Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: Uniquely Individual Villages of the Megalopolis
646 posts, read 813,645 times
Reputation: 36
Advertisements
Quote:
Originally Posted by StuyTownRefugee
Don't know how long you been there but check out some of the many social or artsy and event pamphlets and fliers that are circulated on newstands and various places. There's bound to be some you're looking for. It's too large and spread, got to get to know it!!
There used to be one in the Oceana area, "Shilleleaghs" iirc, though in that area you're gonna get the Naval Air and billiards crowd but it is not too close to the base and there are lots of locals. Actually I think it's in the London Bridge area of VB but not far from where the Oceana area starts.
Well I live in Ghent now but just moved here from SF a few months ago. It's awsome here and it was awsome living in SF. You just have to make a lot of $$ to live in a good area in SF. Forget about owning property there. If you don't make at least 6 figures it's not even a thought. I miss a lot of things about SF, the food, weather, ahopping,views. But where thier is bad thier is good! SF is very very small and crowed. You find yourself walking over homless people just to get to work, and being asked for change by people who wear better shoes then me and making bargins with people not to pee on your doorstep. . Here in Norfolk I will buy a home, walk to the local market and not be asked a million times for spare change and I have a job that makes good money. Sure I put my time in, you don't own property. have nice things and a good job without doing the school thing. So bottom line home is where you hang your hat and for me today that's Norfolk Va in a cute little place called Ghent. But I am sure looking forward to the Spring God it's cold here!!
1. How exactly did Virginia Beach and Chesapeake make, I believe it was Forbes, list of most overpriced cities if they are "fair". They are NOT fair. Yeah, Northern DC, probably a little more overpriced, but there are dozens of towns and cities up and down the east coast that are a much better option, as well as 100's slightly further in land.
2. You know damn well the OP would need an income upward over 80k to buy a house in any neighborhood youd want to walk outside at night in this area. That is more then twice my income, and I have a 4 year degree, and almost 2, 2 year degrees. When I first graduated college, my wife and I COMBINED made less then 40k a year. We actually didnt crack 50k until recently, and thats only because Im pretty much being paid a rediculous figure assuming the prevailing wage for my experience level in the area. If I did not have a bachelors degree, and I wasnt such a smooth talker and had such a great track record over my limited work experience, we would be struggling to hit 40k, forget about 50k, which in your book, isnt that hard to make.
3. My wife is also in the "general office" profession, and the maximum she has EVER been offered here is $11 an hour, dispite having 7 years of experience doing everything from call center to warehouse work. Eleven dollars an hour is a joke here. Although, Ive talked to people who think its the best thing since sliced bread, and thats sad. The average wage shes been offered has been about $9, but as low as $6.50.
I don't know where this guy is coming from. My wife and I are 40 year old teachers and make slightly more than $100,000 a year. My daughter is a 16 year old lifeguard and makes almost $10 an hour.
This isn't the greatest place, but it is affordable. Don't listen to the wack jobs like lethal who obviously has a problem getting and keeping a job.
do anybody know of any mom and pops that are willing to work with me as a CDL driver.I'm trying to get out of otr been out here for 13 months and im missing home in Newport News VA can anyone please help me.
I'm just astonished that people here think there is anything at all common between VB and SFO besides mere proximity to the ocean.
I've visited SFO a few times and it's an amazingly cool place. There's not anything at all in SFO that doesn't absolutely blow away VB.
Culture - SFO is amazing melting pot. Soo many amazing restaurants and cool , old places with actual culture (and cultured people) and just overall old time, urban coolness. SFO has an amazing water front, too. In VA Beach you'll find old nasty hotels almost as depressed-looking as Daytona Beach, and plenty of bland, lifeless, chain restaurants such as Applebees, McDonalds, etc.
If you've ever visited SFO, you know what I mean. If you're a 'lifer' from here - well, not seeing the rest of the country is your loss - I understand , though, because you simply don't know any better.
While visitors/tourists you find in SFO are from all parts of California, other parts of the US, and different parts of the world, most visitors to VB are nasty, slobby, rude inconsiderates from NY, NY, and PA.(I experienced this first hand while working at Busch Gardens while going to college here)
The SF bay is just amazing and picturesque and the water is good 'ol real mountain fed pacific clear, clean water. Meanwhile, the Chesapeake bay is a murky, muddy, ugly mess, surrounded by inbred, "Ginny-men' types who may or may not have a full mouth of teeth.
Around SFO you have more places that absolutely humiliate Hampton Roads in comparison, such as Santa Cruz, San Jose, the rest of Silicon Valley, Marin County, and of course Napa Valley. Go a few hours east of SFO and you have a plethora of amazing parks with REAL mountain ranges.
Go west of Va and, well, you have , not much. Drive through West Virginia and .. well, I don't want to be too negative (too late?) so I won't talk about WVa..
SFO is a major US City. Va Beach and Hampton Roads are a collection of disjointed towns that just can't get their act together. So what if we have the 'largest Naval base in the world" ? Sure, it helps the economy, but other than offering a target for a potential terrorist or nuclear attack on the US, it really doesn't affect most people around here.
SFO has some amazing , turn-of-the-century old buildings just all over the place with some awesome history. Sure Williamsburg and Jamestown are old, but kinda boring - Williamsburg is having a tough time with a huge drop-off in visitors.
Racism is everywhere to some degree, but it's really bad here in HR. I lived here for 4 years in the 80's and have unfortunately been back here for the past 2. In pretty much every way, it's still the same. There is outward as well as repressed rampant racism towards blacks from whites all over HR. One thing I noticed that got worse when we came back is the outward resentment and hate towards whites from blacks. I really didn't miss any of the "Tidewater Racial tension" when we moved out West.
Weather in SFO is very mild all year round. Humidity is very low. I've been told by friends who live there that they get fog every morning, but by noon it burns off and it's just spectacular. Here you'll find 'real' winters and summers. Spring and Falls are nice here. Winters are cold obviously, but you can look that stuff up. Summers are pretty miserable if you don't like high humidity. For some idiotic reason, people around here love to say "Gee, it's been really dry - we need the rain".
People you'll find in SFO are far more outgoing and tolerant of others. I was raised in Va (northern and Tidewater) for a while and the general impression you get taught living here is that New York City is nasty and full of dang yankees and the west coast is full of freaks and sinners. I've grown up and traveled enough to know that NYC is a pretty cool place and pretty much every spot on the West Coast just absolutely rules over every place on the east coast, with the possible exception of Boston.
People are far, far more 'live and let live' and not judgemental in SFO compared to Tidewater. Just hang around here for a while and you'll certainly run into many holier-than-thou, judgemental, hypocritical bible-thumping idiots.
You'll also find the general population in SFO actually work for a living and statistically have a higher IQ and are more interesting to talk to compared to people here. They go to a job and work hard. Yet another of the many disappointments we found coming back here is the abundance of people who are on disability, just laying back , scamming all of us out of our Social Security.
So I could go on and on about the differences, but I'd be here for hours. The ONLY disadvantage of living in SFO is that the cost of living is very high. I would say "you get what you pay for", but we were also amazed at the escalation of the cost of living here compared to other, far better places. We moved here from Scottsdale and were just blown away at the high price we pay here for goods and services compared to Az. Amazingly, general service also is poor. Just as an example, we dropped some clothes off at a place called Boulevard Cleaners. The sign said they were closed at 6. OK, so I head over at 5:20, get there at 5:30, and the door is locked. I notice an average-for-tidewater portly girl in the back counting receipts for the day. I knocked on the door and she sighed as she trundled over and unlocked the door. I politely asked her if they still were open at 6, and she nicely told me her bosses said she could LEAVE at 6, so she had to start the closing process at 5:30 if she wanted to get out of there on time. This just didn't surprise me.
I'd recommend you please visit both places before you commit yourself. If you can find a place anywhere on the West Coast, you'll be much, much happier - guaranteed. The people from here have some sort of unfounded, misguided affection for this place, but like I said they simply don't know anything better.
I'm expecting much hate spewed my way, but I've lived in many places and am giving you facts based on reality.
I've lived many places as well, trust me, California, and the Bay Area in particular, grow tedious after a while and the terminal hipness and egotism of a sizable chunk of the population is mind bending. An Audi is in everyone's future and its all so tiring.......oh, San Francisco Bay is just as "murky and messy" in it's tidal marsh areas as the Chesapeake, IT'S A BAY......
That's my hateful spew....
NotafanofVa,
I don't hate people, but you are certainly a sad misinformed soul. You really should move back to the west coast, where things are way overpriced, people use drugs openly on the streets, there is a sad homeless problem, gay people are everywhere showing themselves, houses are too expensive to own.
Not everybody likes a melting pot. I certainly don't want to live in a 'melting pot'. I lived around white and black people my whole life, that's fine.
If you live in Newport News, that is the peninsula, which is nothing like Virginia Beach. Much of Newport News is the hood.
If you had any sense, you would know the water of the Chesapeake Bay is darker because of sentiment and sand, not because the water is dirty! The Chesapeake Bay is a beautiful, excellent fishing and crabbing body of water!
OP, I can assure you this person notafanofva, hates where he lives in Newport news, he does not represent the people of Tidewater, which is a wonderful coastal city that has a town feel. Excellent schools, excellent parks, excellent beaches with a beautiful boardwalk. An amphitheatre, many music vendues for concerts, and nice people.
NotafanofVa,
I don't hate people, but you are certainly a sad misinformed soul. You really should move back to the west coast, where things are way overpriced, people use drugs openly on the streets, there is a sad homeless problem, gay people are everywhere showing themselves, houses are too expensive to own.
Not everybody likes a melting pot. I certainly don't want to live in a 'melting pot'. I lived around white and black people my whole life, that's fine.
If you live in Newport News, that is the peninsula, which is nothing like Virginia Beach. Much of Newport News is the hood.
If you had any sense, you would know the water of the Chesapeake Bay is darker because of sentiment and sand, not because the water is dirty! The Chesapeake Bay is a beautiful, excellent fishing and crabbing body of water!
OP, I can assure you this person notafanofva, hates where he lives in Newport news, he does not represent the people of Tidewater, which is a wonderful coastal city that has a town feel. Excellent schools, excellent parks, excellent beaches with a beautiful boardwalk. An amphitheatre, many music vendues for concerts, and nice people.
You are coming across as a sad misinformed soul yourself. Have you ever BEEN to the West Coast/California? Your description sounds like something out of Reefer Madness.
Newport News has a bad section but is in no way "mostly hood." Every city in Hampton Roads has good and bad areas, the good areas outweigh the bad areas two to one. Do yourself a favor and Google Newport News, or better yet read the August edition of US Air's in flight magazine's 41 page spread on Newport News. Learn something.
Hampton Roads IS the Southside AND the Peninsula, the sum of all it's parts equaling a very unique locale.
And please don't demonize gay people, it's really uncalled for pal.
Sorry man, I was a bit upset that somebody attacked Tidewater like that. Yes- I have been to Valencia , California and Santa Barbara. It was nice, but I did not like it much like the East Coast. The water is cold all year in the ocean!
And, I was a minority there as a white person and I was just not used to it.
When I lived on the Southside of Tidewater , I never cared for the pennisula, I never went there. I like riding the waves so I stayed in VB. Newport News was rough when I lived there and P-town was even worse.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
San Francisco Transplant
looking to find work as a local CDL driver
