Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > Monterey County
 [Register]
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.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 11-16-2011, 03:50 PM
 
Location: Brooklyn, NY
72 posts, read 113,996 times
Reputation: 19

Advertisements

Hey everyone,

So I'm 27, single, currently live in Brooklyn, NY and work in Manhattan. I have a job offer through Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, and would love some advice on the area. I've been out to CA a lot, both north and south, and really love the state.

Obviously coming from a city like NY it will be an adjustment, but are there any areas that wouldn't be too brutal of a commute to the hospital that have a "downtown" feel. I'll have a car, and don't mind driving, but I would like to live in an area with some grocery stores, coffee shops, bars and restaurants in a walkable distance. Any suggestions?

Also, any areas to completely avoid?

Thanks!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 11-16-2011, 04:17 PM
 
4,338 posts, read 6,311,345 times
Reputation: 6159
Quote:
Originally Posted by nyr1129 View Post
Hey everyone,

So I'm 27, single, currently live in Brooklyn, NY and work in Manhattan. I have a job offer through Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, and would love some advice on the area. I've been out to CA a lot, both north and south, and really love the state.

Obviously coming from a city like NY it will be an adjustment, but are there any areas that wouldn't be too brutal of a commute to the hospital that have a "downtown" feel. I'll have a car, and don't mind driving, but I would like to live in an area with some grocery stores, coffee shops, bars and restaurants in a walkable distance. Any suggestions?

Also, any areas to completely avoid?

Thanks!
Well, nothing in the area will give you a big city downtown feel. You'd have to move to San Francisco or possibly San Jose, either of which would be a horrendous commute.

Monterey has a cute little downtown as does Carmel. Neither are extremely lively and I'd definitely not recommend Carmel for the downtown lifestyle if you're not a senior citizen. Seriously, Monterey has a couple bars, but I do think you'd get bored after a little while, being 27 and single. I'd instead look at a little longer commute, maybe from Santa Cruz or Capitola. Both are more lively and youth oriented. Also, the weather is better on that side of the bay. The commute would be about 45 minutes each way.

I would certainly avoid areas such as Seaside, Marina or Salinas. None of them are that nice, nor do they have nice downtowns with a youthful culture. You may be tempted by the lower cost of living, but I'd avoid these.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-16-2011, 04:37 PM
 
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
2,190 posts, read 6,861,762 times
Reputation: 2078
If you don't mind a bit of a commute you might find parts of Santa Cruz county a bit more "happening".
It's a younger county and with more going on.
The commute to Monterey in the morning won't be so bad as you'll be traveling in the opposite direction of the herd .... errrr, i mean hoard.
I can get to Monterrey in less than 45 minutes when there's no traffic.
So it's a drive but not a bad one.
It's also less than 2 hours south (again, when there's not a lot of traffic) from San Francisco if you need a hit of real city.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-16-2011, 05:17 PM
 
Location: Vancouver, WA
8,226 posts, read 16,754,405 times
Reputation: 9508
I would recommend downtown Monterey or Santa Cruz which both have grocery stores, coffee shops, bars and restaurants in a walkable distances. These are both smaller towns than what you are used to. So it really depends on what you are looking for. You need to do two things:
1. Visit first
2. Set right expectations = this is not New York City

Keep in mind that some people do commute in from San Jose which is a bit far. But there are vanpools into where I work from there. And SF is also a great place to visit on the weekends.

I however disagree that Monterey doesn't have young people. If you walk through downtown you'll find a fair share of younger folks. The median age for the city is 36 not 65+. By contrast SC is 33. Monterey is somewhat of a college town with Monterey Peninsula College, CSUMB, DLI, NPS and Monterey Institute of International Studies. It also had an international flare with an emphasis on language in higher education. Hence you will find more diversity here than SC or other surrrounding regions. See this thread I created which discusses Monterey's economy: https://www.city-data.com/forum/calif...y-history.html

Derek
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-17-2011, 10:06 AM
 
Location: Verona, WI
1,201 posts, read 2,421,283 times
Reputation: 830
Sounds like an exciting opportunity!

If you're moving to a new area and will not have much time to explore it ahead of time, I'd recommend just living in Monterey itself. Monterey is an amazing location. Living close to your workplace will give you more time to explore Monterey and the other areas around Monterey. If you find one you like one better, you can always move there when your lease is up. You could also consider Pacific Grove, since it's close to the hospital and will also have some of the amenities you're looking for. In general, the Monterey penninsula may not be "party central" but it still has plenty of things to like and do for folks of all ages and interests.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-17-2011, 11:37 AM
 
Location: South Korea
5,242 posts, read 13,096,424 times
Reputation: 2958
If you don't like Monterey then yeah I'd look into Santa Cruz. The area near downtown is relatively dense and the whole city isn't really sprawly despite being suburban. It is pretty dominated by students though because it is a college town. But you won't find anything like a dense Eastern city outside of SF, Berkeley and Oakland.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-17-2011, 02:32 PM
 
Location: Brooklyn, NY
72 posts, read 113,996 times
Reputation: 19
Wow, thanks for all the great responses! It will definitely be a change of pace, but I'm excited about that. I'm not a club person at all, I'd rather just have a few local bars and good restaurants to meet up with friends than a bunch of loud, packed clubs.

Would you recommend Craigslist as a good source of apartments for the area?

Thanks!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-17-2011, 02:49 PM
 
Location: Vancouver, WA
8,226 posts, read 16,754,405 times
Reputation: 9508
Quote:
Originally Posted by nyr1129 View Post
Wow, thanks for all the great responses! It will definitely be a change of pace, but I'm excited about that. I'm not a club person at all, I'd rather just have a few local bars and good restaurants to meet up with friends than a bunch of loud, packed clubs.

Would you recommend Craigslist as a good source of apartments for the area?

Thanks!
Yep, I found my last two places in Monterey on CL. I also recommend starting closer to work first. Not having to drive an extra 2 hours+ a day will be worth it IMO. You'll have that much more personal time to do the things you enjoy.

Also if you enjoy the outdoors this is a great place to take full advantage of that. If not you may want to take up hiking, kayaking, mountain biking, diving, etc...

Derek

Last edited by MtnSurfer; 11-17-2011 at 03:11 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-18-2011, 01:23 PM
 
Location: Mountains of Oregon
17,650 posts, read 22,702,175 times
Reputation: 14433
I long ago lived on David Avenue, Pacific Grove/New Monterey in an apt. There were quite a number of apts on David & other streets in the area.

The CHOMP Hospital isn't very far.

apartments on David Avenue, Pacific Grove, CA - Bing
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-16-2012, 06:08 PM
 
Location: Bay Area, California
49 posts, read 143,771 times
Reputation: 32
I vote Santa Cruz, but even if you end up in Monterey Santa Cruz will be close enough to drive to for social activities. You can also try to find a place to live in Soquel/ Aptos area so you are sort of in the middle but closer to Santa Cruz, but you'll have a 5-10 mile jump on the commute when driving to Monterey in the morning.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
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.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2022 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > Monterey County

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top