What's It Like to Live in Palm Springs? (San Diego, San Francisco: renting, crime)

[mswagner222]

My husband and I are interested in Palm Springs and the surrounding area. We're looking for walkable, urban areas with a diverse and open-minded culture. What are your thoughts on good areas for us?

[Twinkle Toes]

I could help ... but you need to be more specific. Yes, you can walk here. How far - depends on how many miles you're willing to trek. Urban? This isn't really an urban area. Diverse? Yes - we have that. Open minded? Are you referring to "gay friendly"? If so, yes, we are open minded here.

How much do you want to spend? Gated or non-gated? Country club? Affluent or gritty?

[tilegirl]

I you want to walk you need to check out areas near south Palm Canyon. From Alejo on the north to Ramon at the south. Maybe even around the corner, all the way to Sunrise. A new shopping area opened up with a Jesens (stupid expensive) and a Petco, Pier One, Marshalls, and small shops. And try to be within 5 blocks of Palm Canyon on either the east or west side. It is more expensive, but take your time. If you are going to start out renting, if you can afford it Greenhouse East or West are beautiful.

[cl723]

Well, You pretty much have summer for 9 months. The times I was there it was 90 degrees in march. It rarely rains. One year it had a lot of rain and the next, we didn`t have any.
Palm Desert is nice and you can walk to shopping, library, and resturants depending were you live. The shopping areas are nice and kept up.What I like about the cooler months is that they have flowers along hwy 111. The heat in the summer is bad. It can get up to 122 degrees. I never got use to that.

[Ulysses61]

Palm Springs is not what it used to be. Crime is up, sprawl has deteriorated the quality of life. If you have the money, opt for Rancho Mirage, the far better community. Indian Wells is also nicer than PS nowadays.

[ambient]

Originally Posted by Ulysses61

Palm Springs is not what it used to be. Crime is up, sprawl has deteriorated the quality of life. If you have the money, opt for Rancho Mirage, the far better community. Indian Wells is also nicer than PS nowadays.

^^ THIS.

I have family in Palm Desert and visit the valley regularly. It is well worth it to keep driving down I-10 and take a look at some of the other communities East of Palm Springs.

The Valley is nice if you enjoy heat (summer days are 100+ degrees F...if you're not by a pool, you're generally inside and keep "siesta" hours during mid-day. Lots of retired people, not many jobs in the area other than service / casinos. Beautiful mountains all around and Joshua Tree park is also close by. LA and San Diego areas are about two hours away, so day trips are still a reasonable possibility.

[tilegirl]

If you want to walk around, Palm Desert near El Paseo area is nice. Rancho Mirage around The River.
Other than that you need a car. And it is HOT in the months from April to Oct. I don't like it, I moved up to the foothills above Palm Springs. I miss green trees (Palm Trees don't count) and most likely will be in Oregon within a couple of years.

[Urban Boys]

Palm Springs is great. There are also newer communities nearby such as the others listed above. We liked Palm Springs because it is older and feels a little bit more "urban", because we are from San Francisco and wanted that feeling. It is a great area with established neighborhoods and great Mid Century housing. The residents here mostly seem to be from large urban areas and that makes it more comfortable for us.

Yes, it is brutally hot in the summer, but the outdoor living at night and the pool make it a lot better.

Many of the neighborhoods here have had a huge influx of urban refugees like us that have refurbished and dramatically changed these neighborhoods. I can't believe that 10 years ago the neighborhood that I bought into was a "ghetto" and now it is clean and just about every house has been redone.

[Mercedes-Benz]

Originally Posted by mswagner222

My husband and I are interested in Palm Springs and the surrounding area. We're looking for walkable, urban areas with a diverse and open-minded culture. What are your thoughts on good areas for us?

Let us just put it this way. In the summer Palm Springs becomes a natural sauna. It is so hot outside. If you have a history of fainting in the heat. Palm Springs is not the place for you to live. Sure you can visit in the spring or fall but summer is too hot.

[Bluesmama]

I do not live there but we vacation in Palm Springs every other year, so I'll give a little input from a visitor's view.

Something unique about that area are all the little cities and communities so close together. Drive along 111 and you enter-and-cross one city limit to another. And while I'm not qualified to discuss crime or much about diversity, I do know that some places are "safer" than others. And if you like Palm Springs in particular, you can still live in, say, Palm Desert, and be close by. The character is very different from one jurisdiction to another; however, none of them give me a "big city feel". (Myself, I'm partial to Palm Springs.)

Yes, it's scorchingly hot there during the summer. But if I lived there I'd probably do summer traveling, anyway. Where I live, winter is my down time, and much of spring, so in Coachella Valley the pattern would simply switch to summer. And I think that would be okay, because winter and early-spring is so comfy. Another poster rightfully pointed out health concerns; however, Coachella definitely draws retirees. (And I was shocked to discover that there are retirees living in the middle of nowhere in a Borrego Springs Country Club Community, far from emergency services!)

But, of course, much of that would depend on your personal finances.

I always thought of it as being quite rich in cultural arts depending on what it is.

If I lived there I think it would seem far away from the rest of the state. It's not that far from the coast, really. But I would want to go to the Bay Area sometimes, the mid-to-north coast, Yosemite, and the Central San Joaquin Valley to spend time with family and friends. Those are not exactly a hop-skip-and-a-jump. Still, it would still be one of my top choices in California.

I grew up in the smack-dab in Central San Joaquin, though. So the accessibility to other places pretty well had me spoiled.