Santa Clara near San Jose? (San Francisco, Mountain View: amusement park, condo, big home)

[SarahGabrielle]

I have never been to these areas. I am from NYC and am thinking of moving out there.

Can anyone offer any comments about either place.

Thanks.

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by SarahGabrielle

I have never been to these areas. I am from NYC and am thinking of moving out there.

Can anyone offer any comments about either place.

Thanks.

Santa Clara is basically a suburb of San Jose, and part of what we call "South Bay" or Silicon Valley. It's a pretty nice town, safe in most parts, and lots of shopping/eating options (TONS of strip-malls). El Camino Real, the main road on the Peninsula, goes right through town... it's also close to highways 101, 280 & 85, which makes it a convenient though traffic-heavy location. There isn't really a downtown or nightlife to speak of, but it's close enough to other cool places - like Los Gatos/Saratoga, Mountain View, Palo Alto & San Jose. Santa Clara does have Great America, which is a really fun amusement park. As for demographics, it has a very large Asian population, which includes almost every nationality (Indian, Filipino, Chinese, etc)... and since it's so close to all the Silicon Valley companies, it's a popular location for engineers & "techies"!

My best friend owns a condo in Santa Clara, which she purchased for a good price about 3 years ago... it's a small 1-bedroom, but the complex is brand new, and everything is top-quality. She's been pretty happy there, and doesn't really have any complaints about the town - other than the fact that it's "typical suburbia". If you want something with more character, check out the other cities I listed above, if they're in your price range. Overall, most of the South Bay is a nice place to live!

[SarahGabrielle]

I was also worried about earthquakes since I have never been in one. Do you know if Santa Clara would be very prone to them? Have you been in an earthquake?

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by SarahGabrielle

I was also worried about earthquakes since I have never been in one. Do you know if Santa Clara would be very prone to them? Have you been in an earthquake?

Yes, I've been in quite a few, including the 1989 Loma Prieta 7.1!! That was very scary, but most of them are nothing really... we have earthquakes literally every day in California, and you won't notice 99.9% of them. Santa Clara is right near the San Andreas fault, which caused the '89 quake, but it's no more dangerous than most of coastal CA. Basically, I'd worry more about tornadoes & hurricanes (in other states) - they cause a LOT more damage overall.

P.S. I actually think the small quakes are kinda fun... sort of like those funhouse rides, where you can't get your balance.

[SarahGabrielle]

Don't you think hurricanes are less scary? The way I feel is that with hurricanes, you get advance notice that one is coming and then you can just prepare and leave the city and board up your house. With an earthquake, you don't know when it's coming and you could be on a highway or in a building.

Is there a unique sound when and while an earthquake is happening or is it quiet? I am confused about that.


Also, does the ground actually move? And is that why it is hard to keep balance?

[Dedalus]

It depends on where you are standing, how you are standing, and other things.

I was also in the Loma Prieta quake. I did not feel a thing! I saw my car shaking, but I thought it was someone playing a trick on me. When I went around the other side of my car and saw that no one was there, I figured it was the wind. I did not find out what happened until more than an hour later.

[halfmoonbaygal]

Being a fourth-generation native, I take earthquakes in stride and don't even give them a second thought. I'm always kind of surprised that people worry about them, but I guess I can understand why if you haven't lived here. That being said, there are areas that are prone to shaking and I think if you did an internet search, you could find out where those areas are. It depends on the stuff that your house/apt. is standing on. If you are in areas with lots of landfill (Foster City, areas of the Marina District in SFO), I would probably be a little nervous. I wouldn't worry about my safety per se, but rather property damage. These areas tend to settle anyway, and the big fear is that the ground will "liquefy" under your house in a really big earthquake.

I live in El Granada, about four miles north of Half Moon Bay (20 miles south of San Francisco and right on the coast). When the Loma Prieta quake hit, my office in Half Moon Bay was really damaged and if I had been in it at the time, I would have been severely injured. My house, on the other hand, is sitting on what they call decomposed granite, and the only thing that happened there was a picture fell over on my piano. Just one, out of 25 pictures I have precariously perched there. The big homes on the golf course 2 miles south of town sustained quite a bit of structural damage because they are basically sitting on a swamp.

There are areas in California with lots of earthquakes (Hayard Fault, etc.) and towns that even when earthquakes hit, you have to look at your plants or hanging lamps to see if they are swinging. Of course, earthquakes can hit any old place--there was a huge, devastating earthquake in the midwest in the mid-to late 1800s I believe. I mean, who would think that an earthquake would happen there?

Hey, you could get moved down by a car or a chunk of blue ice falling off an airplane. Santa Clara is fine, and I second what all of the other posters have said. Silicon Valley is one of those places where you are drving along and you will cross over a city/town boundary and not even really know it. Well, until you get up into Saratoga, Los Gatos, places like that.

[halfmoonbaygal]

Originally Posted by SarahGabrielle

Don't you think hurricanes are less scary? The way I feel is that with hurricanes, you get advance notice that one is coming and then you can just prepare and leave the city and board up your house. With an earthquake, you don't know when it's coming and you could be on a highway or in a building.

Is there a unique sound when and while an earthquake is happening or is it quiet? I am confused about that.


Also, does the ground actually move? And is that why it is hard to keep balance?

I had advance warning of an earthquake (a few seconds) because I happened to be watching my parrot. He got very weird and started tearing around in his cage and squawking. I thought a bug was after him. Then a small earthquake hit. There are rollers, shakers, in betweeners, long ones and short ones.

The only one that made it hard for me remain on my feet was the Loma Prieta one. I was standing out in the middle of a field at the high school and it started rippling. I think it was the visual that prompted me to sit down. But we don't have those very often at all. Looking back on that, the sheep and goats that the agricultural department keeps alongside the field were acting really crazy, but I didn't put it together that "hey, an earthquake is coming." They are pretty unpredicitable. They are usually little shakers that rattle your garage door, move your hanging plants, etc. Really, not a big deal.

[SarahGabrielle]

I didn't quite understand what you meant by a roller?

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by SarahGabrielle

I didn't quite understand what you meant by a roller?

A roller is an earthquake that sways & dips, like a boat in rough water... and a shaker is more like airplane turbulence, a rough, jolting kind of action. If/when you come out here, I suggest visiting the earthquake exhibit at the Museum of Natural Sciences in San Francisco. They explain these differences, and have lots of pictures & stories about the big ones... then you get to stand on this "ride", which simulates the feeling of a specific earthquake - used to be the 1906, but they changed it to the 1989 quake after that happened (not sure if they've changed it since). Anyway, it's very cool!