Moving to Cali and need some location advice PLEASE

[Mamachicken32]

I am 30 years old and my dream has been to move to Cali once I had enough job history and ready to make a family.

I am ready to go to a place where there are many burners...warm weather and overral lifestyle I am looking to raise my family around.

As much as I would love to live in the bay area, I am aware of the price difference. I currently live in Philadelphia. I am a director and educator and know my employment salary will be more but non the less am not looking for NYC type expenses.

I would like to stay as close to Sanfran and or Santa Cruz as possible in areas that are considerably nice and acceptable. I live in a pseudo ghetto area in Philly so I do not need classy but would prefer a step up from that and a bit more rural. Again, I am opened to suggestions.

I am an academy director for a large corporate daycare in inner city that caters to families on assistance and would like to live somewhere where i could travel to like areas to work but not necessarily live there.

I was told there are decent areas in Oakland but I am unfamiliar with which parts. Watsonville was another place I was told to check out. Santa Cruz was on my list.

Some folks that are hopping on the Cali band wagon may not have cars and so living somewhere where there is decent public transportation would be helpful, be we could work around that if the place is right.

I would prefer a condo or apartment complex because it seems easier to plan that from the east coast instead of last minute Craiglist shopping via internet. I am visiting in Feb to check out the areas and job locations and what not.

Can anyone give me some areas that may suit my needs? This is such an important move and I want to plan in advance and do it right so I can start a new life somewhere I have always dreamed to.

We are leaving the second week of August so that we can first visit our playa home and then hit the road with all the San Fran Burners to our new home

I feel the burner community would be rather helpful rather than craigs list.

Please feel free to email me at [email protected]

Thank You so much for any help <3

If you are interesting in visiting the east coast we have a really nice house always accepting guests... feel free to inquire. We are not far from NYC and I am in South Philadelphia

[Simon of the Playa]

my advice, screw california and move to southern oregon.

[Mamachicken32]

I already lived in Oregon and was not too much of a fan... I like being near a city but do not need to live in it. The rain season is what killed me. However, I lived in Portland. But again, I would like to try Cali first...But thank you for the advise and I will keep that in mind if we find it is not the place. I also lived in Utah which is nice but they do not pay well for what I do as well as I did not have luck with salary in Oregon. I checked Salary for my employment in California and it was what I was looking for. Oregon is beautiful I just would like to try Cali first.

[Elderberry]

If you're looking for warm weather, you won't find too much of it in San Francisco or northern California in general.

[Mamachicken32]

i am aware of the season changes and enjoy that. I do not need warm weather all the time, just I could do without the blustery cold windy rain sleet snow nonsense all the time we have out here with humidity off the charts. But again, all this info is helpful in planning this in advance and I do appreciate it.

[TomServo]

Benicia is relatively cheap, ...the older houses anyways...for the bay area. However, you'll have to cross a bridge if you work in SF or the East Bay, and toll is $5 now.

[pinemom]

Move to Reno....closer to the burn and for what its worth...cheaper to live ...but you wont find your kind of employment here...as were "almost" as broke as California.

[Irreverent Moniker]

If you're looking for warm weather, you won't find too much of it in San Francisco or northern California in general.

Hey...our 6 month 110 degree summers here in Sacramento beg to differ

I actually go to burning man to get away from the heat. Hell, on the first day of autumn last week, it was over 100 here.

I recommend moving to Sactown. Close enough to ski in the winter and go to the ocean in the summer, 4 hours from the playa, hot summers (if you're into that) and mild winters, with kick ass autumns/springs. There are also a lot of burners here, albeit disorganized ones.

[Eric]

If you're looking for warm weather, you won't find too much of it in San Francisco or northern California in general.

Gotta agree with Irreverent Moniker on this: coastal N. Cal is going to be cooler (ocean coast, not bay coast), but inland gets quite hot. Seriously, it's the end of Sept & Napa, Concord, and Livermore are all supposed to be in the low-mid 90's today while SF is only heading towards the low 70's (which is still hot for those of us who live here).

Back to the OP- if you want easy commute within the Bay Area, make sure you're close to a BART line (station map here). On the Peninsula (the area below SF) there is CalTrain, but it doesn't cover as much area as BART.

[Elderberry]

Ahhh....yes, the coastal effect. When I was considering moving from Ohio to CA many years ago, I spent two weeks in SF and two weeks in LA and was basing my quick response on my main reason for not choosing SF over LA. I haven't spent much time in cities that are more inland. I stand corrected.

Though, I should add, if SF had LA weather, I would have moved there in a heart beat.

If you're looking for warm weather, you won't find too much of it in San Francisco or northern California in general.

Gotta agree with Irreverent Moniker on this: coastal N. Cal is going to be cooler (ocean coast, not bay coast), but inland gets quite hot. Seriously, it's the end of Sept & Napa, Concord, and Livermore are all supposed to be in the low-mid 90's today while SF is only heading towards the low 70's (which is still hot for those of us who live here).

Back to the OP- if you want easy commute within the Bay Area, make sure you're close to a BART line (station map here). On the Peninsula (the area below SF) there is CalTrain, but it doesn't cover as much area as BART.

[Mamachicken32]

Hey, 50-70 degrees in the winter is warm to me compared to 30-40 ect ect nonsense I get here.

I will look into all those places... Reno is not for me but I enjoy visiting.

I plan to work wherever there are inner city schools...Oakland is a place I have my eye on but again I am not sure where all the lower income places are in Cali in those areas so that is what I am researching as well. I do drive and used to tolls... Some of our tolls here are 11 bucks! Jesus lol

[theCryptofishist]

Oakland is part of the "inner" Bay Area, and housing/cost of living in this particular conurbation is consistently in the top five or ten in the country.
Places in Oakland that are nicer are in the hills. You would probably do ok in the Temescal, which is sorta between two BART stations (Rockridge, Macarthur). If condos are okay, downtown Oakland would do well. Fruitvale and along "International" Boulevard are less desirable. Dimond Heights might be affordable, basically the stuff above the Macarthur freeway is okay, and you pay for it. Also, much of Oakland is old enough not to have the kind of housing you claim you want. It's lovely, architecturally.

[misfit]

richmond, berkley, el ceritto, all sit on the bay, great weather, excellent public transport including a ferry to SF. also excellent places to live if you have an active lifestyle. within 3 blocks of where we live, (N E richmond), are 6 burner households.

[pinemom]

Just a guess here...you have your heart set on California....la la la...
A suggestion, call/email...ect...someone in Sacramento and find out the California job line for county run organizations in each township. You may find your self perhaps in a Salinas/Yuba City area, not what you were thinking about, but the need may be there and its less then an hour from Monterey/2 hr to Sf but inland a bit for warm days and coastal foggy's.

And your goal is to help underprivileged kids...I'd say that area needs lots of help.

[junglesmacks]

Y'all can have California. I'm sitting in a hotel in Ontario, CA right now on a business trip that just took me through Santa Ana and all I can think of is how much this place has gone to hell in the last 30 years.

Give me my beautiful, warm, green, CHEAP Florida any day of the week. 4 bdrm brand new condos for $30k right now. Tons of lakes and rivers and beaches and warmth. Love it. ALMOST as nice as Hawaii.. but not quite.

[666isMONEY]

i wouldn't move to any big city (babylon) in california

SW oregon looks nice to me . . . haven't checked it out yet (except on internet) but I'd like to find some acres to grow a sustainable garden including feed-corn & soybeans.

[trilobyte]

Oakland will be more affordable, it's also a bit of a war zone in the crime department (ranks up there with Detroit and Washington, DC for murder rates, to say nothing of violent crimes in general). Doesn't mean it's horrible and should be avoided at all costs (you're coming from Philly, you're familiar with the concept of 'bad parts of town'), just that you'd need to be careful. On the upside, Oakland has a lot of inner city stuff going on in the education department, it could end up being a possible employment opportunity. You may also want to look at San Jose. Santa Cruz is all fine and good, but the commute would kill you.

Check the transit maps, and then compare against the job and apartment listings. If you've got a car and plan to work in SF proper, you'll probably end up driving to a nearby Park & Ride lot in the outskirts and then taking BART (or CalTrain) into town - parking in the city is downright punitive. It won't be easy, and it won't be cheap, but it'll be worth it. Good luck!

[theCryptofishist]

WETA or whatever it acronyms itself, is not yet running ferries from Berkeley or Richmond. I'm not even sure if the DEISs are out, well I'm pretty sure not for Richmond and fairly certain for Berkeley. If you want ferries, Oakland, Alameda, Vallejo (I think), Redwood City and Sausalito.

[TomServo]

WETA or whatever it acronyms itself, is not yet running ferries from Berkeley or Richmond. I'm not even sure if the DEISs are out, well I'm pretty sure not for Richmond and fairly certain for Berkeley. If you want ferries, Oakland, Alameda, Vallejo (I think), Redwood City and Sausalito.

yes, Vallejo

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[maryanimal]

Y'all can have California. I'm sitting in a hotel in Ontario, CA right now on a business trip that just took me through Santa Ana and all I can think of is how much this place has gone to hell in the last 30 years.

Give me my beautiful, warm, green, CHEAP Florida any day of the week. 4 bdrm brand new condos for $30k right now. Tons of lakes and rivers and beaches and warmth. Love it. ALMOST as nice as Hawaii.. but not quite.

Santa Ana was bad when I live in Costa Mesa between 1974 amd 1993

[AntiM]

But Florida is ... Florida. Yuck. Flat and humid. No thanks.

[A Jester]

My advice: find out where you're likely to be working, and then look in that area. It's pretty easy to accidentally end up with a multi hour commute, and that can suck the soul out of you.

If proximity to work isn't an issue, I'd suggest the North Bay.

[junglesmacks]

But Florida is ... Florida. Yuck. Flat and humid. No thanks.

Lol.. you could boil any location down to anything you want depending on the shade of your rose colored glasses. I personally couldn't imagine a worse environment than Utah. Dry, arid, desolate.. yuck. Florida to me is green and beautiful and natural waterways and ocean and boating and fishing and warmth and all the good things that I appreciate it. Utah to you I'm sure is vast and beautiful and rugged and all the good things that you appreciate. All in the eye of the beholder..

[AntiM]

But Florida is ... Florida. Yuck. Flat and humid. No thanks.

Lol.. you could boil any location down to anything you want depending on the shade of your rose colored glasses. I personally couldn't imagine a worse environment than Utah. Dry, arid, desolate.. yuck. Florida to me is green and beautiful and natural waterways and ocean and boating and fishing and warmth and all the good things that I appreciate it. Utah to you I'm sure is vast and beautiful and rugged and all the good things that you appreciate. All in the eye of the beholder..

Oh, I agree. I need vertical landscape, but I do love oceans.

I live in Northern Utah, in the suburbs, with shady trees and green lawns. Dry enough to suit my asthma, our towels dry on the rack overnight, and the soil is such that there are no fleas. Lots of boating and fishing here, just different waterways. You're thinking of Southern Utah for the vast vistas, the two halves of the state tend to be very different.

And we have real winter, which I don't always appreciate.

[Bin Noddin]

I'm with A Jester - find the work and let the housing follow. There will be a range of choices at any location. That said, consider Monterey also.

[Minxy]

Vallejo is 30 min from Berkeley and is much cheaper than many other surrounding East Bay towns. The downside is there isn't really anything "cool" here; nice shopping, restaurants, etc. I don't mind, however, since living here is cheaper (we live in unincorporated Vallejo so we actually have horses, sheep and chickens in the neighborhood and is kinda rural) but we are 30 minutes away from tons of cool stuff.

[BBadger]

Lol.. you could boil any location down to anything you want depending on the shade of your rose colored glasses. I personally couldn't imagine a worse environment than Utah. Dry, arid, desolate.. yuck. Florida to me is green and beautiful and natural waterways and ocean and boating and fishing and warmth and all the good things that I appreciate it. Utah to you I'm sure is vast and beautiful and rugged and all the good things that you appreciate. All in the eye of the beholder..

That's too funny, because living in Utah I can't think of a worse environment than any of those states bordering the Caribbean. Humid as hell, no mountains, swamps, tons of bugs, hurricanes. I could even stand to have Utah even drier than it is, something like the Playa so I didn't have to suffer some of the monsoonish weather we had this year. Give me arid over humid climates any day; at least then I can be cool in the shade rather without the heat following me and draining my energy like some sort of debilitating disease.

The ocean life is nice in Florida though, and I'm sure it's a charm in the winters. I prefer the beaches of Florida over the West Coast because the currents flow northerly so it's warm. However, I'd have to kill myself if I were ever stuck there in the summer.

Like you say, all in the eye of the beholder...

[Packoderm]

I've never heard anybody say that they once lived in San Diego and are glad they're no longer there. It is a very nice place. You should visit there. About Sacramento: many younger people really enjoy living in Midtown. I lived there before, and it is a lot of fun. The suburbs are not so fun. Midtown Sac has the fun element of city life without the big city hassles of the Bay Area. I do love San Francisco, but it is just too big and bad-ass for my little self to call it home.

[AntiM]

I've lived in San Diego and was glad when we moved away. Now I Do love SD, I have lived there as a small child on Coronado, as a single sailor (32nd St and a pocketful of cash), as a dependent wife (Birdland, yo). So on and off all my life, with several side visits now and then. But I can't live there. I get tense and wound up, start going a little nuttier than usual. It would have only gotten worse had we stayed for more than two years.

I am a Californian who cannot live in California for my mental health.

[Lady V]

I am a Californian who cannot live in California for my mental health.

Oh, yeah. Completely understand that.

I grew up in San Diego and never felt like it was real. As an adult, going back, I realize that is because many, many (not all) of the people who live there are... ghosts with smiles.