What would you say is the best CA city? (Fresno: living, activities)

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by Think4Yourself

Getting a commercial permit with enough of a quota would be either extremely expensive to impossible. Second tuna has been so vastly over fished it is unlikely you'd even get to fill your quota permit which you just spent several million dollars to get. In 1980 San Diego had the largest tuna fishing fleet in the world but by 1985 virtually all of it had shut down because there was such massive over fishing that the tuna population collapsed. The commercial boats were going all the way down to Panama just to find fish and the central American countries won a court case forcing the foreign (mostly American owned) boats out of their coastal waters because those waters were officially in their exclusive economic zone.

That was pretty much the death of the domestic tuna industry. Hell, there is just one, count it one, company which even still cans tuna in the US; it's called "American tuna" and while the quality is excellent (all one whole piece of tuna instead of the little bits of flake you get in the other brands) the price is like $8 a can where as the cheap imports are about $0.80 per can. If you want to get into the fish industry than aquafarming is the way to go but steer clear of shellfish as ocean acidification is hitting producers hard.

This is very interesting. Sorry to derail the thread, OP, lol. But... I keep up with the facebook page for the harbor in Crescent City, and just a week or two ago they showed fishermen with fresh tuna for sale. That's why I mentioned the tuna fishing in Crescent City.

Looks like they have fresh cod today:

https://www.facebook.com/ccharbor

So, maybe a cod fisherman?

[No_Recess]

Originally Posted by Think4Yourself

San Diego circa 1970 would have also worked. Hell, I thought it was great into the 80's but by the 90's it was getting very expensive just because the secret was out and everyone from back east kept moving here driving up land prices. Hell, in 1978 my parents bought a brand new 4 bed/ 2.5 bath 2800sq ft house on a 1/4th acre lot near the coast in San Diego for just $22,000. Prices were basically 1.5-2 times the average household income which had just one income (I.E. father worked while mom stayed home with the kids) but now a similar house would go for $800,000 so that's 8 times even a family with $100,000 in income. We went from a large brand new house on the coast costing ~1.5 times average yearly income to about 8 times average yearly income. It's just too expensive for most people and I feel lucky that I can afford it but many more are simply priced out and end up in less desirable, less expensive places because that's all they can afford.

The collapse of manufacturing in the Midwest and Northeast along with farming becoming less dependent on human labor in the 70s really sealed California's fate.

High-paying union jobs that required no education left and people found themselves living in Buffalo, Detroit, and St. Louis for no reason.

You wake up one morning in Flint with no job and you've got nothing. It's a no-brainer: go West. This is something I don't think the natives and 2nd, 3rd, 4th generation Californians truly understand. The Rust Belt had absolutely nothing to offer anyone after the jobs left. It has nearly nothing now. COL is about it.

California's glory years may have passed. It's expensive, pension issues, illegals, over-crowding. But...and this is key...it's still California. The amazing beauty, weather, access to education, access to culture is still here and always will be.

I'd rather be down and out in Santa Monica or Coronado than Toledo or Rochester. At least you die with a smile on your face.

[Hawk J]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

This is very interesting. Sorry to derail the thread, OP, lol. But... I keep up with the facebook page for the harbor in Crescent City, and just a week or two ago they showed fishermen with fresh tuna for sale. That's why I mentioned the tuna fishing in Crescent City.

Looks like they have fresh cod today:

https://www.facebook.com/ccharbor

So, maybe a cod fisherman?

They are having baked Salmon today "Redding Gal" ......


https://www.facebook.com/ccharbor

[mrazyattic]

Originally Posted by DriveNotCommute

Bolded coastal. That's almost a given for California.

But consider that Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada mountains are pretty grand so inland cities like Fresno and Merced should be given some consideration too. Too bad I'm really not sure how they fare on "low crime" and "good place for business." They should definitely score on "less extravagant costs" though.


TO and MV are reasonably close to the ocean. Given the OP's allowance for "less extravagant costs" I think slightly inland cities should be fair game as a compromise offering. Actually, if we consider that many people commute an hour or more each way for work, any place that's also an hour-long drive or less to the beach is arguably/reasonably close. TO and MV are about a half hour or less from the coast even with moderate traffic.

Fresno should be given a strong consideration.

Oh wait...... I thought this was Californias WORST cities

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by Hawk J

They are having baked Salmon today "Redding Gal" ......


https://www.facebook.com/ccharbor

I saw that! I want some!

[RJ_Smith]

Originally Posted by majoun

I know Santa Rosa's not by the coast. It's a nicer city, however, than Thousand Oaks and Mission Viejo, both of which are ugly and boring.

You are not on the level of real...

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by RJ_Smith

You are not on the level of real...

No? Elaborate, please. TO and MV are right-wing, unexciting, and plastic, so...what is "the level of real*?"

(*Sounds suspiciously like a drawn-out discussion topic on acid at Burning Man or a Berkeley basement smoke-a-thon.)

[otterprods]

Originally Posted by UrbanArcheo

preferably costal/near coast … less extravagant costs

These criteria are polar opposites. If you want to live anywhere near the coast without spending millions of $$ on a shack, choose someplace really wet and far from jobs and amenities. Like, for example, Honeydew.

On the other hand, if you have millions dollars of to spend and don't mind the pretentiousness and heavy tourism that comes with it, choose Coronado, CA.

[cyanogenocide]

I'm curious why the OP randomly added Seattle? If it's like that why not try Eugene, OR. Not as expensive as any of the Pacific Coast big cities, but is easy to walk, has public transit, has a large enough population that you can find a job or run a business and is within an hour of the ocean. By that measure, you might even fancy Olympia, WA.

If it's California you're after and you insist, what about San Jose? It's big enough to have all the amenities and be an okay environment for business, but not as extravagant in cost as are San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego or Santa Barbara.

Plus, you can more easily get away from the traffic than any of the other big cities. You can be on the coast in no time, the same rings true for the mountains (though the Sierra Nevada would be a bit of a longer drive, same would go for the desert).

The true gem of the Pacific Coast, however, is Hood River, OR. It's on the Columbia River. Within minutes of Portland. Minutes of Hood Mountain. It's beautiful. 4 seasons. Great sense of community. Prices are on the rise, though not at present unfathomable. Near the high desert. Not too far from the coast. Heaven on Earth.

[otterprods]

Originally Posted by cyanogenocide

what about San Jose? It's big enough to have all the amenities and be an okay environment for business, but not as extravagant in cost as are San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego or Santa Barbara.

Untrue.

Originally Posted by cyanogenocide

Plus, you can more easily get away from the traffic than any of the other big cities. You can be on the coast in no time, the same rings true for the mountains (though the Sierra Nevada would be a bit of a longer drive, same would go for the desert).

Also untrue. (sorry, I'm just trying to help)

Originally Posted by cyanogenocide

The true gem of the Pacific Coast, however, is Hood River, OR. It's on the Columbia River. Within minutes of Portland. Minutes of Hood Mountain. It's beautiful. 4 seasons. Great sense of community. Prices are on the rise, though not at present unfathomable. Near the high desert. Not too far from the coast. Heaven on Earth.

I'll give you that… I'm not so familiar with that region of the west but I keep hearing Mt Hood pop up in 'oh-so-cool-places-to-live' conversations.

Really, it just works like this:
Coastal Living = expensive
Sunny/Warm Coastal Living = exorbitantly expensive (like 2-3 million $$ for a condo expensive)
Cloudy/Wet Coastal Living = less expensive, but not compared to inland living with much better weather (IMO)
Snowy/Icy/Windy Arctic Coastal Living = Yeah probably affordable but kind of tough even for furry seals.
Tropical Coastal Living =usually quitre affordable because you're usually in an undeveloped land (excepting Hawaii of course which basically fits into the 'Sunny/Warm Coastal Living' category)

Of course, if you move a mile off the beach (even less) prices start dropping pretty quickly, but almost everyone wants a good job, "ideal" weather, and an easy drive to a nice beach… so where do YOU think it's going to be most expensive to live?