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Old 08-02-2007, 03:24 PM
 
411 posts, read 1,597,333 times
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We moved to T.O. from NY in 2001, stayed for five wonderful years prior to my DH's retirement. Now we live in Ashland, Oregon for financial reasons. I miss T.O. every day although Ashland is a lovely place. T.O. had it all and if we could go back tomorrow I'd be packing my suitcase. Wonderful place to live.
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Old 08-03-2007, 04:08 PM
 
25 posts, read 167,960 times
Reputation: 27
I moved here to T.O. in March from Florida (also lived in NJ most of my life). It is a truly awesome place to live and raise a family. It is clean, safe, driving distance from most everything (of course if you don't time it right you will sit on the freeway for hours). There are definately trade-offs as a previous poster said...but overall... I see myself growing old here with my family and loving every minute of it. The people are nice..and trust me ..in my job I meet thousands of them...There is really no smog here...they say that the area is home to lots of ex airline pilots because when they flew overhead they saw all of the smog...but a big hole of clean air over T.O. ..we are just lucky I guess. Anyway, while i'm sure Colorado is a beautiful place to live, you can't go wrong by living & working in T.O. Good luck with whatever decision you make.
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Old 08-05-2007, 01:12 AM
 
Location: in a house
5,835 posts, read 5,163,695 times
Reputation: 4890
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles View Post
I grew up in the San Fernando Valley and lived in Lang Ranch area of Thousand Oaks from 1998 to 2006. I lived in Moorpark from 1988 to 1997. I am 45 years old. I have three kids 3, 5, and 7. TO is one of the best places in Southern California to live. The schools are excellent, the populace is educated and health conscious. Moorpark and Simi Valley are slightly less expensive per square foot. Last June I moved from TO to Monument CO, about halfway between Colorado Springs and South Denver. Paid cash for a custom 6200 sqft home on 2.5 acres. Housing prices in TO are in the $400/sqft range. Equivalent class and demographic areas in COS and Denver are about half that. Property taxes are slightly above 1 percent in TO so if you buy a 2200 sqft house WITH NO BASEMENT on a 7000 sqft foot lot for around $920,000 (these are the numbers for our sale last June, we paid $330,000 in 1997) your annual property tax bill is at least $10,000 year. That is sick. IF you live and work in the TO area (Conejo Valley) permenently than you will not have a problem. When you get laid off or fired or can’t stand your job anymore, what are you going to do? Commuting anywhere east of the west San Fernando Valley (that is east of the Topanga/101 is brutal after 7AM. Forget about West LA, El Segundo, Downtown LA, Pasadena, etc. The traffic will kill you. Forget about EVER going to a Dodger game – even on the weekends. Your access to the beaches (Malibu, Topanga, Zuma, Ventura County) however is very good. I went the beach maybe two times in the past five years.
When your kids get older they WILL venture to the 3rd world San Fernando Valley and perhaps Hollywood clubs (like I did). They will meet “undesireables”.
My dad worked, as an aerospace engineer, in the the San Fernando Valley and near LAX in the 1950s through the 1980s. Back in the ‘50s and ‘60s LA was truly paradise: traffic was much less, housing was affordable, the glory of the Dodgers, Lakers, Rams, USC, Rose Bowl, visions of orange trees in the foreground with snow capped San Gabriel or San Bernardino mountains in the background…. That’s why they moved to LA from Buffalo in ‘58. The vision was real and it sold. Things have changed. It’s still a vision but it isn’t real. Eighty percent of Southern California is a third world jungle – too much multi and not enough cultural. If that’s not bad enough, the region is crowded, dirty, overpriced, crime filled, disgusting, impersonal, and full of morons. Who else would pay $500K for a 1400 sqft dump located next door to a guy who parks his car on the lawn? Answer: Appearance obsessed idiots who worship the celebrities that (can afford to) live in overrated California. It isn’t a beach party in SoCal. It’s a traffic filled quagmire of slime and insensitivity.
My impressions: We went from A+ weather to B weather, F (potential) commute to B commute, F home affordability to B affordability, D job opportunities to A job opportunities, A local demographics to A local demographics, D regional demographics to A- regional demographics, A+ schools (Conejo Valley) to A+ schools (Lewis Palmer D38).
Sincere recommendation: DO NOT move to the LA area. We have a beautiful state here in Colorado. You would be making a huge mistake.
Hey Charles. I am very happy that you found a great place to live and work. Sounds terrific. Your take on Los Angeles and the affordability issue is right on in my opinion. I grew up in Van Nuys/S.O. Went to Millikan Jr. High and Grant High School. Everyone I knew was upper middle class and white. No diversity at all growing up in that part of the Valley. Used to hitch hike to Hollywood at thirteen (how stupid is that!) but was never a problem (until my Dad caught me). I used to walk about a mile to Fashion Square from my house when I was in elementary school, back when no one was afraid, back when Mom's didn't drop you off to a school that is one block from your house because they live in fear that something will happen to their child in a one block radius from their home. I think that is a time people are looking for and is forever gone, even in the safety of the Ventura County suburbs, people are always afraid. I couldn't believe mothers that I knew that lived in Oak Park, one block from their kids elementary school, that would drive their kids to school and pick them up every day. Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village and Oak Park are as close to a safe bubble that you can find these days. I guess that is saying something.
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Old 08-05-2007, 08:28 PM
 
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
1,482 posts, read 5,161,941 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by emmersen View Post
Stay in Colorado! My husband and I both grew up in Thousand Oaks. It was a great place to raise kids 30 years ago, but now we're packing up and moving to Colorado to raise our future children. It isn't the same Conejo Valley of yesteryear. The L.A. type have moved in, shoving everyone off the road with their obnoxious Hummers (last I checked this wasn't a war zone) and the "Do you know who I am?" attitude. There is little to no crime, (except the fact that people pay $650k for an 1100 sq. foot house) no gangs, it is clean, the school system is great, the area is educated, etc. I am biased, but gone are the days of kids riding their bikes around town, catching crawdads in the local brook and building forts in the oak trees...
I lived in Thousand Oaks for 20 years and still regularly drive down to visit friends and family and no, it's certainly not what it was 30 years ago. In the 80's it wasn't what it was in the 70's and in the 90's it wasn't what it was in the 80's. It wasn't any influx of people that changed the city. The world changed. If one wanted to they could still catch crawdads and tadpoles in the local streams, they're still there. They could still ride their bikes all over town and build forts. The thing is, for the most part, they don't want to. Why catch frogs when you can play xbox. Why ride a bike when the family has three cars and you can get someone to drive you? Why build a fort when you have the xbox, tv, air conditioning, and internet all right in your bedroom?
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Old 01-12-2008, 09:40 PM
 
Location: Las Flores, Orange County, CA
26,338 posts, read 93,460,004 times
Reputation: 17827
Quote:
Originally Posted by ImRandy View Post
Why build a fort when you have the xbox, tv, air conditioning, and internet all right in your bedroom?
The premium of good weather is becoming smaller and smaller. Everyone is always inside.
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Old 01-13-2008, 02:00 PM
 
Location: City of Angels
1,287 posts, read 5,012,005 times
Reputation: 672
Charles, is there some reason why you are resurrecting threads that have been dead and buried for five months or more?
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Old 01-13-2008, 03:31 PM
 
9,725 posts, read 15,115,873 times
Reputation: 3346
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheRealAngelion View Post
Charles, is there some reason why you are resurrecting threads that have been dead and buried for five months or more?
He misses Thousand Oaks...
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Old 08-05-2010, 03:48 PM
 
3 posts, read 10,634 times
Reputation: 13
yeah if you have the money pick up a house now for cheap. and about the gangs, just view the place your looking to buy first. Not to be racist, but if you see alot of mexicans in the neighborhood/apartment, then theres probably a gang or one of their cliques there.
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Old 08-06-2010, 02:55 PM
 
Location: Living on the Coast in Oxnard CA
16,289 posts, read 32,205,176 times
Reputation: 21885
Quote:
Originally Posted by sully91360 View Post
yeah if you have the money pick up a house now for cheap. and about the gangs, just view the place your looking to buy first. Not to be racist, but if you see alot of mexicans in the neighborhood/apartment, then theres probably a gang or one of their cliques there.
This is a very old thread. Things have changed since it was published. And not to be judgemental, but you do seem a bit racist with your comments.
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Old 08-21-2010, 07:50 PM
 
3 posts, read 10,634 times
Reputation: 13
Think whatever you want to think, I live in thousand oaks and its the truth.
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