Why I Moved to San Diego: An Interview Series
I had the chance to interview Sarah, who moved back home to San Diego and bought in Mission Valley after living in San Francisco. I hope anyone considering a move to San Diego finds this interview series helpful.
Karen: Tell me a little about yourself and how long you’ve been in San Diego.
Sarah (name changed): I’m a woman in my mid-30s, and I work in healthcare strategy. I’ve been in San Diego for a few years now. I actually grew up here, born and raised in North County through high school, and then moved back a few years ago.
Karen: What led you to move back, and where were you living before?
Sarah: Most recently I was in San Francisco. I went to business school on the East Coast in between, but I was mostly in SF, and before that I lived in LA. So I’ve basically gone up and down California.
What ultimately brought me back to San Diego was family. I lived in SF for about five years total, but I’m more of a SoCal girl. It’s what I’ve always known, and I’m very close to my family. Most of my friends were in the Bay, but every time I traveled and came back to SF, I’d be so depressed. I’d dread coming back and get the vacation blues. I’d route every trip through San Diego. I’d fly home to San Diego and then fly to Phoenix from there, which doesn’t make sense! Or when I was back home visiting, I’d think, “Maybe I’ll just extend another week.” I was finding any excuse to be in SD.
And my parents are getting older. My mom was retiring, and I wanted to be around them more. Even though a lot of my community was in SF, we were all at a point in our lives where people had partners or were moving away. It was a less social time, so I didn’t care as much about going out several times a week. What I really cared about was seeing my family.
Karen: I agree. I’d get the vacation blues every time I went back to SF too. And it’s nice that your family is here, so you had a home base. How did you decide which neighborhood to live in when you came back?
Sarah: I had one close friend here, but other than that, I hadn’t lived in San Diego since high school. I wasn’t close with my high school friends anymore, so I was starting completely fresh. And growing up, all I ever knew was North County. I’d probably been to Mission Bay twice before I moved back, and now I’m there multiple times a week.
Originally, I lived in a rental property my parents own in Sorrento Valley. Then my dad made a comment like, “If you’re going to pay us that much in rent, you might as well buy your own place.” I said, “No, I can’t afford that, that’s crazy.” Then I crunched the numbers and realized I actually could.
I had friends who lived in Mission Valley, and visiting them made me more aware of that part of town. Before that, all I knew of Mission Valley was Fashion Valley Mall. But when you have a friend who lives somewhere, you suddenly notice all the cool things around them, and I realized how central it is. A friend had just bought a place, so I started talking to a realtor and got more serious about the search.
Once I started looking, I realized Mission Valley was a great bang for your buck, at least at the time. The places in my budget near the beach were really small, so being by the water was out. I also didn’t want to be east of the 15, or farther south than Balboa Park. I seriously considered a place in Tierrasanta, but decided that for a single woman in her 30s, it probably wasn’t the best choice. So I stuck to this general area.
Karen: How were those four months in Sorrento Valley compared to living in central San Diego now?
Sarah: Sorrento Valley is very suburban, and I really liked it. I had a big house all to myself, though my parents were renovating it at the same time. I was a couple of months into living in San Diego, single and dating, so everything was fun: driving places and rediscovering San Diego as an adult.
Looking back, though, my walks were just neighborhood, next neighborhood, next neighborhood, and that was it. That’s fine, since it’s a nice area. But Sorrento Valley is far from both freeways. It could take me 10 or even 20 minutes just to reach the 15 or the 5. That made me realize I wanted to be somewhere central where getting anywhere didn’t mean crawling through a bunch of local roads.
Karen: When people hear Sorrento Valley, they think of all the tech offices. It could be great if you want a short commute to work there, but 20 minutes to the freeway is a lot.
Sarah: Mira Mesa Boulevard gets so backed up!
Karen: Tell me about Mission Valley. If someone were moving to San Diego, what kind of person is it for?
Sarah: Mission Valley is probably for someone younger. There are basically no single-family homes. It’s mostly condos and apartments, so it works if you don’t need a big garage or a big backyard.
I love it. I actually like being close to the mall. Not that I’m a shopper, but that’s where I do my walks in the winter. I can walk to USD, and it’s very close to Pacific Beach and Mission Bay. And I grew up in the suburbs, so I like suburbs, even cookie-cutter neighborhoods. A great thing about the suburbs is shopping plazas with parking! You can do all your errands within a two-mile radius, which is really nice.
But if you love going out to eat, hanging out at cafés, or going out for drinks, Mission Valley isn’t very walkable. It has more chain places than cute little local spots.
Karen: Mission Valley was actually the first place I lived when I moved here, because it’s so central. Coming from San Francisco, I was amazed: I can drive to the grocery store! There is a Chipotle! I’d only ever lived somewhere walkable being in SF, where I’d trudge a mile uphill to Trader Joe’s with a backpack full of groceries. After a year in Mission Valley, I left since I wanted to explore different neighborhoods, but you’re still so close to the bay and the water that it’s not much of a compromise.
Sarah: If you want to be at the beach every day, you’d want to live closer. But I work nine to five, and I’m not going to make it to the beach every day anyway. So it’s fine for me to drive a little and go when I want.
Karen: What are your favorite things about San Diego, whether it’s something you discovered when you moved here, a lifestyle change, or anything else?
Sarah: The first is probably my family. Funny enough, I probably talk to my mom less now. In SF, I was calling her every day. But physically being here is a different feeling. You can be there for them, and they can be there for you. That’s a big one for me.
The ocean and sunshine are also very nice. It’s not an SF ocean where you’re wearing a puffer jacket. It’s warm and lovely here, with a great vibe.
And San Diego is big, so you can explore different areas while keeping the same laid-back vibe everywhere. You’ve got the surfer beach vibe, and then you have North Park. In SF, it’s like, okay, you have the Marina, and you have the Mission.
Karen: Since you’ve also lived in LA: if your parents weren’t in San Diego, would you pick San Diego or LA, and why?
Sarah: Now, I’d pick San Diego. My fiancé loves San Diego, so we’ll be here for a very long time. For the longest time, I thought I’d settle down in Orange County. I figured I’d never move back to San Diego, since I’d spent my whole childhood here and wanted to explore new things. OC felt like a happy medium between LA and San Diego.
But I don’t think I’d do LA in my mid-30s. The traffic really is bad, and the culture revolves around entertainment and everything connected to it. That’s just not what I’m interested in, and I don’t think I’d connect as well with a friend circle all working in that world. So I’d still pick San Diego.
Karen: Love that. Thank you so much, Sarah!
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