If one were to move to Southern California from the midwest

[KitchenWitch]

What should one know in advance?

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. the price of living here is higher for starters

[wryter2000]

2. Are you thinking of buying a house?

If so, check the prices. You'll be flabbergasted by real estate prices in California.

[jandrok]

33. Right you are.

Housing is astonishingly expensive out in SoCal. I almost moved out to the Valencia/Santa Clarita area a few years ago, but quickly backtracked when I got to looking at real esatate.

3/2/2 starter homes were in the $350,000-450,000 range. Outlandish. I really don't know how people can afford to live out there.

[shoelace414]

3. buy a warm jacket.

and put a snowbrush in your car.

[shoelace414]

7. oh.. TO california

burn your warm jackets, and throw away your snowbrushes.

[slybacon9]

19. as a southern california native with a girlfriend from WI...

that was a hysterical mistake.

I thought you were being sarcastic. I mess with her like that sometimes.

[slybacon9]

24. and

things i have learned from watching her...

FIrst off. You have never eaten Mexican Food. You might think you have, but you haven't. You will and you will love... Two words: carne asada

you can plant your garden once and thats it. Forever. There is no annual or perrenial or whatever they call it back there.

sunscreen is important for some folks.

DO NOT wear Teva's. We don't wear those here, and they are dead give aways that you ain't from around here. We wear flip flops, or thongs (but not the butt crack thongs, those are for Miami).

Get ready for lots of Midwest jokes. I never really realized it, but we use them as the butt of many jokes.

Cars don't rust here.

Don't walk around sighing saying, "I miss the seasons...". Nobody cares. We live here because we are sure that all seasons are useless. long live the sun god Ra.

The J is pronounced more like an H in all of the city and street names and two Ls are a Y: La Jolla is la Hoya. And "San" means Saint. Camino means street.

Those things on the horizon... those are MOUNTAINS, not Mordor. Don't be scared.

Earthquakes are fun. Unless they kill you.

Those things between houses are called "Fences". We don't like, or know, our neighbors and we don't want to.

And yeah it's way friggin expensive to live here, but the cost of living is evened out by the cheap slave labor we have for all gardening, house cleaning, and nannying.

[slybacon9]

27. and... FOR GODSAKES

if ONE drop of rain hits the ground, GET OFF THE ROAD.

NObody here knows how to drive in the rain, and all panic breaks out. That, and there is a ton of oil forming a toplayer on the roads that has collected since the last time it rained (9 months ago) and the roads turn into ice rinks.

All midwesterners think they know how to drive in a friggin blizzard and no big deal... WRONG.

You have not seen freeway accidents till you get on the freeway during the first rain after summer.

[Carla in Ca]

37. That list is priceless!

Thank you for one of the funniest posts I've ever read. And it is all true, especially how people drive in the first drizzle of the year.

I used to work for a company whose main office was in MN. Whenever someone came here that had never been here before, the first thing they always noticed were the palm trees. And then to see them along the coast! It totally blew their minds...everytime.


And welcome to DU!:-)

[catzies]

32. Good list, and welcome to DU!

:hi:

And it doesn't matter how far away any place is...the only thing that matters is how long it takes to get there.

We don't say, "Santa Barbara is 90 miles north of Los Angeles."

We say, "Santa Barbara is about an hour and a half north of LA."

[Left Is Write]

35. Minnesotans do that too.

And they also have fences. :)

[Benhurst]

4. You won't be in Kansas anymore. NT

[trotsky]

5. Don't buy a house on a hill.

Don't buy a house near a fault.
Don't buy a house on the beach.
Ah, just don't buy a house. :)

[mitchtv]

13. Don't buy a house near the woods

[maveric]

29. Or by cliffs and canyons. Things BURN easily out here!

The closer to the ocean you are the cooler, more laid-back and more progressive the people are.

If you move here you will have to buy a set of golf clubs, whether you use them or not.

If you are male and single you'd better have a resume and financial statements for presentation when dating.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

6. Traffic is the regional conversation, not weather

And no one out here know what Midwestern Sensibilities are :)

[shoelace414]

8. Very few people can tell you out where the bubbler is.

[Xithras]

10. What's a bubbler? n/t

[Hobarticus]

12. A drinking fountain... n/t

[Droopy]

9. Cost of living is higher in southern California

Unless you live out in the desert away from the cities.

I talked to a guy about 6 years ago who was from southern California who said he was paying $400 for a studio apartment in the ghetto. You can get a nice 2 bedroom apartment for that where I'm from.

[amazona]

11. a realistic view of the real estate prices and your ability to pay

If you can comfortably buy into the SoCal real estate market and stick around for several years, then when you retire and return home to the Midwest, you could sell your SoCal home for enough profit to fund your retirement. Indeed, I know an old high school friend who is doing this, and because of the increase in SoCal values she can retire in her forties with an impressive sum of money. She has been out there a long while buying and selling residential property and has apparently ended up with an apartment building, and I have heard that she is about to receive many millions -- whoa!

However, if you cannot afford to buy a home at this time, you might never be able to unless you are certain that you are in a career where your salary will be able to catch up to the costs needed.

So that would be my No. One concern -- home ownership and financial security.

It's a beautiful area if you can swing it though. Good luck.

[trackfan]

14. The "ramp" is called a "parking structure"

[Zomby Woof]

15. I am moving there next month

Nini and I are buying the last decent house, though. :P

[KitchenWitch]

16. LOL

[Radical Activist]

17. oops. nevermind.

[xfundy]

18. Well, if you're moving to LA...

...take some time to REALLY look around and do things you'd normally do (grocery shopping, etc) so you get a real sense of what it's really like. I moved there after loving it on a visit, ended up hating it severely, and moved out as quickly as possible. And are you sure you want to drive that much? If you keep your windows open you'll get black stuff on the sills, and the constant sound of helicopters may drive you to drink.

**No offense to LA DUers, it just wasn't my thang. Maybe I'm too "sensitive."**

It is expensive, but not as bad as Northern CA is.

[KurtNYC]

20. If you call 911 you will be connected to

"Entertainment Tonight" -- they will ask if your emergency involves a celebrity or a car chase. If 'No' you will be transferred to the LAPD and put on hold for 10 minutes.

Signs that say "Subway" lead only to sandwich shops.

Thermometers have a red line at 54-degrees because anything under that "is freezing!"

If the ground shakes you can rule out trains or any other form of mass transit being the cause.

The term "Storm" means only that a few drops of water will fall for a few moments. But your neighbors will be unwound for days thereafter.

Asking how far is it to _____(location)___? Will be answered in minutes and will depend on what time of day you are asking about.

The beach is so crowded that no ones goes anymore. ;-)

When co-workers ask if you "saw the news last night" they mean "Extra!"

[DBoon]

23. Signs that say "Subway" lead only to sandwich shops????

What then, is this map all about? Rapidly moving pastrami??

[radwriter0555]

45. That's true, no one in Los Angeles actually goes to the beaches

anymore.... the tourists do... and the inlanders.

[DBoon]

21. learn how to parallel park

Buy a Thomas Guide and keep with you when driving anywhere. Your first few months driving around town will be hell.

If at all possible, live in a neighborhood where you can walk to basic shopping and services (yes these do exist). Helps in avoiding traffic.

Get to know the rail transit system. People actually use this. If your new home and your work location fit, see about using it to get to work.

Learn to pronounce the names of entrees on Mexican restaurants.

Try to experience new things that you wouldn't find back home - different cuisine, live theater, etc. It will take the edge off the bad stuff.

Soft drinks aren't called "pop".

[Zhade]

22. Just one thing:

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[earth mom]

25. If you have a car & want to go anywhere you WILL spend lots of time stuck

in your car in traffic. This is even if you do not have a commute to work. I lived there almost my entire life and worked in my own community, but trying to go anywhere via the freeways was usually a hellish experience of being stuck for hours in traffic.

Living there is not worth it IMO, but funny how every one thought WE were nuts for leaving that hellhole. :freak:

[KurtNYC]

28. The same people who told me how great L.A. was

- had never lived there
- complain when the weather here goes above 80-degrees
- insisted it was NEVER humid in L.A. (even though smog = smoke + fog)

[earth mom]

41. Yes...it's a great place to VISIT...

it looks like and probably is a lot of fun when you come from a cold and dreary place...but there are just too many people living there now to be livable. The weather can be nice if you live close to the coast but areas such as the San Fernando Valley are an oven most of the time as are many other areas. The population explosion has led to the huge traffic problem, and to the lack of affordable housing, as well as brought in more gangs and crime.

I'm SO glad that we are outta there!

[cally]

26. What do you envision in Southern California

It's huge and made up of very diverse communities. The areas are very different. All of California is extremely expensive. I won'd even mention what the average price of a house is in my area.

Think about what you like in your hometown and consider if you can find it in So. Cal. I lived for a few years in Long Beach. I liked it but I'm happier where I live now. I found Long Beach too congested and I didn't like spending so much time in a car.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

30. Bring lots of money....LOTS!

Oh, it would be sooooo nice to have you for a neighbor! Do come and visit!

I'll be sending you a PM in just a moment...


:pals:

[Lexingtonian]

31. SoCal

is a half mile of beach and beachfront with 100 miles of deserts and mountains behind it.

You're either going to be a person who clings to the beaches, which very few people get to do, or have to become a person who lives in the desert and adapt to desert lifeways. Visitors are always fooled by the irrigation and many (fairly) green plants, but all the concrete and pavement and housing are still desert and lead into desert.

Desert people move around a lot because migration means survival, moving on becomes a habit. They just arrive and they just leave whatever the group or coupling, and you might see them again sometime, or you might not. You can't argue people out of it once it begins, and you can only beat the game by joining it or leaving. Desert people are mystical and pure humanists and generous and sexual- and at other times they are, like their surroundings, heartlessly selfish absolutists and hostile to all of your psychological existence and interests. Desert people live in a physical reality that is too difficult and limited and unyielding to labor and resource impoverished; they resort to living by imagination and objects of the imagination. And when they are not talking about the first of those they are talking about the second. Migrants from less barren environments tend to try to destroy the desert around them and fear it in a very visceral way. Or they come to like it but stop appreciating its dangers. There's a lesson in the joggers and bikers that get mauled by mountain lions just about every year and the trivial incidents in which all the great fires begin.

When driving significant distances in the Southwest bring along bottled water and some salt or salty food. (Steal salt packets from Carls Jr.'s or other places if you must.) Most of the whacky driving out there is not because people haven't learned better or they are crazy or on drugs, it's that they're grossly dehydrated and unable to pay proper attention. And you'll learn never forget to bring along sunglasses when you drive, plus you'll learn not to schedule driving westward around sunset and eastward around dawn if you can help it. Learn about daytime headlights on desert roads. Keep extra bottles of suntan lotion around. Don't overinflate your tires- I used to keep mine at spec or 1-2 psi lower- and all shredded pieces of tire on and along the freeways should tell you why. Check the oil fairly often.

No one ever came to California to be poor. Chapparal has a 12-15 year burn cycle. Desert climates and desert roads eat up car tires and motor oil; make sure you have good air filters and good oil filters and a good gas filter because getting sand into the engine cylinders kills nice cars. Be prepared for earthquakes (don't overload shelves, close cabinet doors, don't have stuff hanging over your bed) and fires if you're in fire country (keep photographs and legal documents and valuables in fireproof boxes you'll take along or in safes, know where your gas shutoff is).

Yes, everyone stays in shape or pretends to or tries to or is ashamed of not doing so. Women tend to hate, or come to hate, Southern California and the amount of competition for men there is there. Yes, for many or most people living there revolves around money, money, and money. Or fame. And sex. Los Angeles shuts down at 1 AM and opens at 8 AM, and that's how it is. Everybody else is having sex, or so it seems.

Once you live in SoCal you'll see how provincial and local Hollywood movies and TV series really are. But you'll find it touching rather than off-putting after a while.

Yes, you can go skiing in Southern California. But we recommend Mammoth anyway.

Las Vegas is where LA goes on weekends. Yes, I've been in a forty mile traffic jam in the desert outside Barstow. Never forget that the first industry in California was gold-digging and the second was the scam.

Okay, that's enough for me today.... Enjoy.

[Terran]

34. A post written by someone who wasn't born in SoCal

No one who actually knows the region would make up such a series of stereotypes. Millions of people live in areas of LA and San Diego that are neither desert nor beach, and are quite happy with it--including the women. People's lives revolve around money no more there than they do in any other part of the country, unless you're part of some particular lifestyle uniquely available in LA that demands such a thing. It sounds like you got your ideas about SoCal from a Joan Didion essay or a bad Altman movie.

To the OP: the only challenges to living in SoCal are the expense and the congestion, and even then you CAN find places that aren't so congested (I'm thinking of San Luis Obispo, for instance). And chances are, unless you like deserts, you do NOT have to live in one if you move there. I grew up in Pasadena/Altadena, a beautiful and historic area at the foot of the San Gabriel mountains, and very little of what was written above applies to that area.

I do think the housing market right now is a significant bar to selling your Midwstern home and buying one in SoCal. I just bought a home in Missouri for $90,000, and my mom's property in Altadena, which is nothing special except it has a second small house on it, is probably worth more than $750,000, easily. So if you move there, you may have to rent. Do count on having a job lined up that will allow you to pay rents higher than you're used to.

[slybacon9]

36. Forgot the most important thing

You will soon realize...

Californians, the people that are native to california, aren't the yoga addicted, vegan, hippie crazy bhuddist-because-we-can-afford-it everything's "zen-ny" free love orgy having dope smoking glowing energy opened heart chakra types you have heard about.

No.

In fact, 99% of real native californians are more like the people from the midwest. Good souled, everyday people. And actually by all those other standards quite boring.

All that other shit comes from people who moved here from SOMEWHERE ELSE.

These people move here based on an ideal they have, and one that they want to make for themselves. They live imaginary lives where they are spiritual healers or actors or govenors or artists or surfers (none of which I disagree with and 2 of which i am) and they profess this from their high chairs onto all those around. Usually these people have enough money to allow them to move here from other places. With that money they can afford to live their imaginary life, purchasing as much zen as they can afford.

Most of them think that by avoiding all things negative things are positive. They lie to themselves and make everything golden so that they will never think coming here was a mistake. THESE PEOPLE SUCK. They refuse to pay attention to issuse like the use of migrant workers as slave labor and the homeless and gang tension and instead they build gates around their community an pay to elect arnold fucking shwarzenneger just for kicks just so that they can fulfill what they thought it would mean to live here.

IT'S STILL THE GOLD RUSH.

So don't bring your preconceived anything. It is only harmful. And just watch the people you meet. You will see a big big difference in those who have moved here and those that are from here.

[Carla in Ca]

40. Well, that's 2 good posts for you today!

What you said is so true. I am a second generation SoCal gal and I do not view it through rose-colored glasses. This beautiful state has it all but, as with every other place, it has it's negatives as well.
Whatever you want to know, just ask and I'll tell you the truth, good or bad.
One thing: If you ask me to name one thing that bothers me about people who move here it is prejudice. SoCal is a melting pot. You can stand on Hollywood Blvd for 10 minutes and people from at least 20 countries will have passed by you. To me, that is the beauty of it here...the diversity.

[Merrick]

38. Bring a gun

Its absolute warfare on the freeways. I shot like three people during my commute just this morning. Gotta get where I'm going. That's just the way it is. Now if you'll excuse me, me and Lucretia (my gat) are heading home.

[radwriter0555]

44. Right and in MY neighborhood there are gangsters roaming the streets

shooting at each other every night.

At least according to the POLICE; at least that's what they told the couple who were going to buy my house priced at $525,000.

That's ok, another woman bought it.

Buses suck, taxi drivers are worse and all your friends expect you to drive them to and pick them up from the airport. No one actually takes a taxi in Los Angeles.

The center of the LA Universe is West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Anything south of OLYMPIC and east of La Brea is the hood or the valley and COMPLETELY socially unacceptable.

Never get on the 405. Ever. Going anywhere. You'll never get there on there. People have spent entire decades on the 405.

You won't get a job in show business unless you actually KNOW someone really famous or really important and overpaid.

You don't see actors on every street corner.

They're actually in all the restaurants in West Hollywood, however.

[HEyHEY]

39. You'll need to get therapy ASAP

[Lindsey]

42. Well, I moved here 18 years ago and I absolutely LOVE, LOVE LOVE it

I have a wonderful group of friends because that's who I choose to associate with. Yes, there are people who are into money and who are shallow, but some of the most incredible, progressive wonderful people I've ever met are here. The weather is perfect a lot of the time (I'm in Southern Cal.), the scenery is just beautiful. There ALWAYS so much to do: The Hollywood Bowl, The Bodhi Tree (for those who are spirtitually inclined), Venice Beach is a blast, Mammoth is incredible for snow skiing, Ojai is a vortex, driving up the coast to Big Sur is a religious experience, The L.A. County museum gets all of the major exhibits (We are currently enjoying King Tut).In fact, I literally can't think of anything we don't have to offer. Yea, the traffic is a drag but that's when you put in your favorite cd or a book on tape and just enjoy the ride. Obviously, the cost of living/housing is a big issue but hey, I spend most of my time outside and at events so I don't need a big house! I simply can't imagine living anywhere else.

[slybacon9]

43. "I can imagine living anywhere else"...

me niether... now pipe down before the whole lot of em moves out here :)

[radwriter0555]

46. Whole Foods IS THE best grocery store... and the Camarillo Outlet

Mall is the BEST place to shop on the entire PLANET.

[tyedyeto]

47. I was going to join this thread, but

the closest I ever lived to So Cal was Bakersfield in the 50s. Moved further and further north the longer I lived there. The north is so different from the south.