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I'm in the processing of moving to California. My research has narrowed my choices to La Jolla or Laguna area. I'm not opposed to Newport but I've been told Newport is as superficial as Vegas; that's what I'm trying to get away from. My wants are to be near beach activity but close enough to city life (about a 30 min drive). My question, if you had a choice as a single woman, 38 yr, no children and an entrepreneur; from Dana Point to Huntington Beach where would you live? And of course, there's La Jolla...
I personally like the Laguna Beach, Newport Coast, Newport Beach area myself. Those are the areas we are looking at ourselves but I am married. Even if I was single that is were I would go if I could.
I personally like the Laguna Beach, Newport Coast, Newport Beach area myself. Those are the areas we are looking at ourselves but I am married. Even if I was single that is were I would go if I could.
Have you considered the Northern part: Santa Barbara, Ventura?
Funny you mentioned Ventura. I actually lived in Thousand Oaks and Oxnard (oceanfront) at Hollywood Beach which is all in Ventura County.
No, We don't really like Ventura. Santa Barbara is nice and we do like to go visit it but we like the OC area better. There is just so much stuff to do in the OC area. We are looking for an oceanview home.
Yes, I drove from San Diego to Ventura over the past week. I came across this forum, and I'm finding it to be very informative and helpful. I liked allot of areas but living could be different. La Jolla is my first choice then from Dana Point to Huntington Beach. I prefer the areas that have mountains around it, ex. Dana Point. DP I really like but I sense it's a pretty slow town.
Yeah, I hear ya. I love mountains too, with my beach.
Well, It sounds like you picked some good choices. Now, finding the perfect one is the challenge. But it can be a fun challenge, sorting through everything. This forum is a great help!
Just to tell you, We are looking all over the coast too. Our minds are spinning.
We change our minds a couple times a week. Back and fourth, back and fourth.
Sometimes I answer these posts to vent because I read something that I personally need to say, either in opposition, or agreement.
Sometimes I answer to just be helpful because I moved 2 years ago and I did not do my due diligence about where we moved to, and now we are paying the price.
So, here's my 2 Cents because I wish I had read this when I was making a decision on where to live in California.
True Story:
Two sets of friends from the same midwest town, whose husbands are in the same profession and are on the same socio-econ page move to California.
One couple moves to OC and buys a business.
One couple moves to SLO and buys a business.
The OC's live in beautiful, chic, high density, overcrowded, noisy, touristy Del Mar and work in LaJolla.
It's gorgeous and they are a walk to the beach.
But their home is a condo which is tiny, old, and preferably more suited to vacation living, than a full time residence. It's over a million dollars.
But they love the location and they are both working full time so they aren't there that much and the proximity to the beach is a priority.
The SLO couple buys a house in the country for the same price.
It's 2400 sq. feet, and they remodel it and it is beautiful. Ocean view. 35 minute commute to work along empy Highway 1. Gorgeous trees everywhere, a walk to the rocky beach.
Mountains, practically empty beaches, hardly any traffic. It seems like an Idyllic life.
The OC people would never live up in SLO.....they came to visit and said, "what the heck do you do up here?" They also were heard saying something about the riff-raff "neighbors" all around who don't take care of their property.
Then the SLO people went down to visit the OC's and they said, "this high density living is so claustrophobic and stressful.......how do they do that?"
They were overheard saying something about "gee, we haven't lived in a place like this since college."
The OC people are cramped, and cash poor right now that they have to live in their little condo as is and it's so dated that it's like a time warp in there.
They're sick of it. They are getting bids for a remodel. But they walk to the beach.
The SLO folks are loving their house, and they can walk to the beach, too.
But they feel like strangers in a strange land. There is no shopping, no one ever gets dressed, there isn't much to do. Everyone is kind of anti everything, so there isn't much going on. It's in a stalemate all the time. It's static.
They're sick of it. They don't feel at all on the same page politically, socially, or otherwise.
The SLO's are dying on the vine. They are irritable, bored, unstimulated. They are not feeling that they fit in. They are more youthful, more open, more modern. They miss shopping, seeing new cutting-edge things.
They go down to OC and they feel like someone plugged them in.
They want to buy a new outfit and get dressed up and go out. They want to see some entertainment. They want to mingle with the crowd, and sip a Cosmo among the upscale.
Three days later, they drive back home.
They are kind of depressed to leave. They make a decision that they need to get out of where they live.
But they also make a decision that they could never, ever, live in what to them seems like a Rabbit warren.
So, all in all, they laugh about feeling like Goldilocks. This one's too crazy, this one's too staid.
They decide that a move down to Santa Barbara is best. There they can have everything on a mini scale that they need.
If they want Saks Fifth Ave. it's there. If they want earthy and rural, it's there, too. It's perfect.
The problem is....... now they will have to commute a painfully long way because the business is up north.
Too bad they didn't think it through
What I am saying is this:
Do not romanticize your notions of what life will be like in a place you have visited.
Things look a lot better sometimes just passing through. (So do people)
Read that again. Paste it on your frig.
You have more of a chance at happiness in California if you try to make a lateral move in lifestyle that you come from, and you are used to.
If you have always liked the urban feel, and you enjoy high-density living then maybe you should look in OC, Newport, LaJolla, Laguna.
The OC, you know, is the new L.A. No doubt about it, I just got back yesterday. It is growing like the flesh eating bacteria down there.
If you have always lived in a more rural setting, the OC will kill you.
If Dana Point seems boring to you now......just wait til you move there.
If the OC makes your BP go up and you're always stressed about something, just wait til you move there.
So, go where it feels like home to you....however that feels. One guy I knew from NY felt at home where people were seen picking through the garbage, and there was no lawn, just concrete everywhere.....down in Venice Beach.
He could have afforded Santa Monica, but it was too suburban for him.
At least he knew enough to know what made him feel comfortable.
Get out the intuition radar and don't let the beauty/sand/sunsets/ anesthetize you.
In my post, I realize that I should have mentioned that I lumped SD into OC.
I always do that now, because to me they have morphed into one and the same and no longer have a very distinct difference in "place personality."
And I should have specifically referred to the fact that I was talking about the coastal areas, not the new inland "McNeighborhoods" that are built in a month.
Whether it's Laguna Beach, Del Mar, La Jolla, Corona Del Mar, Newport Beach...................it's all the same.
These are no longer "villages" by anyone's definition. The whole area down there is becoming one vast Metropolis. This is how L.A. was built.
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