Should I move to California?

I am a very poor judge of this because I am and always will be (I think) a booster of California in general -- my parents are Californians as well, and we've lived in other places but frankly just prefer it here. There IS plenty of outdoors stuff to do and not a lot of it is very far away from wherever you might happen to be (mind you, you'll have to deal with a lot of other people thinking the same thing as you, so). Job search terms = you'll have to ask someone who's been through the wringer more recently than I have.

Escaping the cold is of course a compelling reason to be here too. ;-) In any event, you should be asking more of the SF based crew (Adam/Nordicskillz, Sean, Gygax et al) as well as down here (Spencer, Orbit, Dan Regan, Elvis T.) what they think.

Southern California is strange, though - it's been so developed with very little restraint, and the sprawl is horrific. But the weather is nice, Tiajuana is close, and they make a mean avocado, wheat grass & spirulina smoothie... The people there are always freindly because they're not sure if you're a nobody or a somebody who might further their doomed career...

all of this probably has more to do with my own experiences/projections, but there you go...

Still, be brave and move, as there's no harm in taking a chance. This might be what you need to motivate you. This economy is screwed enough, that you'd have to think of more reasons to STAY.

What does your gf/fam (wife, kiddies, etc) think of the idea, though? Just curious...

Good luck!

hahaha!

Well, yes, I know this, but he can still offer judgment! ;-)

Very true -- and Roger, you're saying yourself you're thinking more rural/backporch/etc., so if you're willing to beat the (not inconsiderable but also not humid) heat for SoCal away from the coast, then there are a number of places throughout the region that -- as yet -- are relatively undeveloped/low-key/cheaper.

My advice is to move to New York, where you will be transformed into Gene Kelly, move to Paris, and live happily ever after.

(shaking out my suitcases) Better take my house off the market, dammit.

No, he just visited and still marvels over the fact that nobody cared.

If you move to California, you will wake up one fine morning, look out the window at the mudslide that the earthquake set off after the devastating fire
destroyed the vegetation on the hillside above you, and you'll decide to move to Oregon. Once you are in Oregon, you'll become suicidally depressed
by the uniform, drizzly winter greyness and the endless vista of magnificant old tree-stumps in the upchurned mud of clear cuts. Then no one will come
to your funeral, since you're a Californian (the taint is impossible to remove, even with vinegar).

This is the thread where I talk about New York and how everybody there falls into potholes and gets abused by gesticulating taxicab drivers and shat on by pigeons and goes home to freezing or stifling apartments with 60-year-old mesh sleeveless T-shirt wearing supers named Vinnie.

Thanks everybody.

Will I experience something akin to culture shock? I mean, it IS clear across the country. I should also mention how much I hate (and have always hated) NYC.

We have 'connections' in the industry but I don't think nepotism will allow me to sleep at night. I'm actually serious about considering law enforcement / livery cab / something menial but lucrative.

(sniffles) Such memories! Dammit, Ned, you're making me home-sick....

I know there are a few ILXors who have lived on both coasts and they are best placed to answer this question. I lived in NYC for a very short while, but long enough to know that I would need an awful lot of money to enjoy myself there, not that the Bay Area is all that cheap. Also after living in London for the large majority of my life, I really felt like I wanted to life in a smaller "big" city, at least for a while. I wouldn't really call SF a backwater, but there is definitely a feeling that some "cultural" things take a lot longer to reach here than London, LA, NYC, even Chicago. One of the positives is that the Bay Area is just astounding in its physical beauty and abundant in "outdoorsy stuff". Maybe it's because I'm a newbie, but not a day goes by when I don't gape open-mouthed at the view of the Bay through a gap in the buildings or the vista of the Berkeley hills from West Oakland station of an early evening. I do get a feeling that a lot of people who have lived here for a while have become jaded and I know that this is one of the (justified?) criticisms levelled at people in Northern California.

Did I mention that there are no jobs here?

Anyway, I get a feeling that this question is actually about LA, the place most people imagine when they think of "California". I have visited LA several times now, and it has always been excellent. I can't begin to imagine what it would be like to live there, though with my wife loving it as much as she does and my possible grad school plans for the future (shhhhhhh!), it may be something I will be considering some time in the next few years. I guess a lot of people assume that there is no respite from/alternative to "mainstream culture" in LA, but I don't know if this is true. I do often wonder just how bad the traffic is and what it would be like to spend large parts of the day in your car, though. But then maybe that's another myth.

I expect someone (Donut Bitch maybe?) to pop up on this thread and point out the benefits of the Pacific Northwest.

Only if you aren't used to CA's laid-back atmosphere.

I should also mention how much I hate (and have always hated) NYC.

And you lived there for 26 years?

Well, what would you like, really? There's the desert communities, there's mountain enclaves, there are the far-away-from-everything-and-they-like-it-that-way communities strung along the coast north of SF and south of Carmel to Santa Barbara, there's all over the central valley...*shrug* There are plenty of choices, a lot of it would come down to money and how close you want to be to a Big City and what it has.

We're in Studio City on Laurel Canyon right now, will be here till Friday morning...

Hmmm...impromptu FAP anyone?

I'm actually serious about considering law enforcement /
livery cab / something menial but lucrative.

As noted, someone with a better sense of the economy/job market than I will need to step in, but please also recall the massive budget crunch we've been going through recently.

If you're not used to driving a lot, then you will suffer problems. If you have connections, use them at all costs. There'll be time to prove yourself later.

All very good advice.

Mmmmmm.... New Yorkers....

;)

B-b-b-but poor people live in L.A. too! Right?!

Massage my already fragile ego. I'm a man on the run, and I need to believe that one day I'll make it intact to the last frontier, the Pacific Ocean, and start a new life (with little to no money).

im gonna move to southern california
got me a ride
and a reason to ignooh-ore ya

But then again...

"why did i move to southern california?"

...unless you don't mind moving to Canada, namely, Vancouver, which is Canada's Hollywood. But that's probably ripe fodder for another thread altogether (the moving to Canada part)

mine is called miguel, but otherwise that's a spot-on description.
and fwiw, i think i hate california. sorry.

Replace "man" and "woman", and you've obv been inside my head.

If you're looking to buy a house, try Mount Washington.

As for something menial, go the P.A. route or try to get an office job in a development company. If you're serious, I can introduce you to people - but we'll have to FAP first!

Also, watch Curb Your Enthusiasm - it's what L.A. people experience as a sort of living fantasy of L.A.

One more thing, L.A. does *not* necessarily require a ton of money. In fact, there are so many acceptable neighborhoods that you're sure to find something in your range and there are plenty of good cheap eats and there's Trader Joe's! In L.A. there's no 'Manhattan' or 'The City' so there's lots of bargain options.

*sniffles*

(Do not forget something else Roger noted at the start: "Wifey is hellbent to leave the cold (her family is out here too).")

environmentalists would protest

How can you say CA's government is broken when Lee W. Olson has demonstrated he is thoroughly in charge of shit. Look at all that legislation he has drafted!

earthquakes are usually pretty fun!
have tried telling this to my wife. my memories of earthquakes are mainly being in bed and thinking "holy shit is this an earthquake?" and then it's over. obv, sad when someone's house/life gets wrecked.

and yeah, when it gets to be -12 where we live now, i think "this is the real natural disaster! will take earthquakes any day over this."

1000x more terrified of tornadoes here than earthquakes there.

I will take an earthquake any day of the week over tornadoes, snowstorms, hurricanes, flooding

-18 is some bullshit, fyi

the santa cruz people i met last week had some bona fide harrowing stories about 89. (i asked them what were the downsides of living in the bay area, and that + cost of living were the main ones)

Santa Cruz was fucked up pretty bad by Loma Prieta (altho I don't recall there being any casualties...?)

snowstorms are not that bad but tornados are scary and something i didn't like about the midwest even though i pretended it was no big deal and that going in the basement is for pussies

epicentre was 10 miles from santa cruz and apparently there were ~70 deaths total, so i assume some of them were in SC. the main street there is apparently pretty much all post-1989 building.

the scary thing was the story about one of the physics buildings being shaken. all the people i spoke to happened to be in the middle of the lower ground floor. i can't do it justice but the person who told me this story got very emotional in the telling.

My advice from 5 years ago is still good.

so i am thinking about moving from london to california. i just finished my phd and there are a couple of jobs in silicon valley that sound pretty much perfect for me. i used to go over there basically doing sales abt 5 years ago and always found it quite grim which puts me off, on the other hand SF is lovely from what i can remember (i was young when i visited). my job options in this country are basically non-existent unless i change careers or move into academia which i don't really want to do.

does anyone here have any experience of living/working in the area? can i live in SF and commute to santa clara?

any advice much appreciated.

After london, the bay area will seem like a revelation of god's love (at first).

except when it comes to public transit

it's not a fun commute but some people seem to do it. caltrain commute is possible for some south bay jobs, but not realistic for lots of them. more people drive, though.

i live in sf and commute to sunnyvale (an hour south - just north of santa clara). my company has a fleet of shuttles that are supposed to be wifi, but take about 10minutes for each page to load. i generally listen to music, read or sleep. it's not the worst thing in the world. if i had to drive, i'd probably kill myself. there's also caltrain, which is a bit more expensive, but still lessens the stress. the weather is generally nicer outside of the city, but no one really lives in sf for the weather (unless you like overcast ~60 everyday - which i do actually).

^ yeah work for a company like this

yeah i seem to remember the traffic can be real bad though

what are other nice places to live in the area?

xp. shuttles sound promising

everyone should live in california for a little while i think

― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Monday, June 29, 2009 3:36 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i still believe this

oakland and berkeley and other small cities in the east bay are nice. and urbanish.

they're less convenient, unless your job is in the east bay.

south bay is all gross suburbs.

I mean, they're 'nice'

yeah i don't want gross suburbs. all jobs i'm looking at are in south bay

such is the tragedy of the bay area

my current commute is 2 hours at best (one way) so i am used to these things

that said i would really love to be able to walk to work or something jeez

you could sleep in a tent outside of your stadium-sized office park

Not sure exactly what you do, but more and more jobs are opening up in the city. Zynga, twitter, lots of startup 2.0's. My excoworker just left to take a job in one of google's city offices. Not sure what the office is all about, but she's gonna do UX there.

i feel like i should live in california at least for a little while

I recently decided I’m moving back next spring

i do signal processing for data storage..not very 2.0 really

but more long term prospects.

yeah i love what i do - part of why i'm considering moving away is so i can continue doing it rather than go into finance or something that would make it easy to stay in london.

It is very hard to do fun, rewarding, (technical) jobs in London, or many other big cities. On of the great things about the bay area, and to a lesser extent Boston, is that you can do a cool engineering job and live in a great city.

(slightly jealous of my brother who is moving from Derby to Berlin to further his engineering career).

there are a few parts of San Jose that feel city-like/not suburban, and some of the Peninsula burbs have downtown areas where you can walk/bike to things, but for the most part, unless you're living in SF/Oakland/Berkeley you will probably need a car.

do it. there is good indian food in the south bay, too!

best Indian food i've had in the Bay Area was in the otherwise unremarkable south bay suburb of Union City

i want to go back to california ;_;

luckily i'm going to a conference in santa clara in august and i have 3 free days at the end which i intend to try and explore a bit + visit a friend in SF

i love indian food! omg this is perfect!!111bb

i love driving too but not as part of a traffic jam

god, the south bay is so awful it gives me the shivers. only if i was having lots of money thrown at me would i even consider working there.

(like anyone will ever give me a job)

everyone should live in california for a little while i think

this is really true imo

i moved. it's hot!

this is interesting https://www.reddit.com/r/LosAngeles/comments/6lvwh4/im_an_architect_in_la_specializing_in_multifamily/

that is a really good thread, at least the OP is for sure. LA sounds like even more of a mess than ever. Of course that would go along with the rest of the country I suppose.

Good read indeed, that post. Puts the crunch up here in perspective (different factors but probably more in common than I guessed).

I'm super fucking bitter because I had down payment money around the financial crisis and the subsequent downturn in housing prices. I was too scared to jump in and lose all my liquidity but man.. things are just as unaffordable as they were at their peak. =|

I'm just lucky I live in an apartment with rent control that my wife moved into during the crisis.. We pay 1800ish and everyone else in our building pays 2300-2400.

I often forget that most everywhere else doesn't have seismic safety requirements for their buildings.

what 'hood are you in, jingleberries? prices around here are horrible. we'll never be able to buy here, meanwhile circumstances are such that we can't leave. our friends just looked at a 950k craftsman in Eagle Rock that appeared to me to be a starter home. plus it was 50 yards off the 134 freeway.

Xps kinda the same thing for us - we were renting in el cerrito and houses in our neighborhood - great starter homes - were going for 200-300k. But my husband was still at his crappy old job and we were too scared to make the financial commitment. I've had a lot of regrets about that decision but I have a feeling it wouldn't have been the right move for us. We're in emeryville now, paying $2200 (1800 when we moved in 3.5 yrs ago - no rent control here) and we've had to accept that owning isn't in our near future, if ever.

I lived in Culver City for its renaissance (lol braggin) from 2002-2013, been in Sherman Oaks ever since.

Yeah owning aint gonna happen for us.. our problem is we have a roommate who helps us pay the rent but having a grown ass adult share a 2 bedroom with a married couple is a pretty shit situation. Meanwhile real life keeps happening and my once proud down payment nest egg is not gonna cut it. =|