fil149

I have lived in suburbs of Philly my entire life but I am now looking to move to the West Coast. San Diego was tops on my list because of the weather, music scene, nearby universities, and because of its proximity to the beach. However, I have some questions regarding the drawbacks of the city which are high cost of living, and traffic problems.

The places I've been too on the west coast for vacation are San Diego (loved it for the week I was there), LA ( was ok, but didnt like the traffic or smog), and Seattle ( I liked the city, but liked visiting the nearby state and national parks even more like MT. Rainer.)

Ideally I would like to live close enough to the Pacific Coast so I can go to the beach during the summer. In or around a city that has a lot to do in terms of music(playing live shows), outdoors(biking and hiking), possibly affordable (600 or less a month in rent for a room in house), low commute time, Easy to get a part time serving gig while in school, short winters and summers, and close to universities or community colleges, and has some sort of nightlife ( I prefer bars and pubs over clubs).

Portland is one city that has caught my attention, and is much cheaper than any city in CA. I would prefer to live in California, but Portland looks to fit me well other than it supposedly rains a lot over there and has many cloudy days. For those who live in Portland is the rain that bad, does it affect outdoors activities such as biking?

For those who live in San Diego, I've been there and haven't really noticed the traffic, but I've heard about it. Is the traffic that bad? A lot of people who live in San Diego have must have money to live there, are these people snobby or genuine and friendly?

Santa Cruz was also on my list, but it seems like its too expensive, and too small of a city for me to live in.

Any suggestions, comments would be a great help.

I am taking my car out west with my stuff in mid January. I need help from all you west coast residents!!!
Thanks,
Fil

Chele60

I live in Orange County, but according to what you are looking for I would say your best "fit" would be probably be Portland. I've not lived there, so I can't speak to the rain factor, but I think everything would be a good fit for you. San Diego is a terrific city and I really enjoy it, but just about any place in California is becoming an expensive place to live for some one either just starting out or trying to go through school while working (this sounds like you??). And yes, San Diego does indeed have it's share of traffic, though not as much or as bad as LA. Traffic is relative, though.

Perhaps there are some Fodorites from the Portland area who can share more on that area.

therenaissanceman

I doubt there's any place left that fits all your criteria. The California coast has become incredibly expensive. If all you want is a room, maybe you can do ok for $600 a month. If so, I would recommend San Diego over the LA area. Portland is a wonderful city, but it is a little ways from the beach and the water at the near beaches is cold even in summertime. Portland's weather can't compare to Southern California, but in every other way I think it is a preferable place to live. Great music scene and outdoor activities. You need to decide your priorites and which of them you can sacrifice. Good luck.

bbqboy

Well Phil, SD to Seattle is comparable to Miami to Portland Maine.
Wide variance!
1) What do you do? What do you need to find work?
2) Do you mean get in the Ocean/Water, or look at and be near the Ocean/Water? It's pretty cold by the time you get a ways up California.
3) What size area, population and physically(Mountains, etc) is too big or too small?
4) How mportant is weather to you, really? Sunshine snow fog rain?!?

L

San Luis Obispo is a good college town, with Cal Polytechnic state U and Cuesta Community college near by with bus service. Not on the coast but 1/2 hour away. Nice pubs. Smallish conservative town. It is on the quarter system which goes very quick with no room for bad test scores. The student body had mostly asian and hispanic minorities while I was there 10 years ago. Very small African American representation. It also has Mo's BBQ which is so good.

Barbara

If you click on your name, your identical post from yesterday will come up in the frame on the left.

fil149

Hey thanks for all the replies. I am still considering Portland, but San Diego is still leading because I dont know how I will deal with the rain. I recently read that Portland is one of the most stressful cities in American due to it's high unemployment rate and its cost of living. I look for rooms to rent through a website called craigslist. I find this site to be awesome. Portland averages about 200 dollars less a month per month than San Diego in rooms for rent. This is what makes portland so appealing, plus the pictures and stories of people who visited and lived there on 43places.com are incredible. It seems like everyone loves it. I do know however I have to prioritize some things over others. BBQ I am a student and a part-time server. I make about 600 a week serving at my restuarant just outside of philly for about 30hrs a week. I will probably be looking to work the same amount of hours at my new destination. Ideally I would like to get in the ocean, but I dont that is one thing I am willing to sacrafice. But being able to lay out at the beach during the summer would be nice, but also not a necessity. I would like to live in a city that has
A. A wide variety of things to do aka. Bars and Pubs that have people in them (no ghost towns). Population is not a big factor for me as much as time of travel. Traffic is one big contributing factor on my decision.
I love the mountains, I would live in Colorado for a little bit if it werent so darn cold and snowy over there. I do like the idea that Portland has some nice Mountain views nearby. However I do love the beach to. I like to hear the ocean crashing at night and able to just sit by the ocean during a sunset. Initially weather was one of the main reasons why I wanted to move away from Philly. I dont mind philly for 8 of the months, but our winters are longer than I would like it. However more and more I am just looking for a new place to live that offers the amenities that cater to my lifestyle ( music, hiking, biking.)

My main concerns about living in a small town is that I might not be able to get a job in a small town or smaller city. I think it would be easier for me to get a serving job in San Diego vs. Santa Cruz. Even if I did get a serving job in a smaller city the restaurant may be less busy, therefore less money.

My top two choices remain San Diego and Portland. Portland is dropping a little bit due to my concerns of rain and if it really is hard to find a job and whether or not it is the most stress out city in America.

L, San Luis Obispo? what part of CA is it in? Did you live there? If you did is it easy to get a job. How much is the cost of living with a roommate over there. Thanks for all you replies hope to get more to help me out. Also, sorry about the double entry, it was my first on this site I thought I was posting one for Oregon and one for CA, didnt know it would show up in a common thread

.

bbqboy

Considering all your criteria, I vote for Santa Cruz.
You've got the Ocean, Restaurants, a University, Mountains, and The Bay Area proper in close proximity.

Barbara5353

Portland is the place! OK, maybe I'm biased...I live in Portland. If you get the Travel Channel, see if you can catch a viewing of "Destination Oregon".
It was on earlier this week as the first in a new series. You will learn that Portland is the most bike-friendly city in the U.S. Many Oregonians commute to work by bicycle. We have hundreds (thousands?) of miles of bike paths, both in the city and all around the state. We're surrounded by beautiful places. Within an hour's drive west you can be listening to ocean waves at the beach; an hour east you can be skiing in the Cascades. A bit farther takes you to the wonderful high desert country of Central Oregon.
Portland is big enough to have good cultural offerings. It's people-friendly and travel-friendly. Compared to traffic in Seattle and So. Cal, zipping around town is easy. The climate is temperate. Most of us prefer a bit more rain to the bitter cold and sweltering humidity of other parts of the U.S. You should at least come for a visit and see if it feels like it could be home!

bbqboy

I think Phil is looking for the Beach Boys image of the West Coast. Moving to Portland or the PNW generally comes AFTER living in California, or in my case, Arizona.

L

I went to college in San Luis Obispo ending in 1996, on student loans. When I was there I found rent to be 350 for my own room and bath, a town house shared with others. I hear the housing did go up over the years.

There are lots of places to get a job. I got one on campus because they were so flexible on the hours with exams and all. San Luis Obispo is about 2.5 hours south of Monterey, the central coast.

J_Correa

The ease of finding jobs in the different areas really depends on what you do for a living.

Shane

Westport, Washington.

traveldawg

Monterey Peninsula....Carmel, Monterey or Pacific Grove. Ocean and plenty of restaurants with great weather.

There is a reason some places are cheaper that others...there is a direct relationship to the cost of living and where people want to live.

We lived in Detroit...houses were cheap and big. We now live in California. Houses are expensive and not so big. We would never return to Detroit for any reason whatsovever.

Cheap living is not all it is cracked up to be. Go where you want to go and have a good time. You will never look back.

TorreyPinesJoe

How about Austin, Texas. The music scene is great, lots of great clubs, young people, biking, lakes and rivers. But back to the West Coast. I have lived in L.A., San Diego and Seattle. The “rain” in Seattle is not that bad, it’s the gloom. I used an umbrella less in the 5 years I lived in Seattle than I do in California, where I find it amusing to watch people run for cover at the slightest drop. It drizzles in Seattle and (when it rains) it pours in California so you use an umbrella to keep from getting soaked. The Northwest is beautiful and there is Portland and Vancouver British Columbia for weekend excursions. If you like skiing, mountain biking, fishing and hiking then Seattle is worth considering. I used to leave my office in Issaquah at 3:00 p.m. and be on the slopes an hour later. I returned to San Diego because I was home sick and have family here and didn’t really feel at home in Seattle. Since you’re from the East Coast, the weather in Seattle will seem mild and an improvement. There is no escape from traffic in any of these cities. San Diego traffic can be at a crawl or it can be crazy when it’s moving at a typical 70 to 80+ MPH coupled with inexperienced (young and immigrant) drivers and tourists that don’t know where they are going. Seattle and the “Eastside” have horrible traffic as well – nothing could be worse that being on a bridge during a bad rain storm. A recent survey showed that 70% of people in San Diego have considered moving and the top reason is traffic. But the other reason is the cost of living. In San Diego we pay more for gasoline than any other city with the exception of Honolulu. I’m fortunate to have purchased real estate here many years ago. One bedroom apartments rent for over $1000 and a one bedroom condominium near the beach will cost $500,000 and up. Our employers also do not pay as well as other cities and we insiders call this “the sun tax.” So many people want to live here they work for less money. Washington State doesn’t have an income tax, and California has one of the nations highest. We also have a sales tax that is close to 9% throughout the state. When you are young and carefree, San Diego is a fun place to be. But when serious commitments like family and home are on the horizon, it can be a disappointing reality. Many of the City of San Diego Police and Firefighters live in Riverside County, and commute about 50 to 70 miles one way a day so they can own a home for their families. The city should pay them more but the city is almost bankrupt as it is. This commute is true for many people that I work with. I know of people moving to Mexico (Tijuana) and to Riverside to own a home. They have miserable commutes and I don’t know how they can take it. They say only 1 in 10 people in San Diego can qualify to buy a home. San Diego is not a “music” city, but we have many clubs and bars. Pacific Beach and the Gaslamp Quarter are very hip and filled every night with singles and partiers. I used to be one of them. One word of advice on that is that the nightlife in Seattle is not good. San Diego is a way better town for singles, I don’t care what any “best places” survey or Seattle booster says. For one thing, the weather alone makes people come out. Someone on here compared Miami to Portland, Maine. Same thing here…. Would you go to Oslo or Rio for nightlife? One final thing, I work here in I get to enjoy the weather on the weekends and evenings in the summer. But unless you’re working outdoors, you’re not going to be at the beach or enjoying the weather anymore than most cities where we are staring at it from an office building window. We Californians also like to take vacations in Hawaii and Palm Springs, so we also have to “escape paradise.”

fil149

TorreyPines thanks for all the information it is really helpful. I actually decided to move to San Diego for six months just to check it out. I don't know if I will be able to take the traffic, but I will try to take the good with the bad. Austin TX, was definately on my list. I really considered moving there and maybe when my six months is San Diego are up, I may end up moving to Austin. I decided not to go to Portland because I am not a big fan of gray skies and rainy days. I would love to visit though as I continue to explore the West. Any more replies would def. be helpful. Torrey Pines, I decided to take a month to month lease in Serra Mesa. How long of a commute is it to Mission Valley and PB?