Reno: One year view from a CA transplant (Las Vegas, Sparks: fit in, transplants)

[nea_prez]

After recently passing my one year anniversary as a new Reno resident, I thought it might be time to add my voice to the forum. This will be a big post and I will check back in to see if anyone has questions on topics that I didn't address.

Background: I grew up on the edge of the Mojave in SoCal, moved to West Los Angeles for almost ten years, met my future wife and most recently spent eight years in downtown San Francisco. I'm a software developer with zero unsecured debt, a moderately healthy savings, and a coherent long term plan for retirement. My wife is a professional. We lean politically conservative, but aren't psychos about it. We can get along and be agreeable with all kinds of decent people. We don't miss a single thing from San Francisco and were eager to move. My wife was never a native Californian and had no irrational emotional attachment to the state as I've noticed in many CA natives -- I even once had this mindset. After about two years of searching for the best job possible that the Reno IT sector had to offer, I finally jumped.

The State: I enjoy the provincial feel of Nevada. The NV state legislature recesses for a lengthy part of the year unlike in Sacramento where the state house stays in session all year long inventing new ways to insult the apathetic citizenry and shake them down to fund their latest social engineering insanities and political junkets. In contrast, I like how the NV legislature concerns itself more with issues that fit more along the lines of what a typical CA county board of supervisors would debate. Yes, I know that the governor is a bit of a goofball, but he's done nothing so far that gets on my outrage radar screen.

If you have a modern economy job, there are essentially two locales in the state to choose from: Las Vegas and Reno. Moving to LV was out of the question for us; Too hot, dangerous, and dry. It'll suffer the same fate as Phoenix AZ soon enough. Reno was the obvious choice -- the only one that remained, to be more precise.

The City: We chose South Reno down into South Meadows though we considered Coughlin Ranch and the SouthWest. We finally built a home on Veteran's Parkway with an unobstructed view of Mount Rose/Slide Peak. I originally wanted to live up in Virginia Highlands like Little Joe and Hoss from 'Bonanza', but my wife nixed that idea in favor of the creature comforts of South Meadows. My wife enjoys the mini California accommodations and the natural beauty of the scenery there. The greasy downtown area doesn't concern us as we never have cause to go north of Claim Jumper on S. Virginia Blvd. Yes, we live in a 'McMansion' in a cookie-cutter community. Fine by me. After all, once you're inside your modern pine and plywood box finished with chalk paper, styrofoam, and glue, does anything else really matter aside from your loving spouse and air conditioning? If I wanted a charming country manor house with charisma and history with natural streams across the property facing a secluded forest glen, I'd have moved to rural Connecticut. Too bad that my skill set requires that I work at a real job and I don't instead author torrid summer romance novels and decorate my house with phony nautical junk. What, do you think I'm Sen. John Kerry over here or something? Let's continue.

The Amenities: Most of modern America consumes the same plasticky chain store geedunk that you can find all across the nation: Bed, Bath & Beyond, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, McSatan, Costco, your local supermarket's offerings, Olive Garden, and mattress stores where everything's on sale 365 days a year. Reno has all these big box basics covered that you can find everywhere in America. For the eclectic hipsters, there's a decent assortment of individually-owned businesses that cater to readers, music lovers, outdoorsy folk, gourmets, and the counter-culture. Like anywhere else, you must seek them out and support the ones you like best if you want to see them stay. Reno has a nice offering of places like these and I hope that it grows. I like culture and will invent my own if I'm not already finding what I want. No, there's not Honolulu-quality sushi here, but Sushi Moto does a convincing job at Los Angeles quality. Yes, that's right, I just admitted to loving sushi.

The People: I've met so many Reno residents who've come from somewhere else: Texas, Alaska, Oregon, the New England states, Southerners, and various foreign lands. More keep coming in every day. You only need to drive around South Meadows to notice the out of state license plates on cars that will soon be hosting NV plates. The stories these transplants tell sound very much like our own: "We hated Fort Worth/New Jersey/Florida/Lexington/Memphis/etc and loved the mountains here. The people are so nice compared to where we're from. We couldn't afford so much as a shoebox in a high crime area to live in where we came from for the price we just paid for the 3100 square foot two story we just bought in Double Diamond/Spanish Springs. We want to start a family, but that was impossible where we were being taxed to death and couldn't save a dime...". My hope is that the influx of young neo-yuppies to Reno eventually produces some culture, increased wage standards, and all the things that go along with those demographics such as improved scholastic results, expansion of arts and science, superior medical care, and an agreeable revenue stream for local government.

The Mindset: Anyone settling on Northern Nevada to call home has to either adopt or already be in tune with a classic libertarian mindset. Happily, this seems to be proving true with the people I've spoken with as I'd mentioned above. There is a concern that the influx of new residents might want to adopt the failed ideas of the places they've fled from and simply turn Reno into a smaller grittier version of the same. On the contrary, I've detected a resistance to that in most everyone I've met in that they're content to let Nevada be Nevada and we'll all adopt new ways of thinking. However, if I can put it in a nutshell I've been getting this feel for Reno as if it is a step back in time to Southern California of the early 1970s mixed with a dose of central Colorado only heading in a good direction rather than bad. I hope that this trend continues and matures over the long run, and that the long time natural residents of the Reno/Sparks area aren't entirely resentful of this change. I share their feelings about letting Nevada turn into another broken down California hellhole. We must fight to keep the good things that are particular to this state while addressing the issues that need real attention.

The Weather: I had never lived in a place where it snowed in winter without driving long distance to see it fall, and I thought the 2008 winter Sierra storms were really exciting. The scenery of the Sierra range is breathtaking when snow-capped. Even on the coldest day in winter, the temperature only barely broke down into zero degrees Fahrenheit. The Sierra range's snow-melt in Spring with the wildflowers springing up in the grassy fields in the foothills reminded us of the opening scene in 'The Sound Of Music'. The Geiger Grade drive from Virginia City looking out at the snow-capped Mt Rose/Tahoe peak is just like driving through Switzerland... minus the presence of 15th Century church steeples. In Summer, it may break 100 degrees for a few days which is nothing compared to the long months of 100+ misery where I grew up out on the last green strip of land facing the Mojave Desert in SoCal. Otherwise, the weather is just fine and a welcome change from the salty fog-laden sea air of San Francisco that always kept me soggy, chilly, mildewy, and morose like an inhabitant of Northern Sweden.

The Pros: Lots of home for the money, no state income taxes, decent people, comparatively low crime rate (depending on where you're from), great medical care, a healthy economy and outlook, astonishing scenery, and one of the most fantastic outdoor adventure spots you can find in the continental United States. If you can afford Tahoe and survive their winters, live there.

The Cons: When you mention 'Reno' to anyone who's ever been here, they immediately think of the greasy downtown casino area. Yes, it's still there. Deal with it.
Schools are ranked 49th in the nation, but there's an abstract formula used to calculate it. After all, Massachusetts is one of the highest ranked and I can show you schools in Boston that you wouldn't even want to drive past in an armored personnel carrier at a high rate of speed. I can guarantee you they're not outperforming Reno kids there either. As always, parental involvement is key. Jobs and the job market may be uninspiring for those without degrees, specialized skills, technical expertise, or equal experience. If you do have any of these things, you'll be better than just OK here. Things move slower in Reno, so you'll need patience to get what you want most.

For the Best Match: If you're into hiking, camping, boating, biking, 4x4s, motorcycles, classic cars, golf, families, walking, nature, and love the high desert, you'll fit in here just swell. If you like eating beef, welcome to Meatville. If you're a stone cold gun nut to the point of fringe kookery who thinks handguns with silencers ought to be sold out of vending machines, this is heaven on Earth for you. If you're a slightly butchy tomboy lesbian who wears spiky hair under a golf visor and would look comfortable in a Volvo wagon with your girlfriend and your two Akita dogs in the back slobbering and fogging up the rear window with their breath, you'll also fit into Reno just swell.

Those who might not like it here: Druggies that don't want to spend ten months in Washoe County Correctional Facility for having any detectable amount of methamphetamine or other illicit Schedule 1 drugs in their possession. Reno is definitely not the town to be a career criminal specializing in property crimes. Staunch ideologically committed political liberals with a penchant for social issues will likely be miserable as hell here and should probably move to where their efforts are most appreciated because life is too short to be wallowing in self-pity. Average old moderate Democrats will be perfectly fine, however, and may even like it best. Ultra nutjob religious zealots who preach hellfire and brimstone and protest the funerals of fallen soldiers and murdered coeds will be lucky to escape town without a savage beatdown and should never come to this town unless they need a bat broken over their heads. Busybodies of any kind generally don't belong anywhere in Nevada period. If you can't keep your stupid opinions to yourself, keep your mouth shut until you're safely back in California. Lastly, itinerant undocumented aliens who like to loiter in front of Home Depot looking for day labor work need to keep trucking West on I-80 unless they want a free ride out of the USA on a green-windowed bus with a box lunch on their lap. Oh wait, you do have documents? You're good to go then.

The Bottom Line: We really like it here and my wife even adores the place. Only once when I was a bit down with other events in my life did I ever question if settling here was a good idea. One quick look at the news from California and what we'd left behind slapped some sense back into me and caused me to straighten up and get back with the program. For the first time, I feel like the pressure is off and I am finally getting somewhere without a lot of extraneous clutter taking up my time and attention. I have never been more productive in my professional life and have an emerging sense of clarity returning to me for the first time in a long while. I look at California like it's East Germany now. I've gone back once for a wedding and that's it.

I've read many posts here warning off those who had questions about settling in the Reno area. I don't deny that many here may have lived here and loathed it, but I suspect that the reasons for why they felt that way weren't being forthrightly explained. Some books you can judge by the cover and if you were to have a firsthand look at the lives of the most critical posters here, you might come away with a different opinion than the one they want you to have. As is always good advice: Internet post; grain of salt.

[osp14318583]

Well thought out, good job.

[NVplumber]

Ahhh.. your musings are a breath of fresh air to a NV Lifer. Been here all my life and I think your piece is in the top ten of reflections on life in Nevada that I have read. You should consider writing for Nevada Magazine. You said it bout as well as any one ever could...Welcome to Nevada. Glad to have you.

[mmzero]

When I moved to Reno most of my friends thought I had lost my mind. Everyone asked WHY? Here's a couple more reasons:

The Rand McNally folks listed the Reno/Tahoe area as the #1 place for outdoor activities in the US. Being retired, I drove up to Tahoe twice a week to ski, swim, kayak, or hike, depending on the season. It's hard to find one area with as many year round activities.

The 2006 edition of "100 Best places to Raise Your Family" specifically mention my Zip Code 89523 (Northwest Reno) as one of their top places based on lifestyle, standard of living, education, and health & safety.

On the other hand, maybe we should keep this information to ourselves.

[MtnBikeNV]

Thank you for your post. I've been in Nevada 20 years, some in Vegas, some in Pahrump, some in Elko, and now Reno. It was very nice to read what you had to say. Thank you!

[Tressa]

I really like and appreciate the positive take on your story, we recently relocated part time to northern Nevada from Alaska. Last week it was 107 degrees hot yes but still beautiful and once the sun went down oh how nice it was. We plan to enjoy it very much. Again thank you for your post.

[MJRinCA]

Thanks for this post nea_prez, it was outstanding. We've been visiting Reno for, well seems like forever (30+ years). We've just purchased a house in Sparks which will become our summer home once we retire later this year. It's nice to see the positives posted as I think the negatives get a significantly disproportional amount of exposure on this board.

Cheers!

[geos]

Thanks for that great post. Reno's on my short list after I'm done with the NE next year. Where can I meet those lesbians with the Volvo? They sound like my kind of people except for the Akitas. I prefer Shelties.

[lesstress]

Nea_prez thanks for posting your extensive view on Reno, I think most people shy away from doing that, I enjoyed hearing the voice of mature contenment. Reno has just made my list of cities to consider for relocation.

[meandthee]

You did a wonderful job and we are impressed. Never gave Reno much thought but now?? Sounds like a good match for us. We are retired, have a beautiful 32' 5th wheel and want to purchase a small parcel of land that we can develop (well, electric, etc) to put our RV on. Is that a possibility in the Reno area (suburbs of course)? We are just looking for a couple of acres instead of paying park fees all of the time. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.....smiles.....meandthee