True . . . I’ve been to areas where GPS and cell just disappear. Always when I’m hopelessly lost and/or the weather is dicey 
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It’s so peaceful when I’m in the middle of Redwood trees … go up around Eureka everyone … you’ll love it.
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I remember riding the skunk train the day of the OJ verdict.
We used to spend a lot of time in the Mendocino area, but it’s been a long time. I found the names of the towns intriguing. Eureka, Yreka, and Trinidad, among others!
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Tonight I pick up my KitchenAid chopper for $12. It’s only 3.5 cup, but, we’re an empty nesters, and the chopper matches the mixer I got for $25. Some days the good lord shines his graces upon thee.
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I really dislike crowds; sweaty crowds when I’m making up part of the sweaty crowd, even less so. We’re in the SE US so we’ve been to WDW and Universal parks several times with the kids and I never enjoyed it.
Haven’t been to WDL, but one year our school system instituted a Fall break week at the end of September. We flew the 4 kids out to do a 1-week tour of California and hit the La Brea tar pits, Yosemite, Sequoia National, and 2 days in SF including an Alcatraz tour and a lot of time touring the piers, and Muir Woods. (I’d forgotten this last until scrolling further comments here)
The absolute highlight for everyone (OK, maybe it was tied with Yosemite and Sequoia) was Knott’s Berry Farm amusement park on a weekday when all the local schools were in session. Very low attendance day!
The ride operators let us just sit in the same seat (or switch seats) so as to do multiple rides of all the roller coasters and other rides, without making us disembark and go back through the cord line thingies.
I’ve been to WDW and Universal parks very late in the day when there were few enough in line that there were plenty of seats for those incoming and outgoing, but the standard in those parks is that you have to disembark and wend your way back through the maze lines to board again.
Dumb!
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From “Time Out New York”
Study analyzes best NYC boroughs to live in according to your salary
No mention of Staten Island!
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Except at the end: "For the rest of us, it might be time to start considering a move to Staten Island. "
Those prices are absolutely insane.
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It’s a city for the wealthy, and has been forever.
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I’ve lived in Manhattan since 1983. I’m not wealthy. Neither are most of the people in my neighborhood. It’s an expensive city, but it’s not like there are no poor people here.
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I am aware. In general, it is one of the most expensive cities in the world, and if one doesn’t want to live like a grad student with 4 roommates, unaffordable for anyone making less than 6 figures.
I know a lucky few (perhaps you are one of them) who live in rent-controlled apartments that aren’t the size of a box.
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That’s just FUD.
We own a coop. We bought at an opportune time. My last apartment (when I was single) was also a coop, and I also bought it at an opportune time. I think there were a few years when I made six figures, but it’s certainly not the norm.
So yes, I’m relatively lucky, but so are the rest of the people in my (enormous) coop, along with the thousands of others in this neighborhood, many of whom live in subsidized housing.
There are of course many people who need roommates to afford their apartments - rents are indeed very high - but plenty of us middle class residents get along pretty well.
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Whatever that means.
You are lucky. It’s a great city.
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Timing is key. We bought our townhouse 25 years ago in a very close-in location walking distance to metro. NWIH could we afford it now. DC is barely affordable for young people who want to live near reliable public transit.
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100%. I bought my studio from a guy who had just renovated it for his mom. And then she died. So he was trying to unload it quickly, for a well-below-market price. I was very lucky. But I was also willing (happy, even) to live in a small-ish space with a Murphy bed and a tiny galley kitchen.
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The cat!
My PIC’s college buddy used to live in Chelsea. Her place had a tiny foyer where she kept her bike on the wall, a small living room with an alcove for her bed en route to a reasonably sized bathroom, and a small kitchen.
I believe she was paying $3,500/month for less than 500 sq feet (this was in the 2000s). She ended up buying a place in Brooklyn.
This is true everywhere. Motivation is also key. To buy in an urban area, you have to really want to, to forego unnecessary expenditures like dining out and vacations, to try to amass a nest egg. Be prepared for an opportunistic purchase, like smallh describes. Be prepared to start with a less than optimum space or neighborhood.
This kind of thinking caused me to learn to cook.
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I do not want to tell you what the rent was on my last apartment (mid-'90s), or what I paid for either of my coop apartments, because people will be mad.
