Moving to Denver or Palmdale, some help please....

[socalover]

How is life for liberals in those cities?

I tend to prefer cities like my old hometown in the San Francisco Bay area, but that's no longer an option because of the cost of living. I love a diverse city, especially with a lot of international flavor, good restaurants, cultural activities, less Bush bumper stickers like here in the South, Jaw Jah to be exact.

Anyone from these areas can shed some light? Palmdale, California seems very windy, and does not offer the diversity of LA or San Francisco, although LA is an hour away with no traffic, but on average probably 90 mins to 2 hrs drive. I can deal with the heat. It's also starving for restaurants but I like that it's in California with access to the good cities.

Denver, I love the mountains but am concerned about the cold weather and lack of it being a cultural melting pot.

Any advice from y'all?

[Enraged_Ape]

1. Palmdale is a nice place to drive through

But I can't imagine why anyone in their right mind would want to live there.

If I had to live way out in B.F. East Jesus, with the blistering heat of the desert, I would choose someplace closer to either Las Vegas, Albuquerque, or Phoenix. Having L.A. an hour away is no selling point, IMHO.

Of the two choices you mention, I would definitely pick Denver. The cold weather in the winter is not that hard to live with. It's always easier to keep warm than it is to stay cool and comfortable.

[Robb]

3. Ditto on Denver

I lived in that city for a year, straight out of the Bay Area.

It works. More of a melting pot than you might imagine. Plus, on the cold thing, CO tends to warm up during the day.

[SW FL Dem]

13. Amen

Palmdale is the pits. I've driven through it many times and when I lived in LA, lots of people live there and have a miserable commute into LA. It's hot, dusty and boring.

[Tektonik]

2. I've lived in Palmdale, CA

I loved it there because I like desert weather, and hey I was only a kid back then, but the area is full of lower middle class folk (white trash confederate flag stickered ppl :p )and transplants from LA buying track houses because LA prices are beyond fucked up. If you are going to live in Palmdale, you must work somewhere in the Antelope Valley, NOT LA! Do not think you will sanely bear the drive from Palmdale to LA every day, for you will go insane and will end up murdering half your neighborhood at one time or another. There is ghastly traffic on the 14 north and south during the morn and afternoon. If you do move to Palmdale, move to one of the newer track homes in one of the better areas. Also you can find good elementary and middle schools there (no idea about high schools, since I moved away in the middle of middle school in 97 I believe).

[socalover]

11. No kids yet so no concern with schools but thanks for the great info. nt

[fortyfeetunder]

4. Palmdale, CA -- Uh uh

Palmdale is near to Edwards AFB. Not what I call a liberal part of CA. I have visited there on occasion and I know people who live there.

[Tektonik]

5. It's getting better now with more and more people moving from LA

But when I lived there, my mom's favorite fruit store had lots of nice confederate flag stickers :P

[socalover]

6. Yuh gotta be kidding... Confederate flags in Palmdale? Not good! nt

[Tektonik]

8. I never saw em on cars or anything, but a store my mom frequented had

stickers, but this was 10 years ago though. You should go visit, I havent been there in about 4 years.

[Tektonik]

7. Also, make sure you don't move to an area in Palmdale that's gang infested

There are your standard inner city gang transplants there and a good population of neo Nazis.

Anyways, I loved growing up there. Great, nice neighbors, good schools, and I loved going to the Edwards AFB air shows and hearing all the sonic booms from planes passing by. :)

[socalover]

9. "neo Nazis"? Damn, it's that bad?

Thanks for all the feedback thus far...

[Tektonik]

10. I don't know if it's that bad, but I just knew they existed.

Never heard of 'em doing anything though the whole time I was there (from when I was four, up til when I was 11).

[maveric]

12. Come to San Diego. We need more dems/libs/progressives down here!

You wont be dissapointed!

[A HERETIC I AM]

14. Unless you're an Aerospace Engineer or work in the Defense Industry.......

DONT move to Palmdale. I lived there for 3 years (Left last year when the relationship that brought me there ended) AND I HATED IT!!!! If you want to do ANYTHING that LA has to offer you have a 50 mile drive to make. There are redeeming things about it, to be sure but like i said, unless you work at the Skunk Works, for Boeing or at Edwards or you HAVE to move there because you cant find affordable housing in the LA basin it is a town i would never consider moving back to.

Palmdale High School has one of the LOWEST percentages of graduates that go on to college in Califronia and my ex-girlfriends kids had difficulty there. It struck me as little more than a typical assembly line type school. Get em' in and get em' out.

There are only a few decent restaurants (Maybe 4 or 5 between Palmdale and Lancaster) and the Air Shows at Edwards are cool as mentioned by another poster.

The one thing that i have to say i liked the best was that the San Bernardino range is just to the south and in the winter it is quite beautiful when it is snowcapped. Also, the clouds that waft up from down below towards the coast, often spill over into the Antelope Valley and dissipate, creating a gorgeous spectacle as wave after wave of mist dissapears into the bright, high desert sunshine.

Bright desert sunshine, BTW is EXACTLY what you'll get for better than 300 days a year. I'm sorry, but a place that is brown and hot and has nothing but blue skies all the time bores the living shit out of me.

Take Denver. Been there too and you have the mountains and a nice city with culture and things to do.

[Buddyblazon]

15. I grew up in Denver...

lived in LA for a couple of years. But I came back.

Several things:
There is a loyalty in people here that you don't get in SoCal. LA is a blast. But the people kind of suck.

The weather is about as mild as you can get for a place that experiences all four seasons. We are one of the sunniest states in the nation. When it snows here it melts in a couple of days (due to that serious sun we have).

We have a relatively new Mayor (Hickenlooper) that is enjoying an ASTRONOMICAL approval rating. He is a big believer in the Arts. He also believes in nightlife (he himself being one of the biggest Micro-brew owners in the state). He believes if there is culture for people to partake in...that it attracts big business (I agree). We still can't touch places like LA and NY...but he's working on it. We are in fact getting a huge addition to the Art Museum as we speak. The addition was designed by Daniel Libeskind. Take a look http://www.denverartmuseum.org/ Click on expansion.

We have lots of wonderful parks.

We have LOTS of outdoor activities.

Denver itself is pretty Liberal.

We just won back the State House and the State Senate. And Governor Owens (R from Texas...we don't like Texans here...how that happened I'll never know) only has about 9 months left. Of course with no control over the local Congress, he has little power if any.

We just won back a Senatorial spot (Salazar...but the jury's still out on him). We won back a House spot (Salazar...his brother). We go more and more Blue every year...because Liberals from California and the East Coast have been migrating here for several decades.


And finally....
if you're in SoCal...and not near the coast (within an hour)...it's hot and miserable.

Hope that helps.