Culver city, Visalia or Santa Barbara

sillywilly · Feb 14, 2012

I have a friend who is coming from out of country first time to US and she has got job offers from kindred in culver city, Kaweah Delta Rehab in Visalia and Santa Barbara Hospital.
I am new myself to these areas so I want to give her best advice. There is difference of $10 pay between visalia and culver city.
Any experienced members who are in california and have some idea about these areas.

I don't know where Visalia is (central CA I think??), and have no idea about the hospitals, but between Santa Barbara and Culver City I would much rather live in Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara is a cute little beach town. Its safe, quiet, and very expensive (rent wise) compared to Culver City. Your friend could live in Ventura, which is a much cheaper still nice beach town about 20 min from SB.

Culver City is pretty close to LAX (right in Los Angeles) and is much busier. If your friend likes city life, Culver City might be great. It is right in the middle of everything.There are some parts of Culver City that are safe, and some are not. Rent would be much cheaper in Culver City (maybe almost half the price of SB).

It just depends on what your friend prefers. Does your friend have children? What is your friends lifestyle? What is the pay difference between Culver City and Santa Barbara?

RNHURT · Feb 15, 2012

diff between culver city and SB is not much, almost same. Traffic will be more in culver or SB.

sillywilly · Feb 15, 2012

I would say traffic is much worse in Culver City. Its pretty much in the middle of Los Angeles, and only a few miles away from the airport so the freeways are always jammed. I went to school in Culver City and worked about 20 miles away. I would get out of work at 3:00pm and drive straight to school, (class was at 5:00pm) and sometimes I would be late for class. I got out of class at 10pm and you would think traffic would die down by then, but nope! It was like rush hour traffic all times of the day. It was slightly better, but still took an hour to a hour and a half to get home in stop and go traffic on a weeknight. I'm so happy I only had to take classes there for a year. I developed a bad case of road rage from my commute.

Santa Barbara can get some bad rush hour traffic too, but it generally clears up during the day and at night (unless there is an accident).

RNHURT · Feb 15, 2012

Thanks sillywilly for your advice. In culver city , will $50 an hr would be okay if somebody rents out 1 or 2 bedroom apt. She doesn't have kids though. Somebody recently told her that she can work in Santa Barbara and stay in Lompoc. Now, I myself have even not heard of this place .

sillywilly · Feb 20, 2012

Thanks sillywilly for your advice. In culver city , will $50 an hr would be okay if somebody rents out 1 or 2 bedroom apt. She doesn't have kids though. Somebody recently told her that she can work in Santa Barbara and stay in Lompoc. Now, I myself have even not heard of this place .

Hi RNHURT,

Sorry for the delay. 50 an hour will EASILY cover a 1 or 2 bed apartment in Culver City. I see them advertised around 800 a month.

If your friend wants to work in Santa Barbara she could live in Ventura. Lompoc is about 50 miles north of Santa Barbara. Im sure with traffic that will take forever! Lompoc is a really small town with not too much to do. There is a Walmart, a few small stores, and a tiny airport there. (I went skydiving there :rolleyes: )

Ventura is about 30 miles south of Santa Barbara. With rush hour traffic it still may take 40-60 minutes to get there, but it would probably still be faster and closer than living in Lompoc. Ventura is a really cute beach town too(I may be biased because I am moving there soon)!

I like their little downtown area. There are tons of small stores, restaurants, thrift shops, some bars, a theater where bands play, movie theater, ect.

One of my friends has a pretty nice 1 bedroom apartment in Ventura that is 50 feet away from the ocean for 1000 a month. Your friend might be able to find a nice place in Santa Barbara if she really looks. There are always good deals if you look hard enough.

RNHURT · Feb 26, 2012

Thanks for your input sillywilly. My friend got impressed with Santa Barbara and she took apartment there. I guess, it appealed her more than culver city , visalia or Lompoc