husband and I are reloacting to the Santa Barbara or LA area in the fall so he can pursue his PhD at UCSB. I work in media and will be looking for jobs or relocating in my current job to either downtown LA or Burbank. I know very little about the area and will begin to explore it in the next few months but my primary question right now is, do people recommend that we live closer to SB or LA? If we live near SB it looks like my commute into and out of LA will be brutal. If we live closer to LA maybe I can take public transit and my husband can be the one who commutes. Or we could live somewhere in between, but coming from New York City we're afraid we might go crazy in a town like Ventura or Oxnard. Any preliminary recommendations? Thank you so very much.
Compared to NYC, Santa Barbara is a village. It's not just Oxnard/Ventura that would drive you crazy in that regard.
Commuting from SB to LA on a daily basis would be, well, one step worse than grinding pins and needles into one's eyes. If you can limit the commute to 2 or 3 days per week, it might be tolerable.
From Oxnard you can use the train or a limited commuter express bus to get you into LA.
Ventura County Transportation Commission - Ventura Intercity Service Transit Authority (VISTA) (http://www.goventura.org/home/index.asp?page=101 - broken link) Metrolink :: Ventura County Line
Amtrak serves Santa Barbara, but the schedules are somewhat impractical for commuting to L.A. Santa Barbarans who use public transpo to commute to LA drive to Ventura County and ride from there. Good luck in your decision.
Compared to NYC, Santa Barbara is a village. It's not just Oxnard/Ventura that would drive you crazy in that regard.
Commuting from SB to LA on a daily basis would be, well, one step worse than grinding pins and needles into one's eyes. If you can limit the commute to 2 or 3 days per week, it might be tolerable.
From Oxnard you can use the train or a limited commuter express bus to get you into LA.
Ventura County Transportation Commission - Ventura Intercity Service Transit Authority (VISTA) (http://www.goventura.org/home/index.asp?page=101 - broken link) Metrolink :: Ventura County Line
Amtrak serves Santa Barbara, but the schedules are somewhat impractical for commuting to L.A. Santa Barbarans who use public transpo to commute to LA drive to Ventura County and ride from there. Good luck in your decision.
Santa Barbara had more of the hippie vibe 25 years ago. It's a liberal and conservative town rolled into one and yes...lots of money there. That said, there are still some hippie types there. It's got a pace more like San Diego but it's nicer (and smaller). There are still plenty of creative types. It's quite tolerant of many things including a very large homeless population (if that bothers you). Yes, many people commute a long distance but that happens in the northern CA towns as well. People have been known to commute obscene distances (is it worth it?). Friendly you ask? Yes and no, depending on your company.
Honestly I haven't been to Monterrey in years. Nice aquarium. IMHO the most likely places for me to get the finger while driving is not Los Angeles it's...Orange County and San Francisco. Monterrey seems somewhat but not completely insulated. Hippie central? Not my take. It's one of the least welcoming places in the area I've been to but I thoroughly enjoyed my visits. Santa Cruz is...and hippies with money. It's the only place you'll see a dirty late model Rolls Royce with a dent in it. They flaunt it...their culture that is. The funny thing is that they seem to be more accepting, welcoming and tolerant but with a little tiny bit of snobby smeared over the top as most of the nice "hip" N. CA towns have. More hippie than either of these places...Mendocino, hands down. Hippies flock to smaller towns.
My point? Check out Santa Cruz and Mendocino.
Thank you, that was very helpful. I've been to Santa Cruz and the people I met there were generally friendly. I would imagine Santa Barbara could be pretty cliquish but perhaps the surrounding communities like carpinteria, goleta, solvang, ojai, ect would be less so
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $53,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
) alive in Santa Barbara?
It's not just Oxnard/Ventura that would drive you crazy in that regard.
