I live in Moorpark. Thats Ventura county.

JT is 3 hours. The Needles are 4 hrs, Stoney point is 15 min, Echo cliffs (with hike) 1 hr 15 min. Malibu Creek, (with hike) 40 min. All that great hiking in the San Gaberials from 45 min to 1.5 hrs.
Mojave is about 1-1/4 hrs. NJC is 2 3/4.

I like living on the north end of our great metropolis, and after driving home late on a Sunday nite after a weekend in Bishop, the thought of having to keep goin down to lets say Long Beach, would make me cry. If Irvine or SD, I would stop going on trips up that a ways.

my $.02

I am originally from Huntington Beach and moved up to Chico. I had to get out of SoCal. That being said...if you really are set on entering The Bubble, there are a few decent places. Seal Beach, as mentioned, is awesome. Can't really grow much, as it's kind of geographically restricted. Good arts community. Good people. Dana point/Laguna area is a beautiful area...but the people suck. That's kinda the thing about socal...great area...people are dicks.

So seeing as in the OP you mention trying to stray away from the "plastic"....well kinda hard in OC. Huntington Beach is a nice balance; can get away from the plastic if need be. Other than that and Seal...I'd stay out of OC or anywhere near LA. Being from Boulder...you might like Seal Beach or La Jolla if you got the bucks for it. I've always said if I came back to SoCal those are the only two places I would live.

I would suggest Ocean Beach in San Diego. There is some local climbing and hiking inland, amazing beaches, lots of hippies to dump your spare change on, and OB prides itself in not being plastic although there is a starbucks that the locals despise. 5 minutes to downtown and your in a whole different scene. Sierra is far though but there plenty of peaks nearby and Jtree is kinda close.

Get rich and get a house in Bishop and a beach house on solimar beach, Ventura! That's what I'm going to do... Now if only I can find a way to make bank...

POLUKO wrote:I would suggest Ocean Beach in San Diego. There is some local climbing and hiking inland, amazing beaches, lots of hippies to dump your spare change on, and OB prides itself in not being plastic although there is a starbucks that the locals despise. 5 minutes to downtown and your in a whole different scene. Sierra is far though but there plenty of peaks nearby and Jtree is kinda close.

You just had to revive this thread, didn't you ?

Funny, I haven't been on here in a while and for some reason decided to check this thread today. And another coincidence, you mention Ocean Beach. A friend of mine is moving there this month so I'll see what he thinks. For now it's Boulder for me, but I will return to California in the next year or two....and maybe to Ocean Beach!

And JJBrunner - The camping is way too good on the east side to ever want a home there!

Perfect timing.

Looks like I'm headed to SoCal to office near LAX. Great pointers all.

DukeJH wrote:Looks like I'm headed to SoCal to office near LAX. Great pointers all.

I suspect it has been said already, but I'll emphasize:

If you know where your office is going to be, your choices for a home are much simplified: live near work (within a few miles). SoCal commuting traffic is soul-destroying. Don't delude yourself that you can live 30 or 40 miles from work and still maintain a sustainable, livable lifestyle.

Remember, the sun shines most of the time in SoCal and there is no rain at all during the summer months, so bicycling to work is more practical here than in most places, too.

DukeJH wrote:Perfect timing.

Looks like I'm headed to SoCal to office near LAX. Great pointers all.

Good luck with that See redneck's comment

It could be worse though; LAX is sort of the cutoff for the crazy traffic. Just north of there really sucks.

DukeJH wrote:Perfect timing.

Looks like I'm headed to SoCal to office near LAX. Great pointers all.

Believe it or not there are some nice communities near LAX, which is pretty close to where I live. El Segundo, Westchester, Playa del Rey, Mar Vista, Manhattan Beach, etc. You're close to the beach and, unless you choose to live south of LAX in Torrance, Manhattan Beach, etc., it's about 20 mins. to good hiking, mt. biking in the Santa Monica Mts. San Gabriels are about 45 mins. depending on where you're going specifically (Baldy is a little over an hour).

Good advice from Redneck too. If you work on the Westside, live there too. Five days of your week will be much more pleasant. I'm able to ride my bike to work those days I don't have client meetings or other appointments out of the office.

My Santa Monica to downtown commute has been slowly killing me. Save yourself, tell the others what you've seen here.

SJ wrote:My Santa Monica to downtown commute has been slowly killing me. Save yourself, tell the others what you've seen here.

Yeah, my Venice to downtown commute was killing me, then I decided to stop hitting myself in the head with a hammer twice a day and moved. Life is MUCH better now.

Why not do yourself a favor and move to Silverlake, Los Feliz, Eagle Rock, Pasadena, etc...?

fatdad wrote:

SJ wrote:My Santa Monica to downtown commute has been slowly killing me. Save yourself, tell the others what you've seen here.

Yeah, my Venice to downtown commute was killing me, then I decided to stop hitting myself in the head with a hammer twice a day and moved. Life is MUCH better now.

Why not do yourself a favor and move to Silverlake, Los Feliz, Eagle Rock, Pasadena, etc...?

Also depends on your living situation. I bought a house where I live and I'm not planning on selling it! Instead of my home, I'd change my work. The first one is a much higher priority to me than the last one.

POLUKO wrote:I would suggest Ocean Beach. 5 minutes to downtown and your in a whole different scene.

Don't forget 5 minutes to some great eats :