Well, my girlfriend is getting a job in huntington beach california and my company i work for has a few openings in riverside california, Ive never been to either location before since I live in seattle. Anyway, i have a few questions that maybe some of you can help me with?

Are either places nicer than the other? Which are cheaper to live in? Would you recommend somewhere in the middle?

The commute from Huntington - Riverside says 50miles on googlemaps and it also says it could take 60minutes-2hours 40minutes commute....what is the average commute time? If I lived in Huntington Beach and had to be in riverside by 9am what time would i have to leave by you think?

thanks everyone!

 

Huntington is definitely way nicer than riverside and of course more expensive.

if you wish to live somewhere in the middle, consider Anahiem Hills or Corona.

The commute between Riverside and Huntington beach is HELL. You'll be driving on the 91 fwy and that is one of the worse freeways ever. There is always traffic (unless you decide to pay for the toll roads, but even that adds up quickly.

 

mao- i appreciate the response! i guess thats why google says traffic is between 1-3 hours. Ill look in to those cities! Can i avoid the tolls? How much do they range?

the 3 possible job transfers for me is Riverside, Torrance, or Aliso Viejo. Is Aliso Viejo or Torrance a better area than Riverside? I have a better chance at Getting the Riverside job, but am also applying for these others.

 

Its going to be a lot cheaper for you to live in Corona than it will to live in Huntington Beach. Not a totally fun commute for your girlfriend, but I would imagine that commuting into HB is easier than commuting out of HB.

mao is right though, you definitely don't want to commute from Riverside to HB.

Based on your possible job transfers, Aliso Viejo is pretty easy commute to HB. Nice area with mountain views. Commuting to Torrance would be pretty crappy, because you'd be taking the trip of death towards LA in 405 traffic. Never fun.

 

Here's my advice...........DON'T!

 

Nismo-SER- Thanks for your input! When you say "trip of death" do you mean lots of traffic? or bad roads etc. Well, so far it looks like Im hoping for the Viejo Transfer...Is there a lot of Customers/Shopping Center in Alison Viejo?

GAU-8- Lol

 

If you drive from HB to Riverside in the morning you would be going opposite of traffic..and the same going home.. Now if you leave from riverside and going to HB in the morning.. good luck with that one.. going towards HB would be hell in the morning and coming home in the evening will be because your going with traffic..

 

^i agree with vic HB to riverside is better than riverside to HB.
i live in costa mesa and sometimes i go to corona(near riverside) for my job and the commute is not bad

HB is a bit expensive try looking here in costa mesa

 

alright i've done this drive plenty of times. i had engineering work in corona a few years ago and I live in Redondo.

The drive can suck. But ANY drive in LA can suck. It might take you over an hour or almost 2 hours sometimes but its totally doable. On days when traffic isnt too bad you could do it in 45 minutes if you're a crafty driver. Just think about what would happen if you moved out here and things didnt work out with the girl. Might be a good idea to be closer to work

 

I'd say Huntington Beach is much nicer. I have a relative who lives out there and it is a pretty decent place to live. I'm not sure exactly how bad that particular commute is, but I do know that you don't know bad traffic until you've been to SoCal, so I'd say try to live as close to work as is reasonable.

Welcome to Socal and let us know if you have any other questions/concerns!

 

Yeah stay away from all freeways lol

 

My Advise: don't ever try Mexican Food. You will get fat from Cali Burritos, Carne Asada Burritos&Fries.

 

Since this is a huge quality of life decision for you, my advice would be to not just take others advice, but to come visit for a few day, rent a car, stay in a motel for a night at either location, and then make the commute drive to the other location during normal commute hours (ie. NOT weekends). This is really the only way you can know if this is tolerable for you. It would be a major mistake to relocate first and only THEN discover your true preference.

.02

 

try living in Irvineits nice man.

 

Aliso Viejo is by far one of the nicer areas of southern cali, but it isnt cheap. Also probably about 25miles from Huntington. My parents live by there, nice big roads, not much traffic, lots of trees, landscape is kept up nicely, and cookie cutter homes. Think Pleasantville, not much mom and pop stuff around though, mostly chains.

Torrance is your best bet if you are on the budget, it isnt that nice but cheaper, and way closer to Huntington than Riverside. Its also not too far from social areas such as Long Beach and LA if you wanna go out etc.

What ever you do, stay away from Riverside. They have cow fields there and it smells like a$$ everywhere you go. I dont know how people can live there. Plus its in the middle of nowhere (desert) separated by mountains from other areas of Cali and there are only 2 crappy freeways to get in and out. The traffic is crazy to and from there because houses were really cheap in Corona at one point (close by Riverside) and a wave of people moved there and now they commute a long way to work. The freeway system cant handle the population and the toll roads, or i should say "toll lanes" on the freeway, took advantage of that.

Oh, and if you dont like traffic...just dont move to cali. A 30 mile trip anywhere can take up to 2 hours. There is traffic at most times of the day, and im totally serious when i say this...you need to be mentally prepared for cali's traffic because you will be spending a large part of your day in it if you go somewhere.