Calling Californians: Tell me about Santa Cruz!

Good luck with the interview!  (don't know much about Santa Cruz though - went there once).

pain in the ass to drive to / from, especially in bad weather

expensive housing / visible homeless population

lotta rich folks / lotta poverty

Turtle used to live there, maybe he'll chime in

Coolest town in California. Lots of working class white and Hispanic people. 

It's could always be gentrified a little more. Some people like that. 

Paging HALL

I remember in the 80's Dead Heads were banned from the homeless shelters in Santa Cruz.

love it! go if you can

I was born in Santa Cruz, but lived there for only 3 days before moving to Salinas.

From what I know about you, just act like the person you are and you'll be a perfect fit for this Central Coast community.

Tell them that you will be a Deadicated employee and resident.

Don't forget to mention that you love banana slugs!

Santa Cruz is the only place I was ever detained by the police. Fall of 1965, a friend and I hitchhiked from Grass Valley/Nevada City where we lived to see friends who lived in Ben Lomond. Got stuck on a freeway onramp on the way home when it was still illegal to hitchhike in Santa Cruz. I was 16 so went to the juvenile jail (or whatever they called it) for the day til we could be released to an adult. I was put in a cell by myself while my friend was put with another girl. The only good thing about that long day was that I had plenty of time to perfect my whistling.

I know some people in the hills above Santa Cruz. Ocean view real estate still within reach if you can live simple and build it one piece at a time. I hear they have some decent marijuanas there. Not a Californian, but this is one of few places I’d probe if considering a move there. Good luck with the interview!

Great Little Brazilian place there.  Worth the wait, but don't get run over in the driveway.

<Lots of working class white and Hispanic people. >

working their ass off to pay for housing... a piece of shit in need of work = $750.000 with neighbors 8 ft away. No thanks. Not enough high paying jobs to really support the any new gentrification... 

The median price of homes currently listed in Santa Cruz is $948,000 while the median price of homes that sold is $916,800.

The median rent price in Santa Cruz is $3,275, which is higher than the Santa Cruz-Watsonville Metro median of $3,100.

Awesome

the town

and the fact that you are interviewing.  Best of luck-- don't be nervous, be honest, and enthusiastic.  Sell yourself but gauge when you might be nervous/ talking too much.  Lol?

I love it but it's a complicated relationship.

Lots of PROS...less cons.

cons:

traffic. terrible. getting worse. live close to where you work if at all possible

homeless. i think it almost started in sc....its been that way for a looooong time, has gotten worse

isolated (but that is also a pro). the 17 sucks to SJ.

crack/meth

hard to find/expensive housing

pros;

exceedingly beautiful

can be in redwood in 10 mins from town and feel like you are away...

healthy lifestyle/tons of killer local products/organic farms

live music. acess is off the hook. something to do everynight.

beaches.

culture and community is compassionate

sc > sf is still one of my favorite places in the state.

its the redwoods meeting the sea.

access to big sur and and bay area is doable in a day trip.

good luck!

Good luck! Would be good to have you in California.

>>>>with neighbors 8 ft away. No thanks.

Take some more acid?

Really nice beaches - in town and nearby.

Really expensive rents/home prices.

Really bad traffic.

>>>with neighbors 8 ft away. No thanks.

Take some more acid?

Slacker I bang rocks, use power tools, raise a lot of stone dust  and sometimes curse loudly--- you wouldn't want to live 8 feet away form me (especially if you were trippin).

Nice place to visit. Very beautiful, for sure.

>>>crack/meth

but they have the good meth

Beeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuutiful right on the bay eye candy is what I remember most. Also plenty of direction challenged wooks running around on the loose, that was the only black eye. Decent seafood place on the pier, I forget the name . Catalyst Club had some great live music, saw Buddy Guy and Roger McGuinn there.  

Traffic can be really rough as it seems there are more & more people who work in Silicon Valley and commute, but that's mainly the freeway going south during main commuter times. Otherwise it's not really that bad if you're working and living in town, and 17 isn't usually that bad either unless there's a wreck (which there is almost every day).

And sure, pros & cons, but don't all towns have pro/cons? I've lived just on the other side of "the hill" most of my life and have loved & enjoyed Santa Cruz for many years. Overall I think it's a great town that has many small town positives along with some bigger community amenities, especially live music, ESPECIALLY jazz, as there is a great little venue that books the best acts in the world. Not as many mainstream/rock acts play there as they used to, but there are a couple of good smaller venues that get lots of fun acts.

And from my perspective there may be a bit of a precious old hippy vibe at times, but that's not the worst vibe in the world and overall I think the energy in that town is very relaxed and very cool.

But yes, Hall is the authority, a local boy who still works in town and lives close by (and he's not really an old hippy). He'll likely chime in soon.

But where is that guy who used to zone who lived in Santa Cruz and HATED it? He & Hall used to go 'round & 'round.

kuumbwa! thanks for reminding me. Get a bagel around the corner: garlic bagel with hummus, thank me later

Hot and humid in summer - it was just in the 90s this week.

Pesticide fog in winter.

Santa Cruz > Davis 

and Capitola or Aptos - just south of Santa Cruz are lovely towns too.  
 

tons of great music in town, Michael's on Main is the cool hang out with great live music and friendly folks 

Very "green board-esq"

Tell me about T for Timbucktoo

Regardless, good luck!

Davis is more pleasant than most places in the world 9 months out of every year. An hour and thirty from everything fun.

>>>Capitola or Aptos - just south of Santa Cruz are lovely towns too<<<

Agreed. Beautiful little towns 10/15 minutes from Santa Cruz, except Monday - Friday from 3:00 - 7:30, when it's a 40 minute crawl.

As bad a stretch of traffic as I ever come across, as bad as 880 along the east bay, as bad as 101 north of the Golden Gate Bridge to San Rafael.

IMO if you work normal hours in Santa Cruz proper it's best to live in town, north of town or up in Scotts Valley. NOT south.

>>>An hour and thirty from everything fun<<<

Sacramento is turning into a pretty fun town, and that's only 20 minutes from Davis.

Within an hour and thirty. 

Good surf in santa cruz. I stayed with a friend who rented a house pretty close to the ocean and i remember the sound of waves breaking..It was alot louder that I thought

I was out for the Q reunion shiws sep 03

I got up early walked down by the ocean and found good cheap breakfast served on a paper plate. Also was surprised at how many people were already in the ocean waiting for waves.

I also think I met steve caballaro that weekend

I'll also add..the U of Cali-Santa Cruz is a lovely campus with great views of the ocean.  The santa Cruz mountains were quite beautiful. too

Lompico(where Jerry lost his finger)

Zayante

Bonny Doon

Scott Creek

Mt. Charley

Empire Grade

Corollittos

Braciforte is where I'd live in the hills to avoid traffic

Paul Sweet 

Warren St eastside

Swift street westside

Seascape

Cool town if you're a student whose parents pay the rent. West Siiiiiiiide

Yes, however luck and randomness plays a part as well, as does who you know and recommendations 

good luck ( and have fun / be resilient ).  Long live the warriors 

Just an fyi, i wouldn't want to have to commute over the hill to sj everyday. people DO it...but ugh. Not sure but since the advent of silicon valley, not too many affordable places on the corridor left.

>>>Interviewing for jobs exposes your authentic self, strengths and weaknesses, like nothing else does<<<

I've actually found that interviewing for jobs mostly exposes one's ability to interview for jobs, not necessarily one's ability to actually DO the job. Interviewing is a performance, an act that many people are good at and many otherwise very qualified people are not so good at, and unfortunately far too often those who are good at the performance win the job over those who are better for the job itself. A flaw in the system for sure.

>>> If I were to win the San Jose job I would be on-call for media a lot and would need to live close by<<<

Despite popular opinion, while San Jose is a massive suburban area it isn't the worst place in the world to live. The main issues are traffic & expense for a home, but depending on what you can afford there are areas in & around San Jo and in the greater Santa Clara Valley that are nice, and in general us south bay suburbanites are a pretty mellow group.

And yeah, you do not want to commute from Santa Cruz every day. BRUTAL! But if you do like a more rural setting and yucky things like redwood trees I know a number of people who live in the Boulder Creek area that commute down the mountain every day, and they don't mind that.

Now go break a leg!

< i wouldn't want to have to commute over the hill to sj everyday. people DO it...but ugh>

^ what he said

I just drove that curvy, hilly, seemingly always being repaired road (17) in the evening in the rain a few days before Xmas and it was gnarly. No lights, no visibility and lots of traffic.

In one stretch there's actually a sideroad that people have to come out of and cross over the divide without traffic lights -- which is insane if there are any cars speeding by.

If you get the job I'd say look around the town of Santa Clara. It's nice, it's close enough to bike to the airport and it's got it's own vibe, a bit of a college town feel to it. 

On the Q.  Sounds like you just have to relax and let it flow 

the glow will follow 

one kid lives in Santa Clara and it fits. Many good options

 Rent is high but he goes on hella cool bike rides.    Of course he is younger and way healthier than most of "us"

And he went to punctuation tom's  high  school, as did his four siblings!

Good thing they didn't have me for English!

It's a solid school. Most students do good there.

I wouldn't mind living in Ventura.

..

>>>>I wouldn't mind living in Ventura.

Oh great, you are going to get that America song "Ventura Highway" stuck in my head.   "Cause the free wind is blowing through your hair, and the days surround your daylight
there. Seasons crying no despair. Alligator lizards in the air." 

Always wondered why the alligator lizards were in the air. We have some around here, but they just walk; they don't fly.

I know some alligators in the air.  Down at Joshua Tree.  I was talking to a prickly pear cactus who directed me to look up to the sky. Pretty cool creatures. 

>>>>> I was talking to a prickly pear cactus 

Friend of Mescalito, no doubt.

Somehow maybe you could pull off commuting from mariposa..

but merced? Yikes.

It's not that hot.

Smoke from fires in summer/fall.

Don't know anything about Merced, but I bet the cost of living/housing is way cheaper than the BA.

There's usually a reason for that.

Merced, Hard NO!

Yeah, Merced is a small farm town in the middle of the Valley. One hour north of fresburg.  Not a lot of draw there. Yosemite has been priced way out of my league over the last yrs. I used to go up there several times a yr. Was my special place.  Have not been in many yrs.

But good luck Lollo. Hope you find your niche.