Please decribe the VC area in your terms of your experiences

[oh-eve]

Originally Posted by BreeB

We moved here 2.5 years ago from the Seattle area and now live in Oxnard. We have been surprised at the lack of friendliness in the neighborhood. It isn't unfriendly, but it seems that everyone keeps to themselves, and when I see people when out walking, I am surprised at the amount of people who will not make eye contact. I have spoken to others who have come from other parts of the country and they agree that it just isn't friendly, so I don't think it is just my neighborhood. I have noticed it in stores as well. It isn't limited to any age or demographic, but it is pretty consistent. Even when we make the first overture, people seem surprised, but do not reciprocate.

Having said that, we love Ventura County and the accessibility of all that we are looking for in Southern California.

I noticed the same.

My neighbors are waving friendly from a distance or while driving by, but if I would walk towards them and ask them something or just mention the weather, they get very distant and try to get away asap.

However, I prefer that over the overly curious neighbors I had in other cities.

I love living here. 5 Minutes to an empty beach to let the doggy run. Not hot ever. In an hour I am in Santa Barbara or LA. The mountains are 20 minutes away with amazing hiking trails.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

My impressions.

As much as VC tries to disassociate itself from "LA" one cannot deny it is essentially a suburb/exurb of LA. That was probably not the case back in the 50s when some of the area's identity started to form up but by the 80s the die was cast.

In terms of people, it is not as diverse as the more urban sections of SoCal, although it has a high "minority" (Latino) population mainly in places like Oxnard, Santa Paula, etc. The "nice" places are still quite white / Anglo. Although slowly changing you are not going to find anywhere near the percentages of blacks, non Latino immigrants (especially Asians) and the like, that you will find in LA and Orange Counties.

Still, being so close to the core Southland urban zones, and yet, so close to nice beaches and wild mountains, there is much good to say about VC.