Silicon Valley Associates - where to live Forum

[071816]

Struggling between LA and an offer in Palo Alto. Married, preschool age child, and another on the way. Thoughts?

Hell-a??? You do not want to raise your children in southern California. Basically, norcal and socal are diametrically opposed.

SOCAL:
--Image and status oriented
--Hollywood money
--Sprawling and ridiculous traffic
--Terrible public transit
--Concrete, concrete, concrete

NORCAL:
--Merit based, casual, more laid back
--Tech money
--Great public transit, easy to get anywhere
--Amazing private schools; some of the best in the nation (CPS, Head Royce, Harker, Bellarmine, etc etc)
--Fantastic places to go with your spouse and kids on weekends. An hour in any direction and you are in SF, Santa Cruz, the beach, wine country, redwood trees, etc.
--Great job opportunities for your spouse if they are in technology. In LA the jobs are more in media/tv.

You would be crazy to pick LA over the Bay if the choice was just about location.

If you are a rational human being you will NOT listen to this poster's sweeping generalizations. Southern California is an enormous region that cannot be summarized with five bullet points. I've lived in both regions (L.A. and Silicon Valley) and enjoy them both for different reasons. There is so much variation just within the Los Angeles area that you would be doing yourself a disservice by not looking into it.

You would be crazy to listen to this poster if you actually want to make a well-informed choice.

[BioEBear2010]

Struggling between LA and an offer in Palo Alto. Married, preschool age child, and another on the way. Thoughts?

Hell-a??? You do not want to raise your children in southern California. Basically, norcal and socal are diametrically opposed.

SOCAL:
--Image and status oriented
--Hollywood money
--Sprawling and ridiculous traffic
--Terrible public transit
--Concrete, concrete, concrete

NORCAL:
--Merit based, casual, more laid back
--Tech money
--Great public transit, easy to get anywhere
--Amazing private schools; some of the best in the nation (CPS, Head Royce, Harker, Bellarmine, etc etc)
--Fantastic places to go with your spouse and kids on weekends. An hour in any direction and you are in SF, Santa Cruz, the beach, wine country, redwood trees, etc.
--Great job opportunities for your spouse if they are in technology. In LA the jobs are more in media/tv.

You would be crazy to pick LA over the Bay if the choice was just about location.

If you are a rational human being you will NOT listen to this poster's sweeping generalizations. Southern California is an enormous region that cannot be summarized with five bullet points. I've lived in both regions (L.A. and Silicon Valley) and enjoy them both for different reasons. There is so much variation just within the Los Angeles area that you would be doing yourself a disservice by not looking into it.

You would be crazy to listen to this poster if you actually want to make a well-informed choice.

As someone who has also lived in both LA and the Bay Area (SV, SF, and East Bay), I completely agree with Anon #2. LA is one of the most diverse areas in the country, and cannot be labeled so generally.

[Anonymous User]

If you are a rational human being you will NOT listen to this poster's sweeping generalizations. Southern California is an enormous region that cannot be summarized with five bullet points. I've lived in both regions (L.A. and Silicon Valley) and enjoy them both for different reasons. There is so much variation just within the Los Angeles area that you would be doing yourself a disservice by not looking into it.

You would be crazy to listen to this poster if you actually want to make a well-informed choice.

As someone who has also lived in both LA and the Bay Area (SV, SF, and East Bay), I completely agree with Anon #2. LA is one of the most diverse areas in the country, and cannot be labeled so generally.

What are the pros of LA? It seems both the defenses here just concede the points but say that the criticism is too general; i.e., that it applies to some parts of LA but not others. If LA isn't as described, what is it like?

[071816]

If you are a rational human being you will NOT listen to this poster's sweeping generalizations. Southern California is an enormous region that cannot be summarized with five bullet points. I've lived in both regions (L.A. and Silicon Valley) and enjoy them both for different reasons. There is so much variation just within the Los Angeles area that you would be doing yourself a disservice by not looking into it.

You would be crazy to listen to this poster if you actually want to make a well-informed choice.

As someone who has also lived in both LA and the Bay Area (SV, SF, and East Bay), I completely agree with Anon #2. LA is one of the most diverse areas in the country, and cannot be labeled so generally.

What are the pros of LA? It seems both the defenses here just say that the criticism is too general; i.e., that it applies to some parts of LA but not others. If LA isn't as described, what is it like?

Do a fucking Google search or visit some time.

Like I said, L.A. is really diverse. Asking what the pros of L.A. are is like asking what language is spoken in Africa. You are going to have to be a bit more specific. Which part of L.A.? Do you mean just L.A. county? If so, what city? If you mean the city of L.A., which neighborhood?

Also, I was not conceding anything. Merely pointing out what an asinine post that was. The person basically just made a list of positive stereotypes for the bay area and negative stereotypes of L.A.

[BioEBear2010]

LA is great because it has everything. Beach (read: real beaches) communities, up-and-coming downtown, hipster scene in West Hollywood and Silver Lake, poppin' Santa Monica, quaint Pasadena, suburbs if you like the quiet life. A relatively short drive gets you to Orange County, mountains, Vegas, and San Diego. And of course, LA has great weather everywhere. Sure there are awful people in SoCal, but with nearly 10 MILLION people in LA county there is no shortage of wonderful people.

And a note about LA schools. While as a whole the LA school system is underwhelming, there are a number of gems. Buckley, Harvard Westlake, Viewpoint, various strong public schools, just to name a few.

[Anonymous User]

OP Here --

Really good tips; the thread kinda went off track. Any other ideas on bay area living when you work in PA? It sounds like Mountain View is a good bet for something a bit cheaper than Palo Alto. And San Francisco can be done, but is probably a bit of a commute that would be hard for a new associate, right?

[jarofsoup]

The silicon valley kinda sucks to live in, but nonetheless there are great opportunities there. I would live as close to SF as you can. Look north of Palo Alto like Red Wood City, Burlingame, San Carlos. If you have to live south of this Los Gatos or Palo Alto.

I am personally not a fan of San Jose, and I do not believe that most people that are from San Jose are really big fans of it either.

So live in the area if you can stand it. Live closer to SF if you do not mind a commute. If you have access to SF your weekends could be a lot funner, but the perk of living more south is Santa Cruz is about 25 minutes away.

[Anonymous User]

The silicon valley kinda sucks to live in, but nonetheless there are great opportunities there. I would live as close to SF as you can. Look north of Palo Alto like Red Wood City, Burlingame, San Carlos. If you have to live south of this Los Gatos or Palo Alto.

I am personally not a fan of San Jose, and I do not believe that most people that are from San Jose are really big fans of it either.

So live in the area if you can stand it. Live closer to SF if you do not mind a commute. If you have access to SF your weekends could be a lot funner, but the perk of living more south is Santa Cruz is about 25 minutes away.

Thanks -- so you would advocate RWC/Burlingame over Mountain View? I agree and don't like San Jose much at all. I think the spouse might be working in SF so that is another consideration.