Los Angeles (to be specific, Santa Monica) or Santa Ana?My company is transferring me from Texas to California, and I can choose between these 2 offices. Which would you recommend? Why?
First of all, I d like to thank you for posting a thoughtful question that doesn t require a cut-and-paste answer.You ve answered enough questions in this forum to know that the LA area is expensive, especially Santa Monica. This whole situation reminds of a scene in The Princess Bride , where Vizzini (played brilliantly by Wallace Shawn) goes through a dizzying series of monologues explaining why he cannot drink from the cup in front of him, and then why he cannot drink from the cup in front of the man in black. Hilarious. Ironically, both cups were poisoned, and he dies. Which gives us a bit of a lesson here.Both areas have their positive and negative side. It might have helped to know which company, so I could see which area of Santa Ana. Now a fool would look at the situation and say that Santa Monica is nicer than Santa Ana, so you clearly could not choose Santa Ana. But you are no fool, knowing that there are very nice areas of Santa Ana, so you clearly cannot choose Santa Monica. Eh, Wallace Shawn did it better.Anyways, all things considered, I d go with Santa Ana, especially if the company is located in south Santa Ana. Even if you re downtown, that gives you the option of taking Metrolink or Amtrak to work. I believe you ll like the Orange County area a bit better, since it s a little more open. Hopefully they will give you some relocation assistance, becuase there are deals to be found in the OC. So Santa Ana gets my vote.
Santa Monica would probably be a better place to live. You have the beaches, etc. I used to live in Santa Ana 40 years ago it wasn t that good back then. If you re in sales, CA is tough. . .
Santa Monica but dont expect to find reasonably priced housing anywhere near there. Plus the traffic is horrific during business hours. but at least you got the beach near by.