California is the state with the most "fun places to live" (Los Angeles: university, quality of life)

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by SoCal_Native

This is news? Not only is California the most fun place to live, it's 69 times funner than the 2nd funnest place to live (whatever that is). We have the geographic diversity that supports anything.

Agree.

But, back to my questions -- if you had to pick YOUR personal TOP "fun place" in California, what would it be and why? Are there any other places that you think should have made the list?

Feel free to name a city or just a specific area of the state.


I'm biased because I haven't run out of fun things to do after living in San Diego for 35 years.

But, if I was going to add another "fun place " to my personal list, I'd probably say Joshua Tree during the winter months.

And, as I said, I can think of at least six more cities/towns that I'd add to a list of "fun places to live in California."

I'm curious what cities and places other Californians would add to the six chosen by US News for the top 30 fun places to live in the U.S.

[SoCal_Native]

Originally Posted by RosieSD

Agree.

But, back to my questions -- if you had to pick YOUR personal TOP "fun place" in California, what would it be and why? Are there any other places that you think should have made the list?

Whoops, you're right...I got carried away.

I'd say Orange County: Because the fun (beaches, mountains, hiking, sports, cycling, kids activities, theater, amusement parks, fishing) are all so close. Plus there are jobs and great weather and the schools have smart kids in them. The southern half of OC is low crime and civilized. The only thing OC doesn't have is skiing but that's less than two hours away in Big Bear or six hours away at Mammoth.

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by norman_w

somewhere where there weren't a million homeless all believing the stories but those were back in the 1970s

Thanks again for your cheerful post, Norman. But you still didn't answer my question. So, since you don't seem to have anything to contribute, perhaps you might want to just move along from this thread now.

[saibot]

Originally Posted by nobodysbusiness

OMG. Fresno?

Fresno is on my list of "Fun Places NOT to Live."

Originally Posted by SoCal_Native

Whoops, you're right...I got carried away.

I'd say Orange County: Because the fun (beaches, mountains, hiking, sports, cycling, kids activities, theater, amusement parks, fishing) are all so close. Plus there are jobs and great weather and the schools have smart kids in them. The southern half of OC is low crime and civilized. The only thing OC doesn't have is skiing but that's less than two hours away in Big Bear or six hours away at Mammoth.

I agree, but it will never make this kind of list because it's not a "city." And when you look at the largest cities in OC, would you call them "fun"? Huntington Beach, maybe. But Santa Ana? Nope. Anaheim? Nope. Irvine? Hmmm.....

[SoCal_Native]

I think a lot of us jumped the gun by reading the title as a challenge and didn't read the original post. I know I did. Shame on me. My bad.

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by nobodysbusiness

OMG. Fresno?

That was my first reaction too. But when you look at the methodology, it starts to make more sense. From the link:

Fresno ranks No. 1 out of the 100 metro areas we considered for its many parks that are easily accessible to residents. While the center of the San Joaquin Valley is surrounded by farms and agriculture, it also offers plenty of urban attractions: The Fresno area ranks No. 12 for concert venues and No. 8 for nightlife.

Fresno also ranked high on the US News "affordability" index.

And, of course, Fresno is just a hop, skip and a jump from recreational areas like Sequoia National Park.


But getting back to the question at hand: If you live in California, what California place would be at the top of YOUR fun places list?

[Bert_from_back_East]

Originally Posted by SoCal_Native

Whoops, you're right...I got carried away.

I'd say Orange County: Because the fun (beaches, mountains, hiking, sports, cycling, kids activities, theater, amusement parks, fishing) are all so close. Plus there are jobs and great weather and the schools have smart kids in them. The southern half of OC is low crime and civilized. The only thing OC doesn't have is skiing but that's less than two hours away in Big Bear or six hours away at Mammoth.

Most of northern Orange County doesn’t even feel like America.

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by SoCal_Native

Whoops, you're right...I got carried away.

I'd say Orange County: Because the fun (beaches, mountains, hiking, sports, cycling, kids activities, theater, amusement parks, fishing) are all so close. Plus there are jobs and great weather and the schools have smart kids in them. The southern half of OC is low crime and civilized. The only thing OC doesn't have is skiing but that's less than two hours away in Big Bear or six hours away at Mammoth.

Thanks, SoCal_Native. I agree about Orange County. It seems the ranking was focused on actual cities, not areas or counties, so no doubt Orange County wasn't even in the equation for this.

I also was surprised that some other cities and areas of California didn't make the list.

But I'm curious as to what other places Californians would add to a list of top fun places in California, so hopefully we'll get some more answers.

However, I'm going to add Orange County to the list for now.


Fun Places To Live in California so far based on responses from Californians:

San Diego (RosieSD)

Orange County (SoCal_Native)



Any others want to chime in ? You can pick a California city from the US News "Most Fun Places To Live" Ranking, or add another.

Answers should be in California and please take it elsewhere if you don't have anything to contribute besides snark.

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by saibot

Fresno is on my list of "Fun Places NOT to Live."



I agree, but it will never make this kind of list because it's not a "city." And when you look at the largest cities in OC, would you call them "fun"? Huntington Beach, maybe. But Santa Ana? Nope. Anaheim? Nope. Irvine? Hmmm.....

Thanks Saibot. You have a good point. Maybe we should stick with California cities and towns for now to keep things simple.

I think if I were going to pick a "fun city to live in" in Orange County to add to the list, it would probably be Laguna Beach for me. But I'm open to other suggestions from folks.

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by Bert_from_back_East

Most of northern Orange County doesn’t even feel like America.

Bert, how about starting a similar thread in the Florida forum to ask your fellow Floridians the same questions I'm asking Californians since Florida came in second for fun places to live after California in the US News Rankings.

I'll be curious to read your thread in the Florida forum after you start it, so please come back and post a link to it once you get it going!