single guy moving to the area, need advice on where to live (San Diego: to rent)

[groverw99]

Hi all,

I am going to be moving out to the San Diego area sometime in the next 3-4 months for a new job. I am not at all familiar with the area and I am trying to do some research now to find a place to live. I am single and 32 and looking to rent. I want to be in a good area but also somewhere where a single guy wont get bored/be surrounded by nothing but families.

I am going to be an engineer servicing the San Diego area for the most part but with some work in LA as well. My soon to be boss suggested the Escondido area as it is part way between San Diego and LA, but I know nothing about it or if it would even be a good place for me.

thanks in advance for any advice/input

Bill

[DanG05200]

You might want to look into Encinitas or Carlsbad. Not too far North of SD, but closer to LA and off the 5 Freeway which is a more straight shot than Escondido and the 15.

[AADAD]

Escondido and Encinitas only have the capital E in common. Encinitas on the coast is upper middle with a great vibe near the beach. Escondido is urban with more rasta. Depending on your cultural desires one may be better for you. Encinitas $$$ Escondido $$.

Commute to LA from Oceanside is better to LA but longer to San Diego. $$ Find out more about the time in LA. Commute to LA can be a real *****. Forget commute times if you want to be in LA by 8am. You will need to leave 0500. Good mileage car will help you a great deal out here.

Rents vary 1k to 4k nearer the ocean more naturally. Crime less near the ocean and more inland.

Younger vibe in Hillcrest and gay. Urban vibe Downtown. Little Italy convenient to airport and a hot spot artsy and cool. Airport may be best for your LA gigs. fast convenient and Southwest Air $$.

Border is an 45 minutes away. You need separate insurance if you drive in Mexico. Things are dicey at best and you know the rest.

Good luck. Enjoy.

[groverw99]

thank you for the information. I will take a look into both of those areas as well. I am not worried about commute distance. I am field engineer and will be going to different locations everyday and I have a company car so its no out of pocket expense for me.

My biggest concern is that I am single and want to be in an area where I wont get bored easily.

[Pedro2000]

It depends on how often you have to travel to LA. If you are going to LA a few times a month, that's going to be one of those days where you leave your place (say Encinitas) at 5am, get to LA by 8am, do your work, stop off for something to eat, do some more work, and then leave LA say around 2pm, get home by 5pm. 6 hours of driving to/from takes it's toll. And that's if you don't get caught in construction, accidents, or just plain old traffic. There is always traffic in LA. There is traffic in OC. What should be a 2.5 hour trip might take 4+ hours. And this happens more often than not in LA.

So worried about being bored really depends on how often you are traveling to places where you're spending upwards of 6+ hours just getting to a job site and leaving it.

[John7777]

Solana Beach, Carlsbad, Encinitas, Leucadia, Del Mar. Maybe La Jolla.

[unquiltom]

Single and 32 years old? You probably wanna be in Pacific Beach or Mission Beach.

[kettlepot]

32 and want an interesting neighborhood, I would suggest Downtown, Little Italy, Hillcrest, North Park, South Park, Normal Heights, University Heights, as well as Pacific Beach and Mission Beach. However, with MB and PB if you live too close to the water, and too far from the freeway on ramp, it can be a hassle just escaping your neighborhood for the 'open' road.

What I like about the urban neighborhoods I have suggested is that there are plenty of restaurants, restaurant/bars, people on the street walking places, and just overall cool things happening. These are older neighborhoods built around street grids before the car became ubiquitous. Many of them suffered a decline during the height of the automotive age, but are now undergoing a renaissance. Normal Heights in particular has made an amazing turnaround in the past 10 years. But so have North Park and South Park, and Hillcrest rebounded 30 years ago. Normal Heights is still a bit gritty (and less expensive), but you can see the excitement on the streets in the early evenings. Same for Little Italy, North Park, South Park and Hillcrest. Downtown has excitement as well, but it's a bit more of a manufactured rather than organic excitement.

About commuting to LA, many of these neighborhoods give you the option of taking a bus (or ZIP Car) to the train station and riding the train to LA. Admittedly, making this work will depend on where your LA customers are, but one possibility may be to rent a car or find some transit to your customer site. I know that's an unlikely combination, but seriously, you really will have to be on the road by 5am to have a reasonable chance making LA for a 8am or 9am start. And if you aren't on the road back to SD by 2pm, you might as well wait until 8pm to leave.

[groverw99]

Thanks for all the advice so far. I have decided that I am going to move to Escondido as that is what is looking best for me at the moment. I will probably find somewhere else once I am more familiar with the area. So any advice on what areas of Escondido are good/bad to live in?

[oddstray]

Originally Posted by groverw99

Thanks for all the advice so far. I have decided that I am going to move to Escondido as that is what is looking best for me at the moment. I will probably find somewhere else once I am more familiar with the area. So any advice on what areas of Escondido are good/bad to live in?

The central part (except for Old Escondido) is older and more run-down than the out-lying parts. But you mentioned wanting to avoid places with "nothing but families", and I don't picture anything like that in Escondido. I don't live there, though, so I may be wrong.