Grass Valley California (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento: apartments, rentals, Home Depot)

[RiWrites]

I am making a list of areas of the US I might want to relocate. I was looking up on the internet different places and one mentioned was Grass Valley California. It looks interesting but most of the info is directed towards the tourist trade. I would like to know if it is a good place to live.

I am looking for a small town to live in. I don't mind working retail or an office. When looking for an apartment on apartment sites only 1 came up. There has to be more. From what I found on the internet it is a rural area with ranches etc.

I would like an area where I can ride a bike instead of having to drive everywhere. Any help you all can give me would be appreciated. I am trying to narrow down the places and hope to be able to move at the end of the year.

[ferretkona]

My wife and I have been looking at Grass Valley, we love it thou we hear it gets a bit of smog. Light snow fall that does not stick around long. I do not think I seen any apartments in Grass Valley, but home rentals are everywhere.

I would add Catalina Island, Fort Bragg and Mendocino.

[thing2]

Davis might be a good fit as well.

[SunnyDelite]

Grass Valley is an adorable little town. Not good for biking as the hills are steep. Thurs nights is a downtown farmers market with fresh produce from local farmers, an art walk, and friendly people. I haven't noticed smog, but there is snow in the winter that can lock you in for a few days. Auburn is a lovely town, also. Catalina is very expensive but a little piece of Heaven On Earth. Much quieter in the winter months (my favorite time) and extremely busy with tourism in warmer months. Fort Bragg & Mendacino are very pricy and the winters are too cold for the hubby, but OMG - if I could find a way - that's where I'd be. Davis has way to many restrictions for a colllege town for me. We live in Sacramento and its a wonderful place. A beautiful city full of trees. A bit too hot a few weeks in the summer, but we've learned how to deal with it easily using the Delta Breeze in later afternoons and staying out of the sun during the hottest part of the day. There is always something to do, miles and miles of bike trails, kayaking on the rivers. We feel we could easily make any one section of the metro area into a 'small town' of it's own. i.e. Orangevale, Folsom, Citrus Heights, Fair Oaks.

[Grumbler]

We looked into Grass Valley/Nevada City back in 1992 and 2002. We decided against relocating to
either town as the cost of housing, congestion, and bedroom community status didn't work for us.

Several locals that we befriended were not happy about all the growth and traffic. It was a really
nice area before it got discovered by Sacramento Valley commuters. With 38M people in CA, it's
getting harder and harder to find those lovely, unspoiled towns.

BTW, we loved Penn Valley which is just west of Grass Valley. Haven't been there for several years
so I don't know whether it has gone through any dramatic changes.

[mikadojay]

I grew up in Grass Valley and have lived in Santa Cruz and Sacramento, now I've relocated back to GV. Grass Valley and Nevada City are different: NC is the more upscale tourist town and GV is where the poorer locals live. Both are fairly laid back, friendly small towns with a strong emphasis on tourism. Lots of touristy little boutiques, wine tasting, art galleries, etc; you won't see many locals in those stores but they are nice to look at. Our only major chain store is Kmart but there is a Target, Home Depot, Best Buy, etc 30 min away in Auburn. It gets very hot (90+) in the summer and everyone crowds in to the Yuba River, Rollins Lake, and Engelbright Lake. We usually get 3 or 4 snow storms from December to March or April, one of those is usually big enough to close roads, mostly we get an inch or two. Traffic is not bad at all if you have ever lived in a city. Housing is expensive to buy but affordable to rent. Jobs are hard to find, we are mostly a retirement and tourist trade community. As a long time local, I disagree with the whining about too much congestion and growth, the population in the area is actually declining and if you have ever experienced real city traffic, smog, crime, and growth you'll realize that GV/NC are really nice, peaceful little mountain towns.

[ferretkona]

I have never seen the smog I mentioned in Grass Valley. It was mentioned in previous threads and I repeated it. Too often people complain of smog when it is simple fog or marine layers.

My wife and I still have GV on our list. The town size is nice for us and everything not there is a 1/2 hour away. The highway structure is well planned. The town (Sonora) my wife grew up in is a mess now from two bypasses that confuse everyone who drive it.

I suggest that anyone looking for a new town to live in, vacation there for a week first.

[RiWrites]

I still have Grass Valley on my list. Years ago, I lived in Los Angeles and hated it. When I told friends that I was thinking of checking out Northern California all they talked about was San Francisco like that was the only city there.

Thanks for all the opinions. It is hard to find an ideal place to move to anymore. I heard Grass Valley has a lot of horse ranches there. If I could afford it, I would buy one and just enjoy my life.

[CADRMNDANES]

I live in Granite Bay, which is about 40min from GV. I'm looking at properties in that area. There are some areas where you could bike in town. I prefer the rural areas of Grass Valley. Beautiful area and I have never seen smog. I love driving from Grass Valley to Colfax on hwy 174. We have gone to the county fair almost every year (Aug).

BTW, My brother and his wife are moving to this area and they live in the Bay Area. They want to retire here. They love the area.

It takes several trips to an area (several weeks) to figure out an area is right for you.

[ElliottJM]

i lived for many years about 20 minutes from grass valley. If you really want to live in a small town, then move to where i lived in Loma Rica 200-300 people but grass valley is really nice its kind of a drive to the malls and shopping, about 45 minutes or so to roseville.

Someone mentioned fort bragg, which is nice but it really is in the middle of nowhere. I recently moved to San Luis obispo. it is a nice cute town, with nice people and great weather. it is fairly small 40,000+ people and you do have to drive half hour to the malls which arn't that great. Santa barbara is a little over a hour away.

maybe if you listed some things you are looking for and like to do, I could help more, i've been basically everywhere in CA