Thinking about moving to CA. Looking for suggestions of cities to explore (San Diego: apartment, lease)

[wildman082]

First off I just want to say thank you in advance for any information/advice.
Here is my information:
27 years old, male, lived in northern NJ all my life. Currently working in NYC doing I.T. and living right across the river in Edgewater, NJ.
So for the past year or two I've been thinking about moving to California. The condo that I rent is being sold so I will not be able to renew my lease at the end of Feb. so I figured since I have to move anyway, might as well look into going out west.
I'm planning a 2 week trip to California for September to do some exploring and see if I can find an area I'd like to live. If I find something I'll have about 4 months for job/apartment hunting. So I'm looking for suggestions of places to check out during the 2 weeks. I've spent a day in SF and been to LA a couple times but I didn't really get a "feel" for either city.
Some things that are important to me are a good live music scene and a somewhat laid back atmosphere. I normally go to see bands a few times a month so that is a big deal for me. Also, I'm used to being close to a major city but I'm not a "city person". I like cities but not "city people" if that makes sense. I don't go to fancy clubs or restaurants. I'm pretty laid back and I like being around other laid back people.
Some suggestions I've heard so far are Berkeley (and the east bay area) and Irvine.
Thanks again for reading my long post and for any info!

-Nick

[bvlgari_los_angeles]

SD , if you want california beach vibe with more down to earth people

SJ, warm weather, but no beach...basically the L.A of NorCal but with hi tech swapped for hollywood, tons of rich people..but they are less blatant

L.A if you want the typical california lifestyle, SM pier, the beaches, hollywood, warm weather

SF, cooler in the city itself, but still alot of sunshine, more urban,gritty, people rushing everywhere...tons of out of towners and tourists...

OC, nicer beaches than L.A, more suburban, not as much going on, much "nicer" people

[Chava61]

Originally Posted by bvlgari_los_angeles

SD , if you want california beach vibe with more down to earth people

SJ, warm weather, but no beach...basically the L.A of NorCal but with hi tech swapped for hollywood, tons of rich people..but they are less blatant

L.A if you want the typical california lifestyle, SM pier, the beaches, hollywood, warm weather

SF, cooler in the city itself, but still alot of sunshine, more urban,gritty, people rushing everywhere...tons of out of towners and tourists...

OC, nicer beaches than L.A, more suburban, not as much going on, much "nicer" people

I agree with all of the above. I just wanted to add that I have heard that San Diego is also a nice place to live.

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by wildman082

First off I just want to say thank you in advance for any information/advice.
Here is my information:
27 years old, male, lived in northern NJ all my life. Currently working in NYC doing I.T. and living right across the river in Edgewater, NJ.
So for the past year or two I've been thinking about moving to California. The condo that I rent is being sold so I will not be able to renew my lease at the end of Feb. so I figured since I have to move anyway, might as well look into going out west.
I'm planning a 2 week trip to California for September to do some exploring and see if I can find an area I'd like to live. If I find something I'll have about 4 months for job/apartment hunting. So I'm looking for suggestions of places to check out during the 2 weeks. I've spent a day in SF and been to LA a couple times but I didn't really get a "feel" for either city.
Some things that are important to me are a good live music scene and a somewhat laid back atmosphere. I normally go to see bands a few times a month so that is a big deal for me. Also, I'm used to being close to a major city but I'm not a "city person". I like cities but not "city people" if that makes sense. I don't go to fancy clubs or restaurants. I'm pretty laid back and I like being around other laid back people.
Some suggestions I've heard so far are Berkeley (and the east bay area) and Irvine.
Thanks again for reading my long post and for any info!

-Nick

Unless you're attached to the idea of southern ca., i recommend staying to the north.
But i'm biased,
You might like Santa Cruz. (the entire county)
We're close to Silicon Valley.
San Francisco is less than 2 hours to the north.
There is a variety of ways of living here from very rural to semi-rural, to sub-urban to urban.
Santa Cruz has enough of an urban feel in places so if you're used to the city, you won't feel deprived.
It's easy to get around here by car or bus (great bus system serves the entire county) and it's a very bike friendly area.
If you live in this county and work in San Jose (as many do) there is a commute issue. It's heavy traffic over the hill in the a.m. and back in the p.m..
But you'll find traffic issues in many areas of the California that you're looking for and it's not like the cliche So.Cal commute .... hours on the freeway.
It's on the coast with beautiful weather from May - November and then the winter rains come but there are many stretches of beautiful sunny and relatively warm days between the rain.
There's good music that comes through the area throughout the year and again, S.F. is not that far to the north if you wanna see live music up there.
In the spring, summer and early fall, there are music festivals around central and northern CA.
And we've got some really good radio stations within our listening area.
Monterey is just down the road.
UCSC is here.
It's a very "young" (even older people are young here) liberal, tolerant, open and friendly area of the central coast of Calfornia.
And it's laid back.
Berkeley is cool but you'll be in the city for sure and there definitely is a city vibe there .... less open and friendly than Santa Cruz for example.
Rents are expensive here but anywhere along the coast, until you get quite a bit north of S.F., will be expensive.
Also, if you miss the winter of the northeast and need some snow and cold and elevation, Truckee / Lake Tahoe is a short (4 1/2 hrs) and easy drive (a short drive in the west is longer than a short drive in the northeast).
So, come for a visit when you travel to CA.
September is a good time to come.
P.M. me if you need advice on lodging here.

[MisterDuke]

I don't know too many people who move to Irvine for the music. People move there for the schools and neighborhoods and to raise a family, but not for the music.

[wildman082]

Thanks for the replies everyone. As far as the beach goes, I'm not a big beach person. Here in NJ we call it "the shore" and I only go down about once a year. I prefer going to nyc's central park or going for a drive. I love to drive so any place with some nice windy mountain roads definitely gets bonus points. I don't have anything against the snow but I'm not into any winter sports so thats not a concern for me.

coyoteskye, I'm definitely not attached to southern california. My gut feeling is that I'm going to like the north more. I also don't tolerate high heat very well. I think most places in california outside of the desert don't get as hot as nyc does in the summer. Plus we have the brutal humidity over here.

MisterDuke, thanks for the info. Like I said before, the music scene is a very big deal for me.

I'm used to being able to see a good band every weekend during the summer if I want to. NJ actually has a very good music scene on its own so when you add new york city to the mix its great. So i'm probably going to want to be close to one of the major cities. So I guess I'm trying to find the major city that is the least city-like and the most laid back. Haha

Also, as far as San Diego goes, I've been told by a friend who is a native californian that is more "conservative" than other cities in CA and not what I'm looking for. Anyone have any input on that?

[Chava61]

If you aren't a beach person, you might want more Northern California rather than the south. I think San Francisco is probably a less "conservative" city if that is more your taste.

[jbunniii]

LA probably has more live music on a given night than everywhere else in the state put together. The city overall is not particularly laid-back, but many of the residential neighborhoods where people live are pretty peaceful, especially by "big city" standards. The weather is good most of the time, not too hot or too cold, certainly much less humidity than the east coast.

My biggest complaint about LA when I lived there was the miserable traffic if you had to commute any distance to work. I left in 2003 and from what I understand the traffic is even worse now. If you can arrange to live close to work then you remove this major hassle, at least on a day-to-day basis.

[bhcompy]

Laid back but offer major city amenities:

Long Beach
San Diego
coastal Orange County

As far as San Diego being conservative, it's a 50/50 split. I also saw San Diego on a list of most educated cities in America and San Diego was number one(metric was percentage of college graduates living there). Californian conservatism isn't like Southern conservatism, though. It's a live and let live mentality at a personal level, or to be a little pessimistic, noone really cares. If you don't go to church or put a specific banner on your lawn, who cares? Same goes for liberal culture as well(at least in So Cal, can't say the same for the Bay area)

[CA central coast]

San Luis Obispo. 45k ppl. 3.5 to 4 hour drive to L.A. or S.F.