Things you love and hate about where you live.

[TraceCub]

Originally Posted by PrincessY

Love this quote! Seriously - let it go.

[Brain Toad]

Originally Posted by Missviolet

First Street! Filled with Ma and Pa shops (minus the one Starbucks)... barber shops, all sorts of restaurants, A doggy bakery, an art shop (which I, surprisingly, haven't been in), two decent sushi places, a wine store, antiques, high end furniture, two kick butt chinese places and other stuff... pluuuss, at the end of First Street is a dock. A beautiful dock!

I'm glad First Street still has some shops, but it used to have a lot more, last time I was down there, it seemed more reality agents than actual stores now.

Even though being a native Vallejioian I should dislike Benicia (they deserve it, Benicians hate Vallejo too, think the whole city is one giant gang war), I do think some parts are very nice.

The "new" First Street lawn by the dock is really nice, despite them building condos right next to it. Their bus service is loads better than Vallejo's. They actually get festivals and such, unlike Vallejo who has driven all the festivals away.

[Disney Wrassler]

I love this place because of all the rain we get, lack of traffic, and the fact that we live in the country. But I hate the fact that we are surrounded by a bunch of dead people. I keep thinking they will pop out of their grave and start dancing to Thriller. Last thing I want down here is Micheal Jackson.

[Bruce Bergman]

Welcome to beautiful Woodland Hills, a subset of Los Angeles in the west San Fernando Valley. An Hour drive home from Disneyland - how long it takes to get down there can vary a lot. The record was Four Hours on a Friday afternoon.

When they announce the record high temperature inside L. A. City Limits (105, 109, 112, 114...) guess where it will be... You got it. Good thing about it is usually it isn't humid - we roast, not steam. (And when it's past the century mark using the line "But it's a dry heat!" is not healthy. Just sayin'.)

Good: Everything is close. Bad: Remembering which store or supplier you saw it at...

Good: Lots of entertainment and night life available. Bad: "Parking $10." Oh, and the Predatory Tow Drivers who'll pluck your car out of the 'wrong' parking lot in a heartbeat, and extort triple the legal impound rate to give it back. $350 plus, Cash Only.

Good: The smog has gotten much better. Bad: The traffic hasn't.

I could go on, but EVERY town big or small has it's good and it's bad points. You just have to decide whether the ones near you are tolerable.

RE: 'Smokey Bones' and other chain restaurants: Their success might be precisely why they closed - the landlord gives the tenants a nice low rent rate to get them into the building, and then tries to extort a huge rent increase if they turn out to be successful. Like a "net lease" where they pay a percentage of their profits as rent, and there are always arguments on whether they figured it right.

It's a big knife fight - Corporate restaurant chains have no qualms about closing a successful location and walking away simply because they can't make money at the new higher rent rates - and if they open a "new" location that resets the "Location open over 1 year, last years sales" comparison point.

And if the Landlord can't sit back and rake in the dough, they'd rather that one of the buildings they own stays vacant for tax purposes. Don't ask me how that works, but it does. We have several locations that sit vacant for 10 years, then a restaurant tries and fails, then it sits vacant for another 10.

--<< Bruce >>--

[Trekkie Dad]

Stockton, CA

What I like: I'm well connected here. Ethnic diversity. Lots of friends, and a great bike club. Beautiful foothill rides on quiet roads that pass though quaint little towns like Sutter Creek and Volcano. Mild weather (year-round riding). Commuting by bike (only 5 minutes longer than driving). Two hours driving can get you to the high sierra or the coast. Disneyland is a day's drive away.

What I don't like: Too flat, no scenery, winter fog that lasts for days if not weeks, not particularly bike-friendly (not hostile either), no nearby mountain biking. Underutilized airport. Disneyland is a day's drive away and require expensive overnight stays.

[Tinkerbelle]

Marin

Likes:
It's pretty, some of the most beautiful views I have ever seen.
just a day trip (3 hrs or less) away from most everything. from the beach to the mountains
close to San Francisco.
cute little house that I like.

what I hate:
No seasons...summer and cold rain, that's it
too far from DL and my friends
still after 16 years it doesn't feel like home.

[Disneykat]

Oh i forgot to mention what I hate about where I live;
No In N Out Burger
No Pick up Stix
No Del Taco
No Miguel's Jr.
Hardee's sucks...i miss Carl's Jr.

[Missviolet]

Originally Posted by Disneykat

Oh i forgot to mention what I hate about where I live;
No In N Out Burger
No Pick up Stix
No Del Taco
No Miguel's Jr.
Hardee's sucks...i miss Carl's Jr.

I feel ya on the no Stix thing. How I long for some House Chicken.

[QuietViolet]

I live in Ventura, California!!
I love the weather. I love that I am a block away from the beach. I love that when I leave town and come back, I can smell the salty air and know I am home. I love that it isn't too far from Disneyland. I love that my friends and family are here.
What I don't like about Ventura is that, when you don't feel like being a beach bum there isn't much to do. We have a pretty cool downtown but it gets played out after a while. But, all in all I am happy I live here and hope I can afford it once I graduate college and start my life (Still live with the parents/ commute to CSUCI in Camarillo)...

[TraceCub]

Originally Posted by Bruce Bergman

And if the Landlord can't sit back and rake in the dough, they'd rather that one of the buildings they own stays vacant for tax purposes. Don't ask me how that works, but it does. We have several locations that sit vacant for 10 years, then a restaurant tries and fails, then it sits vacant for another 10.

That's interesting. We were wondering if it's somehow better for the landlord company to not help the business if the rent is causing the business to struggle.

Must be one heck of a tax benefit!

Sorry for being OT.

[knittingknerd]

Originally Posted by Disneykat

Oh i forgot to mention what I hate about where I live;
No In N Out Burger
No Pick up Stix
No Del Taco
No Miguel's Jr.
Hardee's sucks...i miss Carl's Jr.

Seriously, I am totally experiencing all that right now and then some! I haven't had fast food, in something insane like 2 months. I love Miguel Juniors. Where'd you live that you had that? Isn't it only in Corona and Riverside?

I miss chinese food.

A thing to add to what I hate:
The fires. The last one got within 7 miles of the house. I don't like that. And with the last one it wasn't scary more so as a pain in the tushy because I couldn't leave the hill. I kinda' never got around to changing the address on my license or mailing address (I thought this was a temp. thing for 3 months. So I didn't think to do it for keeps. And I online bank, don't have a credit card, don't really get a whole lot of mail and what I did I changed it with the companies, not that fancy packet), and in order to get back on the hill once off I had to show proof of residency, which I didn't have.

Just thinking: this whole thread could be an advertisement for where not to live or where to live.

[Missviolet]

Originally Posted by knittingknerd

Seriously, I am totally experiencing all that right now and then some! I haven't had fast food, in something insane like 2 months. I love Miguel Juniors. Where'd you live that you had that? Isn't it only in Corona and Riverside?

I miss chinese food.

A thing to add to what I hate:
The fires. The last one got within 7 miles of the house. I don't like that. And with the last one it wasn't scary more so as a pain in the tushy because I couldn't leave the hill. I kinda' never got around to changing the address on my license or mailing address (I thought this was a temp. thing for 3 months. So I didn't think to do it for keeps. And I online bank, don't have a credit card, don't really get a whole lot of mail and what I did I changed it with the companies, not that fancy packet), and in order to get back on the hill once off I had to show proof of residency, which I didn't have.

Just thinking: this whole thread could be an advertisement for where not to live or where to live.

I remember when we moved to Spokane, WA and their chinese food SUCKED! I mean.. it was just terrible and we must have tried about 5 or 6 different places too! All of it was bad.. PLUS, they smoked in there too!

[Jazzman]

Originally Posted by sleepyjeff

But you got something like 50 Burgervilles

You nailed it though....Vantucky described to a T

Woo hoo! We got cheeseburgers! And... and... well, we got cheeseburgers!

Originally Posted by sleepyjeff

Yeah, Jazzman has most of them up in Vantucky

Too true. I think the county permitting for restaurants goes pretty much like this.

"So, where are you based?"
"Um, we're not. This is a new restaurant."
"You're not affiliated with anyone?"
"No, just ourselves..."
"Um... uh... Well, you do have a drive through, right?"
"No."
"Umm.... We'll get back to you."

[knittingknerd]

Originally Posted by Missviolet

I remember when we moved to Spokane, WA and their chinese food SUCKED! I mean.. it was just terrible and we must have tried about 5 or 6 different places too! All of it was bad.. PLUS, they smoked in there too!

Ew smoking in resturaunts. Ew.

Okay I just found out there was a chinese resturaunt in Agua Fria (or "Cold Water"), which I think the town is like 2 blocks in size, but from what I heard about it is greasy as hell, nasty, don't go there unless you can't live without chinese food. But like really? Is that all there is 1 chinese food place in all of the mountains, and it's not even a good one? All the resturaunts up here are bad... and the service is... It's very provencial in the bad way.

[sleepyjeff]

Originally Posted by Jazzman

Woo hoo! We got cheeseburgers! And... and... well, we got cheeseburgers!

Don't forget about the Walla Walla's.....