Korean Job Discussion Forums

Whirlwind · Joined: 03 Jun 2005

Hi,

I'm looking into visiting/possible moving to California in the future. I'm interested in what people have to say about these cities: Fresno, San Jose and San Diego. Yes, I've heard all about how California is expensive and the cost of living there is high. I'm just really interested in getting the opinions of people who have lived there and what information they could give about those three cities. The pros and cons of living there. Thanks.

FMPJ · Joined: 03 Jun 2008

Fresno is awful. San Jose is phenomenally unremarkable. San Diego is gorgeous (but vacuous).

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

CeleryMan · Joined: 12 Apr 2007 Location: Seoul

My gut tells me you'd like Irvine, CA.

kirbs · Joined: 25 Jan 2006 Location: donong-dong, namyangju-si

San Diego can be a literal heaven. Then again, it all depends on location, location, location.

Yes, while the constant 75 degree temperatures, beautiful, accessible beaches and tons of outdoors-y activities abound there are numerous things you need to consider:

1. Extremely high real estate cost. My aunt and uncle have been successful financially their whole lives and live in a real nice place, but the place they've made the most money in the past few years has been buying and selling apartments. A townhouse not much larger than an average bachelor pad here in Korea can go for upwards of $1,000,000 without a beach view or easy walking access.

2. Terrible traffic. Because San Diego is spread out vertically and hedged in horizontally there are few main arteries causing truly horrific traffic conditions throughout the day. Besides the there being no public transportation to speak of (inner-city buses don't count, everyone has those) you really need to expect to have to drive 2 hours between downtown and any given suburb.

3. Fire. Many of the suburbs of San Diego are perched on extremely flammable canyon tops surrounded by dense dry eucalyptus. During the big fire last year my aunt's house came within a half mile of getting destroyed.

cangel · Joined: 19 Jun 2003 Location: Jeonju, S. Korea

I lived in Fresno for 1 year and had I not been 14, it would have sucked big time. It's in the middle of no where. It does have a nice park, Rodding Park (sp) and that's about all. I would not recommend Fresno.

jhyum · Joined: 23 Apr 2007 Location: Anyang

SD is my favorite city in the world to live in. There's a reason why its pricey...but renting is rather affordable compared to places like DC and SF because of the availability of land and wide range of housing.

Do NOT move to Fresno.

SJ is okay for families. I hear its getting expensive too.

I think I'm biased since I grew up in the SoCal area.

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

San Jose is misleading. It has the population size of a real city. But it is actually little more than a suburb that happens to have an existing downtown, but lacks any urban feel to it.

To want to live in San Jose, is like saying you want to live in Tempe (AZ), Bellevue (WA), Sandy (UT) or somewhere like that.

sojourner1 · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 3:44 am Post subject:

In my visits to Cali, I got the impression it's only for the rich and those already in the big time career, but not so much those seeking opportunity although it's historical for those seeking fame and fortune to head to Hollywood. I seen so many broke homeless mad pissed off freaks on the streets so it doesn't offer anything more than minimum wage junk jobs to most who are coming poor.

OK, where in Cali is really cool and offers a great culture live in as well as a booming economy that offers lots to opportunity seekers?

Where in the whole US of A is truly exciting? And I mean truly exciting for single dudes like the gold rush era was? I'm an opportunity seeker since I haven't an inheritance coming while I also seek an interesting lifestyle. America today seems great if you already got some money coming from dad or grandpa, but terrible for those trying to establish themselves. If you go to a gentrifying part of downtown in a US city, it's cool, but those 20 and 30 year old buying lofts already have money from inheritance; not a job.

Whirlwind · Joined: 03 Jun 2005

Thanks all for the advice. I think I'll take a pass on Fresno. I've read a lot of things about the city on other sites and it just doesn't seem like a good place to live or visit. San Diego is probably a chill place and I'll definitely hit that up next year. I'm on the fence about San Jose...might give that one a pass because it's a bit farther north than I want. But Damn...SoCal is expensive!! Thanks again, guys.

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003