The Downsides of living in Southern California?
 

I'm so sick of where I live, I don't know what to do. If all goes well with my divorce and my child custody, I'm thinking about relocating to the Greater Los Angeles area next summer...

I know all of the positive things about Cali, but are there any major negative things about living out there?

NO

potential earthquakes, VERY bad traffic, horrible air/smog.

Parking sucks. Housing sucks. Space sucks.

yeah the earthquakes would be a problem but since I work at home, I wouldn't be worried as much about traffic. As long as there are plenty of girls in my neighborhood, i'm good. Plus I would probably live a little farther out of L.A.

i always worry about someone jackin my shit...

but with all of that good weather, you don't need much space do you? I live in a three bedroom house by myself and I don't need all of this room.

It's full of Californians...

messicans

its a crowded paradise

BVF, i am staying in a condo in PB this weekend with some friends...i will bring back pictures so that you can make your own objective decision ;)

tell you one thing, last year, i was at the PB bar and grill and nearly decided to move to that area, i realized that it was as close to heaven as anything i have ever seen, everybody laid back, nice tans and friendly....you could make friends with almost anybody

You won't have a three bedroom house here. You probably won't have a three bedroom apartment either. Not insulting or doubting your income in any way, shape, or form... I've been looking at houses here in San Diego, your house is probably worth $300-400k here. A three bedroom apartment would be between $1.5-2k a month.

You would need your bedroom and I'm assuming a studio, so two bedrooms would probably be good for you. We're talking $800-1.5k monthly. This might not include garage space. If you have any amount of "stuff", you'll probably need to rent storage space somewhere else.

Like you, I'm from the mid-west, moving to SoCal was REALLY different. It's like a different world, but I love it.

Right On!!! I live in Pacific Beach 2 blocks south of The PB Bar and Grill it is sooo great here. Laidback and everyone is nice! LA is way to crowded move to San Diego.:)

Negatives for me are:

traffic
parking
smog
high rent

The positive things about LA far outweight the negative.
You should come out for a visit before making a decision on moving here. That's what I did back in Aug of 99'. By Novemeber of the same year, I had moved.

d*

Yeah that's what I loved about being out there. The energy was great, the weather is nice, and almost everybody looks good. Even the ugly people at least have good skin.

And to LaurieX. I thought about San Diego also. But I think it's like a three hour drive to L.A. and I can't swing it. I can't live any farther than an hour to an hour and a half out of L.A.

Yeah I've visited there before and that's why I love it. I've never been somewhere like that. I instantly fell in love with the people, the food, and the ganja :)

I was seeing celebrities at everyday restaurants and driving down the street and even walking past me in certain places. I gotta have a piece of that lifestyle. So when I go out there, I'll be spending plenty of time auditioning for parts in tv commercials, sitcoms, and movies....And of course, crashing parties....

L.A. Rocks! San Diego sucks. :) j/k. I like Los Angeles better than San Diego. The only thing that sucks is traffic and the people that cause it. lol. :1orglaugh

-AC Tracey

Hey, earthquakes aren't bad. The traffic is, and air/smog, who cares....:Graucho Move to Huntington Beach, Irvine, Santa Monica! Nice Nice Nice areas. I'm in Huntington Beach!

jDoG

3 hours? Not unless you're driving 40 miles an hour. It's 100 minutes MAX from where I'm at in Eastern San Diego. If you're looking to get in and out of LA quickly, move to Oceanside or Encinitas. That way you have quicker access to both cities. The San Diego women are fine, a great market for you to check out, there are tons of schools for you to find them.

http://sandybeachrentals.com/uploaded/MVC-013E.JPG

well, then we are gong to be neighbors for a few days...

hit me up on icq if you want to meet up at a happy hour this weekend

45471840

Don't get married, the divorce property settlement will kill ya.

Aww... I feel bad. I'm in San Diego. It really depends on what you do. If you want to go clubbing LA is the place. If you want to be constantly churning along with vital people or work in content, LA is probably a better place.

I like to do nothing. I like to surf. I like to watch the sunset from a bar on the beach. I'm asleep before midnight and in the ocean before 7am. Probably sounds like hell to almost everyone here, but it's my own little slice of hell :2 cents:

Don't go south of the San fernando mountains. The Valley is where you want to live.

South of the mountains is white ghetto. South of the mountains (with the exception of Rodney King) is where the cops like to beat up anyone of any ethnic background.

All those fake wannabe actors you see on TV that drive around frontin', they're all from there. The real struggling actors that hustle, live up here in the valley. The porn capital of the world is up here in the valley.

In the valley, It's 10 degrees hotter in the summer (that's bad)
and 10 degrees colder in the winter (also bad) Which means we actually have highs of 100+ and lows of all the way down to below 60, sometimes it gets down to 50 degrees in the winter. FUCKING COLD!!!!

red, nice sig

go live in compton

:1orglaugh

The Valley rocks. DiVo I am a club girl that's prolly why I don't care for San Diego. San Diego is good to visit but not to live.

-AC Tracey

We love it here in SoCal. I grew up in Florida and moved here after college in Boston.

I can't imagine why anyone would want to be more than 1 hour from the beach and in a cold climate.

Sure the traffic sucks on the 405. Other than that, there are ways around everything.

Mitch

too gangsta for gfy...

SD rocks, but if I had to work in LA, I would probably move to Laguna Niguel. That place is absolutely beautiful and some nice golf courses.

I lived in the LA area for 5 years.

Long Beach for a few months, then Venice, Redondo and finally settled in a sailboat in Marina Del Rey for the last 2 years.

My father lived there for about a year and finally freaked out and moved back to Texas....LOL

His biggest fault was moving to Long Beach and working in Beverly Hills. it was a 2 hour drive every morning *27 miles* and 1-3 going home every night depending upon traffic.

What I learned was to not deal with LA as a whole, but only deal with the area you lived in.

In the Dallas/Fort worth area where we all came from, we didn't think twice about driving 30 miles to Dallas to go to a better mall, or club etc. All it took was 30-40 minutes to get there.

In LA you don't travel 30 miles to go anywhere unless you have plenty of free time.

So basically what I'm saying is just find you a nice place in a nice area that you think you'll enjoy.

Do all your daily living in that area.

California was one of the best experiences I had in my life.

When I lived in Venice I had a 2 bedroom apartment that looked directly over Muscle Beach *$985 a month 1988*

On weekends I wouldn't go anywhere I'd lose my parking space if my roommate had the garage. but I didn't need to go anywhere.
I'd grab breakfast on the boardwalk, go boogie boarding, hit the bookstore on the boardwalk...shit you can buy anything you need smoke wise on the boardwalk.

Even though LA can be one of the most chaotic places to visit, you can find your own little slice of heaven there.

I'd suggest finding a place in a beach community somewhere.

You've got Santa Monica, Redondo, Hermosa, Long Beach, Belmont shores, Seal Beach, Huntington, Newport...and the list goes on.

There is no reason, and I repeat no reason to move to LA if all you'll be looking at through your window is convenience stores, or a housing complex. find a place that has plenty of windows facing west and a good view of the horizon, that way you'll get a front seat to some of the most beautiful sunsets you'll ever see almost 365 days a year.

No man that's fucking heaven.

I lived on my sailboat in marina del rey and there was no way I could stay up past midnight...LOl

As soon as I'd get home climb into bed and flip the television switch on and that boat would rock my ass to sleep.

And like you I'd be up first thing in the morning. Never needed an alarm clock unless we were in production and had an early call.

but on most days, I'd get up head off to my favorite coffee shop. drink a cup of joe, eat a bagel and read the entire paper. Then I'd spend the rest of the day just hanging out. go see a movie, go boogie boarding *never learned to surf*, hit the thrift stores, old book stores, and just about every day I would go bowling for about an hour.

Then I'd head over to friends and hang with them...get home go to sleep and repeat :)

Sweet thing was I'd make enough money in about 1 week that would cover my expenses for a month until the next shoot came along :)

sounds nice, eros

I was born and raised in Fort Worth, but I call Los Angeles home.

I have never felt the same since I left, something I did only because of some family issues.

I'm now in Vegas and will only be here for another year *fucking lease* ;) My next goal is to get back to SoCal.

that more people keep moving here everyday?

:winkwink:

LOL and the californians are all bailling to Vegas. :)

tho' I'll never know why...this place sucks.

other than a place to get mad drunk, and lose a ton of money no matter what you're doing it's a shithole.