Can a liberal techie exec asst CA native be happy in Tampa? (Hollywood: transplants, home)

[ALX8725]

Originally Posted by Aconite

Alx, it depends on what sort of Asians you're looking for.
Pinellas County had a pretty major influx of Vietnamese folk after the war. There's a big Filipino community. I see enough Chinese. Indian, Pakistani and Thai folk here that it's not something worth remarking on (as opposed to the time I spent in SC, where if I saw a woman in salwar kameez I thought I was hallucinating). There's a Hindu temple in northwest Tampa, and Buddhist societies in a couple of places. Several masajid, and a Muslim radio program. Wish I could be more help, but Asian carries a wealth of meanings, IME.

As for Clearwater...Clearwater's okay. I absolutely prefer Pinellas County (St Pete/Clearwater) to Hillsborough (Tampa) or Pasco (McMansionville), but that's a personal style issue. You're not really going to find great public schools anywhere in the state, though some small pockets are definitely better than others. If you stick to public magnet schools, it's not totally horrible.

I'm sorry about the ambiguity, I am part Vietnamese and part Chinese but I guess I grouped it altogether as "Asian" because in many Asian marketplaces, neighborhoods in CA a lot of different restaurants/communities/shopping-centers are located very close to each other (i.e. Chinese,Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese).

I guess it should also help if I mentioned that my company's Tampa office is right off W Waters Ave (inbetween the Veterans Expressway and N Dale Mabury Hwy). How long of a commute would this be from Pinellas County/Hillsborough County/Pasco County?

[Aconite]

Well, on Waters you're smack in the middle of Hillsborough. With Pinellas and Pasco, the commute would depend on time of day and place commuting from.
Beachside Pinellas to downtown Tampa is at least an hour, sometimes more, during rush hour. From St. Pete to Waters and Dale Mabry I'm guessing you'd be about forty-five minutes to an hour during peak. Overall, our commute times aren't LA or Boston or DC, but they're pretty crappy, nonetheless. Maybe if the powers that be actually encouraged public transportation it'd be different.
The Vietnamese community in Pinellas is mostly in St Pete and Pinellas Park. I know there's a community in Tampa, too, but don't know where-- maybe someone else might. And there's been a fair amount of assimilation over the last 30 years, though still plenty of groceries, restaurants, etc.

[Jimrob1]

Originally Posted by rheadabovewater

I think you are right in regards to "life is what you make it, wherever you are" - I fully agree with you on that. But please remember that I am a life-long resident of California, so I'm sure I'll go thru massive culture shock of some kind if I relocate to any state besides CA. I didn't mean to offend anyone with my earlier post.

I have been to Tampa many times to visit my sister and other relatives, and have enjoyed it very much - and I've done a lot of research on the area. My sister is a counselor and has always had an awful time with her employers and health insurance, as have most of her friends. My views are not something I developed lightly.

As a California native, visiting vs. moving to Tampa are entirely different, especially when I'm self-supporting.

I don't blame you for asking, and I saw nothing in your comments that should offend anyone. I do think some people on these forums come off as less than understanding, when someone is moving clear across the country. Of course there is going to be huge cultural differences, I don't see why that should offend anyone. Its the USA for crying out loud, it can be like going to a foreign country from one end of it to another. Stick with the posts that were informative and understanding, there were a number of them. Gypsychic always seems to give honest information with a big dose of understanding and foresight. My advice to you is this. If you can manage to relocate to Fla and maintain a place back in Calif for say several months, that is what you should do. It would give you some idea of what life would feel like for you in the Tampa area. If you then felt that Fla is more of a place to visit, and home really needs to be Calif, then you could return. I think where your sister is, may be a little to much for you to adjust to, and you may develope a dislike on living in Fla based on that area. I think the St pete area as well as Sarasota may be more to your liking/easier for you to adjust to living there. Your right living and visiting are to very different feelings. You need to know your going to be comfortable where ever/what ever you decide to do, so ask away. Best of Luck.

[Krulik]

Originally Posted by nobama

i think personally you should stay put in CA we don't need another liberal duck out of water here :-)

And November 4th arrived and Florida became a pond filled with blue ducks.....

[ALX8725]

Originally Posted by Aconite

Well, on Waters you're smack in the middle of Hillsborough. With Pinellas and Pasco, the commute would depend on time of day and place commuting from.
Beachside Pinellas to downtown Tampa is at least an hour, sometimes more, during rush hour. From St. Pete to Waters and Dale Mabry I'm guessing you'd be about forty-five minutes to an hour during peak. Overall, our commute times aren't LA or Boston or DC, but they're pretty crappy, nonetheless. Maybe if the powers that be actually encouraged public transportation it'd be different.
The Vietnamese community in Pinellas is mostly in St Pete and Pinellas Park. I know there's a community in Tampa, too, but don't know where-- maybe someone else might. And there's been a fair amount of assimilation over the last 30 years, though still plenty of groceries, restaurants, etc.

Thank you very much, I'm from Silicon Valley over here in CA and I've done morning commutes and afternoon commutes into the heart of it, but also around it to get to San Francisco.... I'm used to gridlock, bumper-to-bumper everyday traffic. Also, I was in the LA and around other Southern California areas for a year... LA traffic is a whole different story.

And I'm sure Tampa traffic is nowhere near as bad as CA, and even if it was, traffic doesn't phase me. I use it as time to reflect.

So, I'm well aware of the hurricanes and all that, the ridiculous property taxes, is there anything else that is unique to Florida that I might not have experienced much of in CA? Crazy mosquitos?

[Aconite]

Unending FLATNESS.
Palmetto bugs (those are the bastard offspring of cockroaches and Godzilla, and they fly).
All the other bugs...every-bloody-where.
Spiders that explode into hundreds of babies when you whack 'em. (There's implied advice here. <g>)
The fact that, in the fall, the leaves don't change color, but the license plates do.
Endless lines at restaurants between Halloween and Mother's Day, and the fact that the beach is well nigh inaccessible during Spring Break (which actually lasts over a month).
The fact that you get the best produce in February, not June or July.
Beaches so calm they make bathtubs look scary.
Watching the kids catch lizards and hypnotize them.
Cuban and Jamaican food.
The Times Festival of Reading.
The endless variety of accents. Shoot, just the endless variety of Floridian accents. People from Jacksonville sound completely different from Hardee County natives.

There's good and bad. You'll probably develop your own lists. Which one's longer will depend on you, and what your experiences are. Personally, I hate Florida about once a week, love it about as often, and am mostly just amused by it all. There are worse places.

[ALX8725]

Thanks for all your help Aconite

[Mach50]

I lived in Tampa working for Honeywell (Clearwater) back in 2000-2003 and I live back in SoCal now, so I know both areas pretty well.

An area that I lived in and really liked was South Howard (SoHo) in Tampa. I had a great Pizza place (Cappys), Taqueria (mm mm Mexican) and I could walk to Whaleys and Hyde Park which had cool shops. It was no Santa Monica or Long Beach, but it was pretty dang cool of a place to live. Also taking the trolley over to Channelside was a lot of fun.

The good thing about this area is that I had University of Tampa right there, so lot's of college liberal things to do. Good music scene.

I found the area to be middle-upscale, very clean, somewhat yuppie/techie but had a degree of funk like you would find in California. YBor was a cool place, but very crazy at night, we actually like going there during the day and hang out.

I had a great time in downtown Tampa. I hate to be negative but honestly coming from California I didn't really find Pinellas County to be all that great, maybe it has changed but I think SoHo in Tampa would transition well for someone from CA.

Overall I found Tampa to be pretty diverse and very cool, I think you will like it there, there won't be a Trader Joes or a Fry's but you can find alternatives.

Oh LOL 1 major thing of difference though, in the south they eat a lot of meat compared to us out west, I swear people eat pig and cow all day long lol. Just go with some friend to the BBQ joint and order a salad...they will look at you like a CA pansy lol.

[Aconite]

Mach, things have changed a bit. St. Pete has grown a downtown, and Ybor has been invaded by chain stores. Skipper's Smokehouse still rocks, though.
And ordering a salad at a BBQ joint is sacrilege!

[Mach50]

Originally Posted by Aconite

Mach, things have changed a bit. St. Pete has grown a downtown, and Ybor has been invaded by chain stores. Skipper's Smokehouse still rocks, though.
And ordering a salad at a BBQ joint is sacrilege!

St. Pete's BaySide was coming together nicely, glad to hear it has developed.

I was very sad to hear that Whaley's market has closed down on South Howard...their California Chicken Sandwich was amazing...