When I was in my early- to mid-20s, I knew I wanted to leave my hometown on the east coast and live happily ever after in San Francisco. I spent an entire year planning the trip and saying goodbye over the course of four seasons. Then, on the first of January, I packed my tan VW Rabbit and drove cross country in ten days. I never looked back. I managed to live in San Francisco for four years. I struggled finding steady work and didn't have a vocation. Luckily, I had a friend in Los Angeles who said she had an empty couch. I stayed with her a year before finding a home of my own. I have been in the City of Angels over 34 years! I've been looking for 'community' for my senior years. I have about nine or ten more working years in me. Do I stay where I am or do I move out and onward? I've been thinking of leaving the state. It's tough when you live in a blue state and consider living in a place where your neighbors might have republican notions. That's my small anxiety.
You might want to try Oregon--Eugene specifically. I think you would find that moving from LA to this area would be very nice. We're a liberal area and there are many things to do here and there is entertainment from Opera to Punk music and everything in between. One unique thing about Oregon is that you never hear people honking their car horns at others and you are always let into traffic from parking lots or side traffic by considerate drivers. Some research will help you when it is time for you to move.
Big cities, with everyone crammed into apartment buildings soon become hell on earth. Here in the UK, we discovered this the hard way in the 1960's, but sadly the current generation are about to let history repeat itself.
As I've aged, I've found that I don't mind my neighbors having whatever kind of political inclinations they have and that I can get along with people regardless of differences. Most people seem to be quite reasonable and keep their politics to themselves. I've lived in CA but now I am in the South and I really love it. I have also, maybe moved more to the middle rather than far left, so maybe that helps, but mostly politics just don't come up often in my circles.
