Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > San Diego
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 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.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 03-21-2010, 02:37 PM
 
3 posts, read 7,410 times
Reputation: 10

Advertisements

I have been following the forum with al lot of interest, but have not found an aswer to my specific problem as yet. We are moving from Amsterdam to San Diego for a visiting scholarship at UCSD. We would very much like to be in a neighborhood which is very kid-friendly and where we could meet some nice people with the same (progressive/ intellectual) frame of mind. Of course a good elementary school is a must. Rent may be up to 2200 dollars.
Does anyone have suggestions as to such a place?

(An exchange is a possibility by the way- anyone interested in a year in a great house in the centre of Amsterdam)

Thank you so much for any advice!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-21-2010, 03:14 PM
 
6,885 posts, read 8,874,408 times
Reputation: 3495
University City which is just south of UTC area.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-21-2010, 05:07 PM
 
2,145 posts, read 5,055,131 times
Reputation: 1666
well, SD is not an intellectual hot bed...as far as having that type of 'vibe'...(I'm from Boston originally and lived in SFO,etc). UTC I cannot say-though that is where UCSD is located, on the La Jolla border...
Other neighborhoods that have a 'vibrancy' or 'vitality', relatively speaking-this is SD, and my husband's college professor here used to refer to it as Lotus Land,and this was in the 80's....would include:
Mission Hills
South Park
Hillcrest
North Park (parts of it are very good, parts not so good)
[These are the areas that offer older architecture, as well, which is not as common in So Cal as in the other parts of the US, or certainly Europe].

If you are only in town for a few months, why not enjoy what SD does have to offer? Namely, a laid-back beach town with pretty friendly folks overall, and absolutely beautiful beaches/canyons for hiking, etc?

Your house exchange idea might net you a fantastic place in La Jolla, or North Pacific Beach [aka 'PB'] or also Cardiff or Encinitas or Del Mar/Carmel Valley. All great coastal towns, not far from UCSD. You should post on a house exchange site/forum. And also check out craigslist dot org for the same.
These would be absolutely great areas from which to base your time in SD. And they are all very family friendly. SD overall is very kid/family friendly.
It is not pedestrian/public transit friendly, so much, though.

And, the 'progressive' pockets would be sprinkled throughout. Lifestyle wise, you see the apparent progressive 'look' in places like Hillcrest, North Park, South Park and Encinitas. And 'progressive partiers'-lol- in pacific beach, ocean beach, mission beach, downtown,etc.

But, honestly, people are scattered throughout San Diego. I live in Carmel Valley with my family, and we would seem an odd choice for the area in many ways...and I have found this consistenly in SD. You don't just have 'certain areas' for 'progressives'.

People still like to tout SD as a 'conservative' county in CA, too. But today it's really more family friendly, mellow, lifestyle oriented...beach bbq's, shopping, tourism and living life with the family, kind of place. SD and So Cal are very different from the rest of the US (for better or worse) and honestly night and day in contrast with Europe.

Good luck!
ps-i did know a family where the mom was from netherlands, and she has a hard time in SD b/c of it's vibe...but still living here...my opinion is you can either try going 'native', or try a more urban/artsy area like Hillcrest, South Park, Normal Heights, Kensington to get you through....but you may not find people with your 'frame of mind'. You will, however, find people from all walks of life, and from all over the world (my neighbors are mostly from India, Korea, China, Iran, Japan, etc here i Carmel Valley, and when I lived in Normal Heights, my and my children's friends were Ethiopian, Eritrean, Greek, Brasilian,etc), who are living their lives in SD. But it's very understated-noone feels the need to 'be progressive' like in San Francisco, for example. People in SD largely do not wear their politics or their interests on their sleeves.

Last edited by lrmsd; 03-21-2010 at 05:16 PM.. Reason: typo
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-22-2010, 03:57 PM
 
3 posts, read 7,410 times
Reputation: 10
Well this is so helpfull already- thank you very much. We would be coming for a year, and of course we' re all for emersion in the SD-feel.
I'm certainly not looking for Europe in California. Just looking for a place where the girls (4&6) would be comfortable and find playmates easily. If I'm worried about lifestyle, it is because of them. We are full of prejudices here on how things are in the States, and as a mum from the Netherlands I do worry slightly about Hamburgers for the school lunch or telly-watching all day...

Thanks again!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-22-2010, 03:59 PM
 
3 posts, read 7,410 times
Reputation: 10
By the way, we do have an option on Berkeley as well. You seem to be the perfect person to ask whether that would be more suitable or preferable?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-22-2010, 04:09 PM
 
Location: State of Jefferson coast
963 posts, read 3,024,017 times
Reputation: 1326
Quote:
Originally Posted by vandenblink View Post
By the way, we do have an option on Berkeley as well. You seem to be the perfect person to ask whether that would be more suitable or preferable?
It may be more suitable for the characteristic you've asked about, but I think you'd have to increase your rental budget a little in order to obtain commensurate housing.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 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.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > San Diego
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top