Californians -- Why live there if you are not wealthy or upper middle class?

[Screech]

Not everyone here is an elitist asshole.
BTW Steeplerot, San Diego > San Francisco. :sneaky:
It really is a nice blend of things here, not extremely conservative, not extremely liberal.
Weather is generally good, but gets warm if you go inland too far.
But our sports teams suck.

Aye on the sports teams. Chargers always finding a way to bring the disappoint. But yes, lots of parts of CA have people who are pretty chill, plus the weather in SD is just amazing.

 

[fskimospy]

This is a really simple answer. People choose to live there because they value all those cities have to offer more than they value extra money in their pocket. You pay a premium to live in the most desirable places in the country, and California and NYC are two of them.

 

[drinkmorejava]

I recently moved out of California.

I think you're lumping in LA, SF, SD with a lot of the state that isn't nearly as expensive. I lived in LA County, so the regulatory environment was just as bad as you would expect, however, I was on the desert side of the mountains, so everything except for water, dairy (still haven't figured that one out), and gas was dirt cheap.

 

[Steeplerot]

Not everyone here is an elitist asshole.

I just like giving Texans a tough time, having to sit through their indoctrination "Texas History" classes in middle school for 2 years.

My teachers didn't like me much.

 

[fskimospy]

I recently moved out of California.

I think you're lumping in LA, SF, SD with a lot of the state that isn't nearly as expensive. I lived in LA County, so the regulatory environment was just as bad as you would expect, however, I was on the desert side of the mountains, so everything except for water, dairy (still haven't figured that one out), and gas was dirt cheap.

Ugh, I hate LA county. I have to say that you couldn't pay me enough to live in the inland areas of California though. The coastal areas are amazing, the rest of the state... not so much. Not coincidentally, California is actually quite inexpensive to live in so long as you are inland. That's because nobody wants to live there though.

 

[Riparian]

Ugh, I hate LA county. I have to say that you couldn't pay me enough to live in the inland areas of California though. The coastal areas are amazing, the rest of the state... not so much. Not coincidentally, California is actually quite inexpensive to live in so long as you are inland. That's because nobody wants to live there though.

This entirely depends on what you define by inland. Pasadena, Arcadia, San Gabriel Valley, Anaheim Hills, Orange, Rowland Heights, Diamond Bar, etc. are all inland. They may not be as far inland as Morongo Valley, Yucca Valley, etc., but they're still at least 30 to 40 mintues away from any coastline. All of these places have high property values. In terms of Pasadena, Arcadia, San Gabriel, Rowland Heights, and Diamond Bar, they have some of the best Asian food you can find in the United States, which make it highly desirable for many Asian immigrants.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

Jobs, family, and friends don't magically appear when I move to Iowa.

 

[glenn1]

Sounds more like TX culture. I dont even know anyone with a TV, or any homeboys grabbing their junk. Sounds like your parks are tiny also if you cannot get away from others.

I guess drinking in your backyard alone is better then:

Whatever floats your self-isolated boat, seems a sad life though when you have only one, I couldnt do that to myself.

I don't drink. Second again that is a public place. i.e. not yours. Any of the many gang members that populate Cali are welcomed there just as much as you are. I guess I should go out to the park and take some pictures as well and say look this is the my hangout. Im still waiting to see pics of your backyard so I can see how slummy I have it here in little ole Texas.

Jeez, seeing Californians and Texans argue about which state is better is like watching retarded fat women dance; no one wants to see it and neither of you is nearly as hot as you imagine yourselves to be.

 

[fskimospy]

This entirely depends on what you define by inland. Pasadena, Arcadia, San Gabriel Valley, Anaheim Hills, Orange, Rowland Heights, Diamond Bar, etc. are all inland. They may not be as far inland as Morongo Valley, Yucca Valley, etc., but they're still at least 30 to 40 mintues away from any coastline. All of these places have high property values. In terms of Pasadena, Arcadia, San Gabriel, Rowland Heights, and Diamond Bar, they have some of the best Asian food you can find in the United States, which make it highly desirable for many Asian immigrants.

I generally view things within 30-40 miles of the coast to still be in the coastal area, but people's mileage may vary. I was thinking more of the Bakersfields, the Barstows, etc, etc. Those places are hell holes.

 

[Riparian]

I generally view things within 30-40 miles of the coast to still be in the coastal area, but people's mileage may vary. I was thinking more of the Bakersfields, the Barstows, etc, etc. Those places are hell holes.

Well, guess my post is moot. To help people understand why people would want to live in CA, let's take a look at the entire state and not just the major cities.

Southern California: I am going to use Irvine as my point of reference as that is a good central location that has access to various points of interest in CA. From Irvine, it is 45 min. to 1 hour to Los Angeles and the Los Angeles coastal cities of Santa Monica, Venice, Malibu, etc. It is about a little over 2 hours to get to Santa Barbara. All of these beaches are amazing. From Irvine, it is 20 min. of local driving to Newport Beach, 30 min. to Laguna Beach, 30 min. to Dana Point, 45 min. to Oceanside, and 1.5 hours to many of the beach cities of San Diego.

It is 20 minutes to get to Disneyland, 1 hour to Lego Land, 25 minutes to Knott's Berry Farm, a little over an hour to Magic Mountain, 1 hour to Universal Studios Hollywood. It's 3.5 hours to Las Vegas, 6 hours to Yosemite. It's about 6 hours to drive to Northern California or about $100-$150 to fly to Norcal in an hour, roundtrip. It's about 1.5 hours to the desert preserves of Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree National Park, etc. These are desert areas with unique and beautiful rock formations and desert wildlife. It's about an hour boat ride to go to Catalina Island. We have Long Beach harbor to hop on various cruises throughout the Pacific.

Regarding property size that alot of people have complained about, I have a decent sized backyard where my dog had lots of fun in. Not to mention parks, running on the beach, going to Yucca Valley where my family has property. Our backyard there consisted of 10 acres of unobstructed nature, so you can imagine what it's like to be a dog there. The land was not particularly expensive.

The only place in the US that has a comparable diversity of food to California is New York City. We have a huge Indian population in Cerritos. Huge Chinese populations in San Gabriel. Huge Hispanic populations throughout. One of the largest populations of Vietnamese in Westminster. Large Korean populations in Garden Grove and Los Angeles. Japanese people throughout Huntington Beach and Los Angeles. Little Ethiopia in West LA. Western food and celebrity chefs a-plenty. These are just off the top of my head.

Northern California: One of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. Spectacular bridges, wondrous views of the ocean, etc. Amazing food and while the people of SF can be quirky and smug, they are only widely noticed because the squeaky wheels gets the grease. The mass majority of people are pretty much like everyone else in the US. As others have mentioned, Norcal has very close proximity to the Redwood Forests, which are some of the most humbling forests you can walk through.

Norcal is also close to Napa Valley, Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz, and various other spectacular, smaller towns. I've noticed that many posters who are trying to detract from CA state that it is terrible to live in the city and that they live an hour away from their major cities and can freely drive to the city. These statements seem to make it seem as if every single person in CA lives in the major cities of SF and LA. Lets not forget San Mateo, San Jose, Pleasantville, Burlingame, etc. in Norcal that are the suburbs all within an hour to SF.

In SoCal, Irvine, Anaheim, Rowland Heights, Newport Beach, Hungtington Beach, Mission Viejo, San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Hills, etc. are all within an hour to Los Angeles and 1.5 hours to San Diego. These are all areas that have a decent amount of land space.

Lastly, if you know any farmers in the Fresno area, then you can get yourself some of the most ridiculously delicious fruits in the world. I have yet to find a fruit nearly as good as the White Peaches that the farmers save for their own consumption. If I could imagine what ambrosia tasted like, it would be this. In conclusion, every area has its benefits but as far as I can tell, CA's significant benefits far outweigh the negatives that people have listed.

 

[monovillage]

"................You will never get past step 1 of your application in the welfare office without birth certificate, DL, and SS card and fingerprints. Granted, if you are in trouble we will help you get all these, free of charge. But you would have to be legit."

Getting a picture ID in order to vote is an extreme hardship, but needing all that stuff just to get help and enough food to keep you alive is required.

 

[fskimospy]

In conclusion, every area has its benefits but as far as I can tell, CA's significant benefits far outweigh the negatives that people have listed.

I agree! I used to live in Southern California until about two years ago, in Ocean Beach in San Diego. It's a truly fantastic place to live. There's a reason why the real estate and everything else in by the coast in CA is expensive and it's because so many people want it.

It's the same thing with NYC. There seems to be no upward limit on rent here. My friend recently showed a room for 2 hours on a Sunday and 40 people showed up to compete for it. People vote with their wallets and it's clear that they have judged CA and NYC to be pretty amazing places.

 

[AreaCode707]

I am posting from the porch not ten feet from the vineyard on a beautiful 85 degree day as I work from home as usual courtesy of my San Mateo based company. Later I will take the 15 minute traffic free drive into my 15,000 person small town to meet friends for tasting some of the best wine in the country, then heading off to enjoy our arts community, probably music from one of the professional musicians in the area who sponsors the local music scene when not touring, or may go see a play. We occasionally hop 40 minutes south for dinner, enjoying the benefits of the slow food movement in our backyard with a plethora of world famous chefs. There are festivals going on this weekend but I think the plan is to drop down to the city to see a ballgame. I'm not going because I'm taking my little sisters on a college campus tour south so they can pick between 11 UC or CSU options they find interesting.

Yeah, life sure sucks here.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I am posting from the porch not ten feet from the vineyard on a beautiful 85 degree day as I work from home as usual courtesy of my San Mateo based company. Later I will take the 15 minute traffic free drive into my 15,000 person small town to meet friends for tasting some of the best wine in the country, then heading off to enjoy our arts community, probably music from one of the professional musicians in the area who sponsors the local music scene when not touring, or may go see a play. We occasionally hop 40 minutes south for dinner, enjoying the benefits of the slow food movement in our backyard with a plethora of world famous chefs. There are festivals going on this weekend but I think the plan is to drop down to the city to see a ballgame. I'm not going because I'm taking my little sisters on a college campus tour south so they can pick between 11 UC or CSU options they find interesting.

Yeah, life sure sucks here.

Mind sharing what you make? Yes being rich is good anywhere. Did you read the thread title?

 

[bfdd]

I love my State of California. It's more than just our major cities, but that's all you'll really see as idiots want to try to compete with places like New York City because of name. Whatever though I really don't like the North East and I consider it a different country.

 

[fskimospy]

I love my State of California. It's more than just our major cities, but that's all you'll really see as idiots want to try to compete with places like New York City because of name. Whatever though I really don't like the North East and I consider it a different country.

The northeast and California really are nothing alike. I remember being shocked when I moved to CA at how different it was, and shocked again when I came back to the northeast. (I'm originally from Philly.)

 

[zinfamous]

It's funny. The general population's perception of California is pretty much based on about 3% of California.

 

[zinfamous]

"................You will never get past step 1 of your application in the welfare office without birth certificate, DL, and SS card and fingerprints. Granted, if you are in trouble we will help you get all these, free of charge. But you would have to be legit."

Getting a picture ID in order to vote is an extreme hardship, but needing all that stuff just to get help and enough food to keep you alive is required.

I'm confused....don't you want all these government impositions in place to keep these "welfare leeches" from getting all the things they need to just to keep them alive?


....or is it not convenient to parrot that tenuous assumption out in this current talking point of yours?

:hmm:

 

[AreaCode707]

Mind sharing what you make? Yes being rich is good anywhere. Did you read the thread title?

At the moment I'm renting a guest house from family friends at $400/month. A sampling of my friends' jobs:
- Night shift produce stocker at Safeway
- Meter reader for PG&E
- Client services rep for a local credit union
- Cell phone retail employee
- Receptionist/office clerk at a health care office
- Firefighter
- Substitute teacher

We all do the same things, live the same life.

Just making the point that you don't have to be rich to live here. It so happens I'm a tech worker with 10 years in industry, so I have cracked the 6 figure mark, but that money has gone into house construction (and note that I didn't include my house in my description above.)

Haters gonna hate. You can make a good life with any amount of money. I could make $10/hr and still live here, with the life I've been living for the last year, minus the house construction.

 

[zinfamous]

I'm well below the "ATOT standard" poverty line, and based on what the average ATer assumes of CoL and "need" for living in CA--much less the Bay Area--I might as well be begging on the streets of Calcutta.

Amazingly, however, I am not.

It's funny--I think none of the haters have set foot in this place. Their assumptions show it.

 

[Steeplerot]

San Diego > San Francisco.

I have to give you guys a big one up for that Forth of July display, that's for sure.

And yeah, you guys have the current Pacific fleet, but we have original AT-AT walkers in our port.

(and of course we will have Starfleet HQ at some point)

Speaking of which...
Ever noticed Ron Paul looks like a Ferengi?

 

[mect]

California would be great if it wasn't for all the people.

 

[Moonbeam]

The days have been wonderfully warm and the evenings cool. If I didn't hate myself so much, every time I walk outside I would experience ecstasy.

 

[IGBT]

misery loves company. I hope more of you miserable liberals move to California. It will have a cleansing effect on all the other States. Just think how wonderfully miserable you will be!! You can practice your "one up manship" and condescension on each other.

 

[CrackRabbit]

I have to give you guys a big one up for that Forth of July display, that's for sure.

(and of course we will have Starfleet HQ at some point)

Speaking of which...
Ever noticed Ron Paul looks like a Ferengi?

The funny thing about that picture is that the TransAmerica building would be 3-400 years old and survived a nuclear war by the time Starfleet builds their HQ there.