mid twenties couple moving from upstate NY (Sacramento, Davis: apartments, rent)

[learning to wander]

Hello everyone,
my husband and I have been talking about moving for long enough and it is time to stop talking. We have a handful of places that we are looking at out west and have a list of questions and priorities. We are currently living in upstate NY in the foothills of the Adirondacks. Top of the list of reasons for moving is the cold (below zero numerous times in the winter). We have lived all over NY including the city, and in upstate MA juat to give you an idea of where we have been and what we are used to. The job market as it is in the entire country we know it is going to be hard anywhere we go and we are choosing to move anyway. We have enough savings for about three-four months of rent bills etc. before finding jobs, but hope it will not take that long. On to the list:

Good hiking within a reasonable (hour) distance
Farmers market(s)
small farming within a hours drive (husband has worked for farms for the last few years)
Independent bookstore!
independent businesses, we prefer to buy local/independent as much as possible and need the option
Poetry/art/live music scene?
How is the public transportation?
Types of restaurants and quality?
Seasons? length and temp? I hate the freezing cold of where we live but do love the seasons!
at least some apparent cultural diversity (where we live there is absolutely none)

anything else you think we should know, best and worst aspects of the city? Give me all and anything you have got

[Mr. Ozo]

Move to Midtown Sacramento. I live here and work in farming. Although as you should know, the winter is a horrible time to look for jobs in farming.

[d_deathrage]

In this region, outside of Davis, public transportation really isn't that effective. Part of the problem is that this region isn't very dense, most of the area was built after WW2 when AC made this place a lot more livable and most people in the area could afford to buy cars. Outside of downtown most employers provide free parking. Because transit is infrequent and slow and parking generally is free, most people outside of downtown drive to work. In this area, a good bus line is something that runs every half hour. Most bus lines run less than once an hour. If you need to use transit, your best bet is along a light rail line. Most of light rail lines run once every 15 minutes, but some run much less frequently.

Davis is a college town and transit passes are part of student fees, so transit is effective there.

In terms of communities that you might be interested in this region, I would look at Davis, Midtown and Nevada City.

These are the towns with there own natural food coops.

Welcome to Sacramento Natural Foods
Welcome to the Davis Food Co-op
BriarPatch Co-op Community Market

UC Davis was the land grant ag school for the University of California. It has always been a big farm town. If you are looking for a place with an active 4-H and ag supportive community in this region, Davis is probably your best bet.

Its a college town. Its socially liberal. More people get around by bikes in Davis than anywhere in the country. The area has been the bike Capitol of the country since the 1960's. Because of the history of famers co-operatives, the first natural foods co-op in the area was organized in Davis. The region embraced bikes earlier than the rest of the country because people early on in Davis thought that cars were bad for the environment. Because its a college town, you have lots of book stores, cafes, bars and restaurants. It also has probably the largest farmers market in the region.

You can check out these resources to get a sense of what is happening in Davis.

KDVS.org / Freeform Radio / Davis, CA

Streetfilms » In Davis’ Platinum City Even the Munchkins Ride Bikes

At the Market — Davis Farmers' Market

Bicycles - Davis Wiki

The next town that might work is Nevada City. Its located about 40 miles outside of Sacramento. It was a mining town in the gold rush. During the 60's, the hippies moved to Nevada City as part of a back to the earth movement. The place has a lot of arts and crafts tourism. Places selling homemade quilts, home made soap, etc. A lot of people also went there to grow dope. The need to hide the evidence of the pot operations made the area a leader in a lot of sustainable practices (solar power to get off the grid, composting, organic farming). If you were looking for something that is the California version of Vermont, Nevada City might be your best bet. Its a small town, quite charming.

When Ricky Waters ran away from the Miami Dolphins to learn Yoga and smoke dope, he did it at the local yoga center. You can find community theater. If you were into contra dancing, again this the type of small town stuff that you can find in Nevada City. You might want to listen to the local community radio station, it will give you a good sense of what types of things are happening in Nevada City.

http://www.sivanandayogafarm.org/
Welcome to KVMR 89.5 FM Music of the World. Voice of the Community. Nevada City, CA 95959
Foothill Country Dancers
Welcome to Nevada Theatre

Lastly, you can consider the downtown grid area of Sacramento. The area is an older part of Sacramento, fairly walkable. Its the home of the gay neighborhood for Sacramento. Not a lot of ag stuff or ag culture. Like the other neighborhoods, you can find a lot bars, restaurants, bookstores, record stores.

Sacramento's Most Walkable Neighborhoods - Walk Score Neighborhood Rankings
Sacramento, Chico and Reno News&Review: source for local news and events

Of the three, Davis is most expensive and Nevada City is the least expensive. You can find a pretty good collection of restaurants in all three. I think the big differences are more to do with what types of things you value most. Do you want to live in a small town, then Nevada City is probably your best bet. Do you want to live in a college town, then Davis is your best bet. If you are working in downtown Sacramento, then its tough to beat walking to work in the grid.

[elyess77]

1. Good hiking within a reasonable (hour) distance
Absolutely. You have the foothills, sierra mountain range, the coast, and the coastal range...all within 1-2 hours, easily a day trip!

2. Farmers market(s)
Sacramento area is really one of the fore runners in the farm to table movement. We have amazing farmers markets. The thing I love best about our farmers markets is that they are not just for yuppies as you will find in other areas of the country...but rather everyone uses them. I so often feel like I am in India or Mexico or another culture with a thriving market scene. Plus, since we have an amazing growing season, many of the farmers markets are year long.

3. small farming within a hours drive (husband has worked for farms for the last few years)
Yes. Check out Soil Born Farms and Capay Valley. I am sure there are many more, I just don't know their names.

4. Independent bookstore!
Some, but not so much in Sacramento. Davis and some of the smaller communities around might fill this requirement more.

5. independent businesses, we prefer to buy local/independent as much as possible and need the option
Definitely. Especially in Midtown. A previous poster said that Midtown has a gay population, which it does, but there are a lot of other people in Midtown than just the gay community. Lots of young people, and families too. Midtown is a great mix-use area...apartments, condos, beautiful old Victorian homes, great restaurants (many who support the farm to table movement), boutiques, shops, businesses, parks, libraries...

6. Poetry/art/live music scene?
This is growing. We have local bands, Second Saturday art walk, museums. Intimate and growing...

7. How is the public transportation?
Not so good. Although Sacramento is very bike-able. I think there is a consciousness about this and I believe it will get better.

8. Types of restaurants and quality?
Lots of types and I really think a lot are great quality. A lot are in Midtown.

9. Seasons? length and temp? I hate the freezing cold of where we live but do love the seasons!
You would be trading the freezing cold for darn hot summers. They are not Phoenix summers but we do have 100+ degree weather for days at a time...not weeks at a time. I would say for about 2 months of the year it is stinkin' hot. But this forces you to be creative to find ways to cool down/escape the heat. We have 2 rivers running right through the city, swimming pools, the coast is less than 2 hours away, Lake Tahoe is only 2 hours away... We have a beautiful autumn (though I am sure is cannot rival a New England autumn) with all of the trees, you can still do lots of things outside during the winter time (we rarely get below freezing and that is only in the middle of the night, daytime is probably in the 50's, maybe 40's) and Spring is also beautiful.

10. at least some apparent cultural diversity (where we live there is absolutely none)
This is one of my favorite things about Sacramento...it is beautifully diverse! And with the cultural diversity comes all of the wonderful things like food, festivals, music...

I totally agree with the other poster about where to live: Midtown, Davis, or Nevada City.

[humboldtrat]

Check out the Shingle Springs/Camino area in the foothills on Hwy 50 east of Sacramento. Apple Hill Growers

[Mr. Ozo]

Just spent the morning at the Farmer's Markets. I would say Sacramento's are second to none in the U.S. Defiantly not just for yuppies, everyone is out there, and it's amazing how much you get for 10 bucks.

[looking4home]

To the OP, have you ever visited CA? I suggest you do before making any final decisions. Although the advice you have been given here is quite good and accurate, you cannot move somewhere based on the words of anonymous forum posters! As for finding a job, it might be tougher than you think to make a living in CA. Taxes are high, as is the cost of living, even in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. In fact, everything costs just a little bit more up there.

You said your husband does farmwork without being too specific. Ummm, he might have some pretty stiff competition in that area here in CA. there are a lot of hungry migrant workers from Mexico and Central America who are highly skilled at what they do, will work for sub-standard wages and endure sub-human conditions. But maybe your husband is proficient in advanced farming methods or something that would make his particular skills more valuable.

[corduroyboy]

Originally Posted by learning to wander

Hello everyone,
my husband and I have been talking about moving for long enough and it is time to stop talking. We have a handful of places that we are looking at out west and have a list of questions and priorities. We are currently living in upstate NY in the foothills of the Adirondacks. Top of the list of reasons for moving is the cold (below zero numerous times in the winter). We have lived all over NY including the city, and in upstate MA juat to give you an idea of where we have been and what we are used to. The job market as it is in the entire country we know it is going to be hard anywhere we go and we are choosing to move anyway. We have enough savings for about three-four months of rent bills etc. before finding jobs, but hope it will not take that long. On to the list:

Good hiking within a reasonable (hour) distance
Farmers market(s)
small farming within a hours drive (husband has worked for farms for the last few years)
Independent bookstore!
independent businesses, we prefer to buy local/independent as much as possible and need the option
Poetry/art/live music scene?
How is the public transportation?
Types of restaurants and quality?
Seasons? length and temp? I hate the freezing cold of where we live but do love the seasons!
at least some apparent cultural diversity (where we live there is absolutely none)

anything else you think we should know, best and worst aspects of the city? Give me all and anything you have got

Welcome fellow upstater!!! I too am originally from the ADK foothills/Mohawk Valley area and moved out to Sacramento 7 years ago. It's a big change from the slow life upstate offers, but there is so much to do out here. Boredism no longer enters your vocabulary. It's pretty awesome out here. Though I terribly miss upstate NY and what I grew up with there, I'd never be able to go back after living out here.

Good Hiking -- everywhere you go out here there is hiking. Tahoe is a short drive, the foothills have tons. It's an outdoor persons paradise here. Wake boarding, boating, mountain biking, incredible skiing, you name it, it's here.

Farmers market(s) -- There are quite a few out here. Davis has a really great one, but too far for us to drive, so we hit a small one in El Dorado Hills. The City of Sac has a large one under the freeway with everything you can imagine

small farming within a hours drive -- Farming is everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. Once you get outside the city limits in the valley, that's about all it is, farming. And lots of it!

Independent bookstore! -- They exist. Not sure where, but you'll find them.

independent businesses, we prefer to buy local/independent as much as possible and need the option -- Though it is a franchise mecca in California, you still find mom and pop stores. The smaller towns still have indy businesses.

Poetry/art/live music scene? -http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/home

How is the public transportation? -- It works. They city isn't a big public trans city, but it does the job. If you want to go places, you really need a car.

Types of restaurants and quality? Anything and everything, but coming from an Italian family, I will say this, good luck finding good Italian. But when in Rome... Sushi, so great, the steakhouses, really good, Thai food, Mexican like you don't know, and just a wide variety of anything you can imagine. I grew up on nothing but Italian back in NY, and now find it great to try so many different types of food.

Seasons? length and temp? I hate the freezing cold of where we live but do love the seasons! We have the rainy season, then blistery hot! Expect fall to start around late September, and then have rain and fog from November until March/early April. Then summer comes, we usually skip spring, and you have virtually 6 months of complete sunshiny days. It does get hot as a bastard out here. Something I'm still not used to. 100+ days are a given in the summer. But weddings never get rained out, you don't waste your weekend sitting inside because the weather is bad. It's really good weather. I welcome the rain and the fall when it comes, but I also welcome summer when it arrives too. You don't really get the 4 seasons you are used to in NY, but if you live in the Sierra Foothills, you get more seaonal weather.

at least some apparent cultural diversity (where we live there is absolutely none) -- Welcome to the cultural melting pot. One thing about upstate NY, no diversity. It's pretty homogenous there. Out here, the total opposite!


I hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions. Best of luck in your journey.