Moving to La Jolla

Moving from Oakland to La Jolla

May 2016

We will be moving from the Oakland Hills to the La Jolla area this summer and would appreciate any advice about the local culture there relative to the East Bay. How easy is it to make friends with other families? Where do you like to go shopping outside of regular big-box grocery stores? I will miss the fabulous breads at La Farine on College Avenue. Anything similar in La Jolla Village or surrounding areas? What gyms and dance studios could you recommend for a 5 year-old and a 12 year-old girl who are crazy about gymnastics and ballet? Does anything similar to the Berkeley Parents Network exist for San Diego County? Any advice about living in La Jolla with two kids will be very helpful for us. Thank you!! Will Miss The Bay Area

f your gonna move out of the Bay Area, La Jolla is a pretty nice place to go. If you can't find what your looking for in La Jolla, SD is a short trek where you find many good bakeries and farmers markets etc. La Jolla is a moderate place in a conservative area, but enough diversify exists that it is hard to characterize.

You didn't ask about churches, you either have that figured out or are uncommitted. Well, you need to decide because your gonna be asked, as will your daughters. When I moved to SoCal, many people asked me 'have you found a church', uncertain answers led them to believe I was a lost soul in need of saving, and many people will indicate friendship when really they would like to recruit you to their church. Seriously, if you have no plans to join a church you should be forceful when asked and your kids will need a script as well.

Good Luck! Weaned

I happened to miss the actual query about La Jolla, and so I do not know the specifics you asked about the town, but I did read the response speaking to a rampant religious drumbeat. For a person not terribly interested in that, the post made the area sound pretty daunting. I relocated to North County from Berkeley over a decade ago, and I frankly have never experienced having to duck into alleyways to avoid being recruited into a church. I do not think about religion, do not belong to a church, and if forced to label myself would land in the agnostic zone, and I live here quite unbothered by those he feel quite differently. Yes, there are religious folks here, just as there are in every corner of the planet, and I promise you whether you embrace that or not you can live here among all beliefs just fine. No script required.

So, I am not sure what you need to know about La Jolla, but it is a fact that it is very different from the Bay Area. Some things here are much better, some not as nice, depending on what you value. But, people are friendly, and they do not act that way just to get you in a pew. K.

Our family lived in La Jolla for 2 years before moving to Berkeley a few years ago. I agree with the response from last week; my personal experience was that I never once encountered anyone trying to proselytize or recruit me to join their church. La Jolla is a bit politically conservative — a lot of rich people — but I didn't feel that it was noticeably religious. Religious about their surfboards and beach culture, maybe, but not about church!

La Jolla is a fun place. It's different from Berkeley in many ways, but it can be a fun place to live. - former La Jolla resident