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Although I agree strip malls aren't the prettiest thing to look at it is a part of California's identity -along with the freeways, smog, and other unattractive things. Besides California is so vast and spread out you pretty much have to drive anywhere. At the moment I am living in England and I have some shops within walking distance but man they're nothing to write home about-run down pubs and a grocery shop with overpriced not-so-fresh produce. I do miss driving thru Starbucks right before work...good old days
Well, I'll trade ya'. I live in S CA and find that there are many enclaves where you do not need a car. Furthermore, the most enlightened communities are starting to plan and build in a whole new way, based around walking destinations, mixed-us and transit. I live in a so-so car-hostile area (meaning that cars get a higher priority than I care for, but with a fair amount of pedestrian/bike/transit amenities thrown in to keep me reasonably happy) and use my car only about half-time. Even at times when I had commute distances up to 50 miles one way, I was always able to find an express bus/bike/walk option and really enjoyed commuting that way.
Even LA has some very walkable neighborhoods next to an ever improving public transportation system. You have to look a little and live near these things to make it work in S CA, but I reject the notion that you "have to drive everywhere." You have to drive some places, but not everywhere.
I live on the coast here in Northern California. Literally right across the street from the ocean in a town called Pacifica. It's very clean and the people are nice and normal. The population is minimal compared to surrounding cities and there's lots of small antique shops and family owned businesses. What I like about it is it's about 10min to San Francisco via car which means your near some of the best museums and resturants. Pacifica is very family oriented middle class families and low crime. It can be pretty foggy but when it's sunny it's beautiful. I love it here but it is kind of expensive. Not much difference from SF prices. It's worth checking out.. Good Luck
The Santa Ynez Valley is salt of the earth rural mixed with artistic cosmopolitan. Depending on where you live, the doors can remain unlocked. You could find a nice rental (maybe on some acreage) for less than $3 K a month. Depending on what part of the valley you choose, the ocean is about a 15- 30 minute drive. About halfway between San Francisco & Los Angeles.
Oak Park, its a small town great schools and 15-20 mins away from Malibu
The weather is great..during the summer its always sunny, no humidty but if there is some you cant feel it, winter is usually high 50s low 60s and at nite maybe if its gets really low, low 30s and high 40s, there is some fog in the morning not usualy but if there is, it lets up around 5-6ish in the morning, fall its beautiful here same with spring!
California is a wonderful place to live and play. I have grown up here. I have liveed on the central coast Southern Ca Northern Ca and the Central Valley. The central coast has a very mild climate San Luis Obispo has pretty much the same weather all year around but it does get in the 90s and occassionally gets in the low 100s in the summer. but it generally stays in the 60s-70s most of the year. So ithas a wonderful climate. Just south of the city about 15-20 minutes there are the five cities of Pismo Beach Grover Beach Oceano Shell Beach and Arroyo Grande. These cities stay quite a bit cooler all year long and they often stay foggy most of the day in the summer, but are nice small towns. Even San luis Obispo which is the biggest city in the area about 50,000 people, the area gets very boreing. There is nothing to do after about 7 pm except go out and drink with the enormous amounts of drunken college students. The area is very expensive to live in and there are not very many good paying jobs in the area except if you work for the university. Northern Ca has nice waether as well but it is much colder up there and alot of fog. But it is very expensive as well, but there are many more jobs up there that pay well you can pretty much find any kind of job you can think of up there but again it is very expensive espically in the bay area. By far southern Ca has the nicest weather in the whole state it is nice and warm dosent get too hot and has virtually no fog the down side of the area is that it is very congested and one of the most expensive places to live in the whole state. There are less congested places to live in Southern Ca like north county San diego with smaller towns but they are enormously expensive and dont offer the variety of jobs that the city of San Diego and LA have, but you can alwasy commute the drive is 30 minutes with no traffic which is very rare with traffic you are looking at about atleast and hour. But they are very nice sea side cities to live in and are great for raising famalies. For people who cant throw down a million dollars for a small home like most of us I would reccomend the Central Valley of Ca. The largest city there is Fresno which is centrally located half way between LA and San Francisco. About a 2 1/2 drive to SF and about 4 hours to LA. Fresno is a city of about 500,000 thousand people but it has a smaller town feel to it. There is pleanty to do there with very distinct parts of the city you have the multimillion dollar homes on the edge of the San Joaquin river to modest older homes on the south side of the city for less than 100,000 dollars. The city has alot of vey nice safe neighborhoods and it has some areas that you wouldnt want to even drive through. The great thing about the city is that it is centrally located in the middle of the state you can be at the coast in two hours in san francisco in two and a half hours and Los Angeles in four hours and in Yosemite National park in under and hour. There are many lakes in the area and you can live on the outskirts of town which are beautiful and there are pleanty of properties you could buy to raise horses for way less than you could buy anywhere else in Ca. There are four distinct seasons in the central valley Spring and fall are beautiful with wonderful weather , but summer can be very hot and winter gets down into the 30s but hey for all the money you are saing on your house you can have a giant pool put in your back yard and in the winter you can go sking 45 minutes away or like most people that live in the central valley they take a short drive to the coast for the weekend. For the price I think you get the most bang for your buck in the central valley and you can find really nice homes that are still affordible and has some very beautiful places to live the only drawbacks are the heat in the summer. Hope this helps out a little bit.
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Originally Posted by wyldeflower
I am a seattle girl...............looking for a small, rural california town. I've driven to many california cities and cannot live in city sprawl and stress. My oldest son lives in San diego...............aside from the ocean..............I see no other qualities that would get me there. I love Santa Barbara............but again............its pretty congested and very expensive. I am a nurse and all my nurse colleagues who have moved from california have told me its a nightmare down there............thats why they moved here. I'm not willing to give up yet. I love hot weather............I am a southern girl at heart............lived in Texas.........loved it, but too flat and dry. I love horses and animals..........I want simple........."little house on the prairie". I used to live in a "artsi" hippy community up here on an island...........got burned out on the liberal agenda/fighting for every cause under the sun...........left wing "stuff". Dont do that.
Does anyone know about northern california areas around sacramento............auburn..........rocklin..... ....shasta. I still want hot.............but dont mind real seasons. How about Grover beach or Fallbrook? How about farm areas and low crime areas? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The largest city in the CV is Sacramento regardless of city population. It's metro population that counts, and if I had to choose a city in the CV it would be Sac.
Sorry folks, Florida is not all that...I lived there for 21 years, from age 18 to 39, all I can say is I had enough of the humidity, rude people, and the home prices more than tripled over the past few years, property tax thanks to hurricane hits in other areas, made taxes triple also...not to mention I sent my daughter to a private school, otherwise they didn't have time for her in public school, which she didn't need much anyway. Here in Colorado she is excelling at puplic. Just lazy on the teachers part. Anyway I give Florida, a thumbs down...sorry...Unless you want to live in a mini New York, don't head that way...oh also I was from Tarpon Springs, 15 minutes from Tampa and about half hour from Clearwater.
I presently live in california. have most of my life. not all. but i tell you. for anyone who is thinking of moving to california - sweetie, it is not anything like it used to be be. for most of our history we have been known as the 'paradise' state. the garden state where opportunity abounds. but that is not the way it is now. it is destroyed. all of california. look at the citydata statistics and you will see i am telling the truth. me, you can beleive. i am so shocked at what has happened in california. in 2000 i left and moved far away temporarily. i was shocked at the huge dramatic change that took place in california in only a few years. the whole state got trashed with the influx of illegal immigrants from mexico. places i knew from before that were safe family places are ghettos here. i have posted this before and got torn apart on this forum for saying so, but please beleive me, you do not want to move to california at this time - i don't know when it will be okay. it will be a long time from now before california recovers if it ever does. i did the demographics throughout the states and all five states bordering the mexico border have a majority populatiy now of hispanics. they own those states. for the moment. of course it is temporary but they have got it in their heads that this is now their country which it is not and never will be. the language in america is english and always will be . i think it is interesting that while they are so adamant in spending their money here and forcing us to do sales per the spanish language they don't seem to get that they are making us learn a second language. and when we do they will no longer have the andvantage over the english speaking because we don't know their language. they are forcing america to become a multi-language country and thus making us all better - they are not gaining the upper hand they are losing it. In their ignorance, it is funny.
this is not the time to move to california if eace of mind and comfort in your home or safety is you want.
I presently live in california. have most of my life. not all. but i tell you. for anyone who is thinking of moving to california - sweetie, it is not anything like it used to be be. for most of our history we have been known as the 'paradise' state. the garden state where opportunity abounds. but that is not the way it is now. it is destroyed. all of california. look at the citydata statistics and you will see i am telling the truth. me, you can beleive. i am so shocked at what has happened in california. in 2000 i left and moved far away temporarily. i was shocked at the huge dramatic change that took place in california in only a few years. the whole state got trashed with the influx of illegal immigrants from mexico. places i knew from before that were safe family places are ghettos here. i have posted this before and got torn apart on this forum for saying so, but please beleive me, you do not want to move to california at this time - i don't know when it will be okay. it will be a long time from now before california recovers if it ever does. i did the demographics throughout the states and all five states bordering the mexico border have a majority populatiy now of hispanics. they own those states. for the moment. of course it is temporary but they have got it in their heads that this is now their country which it is not and never will be. the language in america is english and always will be . i think it is interesting that while they are so adamant in spending their money here and forcing us to do sales per the spanish language they don't seem to get that they are making us learn a second language. and when we do they will no longer have the andvantage over the english speaking because we don't know their language. they are forcing america to become a multi-language country and thus making us all better - they are not gaining the upper hand they are losing it. In their ignorance, it is funny.
this is not the time to move to california if eace of mind and comfort in your home or safety is you want.
Yeap, it's sad what California has become. I live in Stockton and the area isn't even recognizably American, and it used to have a White majority about 10 years ago, not anymore. It is an invasion, and it's a shame our government doesn't give a damn. The policy-makers of multiculturalism live in the rich and White parts of towns, and the third-world immigrants are dumped on the middle and lower class.
Yeap, it's sad what California has become. I live in Stockton and the area isn't even recognizably American, and it used to have a White majority about 10 years ago, not anymore. It is an invasion, and it's a shame our government doesn't give a damn. The policy-makers of multiculturalism live in the rich and White parts of towns, and the third-world immigrants are dumped on the middle and lower class.
I agree and am looking to move from Stockton to another city, but I don't want to leave Cali unless I move to Texas.
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Affordible Cities In California
not california, florida YES
So true!
