Relocating to Crescent City. What is the area like? (Arcata: to rent, Home Depot)

[AliceTheHousekeeper]

We did a road trip some years back and are planning on doing another in a week or so to look at a house.\
Its on the outskirts near the FT Dick/Smith River area. Might also look into being there full time.


If so, how is the shopping? How are the churches specifically near the Smith River/Ft Dick area?


Are there any garden clubs? I know the weather is generally rainy and foggy most of the year but there is more sun on the outskirts where the forests are. Not sure about employment but I may be able to work seasonally. Husband has an unexpected job offer up that direction. Thanks

[Ruth4Truth]

I heard there's not much shopping, and not much to do in town. It can also be very windy there; gale-force winds in winter, sometimes.

Couple of garden clubs:
http://crescentcitytimes.com/roots-shoots-2/
https://www.triplicate.com/csp/media...id=923&fid=151

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

I lived there for a couple years, about 2 years ago now. For garden clubs, contact the Open Door Clinic. There is a community garden in the parking lot area in front of the clinic, and the woman who runs it works in an office inside, in the social services area of the clinic.

Community Wellness Gardens – Open Door Community Health Centers

I'd call the local number and ask for the woman who runs the community garden. I don't think I should post her name on the forum, but if you call and ask for the woman who runs the community garden, you'll get put through to her. They have lots of nice events:

Del Norte Community Health Center – Open Door Community Health Centers

I wasn't into the church scene, but I know there is a Catholic church and there are Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons in the area, at minimum.

If your property is inland, like around Gasquet (pronounced gas-key), you'll have lots of sun. Right on the coast, I had a hard time growing anything in the community garden, but it seemed like the people who had the best luck were the Asian gardeners who grew greens. They told me nobody steals greens, lol. My snow peas disappeared, as did my tomatoes in the community gardens - cherry tomatoes do okay, but they'll get stolen. The cucumber beetles are awful in that area, so you can pretty much forget about growing squash, at least organically - right on the coast, anyway.

But, if your property is inland by just a mile or two, you'll have way more heat and sunshine.

For shopping, there's a Walmart in Crescent City, and a Grocery Outlet, and a Home Depot, a Big 5, Payless Shoes and not much else except for small boutique type stores. In Brookings there is a Fred Meyer and a BJ Wholesale Club.

For better options, you will really have to drive to Grants Pass. Driving to Eugene or Arcata is a giant pain on Hwy 101, with landslides and constant construction, and hairpin turns on cliffs. Beautiful, but a pain. It's easier to drive to Grants Pass, in my opinion.

And there's always Amazon or Walmart delivery. Walmart is easier, if you have to return anything, as you can just return it at the store in CC.

It's really isolated up that way. It was too isolated for me. It's never super cold or super hot, but the storms can be pretty severe in winter - with wind and rain.

[AliceTheHousekeeper]

Thank you Ruth!! There was a cute gas station in Fort Dick we stopped off at years back. It had an ewok rock from one of the Star Wars movies filmed there. We really liked that area as it didnt seem so foggy and seemed to get more sun. There was also a church there we asked about. Folks said it was small but had pretty normal people. Not sure they could say anything negative as the area is so small they. may be afraid to so that might not mean a whole lot.

There is also the Smith River area we will check out.



Thanks again for that garden club information. We don't grow flowers, only winter vegetables.

[AliceTheHousekeeper]

Thank you Nomoresnow!! I think it's in the gasquet area. The home has the address of crescent city but is in an off grid area about 30 min away. It has it's own water district, it lists it as Rock Creek water district but I cannot find it. Suspect it is another one with a similar name.


We prefer non-deniminational so if you know anything about that Church in fort dick, that would be great.

We'd likely be iving about a half hr away from that location. There was another church in Crescent City I found, meant to do more research but forgot the name now.


This home is close to the Smith River. From the Satellite, definately within a half mile or so. Ok that is a guess. Is there any Mtn Biking Clubs? We may only live there half time. There are year round jobs for me in Brookings, possibly. Considering we like it so much we'd want to stay there year round.


My husband wants to crab, fish and snorkel in the ocean. Especailly crab so we can save money and he loves it. Thanks so much

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

There isn't much in the way of clubs. It's a very small town/area. There isn't even a Craigslist section for that whole area from Brookings to Crescent City. You might have luck on facebook. I wasn't into facebook when I lived there. No such thing as meet-ups, and there is no recreation catalog, no local bus trips you can sign up for or anything at all of that nature, which I really missed.

You might want to look into Brookings for more organized groups or activities. It's a bit bigger and a bit more upscale. There are more events and arts and music stuff.

The job market isn't great, either, but you'll just have to check it out. I don't know what kind of work you do, so wouldn't know how to advise on jobs.

If you guys are into selling things at the local farmers markets, there are two in Crescent City - one at the fairgrounds every weekend in summer, and there is a separate one downtown. They aren't picky about what you can sell and it's cheap to rent a space. There are also craft and holiday fairs at the fairgrounds you can rent spaces for. That's actually a nice way to meet people and is fun. You can also rent space at the big events at the beach front park, like the summer car show and the 4th of July. I think the Chamber of Commerce is where you sign up for those.

There is also a small farmers market in Gasquet, I think. There is at least one in Brookings. If you just go to the farmers market in Crescent City and chat with the vendors, they can tell you about all the other ones around and how to sign up for them, if you're into that.

Church would be a pretty good way to meet new people, I would think. I met a lot of religious people, but nobody who was really weird about it. Because of the number of Jehovah's Witnesses, I was approached often, but nobody was pushy about it. Just whenever I started chatting with people in waiting rooms, like waiting for new tires to be put on my truck, those kinds of situations, where they hand you a booklet and invite you to their church, but nothing crazy or uncomfortable, and I'm not religious.

By the way, the only cell service worth paying for up there is Verizon. There will still be large areas where you won't have reception, but Verizon has the most coverage by far.

For internet, if you can get it, Charter was good.

[Ruth4Truth]

Here's that church
:Fort Dick Bible
Or maybe it was this one?
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...alifornia.html

Here's someone's facebook page about snorkeling on the Smith River:
https://www.facebook.com/riversnorke...8985793157966/

[eureka1]

I used to have to WORK in CC and wouldn't move there if you paid me several million dollars. Please come for a more complete exploration before you make any plans. Good luck to you.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by eureka1

I used to have to WORK in CC and wouldn't move there if you paid me several million dollars. Please come for a more complete exploration before you make any plans. Good luck to you.

What about the rest of Del Norte County, north of CC, though? Like she said: Fort Dick, Smith River? Lake Earl looks beautiful, and Ft Dick doesn't look as desolate as some of the towns/villages up there. She might be onto something, with her idea of locating inland, where it's more protected from fog and wind.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

What about the rest of Del Norte County, north of CC, though? Like she said: Fort Dick, Smith River? Lake Earl looks beautiful, and Ft Dick doesn't look as desolate as some of the towns/villages up there. She might be onto something, with her idea of locating inland, where it's more protected from fog and wind.

Lake Earl is a swamp. Literally. I've been there. Fort Dick is the boonies. At least Smith River is on a major highway, but it's still all desolate up there.

Crescent City only actually has around 5,000 residents in town. The claims of a population around 8,000 includes the inmates at Pelican Bay prison, which holds around 3,000 inmates, and that population is now included in the city population figure, only because it's on the same water system.

Not saying it isn't really beautiful - only as far as natural beauty, as the town itself is butt-ugly, as any interesting architecture, with a few very rare exceptions, were all destroyed in the tsunami in the 1960's which destroyed the downtown area.

One thing that is considered normal, is meeting people everywhere missing front teeth. This includes the customer service people in the local Walgreens or anywhere you shop in CC. I'm not exaggerating at all.

Is the area beautiful as far as natural beauty? Absolutely. But, it's affordable for good reason. The area is very, very poor and has all of the problems that any really poor area has - drugs, thefts, homelessness, etc.

Even though it's on the coast of California, this is the exact opposite of any California coast experience you may have envisioned a la Carmel By The Sea.

So, just being honest here - know that even though it's naturally beautiful, there are good reasons it's affordable. There aren't any magical secret affordable paradises in CA or anywhere else.