Re: Bakersfield or corona?
 

I asked about his experiences with the visa process..... awaiting a reply (nervous face)

Re: Bakersfield or corona?
 

Everyone has different opinions and this employer, as you said, is a foreigner to the US himself having immigrated from Canada. But that's neither here nor there. If the employment is in Bakersfield, you will look for a place to live in the cities/towns within an easy driving radius of Bakersfield and not that city proper.

Re: Bakersfield or corona?
 

Yes rete, that would be a plan if i get a visa (face of despair)

Re: Bakersfield or corona?
 

...except that the nearest thing that could be classed as a town worth living in would be Santa Clarita, which is a 1.5 hour drive away or San Luis Obispo which is 2.15 hours drive away. Bakersfield is quite literally in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, all moot until OP gets a visa. The advice usually given is to figure out your office/site location and then decide how much of a commute you can stand and find a place to live within that radius. If your job is in Bakersfield, it's pretty much a done deal that you'll need to live in Bakersfield or tolerate huge 3-5 hour round trip commutes daily, which is enough to send anyone loopy. There must be nice parts of Bakersfield so I really wouldn't worry until you have a visa in hand, which is going to take several months, if not years.

Re: Bakersfield or corona?
 

my would be employer mentioned on monday that he needs help in Temecula.. a place iv been to and know is nice, and my coisin lives there.. if i had a real chance of a visa id be super excited to.live there

Re: Bakersfield or corona?
 

my employer is a us national not from canada....

Re: Bakersfield or corona?
 

I pass through Corona a lot, and although it isn't my favourtite place, there is a lot of development going on, and it has some very nice areas. It is also accessible to all of southern CA, but suffers from terrible traffic as a result.
I pass through Bakersfield occasionally. It is very disconnected from almost everywhere (except by heavy transport routes), though the new train does terminate there I think.

I've never heard of anyone being happy with spending a lot of time in Bakersfield, but plenty of people are very happy with the Inland Empire (of which Corona is a significant part).

Re: Bakersfield or corona?
 

There's a reason why housing in Bakersfield is cheaper than SoCal.

Re: Bakersfield or corona?
 

I'm a long haul truck driver, and have to go to Bakersfield tomorrow as it happens, but live there??? No way in hell. It's Kern County, which is all agricultural, which means a ton of Mexicans, which means a ton of crime. Lots of other nasty people live there. Corona is not bad. It's expanding rapidly, and the 91-15 interchange is finished now, which makes for an easier drive. Don't forget though, that the 91 is the only way out of the LA basin to go to Las Vegas, so it becomes extremely busy on the holidays, and Friday evenings. There are a lot of new homes being built south of the 91 on the 15 as you go towards Lake Elsinore. California is a horrible place altogether though. A lot of homeless and unemployed, way more expensive than anywhere else, and just generally a stinking place. I moved to Arizona from Orange county in 2005. I lived in Costa Mesa for 25 years and saw it's gradual downfall. A lot of people are moving out and going to Colorado, Arizona and Texas mostly.

Re: Bakersfield or corona?
 

I seem to remember there was a T-shirt there with "Bakersfield - a river ran through it" - regarding the dry riverbed with all the water taken for agriculture and I suspect the nodding donkeys and other industry

Re: Bakersfield or corona?
 

Wow. I do not like your inference that Mexican = crime. Where are the stats on that? It is true that agricultural areas = high Mexican population because they are the only people who are willing to work back breaking jobs with low pay, which people should remember when spouting anti-foreigner rhetoric. Who's going to clean your house, mow your lawn and pick your vegetables when there's not an army of foreign labour to do it?

Re: Bakersfield or corona?
 

Re: Bakersfield or corona?
 

Apart from Fresno, I can't think of a large town in California that I'd less want to live in than Bakersfield. Brutally hot in the summer, high crime rate, poor schools etc.

Re: Bakersfield or corona?
 

I'd probably choose Bakersfield over Stockton though. Fact is, as I have mentioned before, pretty much any town/city in CA that is more than about 45 miles from the coast should be avoided - for the crime/povety, the 'redneck' vibe (yes, CA is markedly right facing once you're off the liberal lefty coastal towns), and the weather: unbearable in summer, freezing in winter. Notable exceptions are Sacramento (state capital), Chico/Davis (uni towns) and some of the mountain/ski towns such as Arnold, South Lake Tahoe, Tahoe City but I'd still personally never consider any of them as places to live. Redding, for example, up near the Oregon border has the highest rate of intravenous drug users in the state. There's a reason why coastal California is so overcrowded and expensive.

Re: Bakersfield or corona?
 

Seems like Bakersfield is the next big thing. There is an influx of young people moving there/back home as they are priced out of coastal cities:
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/...OLSoY-L_049f7M