Will my family fit in in SoCal/Ventura area? (San Jose: low income, renting)

[MissLiss]

Good morning everybody! So, my husband has a job opportunity that would take us from the San Jose, CA area to the Ventura, CA area (we thought the opportunity would be Sacramento, but that's changed). I have been scouring the forums trying to get a feel for whether we'd fit in and am still lost. A lot of what I've read sound like cliches, saying SoCal is more conservative, celebrity-focused, appearance-focused, more materialistic, friendlier, and more laid back.

I don't know how much of this could possibly be true and a lot of them sound like just cliches like I said, but if there's some truth there, I'm concerned my family won't fit in and we'll be lonely. We don't care about celebrities, don't really like the beach that much, don't like to buy expensive or designer clothes, and I don't want to feel like I have to wear makeup or do my hair daily. We buy clothes at Target and furniture from IKEA, but also do "hippy" things like buying undyed wool rugs, avoiding electronics for kids, and cleaning with vinegar haha. We plan to homeschool while I stay at home and also not sure what SoCal's homeschooling community is like.

My question is, are we going to feel like we don't fit in/is it going to be hard to find friends and similar families? I'd love to find a safe small town close to Ventura with a enough property for the kids to run around on (wooded areas are a huge plus), lots of families (hopefully other stay at home moms and homeschoolers), and not a lot of drug use. We will have the money for a nice house but prefer to avoid a "keeping up with the Joneses" feel in the neighborhood. We are kind of eccentric, being libertarian, religious, gun-owning, attachment-parenting hippies haha so it's hard enough as it is to find friends! Thank you so much for any input. <3

[Commonproject]

I've been to Ventura once and it is very different than San Jose and far from LA proper. It's got a small town feel to it with a beach near by.

[Vic Romano]

Ventura is not like San Jose or the Sourthern California metro area especially away from the main highway (101). You should explore it.

Judging from your description you may want to consider Ojai, Santa Paula or Somis if it's not too far...

[volosong]

Take a look at Oak View along Highway 33 between Ventura and Ojai. If money is not a concern, I'd live in Carpinteria in a heartbeat.

[ryanms3030]

I'd also recommend Ojai if you can afford it. Close to mountains and forrest, plenty of hippies, small independent businesses, farmer's markets, coffee shops etc. Great weather, laid back etc. I'd live there if it wasn't for the commute. I actually work with a couple of people that do live there but 2 hour commute each way is too much for me but commuting to Ventura is easy from there.

I'd also be very happy in Ventura/Oxnard but they are beach towns and a little more crowded and you get a little more riff raff there then you do in Ojai

[nightlysparrow]

Ojai is very hippie, super-crunchy, organic. In SoCal, note that forest = wildfire risk (and Ojai, surrounded by brushy areas, was nearly wiped out in the Thomas Fire in January). The religion there is metaphysics, with many tarot readers and psychics along with the Krishnamurti Foundation, Meditation Mount, and a number of retreat centers: https://amuse-i-d.vice.com/a-weekend...ritual-vortex/. Politics, blue as blue can be. There is almost no diversity. There is a homeschool in Ojai, no info on that. Crime is low. Smoking weed is everywhere, you're not getting away from that one.

If your housing budget is in the 7-figure range, you can get some awesome properties with acreage there. Some Hollywood celebrities do have houses there. It's not far from Ventura, but it's up the hill and into a high valley, and the 33 is a twisty easily-congested road to commute, make no mistake. There's a Target in Ventura, there are all kinds of big-box stores in nearby Oxnard, but the nearest IKEA is 72 miles away (in Burbank).

Summers in Ojai are hot and dry, with temps at 100 many days. Completely different than cooler and often chilly and foggy Ventura. Ventura has the surfer culture and has the crime, the drugs, the jail and county psych hospital, low income neighborhoods, and many homeless. The houses are mostly small bungalows from the 1940's to 1960's with little backyards, with a few Victorians sprinkled about. There are some notorious sections, but not bad in comparison of what San Jose offerers in the same regard.The whole city is almost all low-profile (no highrise buildings).

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Ojai is awesome.

As said Celebrities have homes in the area. The area does not treat them as celebs though and that is more than likely why Celebs like to own places in Ojai. For them it is more of a place to get away from the industry (Hollywood)

Did some work for Larry Hagman years ago and he was down to earth around here.

Lots of people think the same as the OP in Ojai, Oak View, Casitas Springs.

[wac_432]

What everyone else said. We're friends with homeschoolers in our neighborhood and there's plenty of homeschool resources in Ventura--at least there appear to be, from the standpoint of a family with no interest in it.

Ojai sounds like it fits your style a little more than Ventura, but it is quite isolated. At least 30 minutes just to get to Ventura, and then--at minimum--an hour to get to the outskirts of LA, 30 minutes to the good libraries/museums/attractions/family activities of Thousand Oaks or Santa Barbara.

It's pretty easy to make friends with all the social activities around Ventura, and people with kids are mostly easy-going. They tend to be wrapped up in their own hippy-dippy (or whatever) BS, but they're tolerant of those who aren't. If you listen (half an ear is fine) to them extol the virtues of whatever pet project/lifestyle/philosophy they've "discovered" they'll be your friends.

Oh, do let the parents of visiting know you've got guns in the home and explain how keep them secured from the kids. Not disclosing that is a real quick way to alienate people.

[MissLiss]

Thank you everybody!! It sounds like we need to look up at towns up 33 (Oak View, Ojai, Casitas Springs). Are there any big differences between these three? Is drug use super rampant or about average (I grew up in a total pot town in NorCal and the way it permeated everything just got a little tiresome, so just hoping to avoid that)? Also, I saw some nice houses in Camarillo but didn't see it mentioned as a potential area, any chance that would be a nice fit?

Thanks so much!
Alyssa

[wac_432]

Ojai is the wealthiest and crunchiest of the 3. It's also the fartherst away. It's a great town for kids, at least it seems that way to a visitor from Ventura. Libby park is awesome! The drive is annoying, though. I wouldn't want to have to drive up and down the 33 every day.

Drug use in Ventura (city) is only a problem if you are in an area where the homeless congregate. There are a few areas where you need to watch out for needles and crap. You might occasionally smell some jerkoff pothead smoking at a park or playground, but it's pretty rare and fleeting. It's at the level of minor occasional annoyance for most of town.

Camarillo is quiet with good schools. Nice parks for kids and lots of civic structures. It's pretty boring otherwise. It's closer to LA and points south. It's probably too cookie-cutter for you. Think 1980's Reagan suburbia. At least on the surface. Don't know about the populace.