Poppy girl

Concord is not in the same league class as Walnut Creek, keep looking I would Concord is a dump.

Giantaxe

The Walnut Creek side of Pleasant Hill is quite er... pleasant, especially to the west of 680.

Poppy girl

yep falls under the walnut creek area

Michael

Most cities have decent areas. For example, Fremont is considered a blue collar city because of the GM plant along I880 but there are very nice outstanding areas in and near the Mission San Jose foothills. The main problem with Fremont is the lack of a central area to socialize.

lj2

In what way is it a dump? I have lived in some far worse areas based on what I've seen... High crime levels? Lots of shootings? Would be very interested in why it is a dump...

Steerpike

I think it would be fairer to say that Concord is simply 'blah' ... like probably 80% of all mid-size cities. It has no real center to speak of, is populated by generic strip malls, car dealerships, and so on. It would appear that no one planned its growth and as a result, it has a soul-less feel to it. I would say it has very moderate crime levels.

I think the key point is, there's not much to recommend it other than being cheaper than the neighboring towns/cities to the south/west (WC, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, etc). WC has a well-defined center, with approx. 45 independent restaurants/cafes in a 4x3 block area, plus an outdoor 'mall' adjacent to the center that is very high quality (second only to Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, in my opinion), plus a newer downtown section populated with the likes of Ruth's Chris, Flemmings, Cheesecake Factory, PF Chang's, etc - all within walking distance of each other. Danville is small and classy, Lafayette and Orinda are both small and quaint. Moraga has supposedly super schools (but is just a touch too 'away from everything').

But there are a few very attractive developments on the outskirts of Concord and you could be very happy there; you could drive into WC for your shopping / dining needs as needed. There are even better developments in Martinez, which has even less 'name recognition' ... the areas around Alhambra Ave, Alhambra Valley Rd, Reliez Valley Rd, etc are very 'Lafayette' in style.

ellendarvell

Hi Bev

Sorry for the late reply to you. We booked the dogs ourselves directly with Virgin. It cost us about £1000 for the 2 of them (Cavalier King CHarles Spaniels) and we had to buy the cages for them. We went with Virgin as we could do it ourself and we knew what requirements there were to get in the States.

Slowly settling in to the house. Is taking a while but we will get there. Have been in the US 3 months now.

Ellen

ellendarvell

Hi Michelle

Ours cleared customs the day it arrived but due to Thanksgiving spent another week in port. We are now settled into our house and slowly getting there. How are you finding it now?
Ellen

ellendarvell

We ended up in Oakland as quite a few people from my husbands work live here. Contrary to what I have seen people say, we quite like Oakland. I won't venture anywhere near the flats unless I have to go through on the way to Alameda, but once you are in the Hills it is lovely

cheers

My wife was born in Oakland and has many happy memories of living in the Trestle Glen area. She tells me of being able to walk around quite freely alone when she was about 8 years old. In the 1940's many workers moved in from the Southern States so they could work in the shipyards during the second world war. The Oakland area has never been the same.
I think it was about 10 years ago or longer that they had the uncontrollable fire in the Oakland hills so maybe you are in one on the many rebuilt homes?
Agreed that the hills are nice and the temperature is moderate.
I can almost guess the company that your husband workers for. Not its name but its industry. Medical related?

ellendarvell

No my husband doesn't work in the medical industry. He doesn't work in Oakland but in the East Bay

cheers

I'm not as smart as I thought I saw he works in Alemeda.

Enjoy your new home but it aint England.

I think you would enjoy investigating the area in Berkeley around the campus. I use to go there to find British magazines in the shops opposite the university.
I lived in Danville and Pleasant Hill which is over the hill from you (you knew that). I also liked riding the BART train with my daughter to get there.

Cheers

ellendarvell

Thanks for that information. he actually works in Hayward. We are investigating lots of areas at the moment as when the kids are ready for school we want to make sure that we are in the best location for schools. I really liked Alameda and I have heard that the schools are good there

cheers

Kind of off the subject but my daughter got her university degree at Hayward State(if it still has the same name)

SalopianFunk

Welcome to Oakland, Ellen. I've been living downtown near Chinatown and Lake Merritt for the past year and a half, also enjoying it. As bad a rep as this part of town may get, in reality it's not really that bad 90% of the time.

CSU Eastbay. I've only ever been there once, but it has a bitchin' campus.