Ventura County, California... living there (1 Viewer)

I'm moving from Virginia to California in August and will be working in the Port Hueneme Area. I've heard that the place where all the younger people live is Ventura, but I'm looking at apartments in Ventura, Oxnard and Port Hueneme. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions for living in the area? I'm going to be apartment hunting next week with my father. I'll take any useful information such as location, things to do, places to avoid... etc. as right now I have very little clue about the area.
Thanks!

Matthew Furtek

Well, at least the COL is lower in Ventura County. And the Santa Monica Mountains are pretty.

Don't forget to duck when they test fire missiles from Pt. Mugu.....

Matthew, in Greater LA myself (westside) so I don't know much about that particular area. I only pass through it on the way to Santa Barbara.

That said, it's a great locale because you're pretty near LA if you need to go there, and SB if you need to get away from LA.

Best of luck to you and yours during the move. We think you'll like it out here...except for those rare occasions when the earth shakes...

say goodbye to four seasons and hello to smog.

Carlo, buddy, same here! My primary freelance source is up in Santa Barbara. I have to check in on a semi-regular basis.

Hunter, those seasons are there but they are subtle by the standards set elsewhere in the nation.

Matthew - If you choose Oxnard, I would be careful of the area that you pick. There are certainly some nice areas, but there are some areas that you don't want any part of, either.

Also, you will be amazed at how people react to the weather out there. I lived in Camarillo for a time, and it still amazes me to think about the reaction of people out there at times. Eight months out of the year it will be a high of 76/low of 54, mostly sunny. The days it does rain, it will literally lead off the newscast. I could never stop laughing over that.

By the way, when you move out there you will have to acquaint yourself with a restaurant called Baja Fresh. Some of the best "fast" mexican food out there.

http://www.bajafresh.com

There has been much talk for decades now about breaking California up into more manageable pieces - a state this big with 35 million people is simply too large. I've always thought that the physical/cultural boundary between north and south lies between Santa Barbara and Ventura. So think of Ventura as being the northern outpost of southern California.

Yeah I've been living here twelve years now (since entering college in 1991) and I still laugh at how 2 days of light rain ( > 1" ) sets off "Storm Watch 2003."

Jack, yup I love SB. Was once engaged to a girl who grew up in Ojai and took me there on a regular basis, and that's how I fell in love with the SB/Ojai area.

I have taken past girlfriends and my current girlfriend up there (obviously without telling them the link) and they all love the SB area.

Oh, and Glen Phillips (of Toad the Wet Sprocket) is a native and so I see him perform both at the Largo in L.A. and what used to be Nym in SB (now he performs at Soho on State St.).

There are plusses and minuses to living anywhere, L.A. is no exception. Being close to SB is definitely a plus!

Dennis, yeah those talks always sprout up every few years.

Having grown up in NorCal (Modesto) and currently living in SoCal, I really don't want to see this happen. I don't know why, I know there are economic reasons for splitting it up, but I just don't want to see it happen. I love that I live in California, where our economy is larger than most other nations. And I love that our state has such a large variety of places, from the urban L.A. region, to the beautiful port city style of San Diego, to the "east coast" port city style of S.F., to the Central Valley which has its own agricultural beauty, to Yosemite...

I just hope we stay "California."

Carlo, but in five pieces we would gain EIGHT SENATORS...

I want California Nation to remain intact.

Also worth noting is how a Californian will react to weather when it reaches the low 50s/upper 40s: "Man, it's freezing out there!"

On the other hand, it appears as if Los Angeles is about to experience yet another year-without-a-summer (like in 1999 and '95). Here it is, June 6th, and it has been overcast and chilly all week long in the Los Angeles Basin. People are wearing sweaters, windbreakers, and jackets.

I prefer hot, dry weather. And, for some reason, L.A. just hasn't got all that much of it for the past seven, eight years. Damn.

Tim,
Thanks for the advice, do you know which areas of Oxnard I should stay away from (doesn't sound like you do... being from MA, or maybe you recently moved)? I know there are bad parts in pretty much any town, problem with not being familiar with an area is that I don't know where they are right away.

We've got a couple of Baja Fresh's near me actually... to be honest I'm probably looking more forward to the LA style Korean cuisine... I heard people from Korea go to LA to eat the LA Korean food... haha.

Matthew Furtek