A Serious and Provoking Question for California Natives (San Luis Obispo, Pismo Beach: house prices, neighborhood)

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by Widowmaker2k

Well, as you said, most of the folks who aren't from California move here to live in the suburbs, which to me, is far from our most beautiful land. The rural areas (the Sierra Nevada, Cascades, Coast Ranges) are mostly inhabited by native Californians, and in my opinion, constitute the areas with the most striking natural beauty. There are certainly some exceptions to the rule, but I think many folks that move to California want to be in/near a major city, and thus miss out on a huge part of our natural beauty. Why is this? Well, for starters, I think most individuals who wish to move to a different state, and wish to live in a rural area, immediately check California off the list (for a number of reasons, mostly having to do with prevailing national stereotypes about CA). Thus, rural Californians tend to be native Californians, who often times have a lot of family history in the area.

Yes, the fact that California is a very large and diverse state goes highy unnoticed by the masses. It seems like every other post on this forum is from ppl out of state looking to move to CA to make it big. And they are thinking about LA, SF or SD - star struck. These areas are such large economic hubs that ppl continue to swarm them like flies to sugar.

But in the outlying areas which happen to be less environmentally destroyed and more naturally beautiful there are more natives. In first moving to the Monterey Bay I thought I would find a similar CA sub culture like the coastal parts of LA I grew up in (South Bay) where many natives left. But I have actually met a lot of folks who are from the area. Pacific Grove for example still feels like a small town with a good sense of community. And the population has hardly grown in 10 years. This is much different than living in LA. This is not to say ppl from around the world don't move to Monterey. It is just on a much smaller scale - a better balance IMO.

Derek

[bhcompy]

Happ: LA is very small in regards to the total amount of renters in the basin. There are only a handful of cities that have rent control(LA and Santa Monica are the only two I can think of). And many people desire to own property, so they leave. As a member of a renting middleclass household with a child, I can tell you it sucks sticking a kid in an apt when he should be playing in the backyard with his dogs. Thus, we are moving to somewhere where we can buy a house, have decent weather, and have good schools. We attempted to over the summer and the deal fell through, and will try again next summer.

[jkbatca]

Originally Posted by The Floridian

All this said, how do you native Californians feel when you see your most expensive and prized land under ownership of out of state, and out country people?

I think this comment is hilarious, since for the last 20 years I've been living here, I've seen so many native Californians sell their property and leave CA. I would think the answer to this question is: "don't care one bit about who owns that "prized" property"!

I've seen so many ranches / farms which were family owned for decades just to be dumped so quickly to developers by these native CA grandchildren. Apparently these native grandkids didn't seem to mind it being owned by outsiders. Ventura County passed a Save Our Agricultural Resources (SOAR) law to slow down this selling!!!! You think these people actually CARE about who owns the land now??!?!?

This also goes for many native CA people who bought real estate in the 60's at 10-20K and sold to move out of state at 350-750K. I don't think these people really care who owns their land now.

[The Floridian]

Fair enough, so where do Cali natives move to? NorCal?

[sav858]

The most popular areas are going to naturally have lots of transplants from elsewhere since that is what they've seen the most of and know the best b/c of the media. The media doesn't focus on the normal places most native Californians live in but focus on the prettiest most exclusive places. Go to less popular wealthy communities that few outside of CA have heard of like Blackhawk, Danville, Orinda, etc..in the Bay Area and most of those wealthy people are from CA, at least in my experiance. Same reason you find more transplants in the city of SF than the suburbs, in the Hollywood/West LA area rather than the San Gabriel Valley, or in the beach areas of San Diego rather than La Mesa; those places/areas are glorified by the media and its what many know CA as. People think Ca is like Laguna Beach, Beverly Hills, or Pacific Heights in SF b/c they aren't showing the normal, less popular places most native Californians live in. The more popular a place or area is the more transplants and foreigners it will have b/c of the media exposure it was given, not many wealthy transplants and foreigners are looking to move to the Central Valley partly b/c they've never heard of it or have seen it on tv.

[hsw]

Nature of any powerful economy and desirable setting...lots of ambitious people from all over world migrate to powerful regions for careers...and/or have wkend houses in desired places after they make a few bucks

Lots of tech and financial guys in SiliconValley (few of whom are CA natives) migrated to SV to make a few bucks....and often get wkend places in LA for play

Most costly apartments on Manhattan's UpperEastSide and houses in Greenwich are also owned by those who aren't natives of Manhattan or Greenwich itself; many grew up in Podunk parts of US or RoW, or even some unspeakable middle-income NJ/LI suburbs

Darwinian selection....less high-achieving natives of powerful regions are often out-achieved by ambitious, smart, hungry immigrants, who often arrive as penniless college or grad students or junior employees post-college...and rapidly work their way up the socio-economic strata

[jasper1372]

I don't live in California, but my brother has lived in LA since 1971 and loves it. I was just out to visit him in November and we got to talking about this exact subject. He said he loves the energy, excitement and variety of living among people from many cultures. He said when he drove into LA in 1971 he could just feel the energy and knew that this was going to be his home for the rest of his days.

He's a very accepting person of all types of cultural differences and seems to really relish the variety.

The one thing he did express disappointment about was how some areas of the city that were wonderful back in the 70's and 80's are now not places a family should live....he pointed out Van Nuys as an example. Evidently it's changed and not for the better. He specifically mentiond it was a dangerous place for a family to live and he didn't even want to drive me there to see the "ol neighborhood" where he moved in 1971 just off of Sherman Way.

[bhcompy]

Originally Posted by The Floridian

Fair enough, so where do Cali natives move to? NorCal?

In my experience:
Non-coastal Pacific Northwest
Southwestern states including Texas
Rocky Mountain Region
Northern Great Plains/Midwest

[The Floridian]

Originally Posted by jasper1372

....he pointed out Van Nuys as an example. Evidently it's changed and not for the better. He specifically mentiond it was a dangerous place for a family to live and he didn't even want to drive me there to see the "ol neighborhood" where he moved in 1971 just off of Sherman Way.

Interesting comment. So is it safe to say, since Van Nuys is 90% Mexican now... that Latins destroyed that area? What does that say about us, America? We let foreigners come here, then they ruin our inner cities?

Van Nuys was once a beautiful, clean place to live and raise a family. Now, it's like being in Mexico City.

[happ]

Originally Posted by The Floridian

Interesting comment. So is it safe to say, since Van Nuys is 90% Mexican now... that Latins destroyed that area? What does that say about us, America? We let foreigners come here, then they ruin our inner cities?

Van Nuys was once a beautiful, clean place to live and raise a family. Now, it's like being in Mexico City.

Sorry Floridian but your comments reveal a racist bias that is offensive. Why do you continue to post your racism on California threads? The last time the moderators removed your racist comments altogether.