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.
We are planning to move to SoCal likely late this summer. We started on SD and then began leaning toward LA due to there being more to do and wondering if we would be bored in SD. Today we live 30 min outside of Dallas and spend most of our time in our suburb - and go to city every now and then for dates or events. We figured we could model this in LA and go to a north suburb like Santa Clarita and not have to deal with LA traffic since I work from home.
Bottom line is we've gone back and forth. Plan to go visit both within next few weeks. Here are the questions:
1) What would you say LA offers in terms of "things to do" that SD is lacking? Basketball team, Oscars and other award shows haha, celebrities, what?
2) If you have lived in Chi, Dallas, LA, or any other big city, have you been bored in SD?
3) I am in technology and can work from anywhere. Also I have a startup that I will be staffing soon so need access to young hungry talent. I am researching the tech startup scene and university recruiting as well. What do you know about tech in SD?
4) How diverse are SD burbs like Carlsbad, Poway, Encinitas etc.? We have a 2 year old and want him to grow up seeing a diverse world.
In term so of hobbies, I love cars and off-roading too. I KNOW LA is big on cars and off-road. Wondering about SD! That is it for now. I've already noted the housing seems closer to what we have now - larger lots and bigger homes are less than in LA.
I moved here from the NYC area 30 years ago. I've never been "bored" in San Diego. But, I suppose it would depend on what you are looking for -- if you want to hobnob with celebrities and avoid the hoi polloi, then you might get bored here after a while.
The one thing that I would say LA has an edge over SD on is the arts scene. There's a lot more going on in LA for artists and people who enjoy art than there is here. Music venues might also be another area that SD falls behind LA on -- there's plenty of music here, but there isn't the depth of venues and types of music here that LA has.
I would say the things that SD has the edge over LA are:
- Easier access to a wide variety of outdoor activities and more open green space throughout the county. It's not that LA doesn't have outdoor activities and open space, but LA just makes it harder to get places in a timely manner to enjoy stuff.
- Although I'm stereotyping a bit, and this also varies to some extent throughout the County, but people in San Diego seem a little more laid back and less concerned with material things than people in LA. In many parts of SD, people aren't trying to "keep up with the Jones" as much. (Again, I'm stereotyping and YMMV).
- Traffic is MUCH less of a hassle here in the San Diego area. Yeah, we all complain about it, but even in the worst parts of the county during rush hour, things are usually moving right along at a decent pace, where as in LA, it can take you forever to go a very short distance at times.
- Air quality, overall, is better in San Diego County than in the LA basin.
- I'm sure others will disagree with me, and it depends to some extent where you live in the San Diego area, but, having spent a lot of time in LA over the years, I feel like there is a little more inter-mixing between diverse populations here than in LA.
If raising your kids in an area with a lot of diversity is important to you, then you may want to broaden your home shopping beyond Encinitas, Carlsbad, and Poway. They are among the least racially diverse cities in the San Diego metro area. None of those areas have a ton of economic diversity either.
If you want bigger lots, look inland, not along the coast; there's less population density overall in many inland areas as well. Since you will be working from home, you don't have to limit yourself for commuting purposes, so I would cast a wide net in your search.
If you haven't already seen it, this recent discussion will give you a good overview of a lot of areas/neighborhoods in the County, written from the perspectives of folks who live in them:
Overall, the San Diego area is a great place to raise a family and I'd choose to live here over the LA area any day. But, as I said, your mileage may vary.
Others can probably comment more knowledgably on tech here, but for what it's worth, my son works for a tech start up that's in downtown SD. It was founded by a pair of successful serial tech entrepreneurs who purposely picked San Diego over the Bay area . They picked San Diego because of the quality of life and also because they believed that they could attract talent and pay a little less than in the Bay due to the quality of life here. They've doubled their tech employees in the past year, and for every position they've hired for, they've had hundreds of applicants, including a lot of applicants from the Bay area. Initially, they found raising VC a little more challenging being based in SD instead of the Bay area, even though the co-founders had a great track record. But, that might be true in LA too.
I moved here from the NYC area 30 years ago. I've never been "bored" in San Diego. But, I suppose it would depend on what you are looking for -- if you want to hobnob with celebrities and avoid the hoi polloi, then you might get bored here after a while.
The one thing that I would say LA has an edge over SD on is the arts scene. There's a lot more going on in LA for artists and people who enjoy art than there is here. Music venues might also be another area that SD falls behind LA on -- there's plenty of music here, but there isn't the depth of venues and types of music here that LA has.
I would say the things that SD has the edge over LA are:
- Easier access to a wide variety of outdoor activities and more open green space throughout the county. It's not that LA doesn't have outdoor activities and open space, but LA just makes it harder to get places in a timely manner to enjoy stuff.
- Although I'm stereotyping a bit, and this also varies to some extent throughout the County, but people in San Diego seem a little more laid back and less concerned with material things than people in LA. In many parts of SD, people aren't trying to "keep up with the Jones" as much. (Again, I'm stereotyping and YMMV).
- Traffic is MUCH less of a hassle here in the San Diego area. Yeah, we all complain about it, but even in the worst parts of the county during rush hour, things are usually moving right along at a decent pace, where as in LA, it can take you forever to go a very short distance at times.
- Air quality, overall, is better in San Diego County than in the LA basin.
- I'm sure others will disagree with me, and it depends to some extent where you live in the San Diego area, but, having spent a lot of time in LA over the years, I feel like there is a little more inter-mixing between diverse populations here than in LA.
If you want your kids to be exposed to diversity growing up (not just racial diversity, but also economic), you probably will want to look beyond the wealthier enclaves of Encinitas, Carlsbad, and Poway. If you want bigger lots, look inland, not along the coast (Poway would be a good choice for that). Since you will be working from home, you don't have to limit yourself for commuting purposes.
If you haven't already seen it, this recent discussion will give you a good overview of a lot of areas/neighborhoods in the County, written from the perspectives of folks who live in them:
Overall, the San Diego area is a great place to raise a family and I'd choose to live here over the LA area any day. But, as I said, your mileage may vary.
Others can probably comment more knowledgably on tech here, but for what it's worth, my son works for a tech start up that's in downtown SD. It was founded by a pair of serial entrepreneurs who purposely picked San Diego over the Bay area (where they'd started and sold two other successful tech companies). They picked San Diego because of the quality of life and also because they believed that they could attract talent and pay a little less than in the Bay due to the quality of life here. They've doubled their tech employees in the past year, and for every position they've hired for, they've had hundreds of applicants, including a lot of applicants from the Bay area. Initially, they found raising VC a little more challenging being based in SD instead of the Bay area, even though the co-founders had a great track record. But, that might be true in LA too.
Good luck with your move!
Wow, what a comprehensive write-up THANK YOU! Regarding areas we are really liking the houses we see in Fallbrook, Vista and even Temecula though I realize that may be further out. Have no idea how these areas are in person or to live but will soon find out!
Wow, what a comprehensive write-up THANK YOU! Regarding areas we are really liking the houses we see in Fallbrook, Vista and even Temecula though I realize that may be further out. Have no idea how these areas are in person or to live but will soon find out!
Use the advanced search function at the top of the forum to do a search for Vista. There's been lots of recent discussions here about Vista that may be helpful to you.
There are are also alot of nice areas located more in the middle part of the county, closer to downtown. Before heading to Temecula, you might want to check those areas out, depending on your budget.
Location: San Diego CA>Tijuana, BC>San Antonio, TX
6,507 posts, read 7,541,183 times
Reputation: 6878
Quote:
Originally Posted by Evoking
Yes that title is a lot ;-)
2) If you have lived in Chi, Dallas, LA, or any other big city, have you been bored in SD?
In term so of hobbies, I love cars and off-roading too. I KNOW LA is big on cars and off-road. Wondering about SD! That is it for now. I've already noted the housing seems closer to what we have now - larger lots and bigger homes are less than in LA.
Thank you in advance!
For my interests, I would be afraid of being bored in Dallas before I was bored in San Diego. Plus, San Diego has the luxury of being close to mountains, deserts, Los Angeles, Baja Mexico and Las Vegas. Dallas is flat and has for neighbors Oklahoma, Austin and then also Houston which is very similar to Dallas in my opinion.
What exactly are you afraid of missing in Dallas that SD wouldn't have?
Like someone else said, if you are thinking about moving to the burbs in Fallbrook or Temecula, you may get bored as these locations are not very close to the best SD has to offer. Now if we're talking a little ranch or home on some acreage in Fallbrook I might have a different opinion and not mind the drive.
Many San Diegans love their desert toys such a ATV's, dunebuggies, quads and dirt bikes are a big SoCal thing.
Location: San Diego CA>Tijuana, BC>San Antonio, TX
6,507 posts, read 7,541,183 times
Reputation: 6878
Quote:
Originally Posted by RosieSD
If raising your kids in an area with a lot of diversity is important to you, then you may want to broaden your home shopping beyond Encinitas, Carlsbad, and Poway. They are among the least racially diverse cities in the San Diego metro area. None of those areas have a ton of economic diversity either.
I haven't spent any time in Encinitas or Carlsbad lateley (other than sitting in traffic on the 5), but Poway seems more diverse these days than it was say last decade. I notice many more Indians and Asians when I visit.
If you are an urbanite who loves urban life, it will only take a few years to exhaust SD county. The beauty of SD county is it is just urban enough to deliver the things that are interesting (parks, restaurants, waterfront) without all the negatives (trash, crime, traffic, although those things are increasing). But if you need a constant flow of interesting Umami and Filipino food, you need to look at LA, which while maddening, is the most urban that CA gets.
I know I had given you some info previously but also wanted to address some of these specific questions:
1) What would you say LA offers in terms of "things to do" that SD is lacking? Basketball team, Oscars and other award shows haha, celebrities, what?
Sheer volume of everything. Performing arts, visual arts, events, restaurants, etc. You'll sometimes find that major touring artists occasionally bypass San Diego in favor of LA. But that's not to say that SD doesn't have all of these things. The nice thing about SD is how accessible things like performing arts and museums are. Balboa Park is absolutely stunning and so unique among large American cities, and LA has nothing like it. An easy concentration of museums and performances. Also, our Symphony Hall often has last minute deals for $10 or $25 tickets, which means you could take the family regularly for cultural immersion. In LA, that wouldn't likely happen. And the food scene is really taking off down here. Check out sd.eater.com.
One nice thing about SD is that the urban area is much more concentrated than LA, so you don't have to drive all over the metro area for everything.
2) If you have lived in Chi, Dallas, LA, or any other big city, have you been bored in SD?
I'm originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, and we used to live part time in the Bay Area and part time in SD (also working from home) in part because we found San Diego really lacking in a lot of urban amenities and diversity as recently as ten years ago. In the meantime, we found that both cities were developing a different culture where SF was adopting more 'boring' culture and SD was adopting more 'city' culture -- just things like market halls, farmers markets, sidewalk bike rentals, third wave coffee, swankier restaurants, highrise condos and apartments, etc. So in many ways, SF seems to have gone down a notch while SD has gone up a notch, and they are closer to one another than in the past. Because of these changes and the cost of living in SF, we decided to relocate to SD permanently.
3) I am in technology and can work from anywhere. Also I have a startup that I will be staffing soon so need access to young hungry talent. I am researching the tech startup scene and university recruiting as well. What do you know about tech in SD?
(Please see the Curbed LA article I had messaged you earlier)
4) How diverse are SD burbs like Carlsbad, Poway, Encinitas etc.? We have a 2 year old and want him to grow up seeing a diverse world.
We live just south of Poway in the farthest reaches of Scripps Ranch and spend a lot of time in Poway. It's got a great small town vibe, but I wouldn't say it's super diverse compared to some areas. But yes, there are growing numbers of Asians and Indians all over the suburbs of San Diego, somewhat near major job centers. I can say that we expected our neighborhood to be primarily Caucasian based on past demographics, but it ended up being unexpectedly diverse and welcoming.
I'm not sure that Carlsbad is all that much more diverse either to be honest. However, all of these areas are close to diverse areas, and it's easy to get out of your own neighborhood to experience that.
5) In term so of hobbies, I love cars and off-roading too. I KNOW LA is big on cars and off-road. Wondering about SD! That is it for now. I've already noted the housing seems closer to what we have now - larger lots and bigger homes are less than in LA.
This I don't know about, but I know a lot of our neighbors here have five or six cars. I think we have the highest concentration of Teslas in town!
Thank you in advance![/quote]
Last edited by tstieber; 05-26-2017 at 05:00 PM..
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.
