California Today: Dark Depictions of a Sunny State

My husband and I have been here for over 35 years. We are happy, our place is paid for, and we will retire here. Earthquakes are a risk we are willing to take. The rest of the country has crippling snowstorms, tornadoes and hurricanes. As to "weirdos", well there are more than a few in every state. So there!

It’s just a way of life that California will always be fighting fires every season. But how is it that the Getty Museum hasn’t burned down yet all these years? It’s because they’re smart about what they surround themselves with as well as how they built their structure. California could take a few lessons and apply it to existing buildings. Like so many issues in California, there are solutions for smart development where we don’t feel like we’re fighting the apocalypse all the time. And we need to hold developers accountable and/or get serious about limitations of where developers can build. Too many people flood California every year, buy a property in the middle of the beautiful California wilderness because they don’t know any better.

I'm wondering why California Today has not mentioned the recent purchase of the Bixby ranch at Point Conception by the Nature Conservancy?! One of the unique counterpoints to California's seemingly relentless urban sprawl has been the purchase and protection of some very special places by generous individuals working with conservation groups.

I've lived in California for about 35 years. Most of that time was spent in Montecito, before the hordes from LA started to move in. My husband and I bought a fixer-upper so our children could go to the local grammar school which was highly rated. Back then (1971) there were many people living in ranch style houses. There were a few celebrities, but that wasn't a problem. So I've experienced fires, mudslides, earthquakes and occasional flooding. Somehow I took them in stride. I am happy in this state. However we moved over the mountain to the Santa Ynez Valley 10 years ago. I do think that building homes in the mountains or in their foothills is a mistake. I was disappointed to see homes carving out pieces of 2 of my favorite hiking trails. But I don't think people who live in these places will be deterred from building there. There are areas where people build even though they can't get fire insurance. Sometimes I think the media makes too much out of some of these events. That said, the heat and lack of rain now at the end of December gives me cause for concern. Sadly, I think it's global warming and the current US leadership is in denial of it.

It's still one of the sunshine states. It's also home to Yosemite, San Francisco, and Hollywood. People come from all over the world every year to vacation, and get away from wherever they are from. Sure the fires changed the landscape a bit, but not California's spirit. People used to say California is a trend setter and I still believe this is true. To all the haters, Merry Christmas.

"This state is a place of wildfires, mudslides, catastrophic flooding and earthquakes." Yes- but... California also has three distinct geographical regions and the three seldom experience the same phenomena. Earthquakes occur frequently with little notice. Mudslides rarely occur in the vast (flat) Southern San Joaquin Valley (middle California). Even with flooding and fires- the California terrain is too huge to stereotype by Catastrophe. Leave it to a Native New Yorker like Adam to "explain" it all.

I've become much more sensitive to the reality folks are living in vans, RVs and cars after following a few folks living this way on YouTube. Some are adventurous younger people exploring an alternative lifestyle but most are folks with limited income doing their best to survive whether retired or disabled or simply tired of running the rat race. I live just north of San Francisco and have watched rental and housing prices go through the roof. Honestly, I have no idea how anyone can afford to pay $2400 a month for a one bedroom apartment. That is what I'm seeing on craigslist. The average in San Francisco is over $3000 for a one bedroom. I see help wanted signs in stores throughout the region. How in the world is someone making $12 to $15 an hour going to afford to live here unless they live at home with parents or crowded into small apartments? My landlady of the last 27 years told me when she recently rented a small studio cottage she had inquiries from families prepared to live in that tiny space with their children. I know there isn't a simple way out of this situation. For both California natives and persons such as myself who moved to the region, leaving to find more affordable housing isn't easy. It often means leaving family and friends made over a lifetime. It also means leaving a world of great beauty and a wonderful climate. I love the Bay Area. Fortunately, I have a great landlady!

When New York City and Long Island were struck by a terrible Hurricane, no one wrote, don't go to the Adirondacks, Finger Lakes, or Lake George, or even Cooperstown. That is because most writers know that there is more to a state than one region. Adam Nagourney, take the train along the coast, come visit the beauty of Northern or Eastern California. We still are the destination state for millions.

If we're going to make cultural generalizations lets remember that while people in other states can be contemptuous about Californians, Californians can be quite contemptuous about people in other states. Hip Californians mock people in other states for being conformists while they themselves conform to their local behaivors. White Californians who live in towns that are 1 to 4% black, brag that they're the non-racists and the easterners and mid-westerners who live in majority black towns are the racists.

I have lived in Northern California (SF Bay Area) my entire life (I am 61). I have lived elsewhere (Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Luxembourg and El Salvador). but the vast majority of my life has been spent here. In June, I will be retiring after teaching public high school for 37 years, and I will be leaving this paradise for another one. I will be moving out of state to the Pacific Northwest. Because I hate what my state has become. I hate the elitism, the millenial hordes (and they are indeed hordes around here) and their neanderthal and adolescent desire to be cool with their Teslas and their artisan farm to table IPA narcissism. I hate the sheer volume of the hive horde housing that is going up everywhere along traffic corridors and the truly untenable traffic issues all of this construction is wreaking. I especially hate the absolute unaffordability. Ya know what, people? "If it costs you your peace, it is too expensive." I may be a hippy dippy artsy fartsy left wing weirdo, but even I don't need this garbage. So, come June, I will be the heck outta here.

Question: Why is it that when I come across these "us versus them" pieces ... and by that I mean "New York versus elsewhere" pieces where the "elsewhere" always ends up on the losing end ... they are very often in The New York Times? It seems like the Times has an institutional discomfort with the idea that there are people who are quite happy NOT living in New York. I know! What a notion! Please learn to accept this fact, New York Times. Parochial pieces like this one are getting old. Especially from a publication with pretenses of having a national scope.

I reside a few miles and a few million dollars from the Montecito area where the article's accompanying photo was taken. Our air was bad for three weeks from the Thomas fire--now the largest in recorded California history. But despite having to endure this and similar prior calamities, I'd never voluntarily reside outside the coast of California, except perhaps along the norther Pacific coast. The weather and scenery here, and the recreational opportunities afforded by the same, are extraordinary. Nowhere, except Hawaii and Florida, is there any place that provides the same benefits. But island fever and political hell, respectively, rule out residing in either of those two states. In fact, the thought of living in any state that went for Trump electorally, and thereby helped to bring upon our nation a calamity far, far worse than any wildfire, is anathema to me. Trump is a veritable Nero to most of us Californians. I believe he would gladly burn down everything that made this nation great if it would fatten his pocketbook. I realize that sounds extreme, but it is but one effect of the political fires he has ignited in this country since becoming President.

In the 1880's the railroads charged $1 a ticket from Chicago and sold our State to English bankers and east coast land seekers using local shills to tell the big lie that water was cheap, plentiful. All one had to do was stick an orange tree in the ground and a crop was ready in five years. Also that the streets could be paved in gold ore. History records that 90% of immigrants to California lost all they had. I love my State, but it's getting too hot even along the coast. The bigly gap between the very rich and poor throughout our Nation has created vast homeless camps in SoCal that even Hoover would admire. These are issues that cannot be addressed if, like Trump, one hides his/her head in the sand dunes all the while cutting federal funds and expecting Californians to meekly pay a higher share of federal tax dollars via the new tax "reform". Fortunately, Californians are resourceful and resilient.

When I was born in Los Angeles, there were 10 million people. Today, there are 40 million people. There are repercussions. When I went to UC Santa Barbara, the hillsides always burned. They burned before humans were here. They burned during the Chumash time. They called the Santa Anas "devil winds". More people build in areas that have burned for centuries, and are designed to. The mighty oak tree springs from acorns that only flower in fire. The traffic is terrible. The homeless situation, at 40,000 in downtown L.A., is shameful. We haven't planned for this many people.

Weird and foolish generalizations, Mike Davies' puffed up comments not worth quoting. Adam Nagourney, you apparently search for anything to add to the praise of Californians rather than the facts of climate change caused by human activity - as in the loss of forest low growth natural burn. Did someone tell you to turn your face away from facts that are an inductment?

California, where I'm from, has one of the darkest secrets of all. We build houses out of two by fours in fire prone areas. A typical house contains 20 tons of perfect dry fuel. When there is giant fire such as the ones in Oakland, Malibu, and now Santa Rosa, Napa, and Ventura County, the brush is blamed. When over 5000 people died from fires in wooden homes in San Francisco in 1906 and Kobe in 1995, the earthquake was blamed. Brush, typically foxtail, weighs about 10 tons per acre. You can fit five houses on an acre of land here. The weight ratio of lumber fuel to brush fuel is 50 to 1. Fire marshalls, newspaper reporters, and builders blame the brush. In countries like Switzerland, where there also are fires, nobody cares if there is brush or trees around. The houses, built from inert materials such as stone and concrete, do not burn. We could replace wood with light steel, costing about 3% more in hard construction costs, and fires such as the Chubb fire in Santa Rosa won't happen. Builders, architects, and developers won't do it, Since steel framed houses look the same but cost a little more. This is an inner problem, for Americans and the human race, and we must solve it. When the humans disappear, future species will look at our houses- all the wood and drywall will be gone- and think that we built chimneys and surrounded them with appliances. [email protected] (I went before Congress and NAHB on these issues years ago, and lost).

Thanks for the bummer bummer article that seems to imply that Cali only exists in the South. If this article discourages more people from moving here great. We don’t need more people.

We shall not say "schadenfreude" for our friends in Cal. We Easterners love your California state of mind & weep for all the recent tragedies resulting from the fierce fires engulfing so many parts of your state. I guess you had to have some hook to hang your insulting argument.

First, I'm so sorry for the losses so many Californians have recently endured. I don't think Mr. Nagourney was trying to be insensitive with his closing statements. I think perhaps it was a clumsy attempt to describe the lack of compassion residents of other states have for suffering Californians, simply because they harbor resentments based on their unrealistic views of life here. (And yes, that Cali actively promotes.) But despite the fires, drought, etc., I must admit that I feel safer here from the man-made disasters coming out of Washington DC and will stay here in hopes of weathering the storm that is the current administration. I doubt if there is any place in the world that doesn't have its natural calamities. The world also loves the beautiful landscapes of Italy, which are very similar to Cali. What most don't know is that whole villages are destroyed in occasional landslides in Italy.

Everywhere has trade-offs, some just have fewer negatives than others. There’s a reason people in coastal California always have some of the highest reported quality of life scores in Gallup’s annual polls. Housing is expensive, for reasons discussed in prior articles. That makes for long commutes for some people due to the cost of living near their work. Otherwise there are few downsides here.

It's expensive here for many good reasons red staters would never understand. Happy holidays to you.

And not one mention of the impact of climate-change on the situation in California.

I'm a native Los Angeleno, and I've always maintained that here in California, we don't have weather, we have acts of god. We expect sunny all the time, punctuated with the occasional earthquake, fire, or mudslide. Also, weirdos often come from someplace else. They are attracted to -and welcomed by - the weird, unpredictable, creative, tolerant, smart, inventive, hopeful, caring people who live here already. Is it perfect? Heck no. Is it wonderful anyway? Heck yeah.

"People love seeing L.A. destroyed,” Mr. Davis said. “They love seeing all those weirdos get it.” What a revolting callous comment. How thoughtless and tone deaf. Perhaps Mr. Davis should come out here and see the after effects of the Wine Country fires, and then skedaddle down the PCH to see what is burning in the beautiful canyons down South. Meet the hard-working people who lost homes and the exhausted first responders. I'm originally from NYC and am disgusted by his remarks.

well-written & helpful! thanks.

I moved to CA in 1995 and I've lived in dozens of large and small cities from SF to northern San Diego county and there are many reasons to love it here especially the natural beauty and nice weather but it's becoming dangerous with the fires and threat of the big one coming. It's also near impossible to find a nice one bedroom apartment for less than $1600 (plus utilities) and wages are low. I'm moving back to Chicago this spring so I can afford to live alone (at age 50) and afford to retire before age 70.

I have lived in many different places including Los Angeles. Worked in hundreds of cities across the U.S. and California is still the best. Yes it's expensive, yes we have all kinds of natural disasters but I wouldn't trade if for Cincinnati, Ft. Lauderdale, Denver or Albuquerque. I moved to the state 30 years ago and at first I was unhappy but day by day it became a wonderful home.

Reading the article on the tax bill's effect in California, I suggested to my husband that we get divorced. Our individual incomes would be in a lower tax bracket and if we each took a standard $24,000 deduction we could probably cover the costs of state and property taxes. He hates the idea, I hate sending our hard earned dollars to wealthy Republicans. Worth thinking about.