Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hahaha that would be so funny! Also Deserter is probably moving to Portland as well and we've already found we'd make great friends. It would be pretty hilarious if we all ended up in the same area. We've got to convince Fastfilm to move to Oregon... although I don't think it would take much convincing! I definitely agree that I will likely travel during the winter months of my Oregon living to less cold areas maybe revisit old places in California (not southern I won't miss Southern Cali) but it will be nice to actually have a SAVINGS account for once where money goes in and stays there. Living in California a savings account is a joke.
Oh wait Des Demona aren't you moving to Eugene? Either way, its out of here, so its all good. What area are you looking at in Portland snb3? I think fastfilm still, like me, has a few years to put in here in LA, but where you headin' then to write that book someone suggested on here :-)?
The hard part for a Californian is to be as nice as an Oregonian. Smile, be friendly, and no one will know the difference. Stick your nose into the air and they'll think you are from California. Keep the nose level and be neighborly and you will fit in just fine. Don't give it another thought.
By the way, to change those license plates will only cost you $55.
Dan
I don't know why anyone from anywhere whether it be from Oregon or anyother state would think it is "HARD" for Californian's to be nice. I'm really taken aback by that statement!
I was born and raised here in Southern California... I'm from Dana Point which is a coastal town about 10 minutes south of Laguna Beach.... contrary to what everyone might think the real Laguna Beach is not like it is portrayed on TV. Just as I'm sure that everyone in Oregon isn't a granola loving, tree-hugging, hippie. I'm also sure women in Oregon shave their legs and armpits.... I don't think it's fair to place sterotypes on everyone from a particular area. I personally know a lot of friendly people from California and I also know a lot of stuck up people from other places.
Also... a lot of people who live here in South Orange county are not even from here! They all moved here from someplace else and that's one of the reasons I'm excited about leaving... they brought with them traffic, crime, graffitti (spell check ) English is a 3rd language here now and our children are forced to be slowed down in school so the spanish only speaking kids can be taught in spanish!
I think the other poster who wrote about how we are forced to be "on guard" is right on. However not all areas are like that. In the coastal towns in Orange County people are down to earth, flip-flop wearnin', open minded, nice people who just want to have a good time and who appreciate the enviroment and beautiful area in which we live.
To set an example to my point... I used to live in Dallas Texas.... I loved it there and everyone would always ask me how I liked living in Texas... I would say that I can't speak for Texas because I only know Dallas... you can't compare the Paris Hilton-LA-type for everyone in California... it's just not fair.
Anyway, get me out of California but don't presume to think it will be "HARD" for me to be nice to you. Get off your high horse or in your case climb down out of your tall tree and let the stereotype go.
Yeah well I speak from a South Orange County AND an LA perspective having lived in both places and hated them both. Open minded?? HA! South county is the most stereotypical place I've EVER seen and I've been to just about all 50 states. Sure there are nice people in Orange County but the reality is, they are only nice to the people who are just like them (which is most people) so I could see how you would perceive everyone as being nice. As for Laguna Beach the show, it IS just like that, especially with the younger kids. I worked in Laguna Beach and lived just around the corner in Aliso Viejo and I can tell you from someone that did NOT fit in down there people were horrible. I was so glad to move away from there. Where I live now is pretty nice and people are more down to earth and less pretentious but I drive a long way to LA for work and it is not the case there.
Not everyone in Southern California is horrible and mean but it IS true that many many many socalers have their heads up their a*ses and have no idea what's going on around them. It's a whole different culture down here.
In any case, you're from Dana Point (to the previous poster) so I don't think you are really phased by what people in places like LA are forced to deal with. Orange County people ARE stuck up. It's not ALL of them, but it's most certainly a lot of them. They don't have as hard a time making eye contact or smiling though because they don't have as many problems or things to deal with as people from LA do. I was working one day in Laguna Beach and this group set up a little petition area out of the way from everyone, they weren't hurting anyone, they weren't blocking any walkways, they were just handing out fliers and asking people to sign a petition and about 3 minutes into it they got SURROUNDED by the bored as Hell Laguna Beach PD (a TON of them) and were forced to leave. In LA... there are people like that every FIVE feet and do you think the cops have time to worry about stuff like that? Hell no. Are the people more bold and brazen and confront you aggressively? You better believe it! That's why we are so scared of making eye contact, of smiling, or even slowing down our pace lest we get accosted by someone.
This is for sabrina29
LOVE your statements! Com'on back to california amiga. California is waiting for you, but do not come back to So.California or LA. You must be young and need the night life. I am in my late fifties and do not need the night life. I don't even go out late at night because I am afright that something may happen to me. Com'on home but I will be leaving california sometime soon.
The world isn't perfit and it is all up to every individual to make the place where they live for now a better place to live in. Enjoy Oregon while you can.
darah
Have you looked into the Willamette Valley? It's their agricultural area and so is temperate. Gorgoeus area from Eugene almost to Portland. Great fishing, recreation, beautiful mountains, farm land, Willamette River and many others through the area.
They don't have as hard a time making eye contact or smiling though because they don't have as many problems or things to deal with as people from LA do. .
We don't have as many problems??? You want to know what problems we have???/ Now I'm speaking as some one who moved to Dana Point in 1974 when it was still a small town before places like Irvine and Aliso Viejo even exsisted.... I remember when driving from SJC to Santa Ana was all Tomato fields and Orange Groves.... Anyway, what we have to deal with is where people have to work incredible hours and pay outrageous prices for everything just because it's assumed that everyone is rich. Where most women have to work full time jobs and being a stay at home mom is rare because our house payments are over $3000 a month not including car payments and child care (which for two kids is almost $2000K a month). Maybe you find people to be rude when maybe the reality is they are over whelmed by trying to make ends meet in a place where you can't buy a crappy tear down house for less than $650K.... Heck, you can get a two bedroom condo for only $400K!!! such a deal!
I remember when it was affordable there and that was a LONG time before everyone and their mothers uncles brothers sisiters kid decided to move there and congest a beautiful area.
Don't sterotype me... I would love to bet that all those stuck up snobs you seem to come accross are not "native" to the area. They come there thinking they are "rich" people and act the part simply because they think that's the way "rich" people act and behave. I would bet 9 out of 10 of the people you know are from someplace else and NOT from So OC.
As for your comments on Laguna Beach.... Tourists have congested a beautiful city full of culture and diversity. I'm sure some of the TEEN crowd may be similar to the MTV show but I assure you the "NATIVES" are friendly easy going people who love their city.
Anyway, two things... If you hate so cal so much leave it. Also, if you are one of the "so friendly" Oregonians I am so eagerly awaiting meeting then you have a warped view of what it means to be friendly.
Also, you sound just like one of the "stuck up" people in the OC you are refferring to so you seem to be fitting right in to your perception.
Oh and Des Demona I forgot to add that the people who do the petitions are PAID to stand outside of all the stores out here like Target and grocery stores... they get paid by how many signatures they can obtain. They don't even care about the causes they are petitioning... fact is I do avoid eye contact and walk by those people without giving them the time of day... I would LOVE to be able to go into Target or buy a gallon of milk without having to sign a petition or explain why I don't have time to talk to them.... personally I would rather go online and reaserch the cause then sign the petition online rather than use up more of my precious time that I could be spending with my kids (remember I have to work crazy numbers of hours to just make ends meet and provide proper care for my children so I can afford my crappy two bedroom condo which is outrageously priced)
One last note... those stuck up people you are speaking of are the minority in so cal these days... the major number of the population are mexican and asian.
The thing that really burns me up about all of this is the fact that I'm the first person to admit that California has problems but to be honest the "people" have neve been the issue. (Fast drivers aside).... it's the high cost of living, growing crime rate, gangs, graffitti, did I mention fast drivers????
Really, there is no use trying to convince you or anyone here that us Native californians are good hearted and nice people. You already have the stereotype that we are snobs.
I just hope you are not the stereotypical Oregonian... if you are I think I will be pretty sad when I finally get there.
Living in OC for over 20 yrs, working for 10 yrs & living for 3 yrs in LA, I'd stay put in Cali if OC was still affordable. That Laguna Beach show is even less realistic than Beverly Hills 90210 & Melrose place was about those areas. Having many friends & family in the area that grew up there, if you can afford it, is probably one of the best places to grow up in Socal.
Thank you snb3!!! Not saying I'm not excited about the change and green enviroment that Oregon offers... I am really excited about moving. but growing up in So Orange County was great. Crime was minimal, I pretty much lived at the beach all summer from the time I could barely walk. The ocean is a huge part of "me". It's really sad that it's become so unaffordable and almost impossible to raise a family there. I have a 4 yr old and a 2 month old and I wish I could stay and live there so my kids could have the same kind of summers I did.
My husband grew up in LA and he always comments on how lucky I was to grow up in such a good place... yes I was probably more fortunate that a lot of people in the world but we weren't "rich"... my dad was a car salesman and my mom stayed at home... we had a nice house and I pretty much had everything a kid could want but I wasn't spoiled... a lot of others had more than I did.. but I was lucky.
I've lived other places and have moved back to OC 4 times now... All of my family is there and it's home... but I'm hoping that Oregon becomes home to me and my boys... my husbands job is in Tigard so we'll be looking in that area. I can't wait to get there... My husband got there today and me and the kids will be leaving next week after Thanksgiving.
I'm planning on getting my license plates changed ASAP!!! I don't want to be hated simply because I'm from California... I'll always talk fondly of Cali but it doesn't mean I wont love the new place.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
) English is a 3rd language here now and our children are forced to be slowed down in school so the spanish only speaking kids can be taught in spanish! 
