07-03-2014, 09:31 AM
My wife and I managed to escape from LA about 15 years ago and settle in Santa Barbara. The first thing we noticed was rental sticker shock. Rents were easily twice that in SB over comparable housing in LA. But our soon-to-be neighbors and coworkers were nonplussed. Their collective attitude was something along the lines of: "You're not just paying for the roof over your head." At the time, I thought it was among the dumbest things that I had ever heard, and it only increased my exasperation when we started looking to buy. Now I find myself repeating the same mantra to visitors who ask me how I can justify living in such an expensive locale.
Echoing what others have written: Everyone has their priorities and pet-peeves. California is not right for everyone, but neither is Kansas (my home state), Alabama or Texas. However--and maybe this is because I'm not a native Californian--if someone decides that California's not for them, I harbor no ill will toward them and wish them the best in their search for the "right" place.
Echoing what others have written: Everyone has their priorities and pet-peeves. California is not right for everyone, but neither is Kansas (my home state), Alabama or Texas. However--and maybe this is because I'm not a native Californian--if someone decides that California's not for them, I harbor no ill will toward them and wish them the best in their search for the "right" place.
If there's one thing people have learned in Berkeley, it's that you can't put "Cal football" and "Rose Bowl" in the same sentence. The words just don't fit. You'd be better off linking "covered wagons" with "Mars travel." (Bruce Jenkins, Cal '70, SF Chronicle, Nov. 11, 2017)