He's from my town?
I did not know that.
shareHey, I'm from Palo Alto, too!
So how long ago did you get priced out?
Still here. Did you leave? Where did you go?
shareI left as soon as my parents kicked me out, first for the South Bay (before it became Silicon Valley), and then for the Sacramento region. There was just no way to stay, unless you're as rich as Lindsay Buckingham.
You?
Nowhere near as rich as LB. Just been here a long time and got into tech pretty early. I'd cash out and move up to the Chico area or down around San Luis Obispo or Ventura in the South - any nice rural area, but I just do not want to be too far from an urban center, certainly not internet - assuming if can find a buyer and manage the intricacies of that move and taxes and all. Even still the area is nice, but use to be better in the 70's. What schools did you go to?
shareCongrats for getting into tech early, and I hope that wherever you end up is lovely, but I can't see living in Chico myself. Ventura, maybe, it's a lovely area and not far from two urban areas, while Chico is... 2 hours from Sacramento. Or Redding. It's close to Lassen National Park, a place I love, but as Lassen just burned down, well.
Anyway, I'm not putting anything too personal on this site with all the crazies on this forum, so I'm not going to say which schools I went to. Also, because those schools were pretty miserable, even then there were asshole rich kids bent on making everyone else feel inferior.
Oh, and I've heard that a couple of Fleetwood Mac members and some other old rock stars still live in the Bay Area, in the hilly western part of San Jose. There's some rich-ass "country" areas out there on the edge of the urban sprawl.
Don't blame you for wanting to not get personal. I went to Paly, the last year they had those old buildings in service before they tore them down. It was very Room 222 which I think of because Michael Constantine passed away recently. Those old buildings and halls were better than all the new cheap crap they built to replace it. I went to Chico State for EE/CS, and really did not like it much then, but like the East Bay here, things change and get better over time. Back in the 70's the East Bay could barely be seen from the peninsula for all the smog, and you could hardly see the hills. Things are much cleaner now thanks to all that Democratic regulation on air pollution. I was actually thinking of Oroville or somewhere around there, or around Lake Folsom. I really love swimming in that super cold river water! I was thinking that Paradise might be a good buy at some point if they ever rebuild it because it might be cheap. Chico/Davis are not the backwaters they used to be, but then I guess that is in the eye of the beholder. Either that or maybe move to Oregon - not that they appreciate Californians moving there. Or maybe up the North Bay?
shareOkay, I went to Gunn, and that's all I ever want to say about my high school days.
And yeah, I've also been thinking about where to go in a few years, as I, too, am old enough to know what "Room 222" means. I've heard that there's a lot more crime and drugs in Chico and Oroville than there used to be, so check the area out thoroughly before making any commitments. The North Bay is generally out of my price range but maybe not yours, but if I could live anywhere I'd probably choose one of the small towns in Marin or Sonoma County - Novato or Sebastopol or something. The Folsom Lake area has some very nice areas which are bargains by Bay Area standards, and I rather like the town of Folsom because it's full of greenbelt paths... although of course there's a real estate boom going on with all the telecommuters leaving the Bay Area. And if you go a bit up in the hills from there, there are some lovely towns in the foothills like Auburn or El Dorado Hills where the real estate isn't bad at all... but fire insurance runs somewhere between insanely expensive and unavailable.
So, what's Ventura really like? I've only driven through and gotten on dive boats there!