living in the outskirts of Los Angeles? (Bakersfield, Lancaster: Home Depot, theatres)

[ackmondual]

I may be moving to Mojave or Ridgecrest in CA. Anybody have any comments on what life's like out there, and how it compares to someone who lived in North Chicago and northern VA before? I hear that the place isn't completely rural... there are population centers that run 10s of thousands of people, but unlike elsewhere, you do need to drive a bit to get to the next town over (like 20 to 60 minutes at a time since there's a lot of open space out there). Contrast that to the town layouts in NJ, MD, VA, etc. where the next town over is just a matter of crossing their borders.

There are still the usual staples like supermarkets, fast food joints, eateries, even a Home Depot and Walmart. I guess ditto with movie theatres, libraries.

[volosong]

I only know Mojave, and there is little there. One supermarket, I think. A few fast-food joints that mostly cater to through traffic. No Home Depot/Lowes or Walmarts. Too small of a town to support them. Closest would be in Lancaster, about twenty-five miles south on the 14 freeway. According to C-D, the population of Mojave was 4,238 in 2010. It hasn't grown much since. The openness you'll experience is desert. It's pretty dry, and hot in the summer. At or just over 100 degrees most of the summer. At least the humidity is very low, so it isn't unbearable. There is no way you could pay me enough to live in Mojave. However, 'up the hill' to the west is Tehachapi, which is a wonderful place to reside and raise a family.

The only thing I know about Ridgecrest is that it is more remote, larger, and most of the people work for the Navy at China Lake. Somewhere around 30k people live in Ridgecrest. They do have a Home Depot and a Walmart. Ridgecrest is desert too, and even a little hotter than Mojave.

[nightlysparrow]

Hot, dry, desolate, with a constant wind blowing sand. Buildings are low, lots of horizon. Good place to live if you want to get away from people. Neither is usually thought of as the "outskirts of Los Angeles." More like the outskirts of Bakersfield.

[mrsltd]

Sorry. When you said "outskirts of LA", I thought you meant the San Fernando Valley or something like that.

Mojave and Ridgecrest are not even considered part of the Greater LA area; both are in Kern County, and both are in the Mojave Desert, WELL away even from Victorville and Hesperia, two more populated areas in the high desert. As stated before, more like the outskirts of Bakersfield, but that's still stretching it a bit; Kern County is quite large in land area.

Both are pretty isolated places.