Socially liberal areas of Southern Calilfornia (San Diego, San Bernardino: home, university, living)

[Alpine12]

I grew up most of my life in Newport Beach. I lived a number of years in Santa Cruz moved back to Southern California met my wife then we moved to Bellingham, WA for seven years and moved back. Bottom line is we love the climate and geography of this area. Although, we are definitely more of the small town, outdoorsy, socially liberal type of folks. Don't want to be completely removed from the finer things but don't like being smack dab in the middle. Any suggestions?

[1200RT]

Anywhere within 10 miles of the Pacific and outside of Orange County.

Seriously - CA is an extremely liberal state, with people fitting that description living almost everywhere. Instead of us throwing out names of cities - what other criteria is necessary? Proximity to work? Budget? Home prices?

I don't mean to come off as rude or unhelpful, but the list of possible places is so long that its prohibitive to helping you out.

[mayorhaggar]

Santa Monica? I'd suggest Santa Cruz but that is way up the coast and is a lot chillier than SoCal.

[ZhugeLiang]

Forget SoCal, your best bet is probably the central coast. Look towards Santa Barbara or Ventura. SoCal is too dirty and too crowded.

I know in my case, there's no way in hell I'd live south of Camarillo.

[Alpine12]

I've actually lived in Santa Cruz, too gloomy and cold for me. Santa Barbara is a bit expensive, that's actually where I'm originally from. Just looking for a cool little area, doesn't have to be to close to the ocean, I really like the sage and the sunshine, a hacienda would be my dream.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by ZhugeLiang

Forget SoCal, your best bet is probably the central coast. Look towards Santa Barbara or Ventura. SoCal is too dirty and too crowded.

I know in my case, there's no way in hell I'd live south of Camarillo.

I'm mostly in agreement with zhuge which is in large part why I left SoCal. However if staying in SoCal is an absolute must, those areas that can be considered socially liberal in the sense you likely understand it are small by comparison and are often surrounded by places you'd rather not be. I'm most familiar with San Diego which really doesn't have too many places to choose from. However most of the middle parts of town are actually quite liberal such as University Heights, Hillcrest and Mission Hills. The rest of the city is moderate at best and quite conservative for the most part. Other cities in the metro area are more liberal like National City and Chula Vista. The former most people try to avoid and the latter has a bad rep too but after having lived there twice in the years I was in SD, it's much over stated. The rest of SD county is not for liberal minded people.

[Curmudgeon]

Laguna Beach.

[SportyandMisty]

Try Needles, Buttonwillow, Barstow, and San Bernardino.

[Malloric]

Originally Posted by SportyandMisty

Try Needles, Buttonwillow, Barstow, and San Bernardino.

Liberal, not in-bred conservative bible-thumpers.
Although if I lived in Needles, I'd probably turn to God to. Gotta hold out for some hope that this isn't all life is.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by Malloric

Liberal, not in-bred conservative bible-thumpers.
Although if I lived in Needles, I'd probably turn to God to. Gotta hold out for some hope that this isn't all life is.

Yeah that had to be a joke. No way those areas are liberal in the least.