SoCal Living and Working

My humble opinion here ...

Coastal California, including Coastal SoCal, is a fantastic lifestyle.  Lots of small beach towns from San Diego all the way to Oregon, and most people are really, really nice.  Laid back, but not anywhere near the stereotype "surfers" you see on TV.  However, coastal living is expensive.

Cypress is not coastal living.  Don't know about it specifically, but I don't know that it is a town I would want to live based on surrounding areas I do know a little about.  But again, that's me and it's just an opinion.  I grew up along the coast, spent about 17 years in Arizona, and only moved back because of a great opportunity to live near the beach.  I've lived in LA as an adult, and I would not have moved back for an opportunity to live there.

LA is a big city.  Nothing at all wrong with big cities, I love them. But I could not live in LA again unless I made well over seven figures   While there is public transportation, it is not widely used ... especially not like what you've got in Chicago.  That means driving everywhere, like everyone else, which means traffic, traffic, traffic!  One of the reasons my wife and I eventually left LA is that I finally understood what might compel someone to act out with road rage!

And you know the old saying, "you know you're from California if you drive to your block party".

I've only been to Chicago a few times, and one thing I always come away with is that the people are so incredibly freakin' nice!  That's a compliment, by the way.  People *can* be nice in LA, but I don't see it as the same thing.  Don't get me wrong, there are good people in LA, but the overall culture (sweeping generalization here) is not known for hospitality like some other cities or regions.

Museums?  The Getty and the LA Museum of Art are top notch, as are tons of smaller ones in the surrounding areas.

I don't know ... I love Southern California for so many reasons.  I definitely know it's not for everyone, so it's hard for me to say, "Yeah, this is the greatest place ever and you should definitely move here," or "No, you'll hate it, Mid-Western Boy, stay where you are."

It's big, it's not easy and it changes around every single corner.  

BUT ... you've got the ocean, you've got beautiful weather ALL year, you've got mountains with great skiing less than 2 hours away, fantastic restaurants everywhere, decent culture,  the Dodgers ... it IS a great place.

Tough one ... what exactly are you looking for?  Odds are, if there is something in a lifestyle you're looking for for your family, SoCal has it ... it all depends upon how far you want to commute to Cypress

At this point, commuting is one of the issues.  I now have a 15 minute car ride or a 20 minute bike ride, depending on the weather and what I have going on.

When I first moved here, my commute was 47 miles one way.  I do not want to go back to that.  Ever. 

So that will be a huge factor on even deciding to interview.  Thanks.

Cypress is pretty centrally located. (Right on the Border of Los Angeles and Orange Counties)

Commute to Cypress could be interesting depending on what part of town your working in. (Not a whole lot of freeway options) You might want to check out Metrolink and see if this is an option:

http://www.metrolinktrains.com/

Between LA and Orange County, your sure to find a desireable place to live. Beach side or Inland Side. Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Buena Park (Knotts Berry Farm), Anaheim (Disneyland) are all well within a reasonable drive commute distance.

Both LA and Orange Counties have a pretty vibrant triathlon community and huge clubs so you cannot go wrong there. Also plenty of trails and places to ride, run and swim.  (Year Round thanks to the weather)

If you can make the Metrolink work for you, it does open up a lot more options

OK, so I had to look up cypress to see where it was on the map.......   It's near some nice beach areas - Naples, Sunset Beach, these would be a snap to commute (probably 1/2 hour or less, but you could easily bike them)

Next further south would be Huntington Beach.  I've never been a big fan, but it is "Surf City."  They have a good mary/half mary there in Feb.  Then Newport, but I would think we're getting into a further commute (and talk about expensive).

 Going east or north, you've got San Pedro - it's a harbor /longshoremen town but there are actually some really nice areas of San Pedro that can be had for quite good prices.  Then you get Palos Verdes/Rolling Hills (also $$$), then Torrance/Redondo, which is where I live.  I'd estimate that commute would be 45 -1:00.  Which, frankly, in LA, is par for the course.

The "south bay" beach cities - redondo, hermosa, manhattan, and Id throw in west torrance - have a very vibrant tri scene.  We've got one of the best tri stores around (Tri Lab), and tons of LA Tri members, group workouts, etc.

If commute is a big concern, I wouldn't look south of Huntington or north of torrance/redondo/hermosa/manhattan

I have never lived anywhere else (I've lived in different parts of LA), so nothing to compare it to living wise, but personally, i LOVE LOVE LOVE living less than two miles from the ocean.  I could never live much east of the Harbor Fwy.  Might be cheaper, but the QOL is less (IMHO).  I can ocean swim, or ride the PV hills, or mountain bike in PV, run trails, run along the beach.  All less than 5 minutes from my front door.  Ocean climate.  It's heaven for me.

Coastal living can be expensive though.  Although it is coming down a bit with the real estate crash

As poster nutbag said, the Getty is world class, as are the downtown museums.  Both would be a commute (Getty worse than downtown)

You catching on to the theme here?  Chris, Tim and I all live very close to the beach

One thing I forgot to add that might be pertinent is that there is a great children's science museum right off the 5 in either Santa Ana or Anaheim ... maybe 5 minutes from Disneyland and not all that far from Cypress.  If you're talking Huntington area, it's probably not all that hard to get there either by the 55 or the 22.

Just checked ... Discovery Science Center , Santa Ana. 

if you get the job in cypress, you won't want to live in LA.  If you like the urban vibe, Long Beach is very close and is almost like a mini LA, with a vibrant downtown and beach access.  If you are more of the suburban type, this is southern california, the home of suburbia.  i think many of the areas already mentioned would work for you, it just depends on your budget.  the only issue i foresee is where your wife will work.  there are many, many museums in the region.  Most are obviously in LA, which would be a pretty rough commute unless you lived in the city.  however, there are a handful in Orange County, including the DSC as someone had mentioned, as well as the Bowers Museum.  I think there might even be a couple in Long Beach near the ports, you'll have to look into that. 

it is pretty expensive here, but the weather can't be beat.  you can train outdoors year round and also ride your bike to work year round if you can find a place to live not too far away.  plus, it hardly ever rains here, even during the raining season, so that won't hold you back either. 

I'm a transplant from NY, will be 3 years the end of October and I live in the San Fernando Valley.  And I love it.  I work in Beverly Hills and my commute is great.  We looked into some of the coastal towns, but it was pricey and my commute would suck (hubby works from home), so we chose an area that is near all the freeways and traffic isn't nearly as bad on the residential streets as it is in LA proper.

I also don't mind driving to go do things - we did that all the time in Brooklyn.  I will drive the 30-40 min to go biking on the PCH in Malibu.  I'll bike and ride through Griffith Park from my front door.  I'll drive 20-30 min for fantastic hiking.  I'll drive an hour just to get in a snowy hike up at Mt Pinos in the winter.  I'll drive 2 hours for amazing snowboarding all winter long.  I'll drive 45min to an hour to Long Beach or Huntington Beach dog beaches.

Driving is not any worse in LA as it is in NY or Chicago or anywhere else - AS LONG AS YOU KNOW WHEN TO GO.   There is traffic everywhere and sure, sometimes you get stuck for hours.  If you are going to commute 9-5, you'll have traffic. I get to work around 8:15 and drive about 10 miles and it takes me 30-40 min not on the freeway.

I love the weather more than anything because I never have to worry about getting a workout in before it (fill in the blank).  

What do I miss about NYC?  The subway - purely for the convenience factor and reading on it.  And walking just about everywhere.

LA definitely is not known for friendly people (recently was voted the unfriedliest city in travel and leisure magazine).  It is also expensive - food, gas, parking - you pay for parking almost everywhere and even w validation, you are paying for parking, plus gas vs a ride on the subway.  I was blown away at how $ my insurance premiums are thru work - much better in NY, so consider that as well.  I was a member of a food co-op and a CSA  these are very hard to find in SoCal - not many environmentally conscious peeps here (generalization!!), so my food is more expensive.  I didn't think of all of these things before moving out here.  The pros, other than the great weather and proximity to all sorts of outdoor stuff is you get more space for your money if you are renting an apt. 

good luck!!

I've lived in Cypress for almost 18 years.  It's a lovely little city, got kind of a small-town (well, for SoCal) feel to it.   We're close enough to the coast that it's usually pleasant in the summer, we usually don't get the brutal heat you can get further inland.  

Bike to the beach is almost exactly 7 miles from my house via the San Gabriel River bike trail, and you can easily go either north or south along the coast from there.  The city runs a 5K/10K every summer, and the local reserve base/airfield at Los Alamitos runs a very good 10K on the runways (so, super flat) in the spring.  Los Alamitos is also the home of U.S. Water Polo, and has an active master's swimming program, and there are a couple of good open water swim areas just a short drive away.

Schools are excellent, if that's an issue for you.  Cypress has it's own elementary school district with some of the best elementary schools in the nation.  Jr. High/High School is Anaheim Union, which is kind of mixed but the schools in Cypress are excellent.

Housing is outrageous, but that's the norm for southern California, and even moreso if you look at the beach cities.  There are several nice townhome communities (we live in one) that are more affordable to either buy or rent, and a broad range of single-family home options.  If you're working in Cypress, I can't think why you wouldn't want to live here.

LA has a great Museum of Natural History,  plus the Page Museum (La Brea Tar Pits) and lots of other museums & several universities, so should be good opportunities for your wife as well.

P.S.--I grew up in PA and went to college in Iowa (Ames).  My wife was born & raised in Kansas City.  We're both agreed--California is better.

Awesome, guys.  This is the kind of feedback I knew I would get.  Still have a lot of cogitating to do over it.  It would be a huge move if I even got the job, but this feedback is what I needed. 

Thanks again.

I want to say thank you again to everyone who commented in this thread and also sent me PM's.

After some fairly long discussions with the wife, we have decided not to go for it.  We are going to stick around here for a while and see if something else comes up in this area. 

All of the input above and through the PM's were invaluable.  It helped to have input from people that were originally from there as well as from those that are transplants to CA. 

Anyway, I thank you all.  It really helped in evaluating our options for this decision. 

Have a great rest of the week.

Well, we'll post some weather reports along about February--maybe you'll think differently by then...

Poster Nutbag - 2008-10-02 10:39 AM Does this mean you'll be rooting for the Cubbies this year?

Never.

I'm a Sox fan. 

Not that they are doing any better at this point.

Heh.

I'm originally from Oklahoma and I've lived up North now for 18 years.  I'm still not used to the cold.