Want laid back beachy town...but should I just stick to LA? (San Francisco: low income, condos) - San Francisco - Oakland - California (CA) - Page 4 - City-Data Forum

DocGoldstein · 11-09-2012, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

The OP said she didn't want freezing and foggy. And Stinson is too far a drive to get to work in any nearby city or town. It's a bit isolated.

Agreed. Stinson is also the furthest thing from urban.

Larry Siegel · 11-10-2012, 01:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DocGoldstein

Long Beach had its best days in the 70s and 80s. I remember when the Yardhouse and all of those shopping areas used to be a huge park. Kids used to fly kites, ride bikes, it was something beautiful...

Maybe you're remembering the 50s. By the late 1970s it was not very nice or safe. The action had moved to Huntington Beach.

DocGoldstein · 11-10-2012, 06:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larry Siegel

Maybe you're remembering the 50s. By the late 1970s it was not very nice or safe. The action had moved to Huntington Beach.

I'm remembering the 70s-80s for sure, and I'm talking mostly about the area near Shoreline Drive (you know where the Yardhouse is located?). Yes places around West 20th, and surrounding areas were ghetto and not nice. Not talking about those areas. Shoreline Drive wasn't dangerous, so if you're talking about that area, you're definitely mistaken. It definitely had lots of kids playing during that time, and I'm not sure if it was safe at night, but during the day it was definitely safe.

tstieber · 11-10-2012, 10:37 AM

You took the words right out of my mouth! Our only NorCal "beach" beach area is Santa Cruz, where it'll actually be sunny and warm enough to go to the beach, where you'll actually see palm trees at the beach, where the sand is really nice, and where the beaches are packed with people playing volleyball, tanning, and surfing. But it's not really that close to the urban Bay Area. Like you said, San Diego is like a much larger Santa Cruz. I like SD best for beach culture (although I'll take SC as a great daytrip from foggy SF in order to be close to both city and beach culture), and certainly much better than LA. I find LA beaches to be pretty ugly, flat, and industrial (for the most part). SD is much nicer, and SD's water can actually be swimmable (peaking, on average, around 71-72 at the tail end of summer, compared to SC peaking about ten degrees cooler, and LA peaking around five degrees cooler). Not warm, but bearable.

If you do want to live in SF (although it doesn't sound like you want that dense of a city), there is some surf culture on the western side of the City, but it's not a pretty area, and it's not beachy in the traditional sense. Baker Beach is actually quite scenic but also a fog trap. You do have Stinson Beach just to your north, which is often called "Malibu North" for its multimillion dollar homes in gated communities on the sand, and it has somewhat warmer, sunnier weather for the same reasons as SC, and the beach is a 3 mile crescent of beautiful golden sand, but it's too remote to live there. Another daytrip.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sav858

The only place I would really recommend in Northern CA is Santa Cruz. It has a typical beach-town atmosphere, somewhat like So-Cal and is warmer and sunnier than most of the Northern CA coast as it faces south instead of west. The air temp is definitely warm enough in Santa Cruz to enjoy the beach but the water temperature isn't. Someone mentioned Carmel but it isn't that warm there, very cool overall and even more removed from the Bay Area. SC is kind of isolated but not too far from the South Bay region.

Have you considered San Diego at all? Personally I think that area offers better options for a "laid-back small beach town" atmosphere than LA. I don't find LA overall too laid back and there is nothing but constant development everywhere plus the traffic is horrendous. Plus the beaches in SD are much cleaner than LA and more scenic overall imo.

I used to live by the beach in San Diego and loved my lifestyle. Lots of cool beach towns along the coast that have a small town atmoshere but are still close to Downtown and other areas of activity. Ocean Beach, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, and La Jolla are all excellent options. OB, PB, and MB are all compact, fairly walkable, and somewhat urban too. Even better for a more laid back vibe are North County beach towns like Del Mar, Encinitas, Leucadia, Cardiff, and Carlsbad. It's gorgeous along that stretch of coast, very laid back, and has some of the warmest water temps in SoCal. Coastal SD overall is more affordable than coastal LA too, especially compared to Redondo Beach.

Downside too SD is much smaller than the Bay Area and LA so it will offer less amenities and culture but I think it offers enough as it's still a decent size (3 million). Some find it too slow and laid back but I didn't and based on what you are looking for you probably won't either. LA and the Bay Area are more of a rat race compared to SD, if you want a more quintessential CA beach lifesyle SD is the place imo. Outisde of Santa Cruz there is much in the way of typical beach towns up here like in SoCal, surely not in the immediate Bay Area.

tstieber · 11-10-2012, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

Nowhere in California is anything like the Caribbean.

Yeah, seriously. Hawaii isn't even like the Caribbean.

tstieber · 11-10-2012, 10:40 AM

Yeah! Capitola is awesome! Looks and feels like a lot like Laguna Beach in OC. The water is beautiful, the beach is packed, the town is cute, but again, you're cut off from the urban Bay Area.

Quote:

Originally Posted by legal_eagle

One word: Capitola. A beautiful little town just south of Santa Cruz. It's a slice of So Cal in NorCal.

I find it odd that people recommend Alameda, Emerville, and other locations on the SF Bay ... they are not really beach towns as they are not on the ocean.