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hello, i may soon have a job offer in crescent city. i have a wife and twin 3yr old boys. i've been through there twice and it seemed like a nice smaller town which is what we want plus it's coastal and redwoods. we currently live in the portland metro area and don't love it, too hectic. when looking for housing in cc there dosen't seem to be a lot available. any other areas nearby to consider? and any opinions of the area are appreciated. thanks in advance
I checked out Crescent City some in relationship to Humboldt County to the south for possible relocation. Access to the water in Crescent City is very nice, better than almost anywhere in fact. Driving along the shore on the west side of town, there are literally dozens of places to pull off to watch the sunset and birds on the many offshore rocks. Most of these pull-offs also provided easy access to the beach but keep in mind that there are houses right across the street so these are not remote beaches. There's a large park on the south end of town with a long beach where the water is very protected inside the breakwaters where I noticed families bringing young children since it was such a comparatively safe beach compared to the outer coast beaches.
in Crescent City, you aren't just isolated, you are extremely isolated. It's a very long ways to any major medical facility. There have been numerous negative stories about the small hospital they have. Personally, I would be concerned about this if I had small children. Shopping is also very limited. They do have a Walmart and a Home Depot if you're into those stores. It's about an hour and a half to Eureka to the south and the route into Oregon to Grants Pass or Medford is very winding, partly under tree canopy, and not one you'd relish doing in the winter/rain, although the first half or so is very scenic. There's a Fred Meyer in Brookings which isn't far but takes a deceptively long time to get there. The options for grocery shopping are limited pretty much to Safeway, Rays, and Grocery Outlet. If you like natural food/organic food/shopping at coops, etc, you are totally out of luck there. There is a very tiny natural store owned by the same people who own Eureka Natural Foods but don't expect much as it is nothing like their store in Eureka. About half of it seems to be devoted to health supplements, although there is a very small produce section (and nowhere near as nice as what you find in Humboldt at multiple stores even for the same items) and a few rows of natural/organic packaged food. The economy seems to be dependent on the Pelican Bay State Prison. Although I haven't lived there, my impression is that it's far more conservative than Humboldt and somewhat more conservative than southern Oregon. It would definitely be a radical departure from Portland in this department. Walking around in Eureka vs Crescent City, I found Eureka a much more friendly place... same in Arcata, McKinleyville, and Trinidad. Not as friendly as Portland either, although that's like comparing apples to oranges since Portland is a huge metro area (and I agree with your "hectic" comment).... but still I'm just saying that there's a certain "feel" to a place and the overall "feel" in Crescent City was not as friendly, at least to me, although I did interact with a few friendly people there.
thank you "freepelican" for your objective opinion and all the info. info about the beaches is very helpful as we would use those a lot, whats the point of living near the beach if you don't use them, i've known people who live close to beaches and hardly ever go. it seems odd that any place along the california coast could be isolated, but you are right in that cc seems to be which could be a bad thing for a health emergency. do you know what the closest trauma center is? i thought i read redding is a trauma center which would mean helicopter transport probably depending on the injury. hopefully we'd never need it but life happens. any info on colleges would be appreciated? i've read that it's redwoods community college and humboldt state for university studies. also, any idea what property taxes are like since we would like to buy a home within a few years. shopping is not a big deal to us, as long as we can get all the nessessities for reasonable prices. we'd probably go to costco in eureka or medford and really stock up on dry goods once a month. walmart could come in handy although i don't think the walmart in cc is a supercenter. i'll have to look that up or call them. i've read that pelican bay prison is the big employer but i would be employed by sutter health if this works out. good call on the conservative aspect of cc, i've looked at city compare website and it says that cc is 52% republican and eureka is 62% democrats. we are democrats but get along with republicans usually i guess the things that really are attractive about cc is first it's coastal with redwoods, second it looks to be affordable for us where most any other place in cali somewhat near the coast is way out of our price range. third, we like the idea of small town after living in the rat race for so long. don't get me wrong, portlanders are really nice people overall especially compared with other large cities i've been to but it is definitely a rat race. we would like to visit large cities and not live in them. thanks again in advance if you could answer the few ?'s btw, we actually considered eureka but it seems from what investigation i've done that it's kind of expensive for housing especially.
Crescent City is a hellhole. There are many, many past posts about it, including some from me. Use the Search Forum feature.
Moving there would be a potential option for me if I had to move that way, but I would be selective, and I might fine-tune my address after a year or two. There are options too, including Smith River. I don't think I'd ever live in Klamath. But I could handle CC for at least a year ... maybe more. Arcata vicinity would be my better option, but not if the work was in Crescent City.
Considering Beaverton up here (90,000) used to be 6,000 when we moved here, I find the Home Depot and other grocery stores in CC to be sufficient.
Suppose it depends on whether someone is limited in funds to take whatever bone remains, or whether they have money to be selective.
One of my favorite parts of Crescent City is the Kid Town play area ....
thank you "freepelican" for your objective opinion and all the info. info about the beaches is very helpful as we would use those a lot, whats the point of living near the beach if you don't use them, i've known people who live close to beaches and hardly ever go. it seems odd that any place along the california coast could be isolated, but you are right in that cc seems to be which could be a bad thing for a health emergency. do you know what the closest trauma center is? i thought i read redding is a trauma center which would mean helicopter transport probably depending on the injury. hopefully we'd never need it but life happens. any info on colleges would be appreciated? i've read that it's redwoods community college and humboldt state for university studies. also, any idea what property taxes are like since we would like to buy a home within a few years. shopping is not a big deal to us, as long as we can get all the nessessities for reasonable prices. we'd probably go to costco in eureka or medford and really stock up on dry goods once a month. walmart could come in handy although i don't think the walmart in cc is a supercenter. i'll have to look that up or call them. i've read that pelican bay prison is the big employer but i would be employed by sutter health if this works out. good call on the conservative aspect of cc, i've looked at city compare website and it says that cc is 52% republican and eureka is 62% democrats. we are democrats but get along with republicans usually i guess the things that really are attractive about cc is first it's coastal with redwoods, second it looks to be affordable for us where most any other place in cali somewhat near the coast is way out of our price range. third, we like the idea of small town after living in the rat race for so long. don't get me wrong, portlanders are really nice people overall especially compared with other large cities i've been to but it is definitely a rat race. we would like to visit large cities and not live in them. thanks again in advance if you could answer the few ?'s btw, we actually considered eureka but it seems from what investigation i've done that it's kind of expensive for housing especially.
I'm not sure I can answer your questions well. I'm not sure what the exact definition of "trauma center" is but I do know there are different levels... I know the hospital in Eureka has a 24/7 emergency room that is equipped to handle most types of emergencies but they do chopper people out to San Francisco I think in some extreme cases.... there are others on this forum who will know far better than me. Crescent City doesn't have anything close and Eureka is about 1 1/2 hours away. Other hospitals of any size are MUCH further away. You should know that even in Humboldt there is a shortage of doctors and those who are there are stretched thin.... and I've been told by multiple people, including some on this forum, that many people who live in Humboldt travel all the way to the Bay Area for surgeries and special treatments..... Crescent City would be even further away! Might even be closer to go into Oregon to Corvalis/Salem/Portland. It is most definitely a serious issue to consider before moving.
Colleges... you named both of the ones I know about in the area... Humboldt is part of the Cal State system, not the UC system. There are various opinions but from what I've heard, there are certain programs at Humboldt that are well respected, others not as much. It does have a rep for "pot culture" and some people seem to have an attitude that it is not a serious school for this reason but I don't believe that is true for many of the students who matriculate there. College of the Redwoods is a community college so I don't believe they offer 4 year degrees. I drove around the Humboldt campus but I missed driving through the main campus of the College of the Redwoods.... but was told it has a BEAUTIFUL campus and I will be visiting. Seems to have a good rep too. I really like what colleges bring to a community and I don't think you would get that benefit in Crescent City. Also, commuting into Humboldt would be quite a commute... remember the College of the Redwoods (main campus) is located at the extreme southern end of Eureka and the freeway ends as you enter Eureka so you really get slowed down going through town.
Like mdvaden, I could handle Crescent City for a year, and enjoy the very easy access to the water, but I think long-term it would not be the best community for me personally. Luckily, all parts of the Del Norte coastline are an easy day trip away from Humboldt.
I'd check on the school system in CC too.... I heard about parts of Humboldt having great schools and I wasn't even researching that... heard nothing about Del Norte... potentially not a good sign.
Moving there would be a potential option for me if I had to move that way, but I would be selective, and I might fine-tune my address after a year or two. There are options too, including Smith River. I don't think I'd ever live in Klamath. But I could handle CC for at least a year ... maybe more. Arcata vicinity would be my better option, but not if the work was in Crescent City.
Considering Beaverton up here (90,000) used to be 6,000 when we moved here, I find the Home Depot and other grocery stores in CC to be sufficient.
Suppose it depends on whether someone is limited in funds to take whatever bone remains, or whether they have money to be selective.
One of my favorite parts of Crescent City is the Kid Town play area ....
thanks for the picture, that looks fun for our kids. i agree with fine-tuning our address if we move there, once we know the town better we'll know the best neighborhoods to live.
great links, thx. those snow pics are incredible, we actually have also been considering the reno/tahoe area. is that where you are ? and if so, do you like it? thx
As far as living far from medical care...I used to live in the boonies in WA state. Several different boonies all over the state, actually. People who live out in the boonies have a system to get people help. In the tiny town I lived in, Trout Lake, WA, there were quite a few volunteer firemen who were trained to be emergency paramedics (if that's the right term). They were trained to stabilize someone until some transport arrived - be it helicopter, whatever. And these guys might be regular jokesters at the tavern on a Friday night, but when the siren went off, everybody was all business.
So, I personally wouldn't worry about that.
Since you work for Sutter Health, you should be able to relocate if you decide you don't like it there.
Colleges:
I was curious about accreditation for the College of the Redwoods. They're in trouble:
Plus, it doesn't look like all courses would transfer to CA universities and state colleges. That bothers me, too. The state college system normally allows transfer of most credits within the system. It would just be a real drag to get a degree from College of the Redwoods, or even worse almost get a degree, and want to transfer to or go on to grad school at a CA college, and not be accepted because they don't accept the units. I may be reading this wrong, but it should be looked into.
I saw that you asked someone about living in Tahoe. It's beautiful. I was there a few summers ago and had the opportunity to meet and visit with some year-round residents. The year-round residents are not wealthy people for the most part. I found them to be really friendly. The good thing about living in Tahoe is that it wouldn't feel like the boonies, like Crescent City would. But, as I understand it, property values are very high because of all of the part-time wealthy visitors. You'd be living somewhere that has huge seasonal inflluxes of people. This could be fun, it could be incredibly annoying too lol!
Last edited by NoMoreSnowForMe; 01-20-2014 at 01:57 AM..
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i guess the things that really are attractive about cc is first it's coastal with redwoods, second it looks to be affordable for us where most any other place in cali somewhat near the coast is way out of our price range. third, we like the idea of small town after living in the rat race for so long. don't get me wrong, portlanders are really nice people overall especially compared with other large cities i've been to but it is definitely a rat race. we would like to visit large cities and not live in them. thanks again in advance if you could answer the few ?'s btw, we actually considered eureka but it seems from what investigation i've done that it's kind of expensive for housing especially.
