Moving way north of 8 (San Diego, Kensington: city hall, renting, house)

[skeke]

Ever since I returned to San Diego I have been living south of the 8 Frwy in the vicinity of San Diego State University. Due to life changes I will be moving back up to the Rancho Bernardo area where I lived before I moved away from San Diego several years ago.

Things I will miss after moving back to northern San Diego:

• The more liberal atmosphere.
  
• The diversity.
  
• The closeness to so many things: Symphony Hall, City Hall, the Civic Theater, the airport (15 minutes from the parking garage to my driveway), all the funky neighborhoods, Hillcrest, Normal Heights, North Park, South Park, University Heights.
  
• All the fun little non-chain eateries, Eclipse, Jyoti Bihangi, Dao Fu, Park House Cafe, Garden Kitchen, and too many more to name.
  
• The non-cookie cutter feel to it all
  
• My neighborhood where I have been very involved.

Things I will not miss:

• The crumminess of most of University Avenue as it runs across the northern boundary of my neighborhood.
  
• The number of badly kept of homes in my neighborhood (lots of improvement over the 8 years I've been here but still several neighbors live here who show zero pride of place).
  
• The wonderful group of volunteer neighbors who give and give to make this a great place to live.
  
• Easy access to my friends in the College Area, North Park, Normal Heights, Hillcrest.

So just this side of 70, I begin again. Wish me luck.

[skeke]

I realize I added two things I will miss to the list of things I will not miss. Figures. So much stress right now my brain is only half there.

I WILL miss these things:

The wonderful group of volunteer neighbors who give and give to make this a great place to live.
Easy access to my friends in the College Area, North Park, Normal Heights, Hillcrest.

Not sure why my post attracted ZERO responses. Usually talk of north of 8, south of 8 generates some interest.

[The Flying Dutchman]

My friend, have you considered Northern California?

[NYSD1995]

I'm doing the same, moving north, but not too far. Most of our friends are centered around school so it's not a big change. I'll miss our neighbors, won't miss the shopping carts, vagrants, and traffic.

[Jehjeh]

I moved out of SD to LA, briefly, but now I'm back and in North County. It's fine here. Yes, it's further away from the places I liked to go to in the city of SD itself, but it isn't as bland as people make it out to be, and there are lots of areas that aren't cookie cutter. Skeke, you'll find those neighborhood volunteers, non-chain restaurants, and diversity here, too -- they'll just be different places and people than the ones you're familiar with.

[bigdaddy5]

Rancho "Geriatric" Bernardo

[malcorub16]

My first North of the 8 experience was Tierrasanta, which is essentially 5 minutes North of the 8. We had just had our first son and were debating between renting a house in Kensington or the one in Tierrasanta. The one in Kensington got snatched up so we settled for Tierrasanta.

I too was worried about being away from the central areas and downtown which is where I was accustomed to living and gravitated too but soon realized how close everything actually was and that if I wanted my fix of "cool" or grittiness or just needed to get away from suburbia all I needed to do was drive down a few minutes.

I don't think I could do Rancho Bernardo, although I had the same thoughts about Tierrsanta. The environment is SUPER BLAND, but I will say that it is diverse in certain areas, there seem to be many Filipinos, Indians, and other Asians living in the area.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Good luck with your move.

Living in San Diego isn't bad at all when these are the types of pros/cons we can get granular about

[malcorub16]

^^Hey, where've you been?

[sdurbanite]

Good thing is that our easy freeway system can bring you back to the old stomping grounds in 20 mins or less. Good call on Dao Fu....That place has been on my rotation for quite a while now