Define "California Dream" (past and present) (San Diego, Sacramento: middle-class, real estate)

[Danoliafoya]

Everybody bandies about the "California Dream" --

It's gone... We found it!... We lost it... Eureka!... You gotta go to this part of the state to find it... You can't find it in that part... It'll always be here -- it's California, by God: the beauty, the weather, the diversity... It's no longer possible here; you have to go to X state to find it now. ...

What exactly IS the "California Dream"?

I realize that times change, and thus terms change. So, if you are an old-timer give your take on the "California Dream" that once was in days gone by vis-a-vis the dream (or lack thereof) that currently is, moving forward. If you are a relative newbie or a California Dreamer, give your take on the dream that you currently harbor regarding living there.

[sav858]

Basically the American Dream with better weather and scenery.

[bhcompy]

Today's California dream is to sell your house, if you're lucky enough to have purchased one before 1999, and take that money somewhere else before you're taxed and fee'd to death

[NYSD1995]

Past:
- middle-class affluence
- home ownership
- plentiful jobs
- safety, good schools
- a new place, full of hope

Present:
- get rich via software industry, film/TV, real estate
- surf, skate, stoned
- escape deplorable conditions in your home country
- sell your house and leave

[Western87]

I think historically, the California dream has been to have instant wealth in constrast to the American dream to build up wealth overtime and live comfortably. The history of the state has showed that in CA its possible to have instant wealth; from the gold rush, to the studios moving west early in the 20th century, to the dot-com boom. Might not be the case right now but it has happened many times here

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by Danoliafoya

Everybody bandies about the "California Dream" --

It's gone... We found it!... We lost it... Eureka!... You gotta go to this part of the state to find it... You can't find it in that part... It'll always be here -- it's California, by God: the beauty, the weather, the diversity... It's no longer possible here; you have to go to X state to find it now. ...

What exactly IS the "California Dream"?

I realize that times change, and thus terms change. So, if you are an old-timer give your take on the "California Dream" that once was in days gone by vis-a-vis the dream (or lack thereof) that currently is, moving forward. If you are a relative newbie or a California Dreamer, give your take on the dream that you currently harbor regarding living there.

I lifted this post from another thread 'cause it came to mind when i read your post.
I hope stillkit doesn't mind that i "borrowed" it.
It was such a good description of California, past and present and addresses your question(s).

"Never forget that the west coast was, and is, a barrier. It stopped the western migration of our history cold, dead in its tracks.

Those who perpetually moved west were the disaffected, the non-conformists, the recalcitrant, those seeking relief from responsibilities and expectations or running from the law. Those moving west were after a new life, a new beginning, a fresh start separated by a continent from the old life, from the old parameters and restraining conformity.

It still is. New generations head west for the same reasons their forefathers headed west, and they join the progeny of those previous immigrants. All of them have washed up against the Pacific Ocean and stopped. There's no place else to go.

That's why the west coast is different from the rest of America, and California in particular. The opportunities in Washington and Oregon are pretty much limited to those areas west of the Cascades, but California was, and still is, wide open, from the high deserts to the inland valleys to the coast; California is the Mecca, the Promised Land, the place where a person can begin again.

It has attracted, does attract, and WILL attract the detrious of the continent; the good alongside the bad, the decent people and the criminals, the lazy and the industrious. Anyone wanting to start over has come to California and they'll continue to come because they have no other place to go.

That's what makes California so unique!"


stillkit's post

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Danoliafoya

What exactly IS the "California Dream"?

I realize that times change, and thus terms change. So, if you are an old-timer give your take on the "California Dream" that once was in days gone by vis-a-vis the dream (or lack thereof) that currently is, moving forward. If you are a relative newbie or a California Dreamer, give your take on the dream that you currently harbor regarding living there.

I can only tell you what it was to me. I was born in San Diego 63 years ago to a military family so we moved around a lot. I also had my own military near-career so I moved even more. After living in seven other states, some of them more than once, and three other countries, I landed back in California 32 years ago and have stayed.

My memory of CA and the dream goes back to 1951 when we were transferred from NC to SoCal. We ended up on one of the islands in Newport Beach which became my childhood home because regardless of moves elsewhere, we always returned to that house in time.

It was nothing less than magical in the days before freeways and corporate greed, McMansions, the gross proliferation of illegal immigration and street gangs. Crime was almost unheard of, neighbors knew and helped neighbors, schools were good, Orange County was full of orange groves and I went to Disneyland opening weekend. I was surrounded by movie and television stars who became my neighbors and their children my friends and it was no big deal. Young families were the rule, not the exception.

Aerospace was humming in SoCal, society was civil and considerate and much more moral than anytime since. Unfortunately, there was still discrimination, the Korean War and the Cold War. Then, of course, came my war, Vietnam, and society here went downhill from there.

Beginning in the 60s things began to change and as far as I'm concerned, things only got worse, where they've stayed. I used to be able to see Catalina Island from the second story of our house most days except during June Gloom but it's now obscured by smog, as is Saddle Back Mountain. The orange groves were paved over many years ago, ghettos and barrios are all over, traffic is a nightmare and prices are out of sight. People lock their homes in gated communities and it's not safe for children to be out and about totally on their own as my friends and I were.

Crime! Crime! Crime! It's all over. I now live in Sacramento. It doesn't matter where you are anymore. The criminal element is legion. The government is a joke, the Legislature is broken, as is the state treasury, the infrastructure is a shambles and an embarassment, the schools are pathetic and the air quality is attrocious in most places.

Having said all that, my wife and I, both native Californians, are leaving in two weeks and moving back to America where we just purchased a home! We'll miss and mourn the California Dream that was, but not what it's become.

[jc76]

Originally Posted by sav858

Basically the American Dream with better weather and scenery.

Exactly.
Where I live the weather down right sucks. We get 6 months of winter, 5 months of rain and a month where mother nature is in shock. California (especially southern) has that perfect climate that us midwesterners dream of on those crappy winter days.
Mainly that's about 90% of my "California Dream", just nice sunny weather and the Pacific Ocean. Such a great sense of freedom, yet so unattainable from high cost that it has me clenching my fists everyday. To want something so bad you think about it everyday for 4 years to me is more than just a "dream."
My dream is not dead, but it's taken so much of my being that I am contemplating letting it go, throwing my arms up and saying YOU WIN INDIANA!
Dreamers like me are a dime a silo. If you live out there count your blessings.

[jc76]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

I can only tell you what it was to me. I was born in San Diego 63 years ago to a military family so we moved around a lot. I also had my own military near-career so I moved even more. After living in seven other states, some of them more than once, and three other countries, I landed back in California 32 years ago and have stayed.

My memory of CA and the dream goes back to 1951 when we were transferred from NC to SoCal. We ended up on one of the islands in Newport Beach which became my childhood home because regardless of moves elsewhere, we always returned to that house in time.

It was nothing less than magical in the days before freeways and corporate greed, McMansions, the gross proliferation of illegal immigration and street gangs. Crime was almost unheard of, neighbors knew and helped neighbors, schools were good, Orange County was full of orange groves and I went to Disneyland opening weekend. I was surrounded by movie and television stars who became my neighbors and their children my friends and it was no big deal. Young families were the rule, not the exception.

Aerospace was humming in SoCal, society was civil and considerate and much more moral than anytime since. Unfortunately, there was still discrimination, the Korean War and the Cold War. Then, of course, came my war, Vietnam, and society here went downhill from there.

Beginning in the 60s things began to change and as far as I'm concerned, things only got worse, where they've stayed. I used to be able to see Catalina Island from the second story of our house most days except during June Gloom but it's now obscured by smog, as is Saddle Back Mountain. The orange groves were paved over many years ago, ghettos and barrios are all over, traffic is a nightmare and prices are out of sight. People lock their homes in gated communities and it's not safe for children to be out and about totally on their own as my friends and I were.

Crime! Crime! Crime! It's all over. I now live in Sacramento. It doesn't matter where you are anymore. The criminal element is legion. The government is a joke, the Legislature is broken, as is the state treasury, the infrastructure is a shambles and an embarassment, the schools are pathetic and the air quality is attrocious in most places.

Having said all that, my wife and I, both native Californians, are leaving in two weeks and moving back to America where we just purchased a home! We'll miss and mourn the California Dream that was, but not what it's become.

I have nothing but respect for you.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Past:
- Part of the overall Great Western Movement
- Pioneer spirit
- Bourgeois notion of paradise
- Generally middle class
- The best of the US West (e.g. with the overall US West vibe, but with the best weather, micro climates, urbanism, etc)
- Set down roots, the last move ever
- Anglo Saxon with Mexican and Native American flavorings

Present:
- Just another "global hot spot" ala Singapore, HK, UK, et al
- Euro wannabe spirit hybridized with Pacific Rim pan Asian / overseas Chinese spirit, in direct competition with Reconquista / Aztlan / Che Guevarra "pan American" spirit
- 3rd world / expat version of paradise
- Two class system
- Pretending the rest of the US West does not even exist
- Make your bucks and either carve out your private duchy, or, get out
- An attempted "global village" atmosphere, but with the fading aspects of the old Anglo Saxon culture (e.g. the worst aspects) still exerting influence (especially within the black and poor white communities) - for example, drugs, violence, gangs, crime, etc.