Please tell me the truth: Is Palo Alto a "walkable" city? Is it dog-friendly? Is it vegan-friendly? (San Jose: house, neighborhoods)

[nmguy]

I lived in Palo Alto for 30 years and saw it grow from a pleasant, family-oriented city to a more frantic, money-oriented place.

University Ave. used to have lots of unique, mom 'n pop businesses; now it has expensive boutiques, restaurants, and chain stores.

My two kids experienced an incredible amount of peer pressure and suffered a bit because I couldn't afford to provide them with funds for elite soccer camp, ski vacations, and their own cars.

Whenever I was at a party, the first question asked was, "What do you do for a living?"

I decided to leave PA five years ago because of the snobbishness, the me-first attitude, and an overabundance of self indulgence.

I currently live in a semi-rural area in northern New Mexico and am enjoying a much healthier quality of life.

[318]

Originally Posted by nmguy

I currently live in a semi-rural area in northern New Mexico and am enjoying a much healthier quality of life.

Wow, that sounds beautiful.

Thank you both nmguy and zitsky for your honest feedback and thoughts.

The truth for me/us (me and my wife) is that we are both trying to make it work with some different life goals (we got married young!).

I am much more of a rural, small-town guy. I didn't really know that until recently. (We met in NYC, in Manhattan!). I used to be much more materialistic, but I got sick of all that. I have two dogs now and love them to pieces, and want to live a simpler life, with more meaning, more nature, and less posturing and less greed. I am also "filling that void" of consumerism with reading, academic and intellectual pursuits (this is why I want get a Master's), and finding the combination of both (nature/animals and books) to be *much* more fulfilling than buying stuff and living a typical Manhattan materialistic life.

That is me.

My wife is a bit different. She is a vegan, so she lives what I believe (finding health in nature, being kind to animals and mother nature); but she also is sophisticated and cosmopolitan. She loves to be feminine, to go shopping once in a while, look pretty, experience fine dining and high-brow culture (galleries, opera, ballet, etc...).

We tried Miami, but it frankly does not have that many people interested in what interests us. People are very nice, but not that educated, not that intellectual, not that cultured, not that academic. Not that liberal/progressive either. Lots and lots of Catholic churches and Catholic private schools. Lots of steakhouses. Lots of Pollo Tropical.

So I was brainstorming California, and Northern California in particular. (LA sounds worse than Miami!).

I know what we want is hard to find. I am open to moving to Europe as well. I have heard that the Germans in particular are progressive. (My wife is European, with family in Spain, and speaks German, Spanish, French in addition to English).

I would love to be in a "college town", or something close, so I was thinking Palo Alto or Berkeley.

PA seemed to have the better mix of liberal but also sophisticated (sort of the rich, arrogant people you were referring to?).

I have not been accepted to Stanford's MLS program, but that is indeed my goal. I haven't even researched yet how hard it is to get in! I know it would be hard. But at the very least, even if I don't get it in, would love to be around smart people again.

(I am a graphic designer now and want to transition to education, become a high school teacher, either at a public or private school; and my dream now would be to work my way towards a master's or phd in history or sociology or something in the social sciences. Not totally clear. But I want to "live in the world of ideas", as I have determined.)

I have any Ivy-league degree in Economics, and a fine art degree as well. My wife is an engineer from a top university too. Living in NY, I believe we took the smart people for granted. Now we miss them!

So those are all the reasons we were thinking of PA.

Also, we have dreams of starting a business together, and would love to eventually tap into the wealthy + liberal upper-crust set in PA/SF to help make our business a reality.

In Miami, it seems that to penetrate the upper crust, you need to be Cuban and Catholic. In NYC, it seems that the city is dominated by Wall Street.

Of course, nothing is easy. But I am 34 and still have dreams!

Thanks again everybody!

p.s. Should I consider Berkeley too?

[Snort]

I think Palo Alto is the better choice for livability, if Berkeley is your other choice. A trip out will give you the different vibes instantly. Berkeley is way too harried for my tastes. Palo Alto is more laid back and more attractive a town. There are some very nice smaller communities you'll soon discover with a trip out here: Los Altos, Los Gatos, Mountain View, Saratoga, etc...

[318]

Yes, I definitely need to take a trip out there!

[vdy1985]

Originally Posted by Snort

I think Palo Alto is the better choice for livability, if Berkeley is your other choice. A trip out will give you the different vibes instantly. Berkeley is way too harried for my tastes. Palo Alto is more laid back and more attractive a town.

This is a pretty fair assessment. However, I'll throw in my 2 cents about Berkeley.

Berkeley definitely has a much more college town feel to it than Palo Alto. I think people at the OP's age and demographic would be much more comfortable in North Berkeley (north of the University). South of campus is mostly undergrads, you would maybe find a some grad students in there late 20's early 30's, but for the most part it is loud, lots of foot traffic, and scruffy overpriced apartments. The areas north of University Ave would be locations much better suited for the OP's taste. Cleaner, quiter (much less undergrads), nicer more modern (but even more expensive) apartments. There is an Andronico's grocery store just up that area on Shattuck Ave. Also Berkeley has plenty of great places to eat. BART has a stop in Downtown Berkeley and North Berkeley, so commutting/going out in the City is not a problem. Also the Berkeley Marina is a great place to get exercise with beautiful views of the bay and SF. I think it may be worth checking out.

Definitely visit both places before commiting to anything.

[318]

Thank you, vdy1985! I really appreciate your input and experience. As I have chronicled here, my wife and I moved to Miami without too much research. For our next move we want to do more research and get more data! This forum is fantastic, you are all very helpful : )

[treedonkey]

What, exactly, does "vegan-friendly" mean?

[Mach50]

Originally Posted by 318

I am much more of a rural, small-town guy. I didn't really know that until recently. (We met in NYC, in Manhattan!). I used to be much more materialistic, but I got sick of all that. I have two dogs now and love them to pieces, and want to live a simpler life, with more meaning, more nature, and less posturing and less greed.

We call Palo Alto "Shallow Alto" in case you haven't heard that, it is because PA has become one of the most snobby materialistic cities in the Bay. I am not saying you cannot live simple there, but realize it is not a laid back place by any means.

Personally, I think you would be happier somewhere like San Mateo which has a small town feel but a nice walkable downtown. San Mateo is also on the CalTrain line so you could hop into San Francisco in 30min. Plenty of parks for dogs too.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by 318

I am much more of a rural, small-town guy. I didn't really know that until recently. (We met in NYC, in Manhattan!). I used to be much more materialistic, but I got sick of all that. I have two dogs now and love them to pieces, and want to live a simpler life, with more meaning, more nature, and less posturing and less greed. I am also "filling that void" of consumerism with reading, academic and intellectual pursuits (this is why I want get a Master's), and finding the combination of both (nature/animals and books) to be *much* more fulfilling than buying stuff and living a typical Manhattan materialistic life.

That is me.

My wife is a bit different. She is a vegan, so she lives what I believe (finding health in nature, being kind to animals and mother nature); but she also is sophisticated and cosmopolitan. She loves to be feminine, to go shopping once in a while, look pretty, experience fine dining and high-brow culture (galleries, opera, ballet, etc...).

Something vaguely familiar...are we developing a second-generation series of "Green Acres" here?

I second the northern area of Berkeley, as well as investigating surrounding environs, as suitable options to Palo Alto.

[318]

Originally Posted by treedonkey

What, exactly, does "vegan-friendly" mean?

To me, vegan-friendly means that the town/city/community supports vegans and understands what they are about.

Simply put, that just means that there are vegan restaurants around, that there are green markets/health food stores, that there are other vegans, and that people in the community are "approving" of being vegan (or at least know what it is!) -- as opposed to none of the above.

My wife's father has been a vegan for a very long time, and my wife and I are both growing to be more aware of what we eat, the stuff that is good for you and bad for you. My wife read the book "The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone and that really helped encourage her.

Admittedly, she is mostly-vegan now, as I am mostly vegetarian, but we both want to improve. I personally have read Fast Food Nation, In Defense of Food, Animal Liberation, Fat Land, The Corporation, and several other books I don't remember right now. I am not a health/exercise freak, I am just increasingly skeptical of the chemicals that are being put into food and being sold to me as "natural", or just sold to me period.

In Miami, the beach (South Beach in particular) is more sophisticated and educated. But the mainland is very Latin-American, recent immigrant, eat steak and beans and rice kind of people. Very few vegetarian restaurants around, and most people don't really even know what it means to be vegan.

We went to the Standard Hotel on South Beach -- now *they* are vegan-friendly. And the waiters and staff know what it's about. That feels welcoming. Not like you are some weirdo!