Moving to Boulder or El Segundo, Crazy to go LA?

I'm an LA native but seriously considered moving to Boulder a couple years out of grad school since I could waive into the CO State Bar. I was working a big firm downtown and, while I was getting out to Josh or the Sierra on the weekends, it was a grind.  I went, checked it out. It was beautiful and the access to climbing and riding is amazing (except in winter), but the culture didn't win me over.  At least in the 90s it was very whitebread and homogeneous. Culturally it has progressed, but you'll be disappointed if you're used to Bay area standards. When I factored in the lack of ocean and being far from family, it was a pretty easy decision to stay put. Don't get me wrong, it would be awesome to drive for 15 minutes and be at Eldo or Flagstaff, but you're trading quite a bit for that convenience. Consider all those things that are important to you other than climbing and base your decision on that.  El Segundo is a cute town (I live in Westchester, the next town north). If you can live in El Segundo or Manhattan Beach and commute to work (Raytheon?), life will be good. 

Fat Dad wrote: I'm an LA native but seriously considered moving to Boulder a couple years out of grad school since I could waive into the CO State Bar.... I went, checked it out. It was beautiful and the access to climbing and riding is amazing (except in winter), but the culture didn't win me over.  At least in the 90s it was very whitebread and homogeneous.  

Now it is Vegan avocado toast and homogeneous.  Just more pretentious,  but most say it wasn't as bad before all the Californians started moving there.  Really that could describe the whole front range now.  

Steve Sangdahl wrote: ^^^ You’re a little out of touch with Boulder if you think it’s either academia or commercial cannabis .But that’s okay.

I was being facetious. My best friends there work for NCAR and a big cancer research center. Many things lost in internet lack of subtlety. 

Sam Cieply wrote: I've lived in LA my whole life; I'm finding it more exasperating by the minute. I nearly get hit by cars every day and my neighborhood is littered with feces and electric scooters.

To be fair, though, you live steps from the Venice Boardwalk, which has always been a literal shit show. The scooters are a new hazard, though. El Segundo has nothing like that.

I can’t believe Boulder has gotten to the point this is even a question. 

Señor Arroz wrote:

To be fair, though, you live steps from the Venice Boardwalk, which has always been a literal shit show. The scooters are a new hazard, though. El Segundo has nothing like that.

There's literally a shit show now?!??

Tradiban wrote:

There's literally a shit show now?!??

It's called SnapChat.

Señor Arroz wrote:

To be fair, though, you live steps from the Venice Boardwalk, which has always been a literal shit show. The scooters are a new hazard, though. El Segundo has nothing like that.

Oh the scooters will come, just you wait.

Sam Cieply wrote:

Oh the scooters will come, just you wait.

El Segundo banned them.

Right now, I've got 3 Jump Bikes blocking the sidewalk in front of my house. And a scooter. So you're hardly alone. No human dookie, though.

Following thread.  I’ve been in Boulder for 20 years and like it a lot but certainly acknowledge the alarming transitions of the last 5 in particular.  As well as it’s shortcomings in comparison to places like LA or SF.  

OP, are you weighing aerospace offers?  If so, curious about the 3-day weekend comment RE El Segundo job.  Sounds like a game changer - I’ve always fantasized about living in SC but concerns about climbing access always short-circuited any real consideration.  

Ie the fact that I’m a total desk jockey here doesn’t impair my climbing too much.  It is possible to get in real climbing before/after work or even at lunch.  Transpose my work schedule to LA living and climbing seems very difficult.  

I’m sitting in shorts in the backyard listening to waves crash at 9:40 on a January night. Pretty sure that doesn’t happen in Colorado anywhere. 

I live in west LA and have 3 day weekends 2x a month. Getting out to the sierra eastside, joshua tree, tahquitz/suicide, red rocks, etc. is pretty easy and can be relatively painless when you learn the traffic patterns. You can climb year round here, as well as hike/scramble/peak-bag locally in the santa monica and san gabriel mountains on your short weekends. There is a good climbing gym right next to LAX. Climbing outside before/after work isn't really possible unless you live close to stoney point, but if you're motivated then it's not hard to spend every weekend in a world-class climbing destination.

Like Guy and others have said, living close to work is a must. You'll pay more in rent but your sanity is worth it.

LA is a major metropolis with all of the features of a world-class city... except public transportation. So there's that. But I like it here. And El Segundo recently got a Shake Shack. 

DanielHart wrote: I’m sitting in shorts in the backyard listening to waves crash at 9:40 on a January night. Pretty sure that doesn’t happen in Colorado anywhere. 

Backyards with hot tubs it does. 

I have a lot of friends who live in/around LA who pull off Sierra trips almost every weekend. It’s not too bad of an area if your able to live with all the city craziness. 

Thanks for all the feedback, it's great to hear from you all who have lived in one or both places.

To answer the questions about the jobs, they are aerospace, and the 3 day weekend situation in LA is just a pretty liberal implementation of your typical industry flex time policy like a 4/40 or 9/80 schedule although with the ability to adjust on the fly instead of being locked in to one specific schedule.  I could talk in more detail by PM if interested.

It seems LA would basically be an improved version of what I have now in the Bay, still a weekend warrior style with minimal access to anything beyond a gym (but at least a good one close by) during the week, but tons of great stuff for the weekend.  And of course maintaining all the non-climbing pros and cons of CA.  I grew up in the midwest so know all about whitebread and colder winters, I can handle it but certainly prefer the diversity and climate out here on the coast.

Major Boulder pros look like the obvious of all the nearby climbing and lack of the big city traffic (even if traffic's getting worse there).  Like I mentioned before, my primary interest is backcountry type stuff and getting out to more remote and wild places more so than just cruising routes on the edge of town, although that's from total ignorance of how fun it may be to have such easy access to top notch climbing right where you live.  I imagine as I would get more into technical climbing that appeal would only increase, and it seems it would help accelerate my trad skills to transfer to the mountains.  But at the same time I'm not sure how penalized I'd be in that regard in LA, if I can work on trad consistently on the weekends and just use the gym for conditioning during the week.

A con for Boulder on the outdoors side seems to be ease of getting out to the desert, especially if I70 gets dicey for the winter commute to Moab between snow storms and ski traffic?  Being able to get out into the Mojave in just a few hours from LA, even with some traffic considered, is pretty appealing to me (compared to the 8 hour trek from the Bay).

DanielHart wrote: I’m sitting in shorts in the backyard listening to waves crash at 9:40 on a January night. Pretty sure that doesn’t happen in Colorado anywhere. 

I have friends who live on Shepard Mesa. Heaven on earth, except for the fire danger.

They let aerospace engineers in, don't worry.

wendy weiss wrote:

I have friends who live on Shepard Mesa. Heaven on earth, except for the fire danger.

Nice I’ve got lots of friends that live over there. Not too much issue with fire. It’s been 20 plus years before the Thomas Fire. Hit me up if you’re in the area. 

Fat Dad wrote: I'm an LA native but seriously considered moving to Boulder a couple years out of grad school since I could waive into the CO State Bar. I was working a big firm downtown and, while I was getting out to Josh or the Sierra on the weekends, it was a grind.  I went, checked it out. It was beautiful and the access to climbing and riding is amazing (except in winter), but the culture didn't win me over.  At least in the 90s it was very whitebread and homogeneous. Culturally it has progressed, but you'll be disappointed if you're used to Bay area standards. When I factored in the lack of ocean and being far from family, it was a pretty easy decision to stay put. Don't get me wrong, it would be awesome to drive for 15 minutes and be at Eldo or Flagstaff, but you're trading quite a bit for that convenience. Consider all those things that are important to you other than climbing and base your decision on that.  El Segundo is a cute town (I live in Westchester, the next town north). If you can live in El Segundo or Manhattan Beach and commute to work (Raytheon?), life will be good. 

Didn't know CO used to have reciprocity with CA.  Which firm were you with?

Boulder population- 108,000.......and loads of rock within 30 mins

LA population- 4,000,000+.....and hours from really good climbing

Anybody here ripping Boulder probably hasn't dealt with LA, seems pretty easy if it's purely based on climbing, and even the prices