marin or lamorinda (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland: house, buy, preschool)

[new2bay]

Hi All,

We are new to the bay area from Los Angeles living in Walnut Creek. We are married educated successful professionals with 1 baby. We have been here for 8 months and realize it may not be the right place to raise our daughter. We are "culturally" jewish meaning not religious, but rather celebrate a few holidays etc, dont keep kosher etc.

Since living here, joining playgroups with my baby, we havent met any other jewish families in the Walnut Creek area. Coming from Westside LA which has a large jewish population, I am curious if Marin has more jewish families vs. the Lamorinda area. We are trying to decide where to settle and I am concerned that my daughter will be the only jewish person in her class if we stay in the east bay.

I also noticed my allergies are horrible in Walnut Creek. Is Marin a better place to live if you have allergies?

[bayarea-girl]

If you have allergies living in Walnut Creek you will have them in Marin too. I've noticed more of a Catholic influence in the Marin area. I'm not sure if an area could compare to the Westside of LA in the Bay but I am not Jewish so am not the best advisor.

Have you checked out Jewish Community Organizations? They might help you out there in terms of guiding you to areas. I know there is one in Berkeley and another in San Francisco.

[artemis78]

What about Piedmont? The Berkeley/Oakland area has a huge reform Jewish community, so you'd be close enough to join a temple there. (Parts of Berkeley and Oakland themselves could be options too, as would Albany, but Piedmont would probably be more your speed if you like the Lamorinda/Marin feel other than the lack of other Jewish families.)

[bellalunatic]

I would think that your allergies would improve in Marin as it is on the coast. But of course some towns can be worse than others.
If you are allergic to olive and redwood trees, like I am, you're kinda screwed anywhere in the North Bay, but it's well worth it!
I have good friends in Marin who are Jewish and on the board at the Marin Jewish Community Center.
They live in Terra Linda area of San Rafael, they send their girls to a Jewish school no less....
Can't say anything about Lamorinda as I know nothing about it.

Oh, yeah and my other half is "Jewish for the food" too!

You must check out the Berkeley Parents Network at
Berkeley Parents Network:


you can search there for info on the "jewishness" of like Lamorinda and pretty much anything els.
it's an invaluable too, and you don't have to be a parent since not all of the info in there is about offspring.

[new2bay]

My allergies are driving me nuts here in Walnut Creek. We just got back into town from the holidays and I am already itchy like crazy. We also lived in SF briefly before moving here, and my allergies were fine. This is why I think maybe Marin might be better for allergies as the climates might be more similar, but with Marin having less fog.

I belong to BPN and have noticed more posts about jewish things on there, but my hubby wont live in Oakland or Berkeley. I like 4th st, but thats about it. We cannot live in SF with kids as I dont find the city to be kid friendly at all. We want a house with a yard etc.

Are there any other big differences between the 2 areas?

[skywalker400]

Just in my personal experience from college, I knew more jewish kids from Marin than Lamorinda (small sample, but its like 5 to 1). I want to say the census has Marin County as having the highest concentration of jewish people outside the East Coast(per capita of course, since its total pop is only like 300k vs 10M in LA). Marin, to me at least, seems a lot more connected to SF, in the sense that most of its residents matured and left the city, but still hold on to some of their past liberal mindset. Lamorinda and contra costa is kindof its own world of california suburbia. Just generalizations I've seen, but thats my two cents good luck.

[alohakat]

Your allergies will be the same in Marin (you are living over a mountain range usually from the coast -- still thus inland), maybe even slightly worse as it's a bit wetter, but to help and to see improvement over the years without having to undergo expensive allergy desensitization treatments, run to Whole Foods and buy honey that is locally produced. They have an entire display often for just locally produced honey -- wild mix is best versus just one crop, in fact a mix is imperative. The reason is that if you are ingesting the pollen from the plants you are allergic to, your body will "recognize it as a food source" and cease making the hystamines to that particular pollen *WHILE YOU HAVE IT IN YOUR SYSTEM ONLY* so you must ingest the pollens in the form of their honey daily. Probably start with 2 tablespoons daily until symptoms subside and then you can usually reduce it a bit -- perhaps have it on toast or in tea or coffee if you must. It will probably take a few days for it to start working, but it works very well IF YOU HAVE FOUND HONEY WITH THE POLLEN RELATED TO YOUR ALLERGIES. So do get a wild mix for best results. This is scientifically proven to work, but I'm not looking up the studies to reference here. I have seen papers on the effect though.

I am guessing the jewish population is higher in Marin. Why don't you look at synagogue populations in each area? Just poll the different locations, and that will tell you a lot. Also check for their involvement opportunities, community outreach, etc.

But I agree with the other poster, too bad your husband won't consider Berkeley-Piedmont or even Montclair as that I think would fit the bill. Good luck!

[hsw]

Many younger Jews (and many Asian Americans) feel unwelcome in many affluent areas of EastBay/PacHts/Marin, even if a Stanford/Harvard-educated hedgie or techie...SF/Marin/EastBay tend to be less cosmopolitan than LA's Westside

Many opt for Atherton or PaloAlto area....generally a more cosmopolitan region than SF or Marin/Orinda, perhaps the Stanford influence....who knows???

[threelittlebirds]

Hey there, my family is jewish and we live in Marin!

Here's the lowdown...lots of Jews here but most are nonpracticing/completely assimilated Most of the Jews who are interested in the cultural aspects usually end up joining Rodef Shalom, just so they know other jews. We belong to Kol Shofar (conservative). There is a jewish day school here (which is buku expensive but they give lots of scholarships) and there are several good jewish preschools (JCC, Gan Israel, etc) There is not very much that is secular but you could look at the JCC for their programs. Our daughter attends Gan Israel Preschool which seems to have cornered the market on Israelis LOL But it's a small preschool with fantastic teachers...

If you child goes to public school, there may be others with jewish names but it will be likely that they will not observe even the cultural aspects of judaism...They will always be the odd man out, as far as I can tell.

There are, however, a plethora of JewBu's around here (especially at Spirit Rock!) LOL

if you're looking for a more vibrant jewish community, I would look into either Oakland or in the Peninsula (?)/south bay around the jewish school down there - Molly Stones in Palo Alto has enough observant jews to keep a kosher butcher on staff (we have to import our kosher meat from Oakland, Palo Alto or the city! - esp since Trader Joe's quit carring rabushkins) Many of my more observant/culturally jewish friends here like to complain endlessly about the poor quality of the jewish community here - it's not that people are unfriendly but just that they really don't know beans about judaism and are SOOO assimilated (celebrate Christmas and even Easter!)

can't help with the allergy thing....

eta: BTW marin is an AMAZING place to live - you can be at the beach in 30 minutes and there is so much wilderness to be had here! I wouldn't live anywhere else in the bay area...

hth
good luck

[new2bay]

Thanks for all the feedback. I recently went to Palo Alto and really enjoyed the area for a suburb. It seems culturally diverse and sophisticated with many well dressed people. The restaurant options did seem limited however, but that is to be expected in the suburbs. It appears from my research the most jewish organizations seem to be in SF/Palo Alto/Oakland/Berkeley area. There are more temple options in Contra Costa vs. Marin but I think there are more jews in Marin vs. Contra Costa so clearly they do not participate in the community.

My family also celebrates Christmas...we are more culturally jewish...just sprinkle our vocabulary with a little yiddish and bagels on sundays. We also do passover and high holidays.

I am surprised there are not more people like me here.

BTW...does that honey thing really work??? Ive never heard of such a thing.