Los Angeles to Marin County, help?! (Oakland, Santa Rosa: crime, how much, home)

[newportbeachsmostwanted]

Alright, I am looking to get out L.A.. I'm so sick of immoral people, with no respect for the law, and getting that feeling in my stomach of being estranged in my own city. I'm tired of graffiti on every possible surface imagineable. I need to move. I'm from Orange County and used to expensive prices etc.. I am thinking Marin Area. I recently camped out in China Camp in San Rafael, and it was awesome! I am curious about what surface roads are like there. I know there going to be better than LA, but in Newport we have roads 4 lanes each way surface, and it helps a real slow life, i like. Do Marin drivers behave like they are in the city or a rural or suburban?

What are the more quiet areas of Marin? I've heard Fairfax is quiet, but i'd rather stick closer to the city.. Would Tiburon be quiet? I am an active person and Mill Valley's proximinenty to Mt. Tam tempts me, but I hear it can be congested there.. Thanks

[digdug]

Originally Posted by newportbeachsmostwanted

Alright, I am looking to get out L.A.. I'm so sick of immoral people, with no respect for the law, and getting that feeling in my stomach of being estranged in my own city. I'm tired of graffiti on every possible surface imagineable. I need to move. I'm from Orange County and used to expensive prices etc.. I am thinking Marin Area. I recently camped out in China Camp in San Rafael, and it was awesome! I am curious about what surface roads are like there. I know there going to be better than LA, but in Newport we have roads 4 lanes each way surface, and it helps a real slow life, i like. Do Marin drivers behave like they are in the city or a rural or suburban?

What are the more quiet areas of Marin? I've heard Fairfax is quiet, but i'd rather stick closer to the city.. Would Tiburon be quiet? I am an active person and Mill Valley's proximinenty to Mt. Tam tempts me, but I hear it can be congested there.. Thanks

Tiburon is not quiet due to its tourity qualities and proximity to SF. It's very expensive and trendy. Mill Valley is the same to a lesser degree. I find the Marin County folks to be a bit rushed, just like the SF folks. No real difference.
The roads in Marin are pretty decent. I don't know your situation, but if you like quiet then northern Marin or western Marin county is more likely to suit you. Lots of smaller towns and out the way places.

[livybaby]

Marin is the best! i live in sausalito and it's pretty quiet, although, it depends on what u want by quiet. There are ofcourse tons of tourists and the traffic can be kinda crazy, because it's right accross the bridge from sfo. Good luck and if ur looking for a quiet place, try belvedere!!

[newportbeachsmostwanted]

ah Thanks guys. I am in awe how everyone who lives in Marin seems so happy to live there. Yes, I imagine Belvedere is quite a quiet area. That was my intuition. By "quiet"; no through traffic, no people cutting through my street to go to work, realistically just the most stress-free area.

[DeniseC]

Marin is one of my favorite countys and if I were rich I would move from Walnut Creek to Point Reyes, as I love the ocean and the country so much!

[fairweathergolfer]

What is Belvedere like? Is there good dining, shopping? What appeals to the you Denise about Point Reyes? I am also looking into that area as well. How would you say it differs from Santa Barbara if you have visited there?

[norcal5453]

Move to Santa Rosa. Its just to the north of Marin County, in Sonoma County. Nice peaceful. There is Graffiti in Marin County. Not much in Sonoma. Santa Rosa has about 150,000 people, so it's big enough to avoid San Fran Traffic, and crime most the time. I am not too fond of the Bay Area(esp. San Fran) because 5 years ago, I was getting into my car, and got beaten, and car jacked. They found my car at low tide Near Vallejo, but I was Hospitalized for 2 months. Trust me graffiti is the least of your worries there.

[knccarney]

Originally Posted by norcal5453

Move to Santa Rosa. Its just to the north of Marin County, in Sonoma County. Nice peaceful. There is Graffiti in Marin County. Not much in Sonoma. Santa Rosa has about 150,000 people, so it's big enough to avoid San Fran Traffic, and crime most the time. I am not too fond of the Bay Area(esp. San Fran) because 5 years ago, I was getting into my car, and got beaten, and car jacked. They found my car at low tide Near Vallejo, but I was Hospitalized for 2 months. Trust me graffiti is the least of your worries there.

Well there is graffiti in Santa Rosa as well, quite a large gang culture in the 9th street neighborhood. I moved to rural Petaluma to escape the insanity that Santa Rosa has become. I was just up there yesterday and was appalled at the traffic situation!

As for your experience, sorry that happened, but that happens everywhere.
Stay away from Richmond, certain areas of Oakland and south of Market for sure

[Christine Eichner]

Depends on how much money you have to spend. Nice areas in Marin are Mill Valley, Corte Madera, Novato in fact most of Marin is lovely. I know because I live in Novato which has a rural feel yet close to the city. 35 minutes to the bridge. I also used to live in Mission Viejo in Orange County. I left 4 years ago to move back to Marin County. Best shopping was Fashion Island and nothing here can top it. Sonoma County info, Petaluma has nice areas on the west side Santa Rosa sucks as it does not have good shopping has terrible traffic problems and from what I hear has lots of gangbangers. Other nice areas in Marin are San Anselmo, Sausalilto is sort of like Laguna Beach, lots of tourists, but nice and Larkspur and Tiburon are beautiful also. Fairfax is a little to funky for me but you might like it. The traffic out Sir Francis Drake Blvd. is awful at rush hour and that would be another reason I would scatch it from my list. Christine

[q6 Deedrit]

Marin is great. I hope we get more quality people here. Home prices are high which has its benefits if you are talking demographics. There are a LOT of trust fund babies here. Fairfax, Bolinas, and Stinson beach have the reputation of being very bohemian, just a lot of people and their weed. It's essentially Marin's forest land, out of the way for sure. Very beautiful views out there. Belvedere and Tiburon are the richest parts of Marin. Members of the band Metallica, Michael Savage, Bill Graham, Andre Agassi, and Big time CEOs live out there. Sausalito comes second to them. Btw part of Sausalito is close to Marin City, which is one of Marin's ghetto areas, only reason to go there is to go to Best Buy, but they are moving to San Rafael. Soon no reason to go there unless you are looking for drugs. Moving north, you have Mill Valley which to me is like Sausalito and Bolinas in one. I don't like it much, seems cramped, just go there if you want some good Italian food at D'Angelos. Corte Madera is nice also close to Larkspur. Then you have San Rafael. I don't like San Rafael. So, I can't really give a great impression about it. They get tons of traffic. I think the people are really strange there too, the whole vibe you get there is just wrong. Just visit very select places there. Further north is Novato, I love Novato. Its very quiet, yet very close the everything else. But, if you have to go to work in the morning and head South you get stuck in the worst traffic in the North bay, which is essentially a continuation of Santa Rosa Traffic. Ideally you want to live farther South minus San Rafael.