Maybe San Bernardino is for me (Los Angeles, Riverside: houses, landscaping, neighborhoods)

[New Horizons]

Does San Bernardino have a brown and dry look to it in the summer? Do the summers feel hot and dry? As you can tell by my dumb user name I quickly came up with, I'm in search of a brown and dry place in the western US. 38 years of living in the swamps of Florida haven driven me to the polar opposite. My other requirement is that I want to be near LA. It's not that I would drive to Hollywood every night, but it sure is nice to know it's an hours drive away (is that about right?). I'm actually leaving for Phoenix, AZ next month to check it out. I like the looks of PHX a lot.
PHX has a lot of hardcore industrial areas that look like this:
auto salvage - Google Maps
I know it's an ugly scene but for some reason I find it appealing. It looks like the final scene in that movie Death Race. I just wish I could find this kind of look closer to LA. Maybe San Berdoo would have the look I want? In google maps it still looks a little green for me but those images were taken in the winter time, you can see snow on the mountains. I thought about Lancaster and the Coachella Valley but they're so isolated and there probably aren't any jobs there. And I don't plan on having kids so I'm not overly concerned about gangs and schools. I can handle myself fine.

[Dub D]

San Bernardino is not nice. It's not close to LA and it's a very different lifestyle. You will not drive to LA more than once a week and even that's pushing it. Everyone who moves out to the IE always says they will still go to LA but over time don't. Just like people who move to New Jersey from New York City.

I lived in Florida as well, central Florida. Lifestyle wise, it's not a huge difference. Plenty of better places to pick than San Bernardino. In fact, I'd put it near the very bottom of the list.

If you want desert, go further east. Plenty of nicer areas and cost the same. Banning, Beaumont, and Yuciapa are just a few that aren't too far. They are the middle point of LA and Palm Springs. Plus, San Bernardino does not have a desert feel at all. It has a "I want to get the hell out of this city ASAP" vibe.

[integrity_first]

Originally Posted by Dub D

If you want desert, go further east. Plenty of nicer areas and cost the same. Banning, Beaumont, and Yuciapa are just a few that aren't too far. They are the middle point of LA and Palm Springs. Plus, San Bernardino does not have a desert feel at all. It has a "I want to get the hell out of this city ASAP" vibe.

Truth.

[Chelito23]

I see you are certainly looking for something unconventional....

If I understand correctly, you want to live in dessert type area with lots of warehouses, and industrial feelings and scrap yards? Yet you want to be somewhat close to LA, but not rural. Hmmmm.

To be honest, no where will give you everything you want, PHX is probably your best bet.

With that said, SB doesn't have the PHX feeling at all (I was in both cities last week). PHX feels open and flat and goes on forever with mountains in the distance, most of it is suburban looking and the industrial areas are separated from residential areas a lot of the time from what I saw. Likewise, it is urban, so there is irrigation and landscaping in the developed areas for the most part, so it isn't like living in the dessert in that regard, until you leave the populated area.

San Bernardino is much smaller and the mountains are adjacent to the city. The city is a hodgepodge of open/abandoned lots, semi-industrial buildings, low end commercial activity and lower end housing surrounding a governement core downtown. In the worst areas, there is minimal vegetation, which again, doesn't look dessert like, just barren and abandoned. In the slightly better off areas, there are plenty of trees and landscaping to give it a decidedly coastal CA feeling vs. the dessert. There are also washes where trees grow naturally...so that is another difference from AZ. Just driving around you see a lot of misfits or people who look like they just got out of the jail, some sort of government clinic or agency or something along those lines. Lots of bail bonds places as well. The commercial activity is somewhat depressed...the city is still surprisingly expensive considering it's offerings....IMO SB feels like it's populated by zombies to the average person driving through. But there are nicer areas close by to choose from, so my comments are specific to a relatively small area near downtown SB...when considering the entire Inland Empire.

If you want a dessert feel, you will have to go to the high dessert, Coacehlla Valley and beyond. They really aren't that isolated and only sightly furthur from LA. SB is in fact an hours drive from LA without traffic. Definantly come and check the areas out first.

[genjy]

The Phelan area could be a good fit. The drive to LA would not be totally awful, but it would still be a lot of driving.

I would look into Norco in Riverside County, too. Probably not as brown as you are looking for, but very rural yet close enough to Los Angeles and SB.

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by desert_scene

Does San Bernardino have a brown and dry look to it in the summer? Do the summers feel hot and dry?

All of So Cal does, except for the mountains, which have the muted greens of chaparral.

Originally Posted by desert_scene

Do the summers feel hot and dry?

Very. No suffocating humidity here, especially by Florida standards. Consequently, few mosquitoes and fleas. I don't have to treat my dog with flea poison or have her wear a flea collar, and I haven't been bitten by a skeeter in over a year.

Originally Posted by desert_scene

but it sure is nice to know it's an hours drive away (is that about right?).

Yeah, at 3am or if you get some amazing traffic luck. Southern California freeway drivers are weetoddit, as they'll slow to a crawl for a tow truck or a cop giving a ticket on the side of the road. One guy getting a ticket can turn the freeway into a parking lot for 5 miles.

Listen, if you want desert, live in the desert. You want brown and dry with industrial stuff, look into parts of SB, Colton, Rialto or South Fontana where I live. That's 12 miles closer to L.A.

[Dallas Cowboys Fan]

OP, the city of SB proper just isn't that nice. If you want brown/dry/desert, try Palm Springs, Palm Desert, etc. as others have suggested. It's a little further from LA, but is an actual desert.
Norco is another option if you like rural. It's a lot closer to LA, but is not in a desert.
Try Lancaster/Palmdale (be careful about neighborhoods). But if you really like desert, maybe PHX is the best option since you can be in the middle of the desert and be close to the city at the same time.

[kttam186290]

Originally Posted by desert_scene

I thought about Lancaster and the Coachella Valley but they're so isolated and there probably aren't any jobs there. And I don't plan on having kids so I'm not overly concerned about gangs and schools. I can handle myself fine.

You would probably love Lancaster! It's only an hour from L.A. (same as San Bernardino) and has a very thriving arts scene. Plus, it is definitely part of the desert. The very western edge of the Mojave Desert, to be exact. The Mojave Desert has a beauty of its own.

[Fontucky]

Read, people. He wants brown and deserty WITH hardcore industrial areas.

[New Horizons]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

Read, people. He wants brown and deserty WITH hardcore industrial areas.

Now I'm getting embarrassed! Look I watch a lot of movies and get influenced by them; Mad Max, Death Race, Devil's Rejects, The Hills Have Eyes, etc.

I'm reading through every one of these you all thanks.