Palmdale

[Geld ist Freiheit]

Has anyone here lived in or visited Palmdale?
I'm considering a potential relo opportunity and was curious about the area.

Wikipedia's page gives a general overview of thing.

I'm interested in a first hand, unvarnished account.

Good, bad, indifferent. Used to be a nice place and has gone downhill? PIA to get around? Lots to do? Nothing to do? Etc...

The map shows LAX to be about an hour away so it's probably more like a 3 hour drive.

Moving there was never really part of the plan but as you know, like rivers lives and careers rarely flow in a straight line.

Thanks in advance for your inputs & insights.

 

[Souschef]

I lived there many years ago, but the climate has not changed. It gets hot and windy in summer, and cold enough for snow in winter.
Burbank Airport would be a lot closer than LAX.
IMO, Palmdale has gone downhill from when I lived there.
That being said, why not look at Ventura County? I live 10 miles inland from Ventura, in a moderate climate. I live in a +55 mobile home park, and the town has most of the amenities we need.
Ventura is only 15 minutes away for things we cannot get locally.

 

[Scuba]

I haven't ever lived there but have driven through Lancaster/Palmdale many times. I did not get a favorable impression of that area. I live in So CA and love it, but prefer areas closer to the coast. Also really like Palm Springs.

 

[Chuckanut]

It's high dessert. Hot in the summer and one of the few parts of LA County that can get a dusting of snow in the Winter. I imagine that it is cheaper than than many other parts of LA County.

IIRC, Virgin Galactic is located near there along with several other start-up rocket companies. The Space Shuttle used to land near there from time to time. Might be an opportunity for an adventure!

http://www.palmdalechamber.org/community/aerospace/

Mojave Air and Space Port is home to 47 companies performing various transportation related development, maintenance or research projects from Rail, Air & Space to soft tire. We have 14 space related firms, two of which have won XPrize events over the past five years. One for development of a Lunar Lander and the other for development of SpaceShipOne and now SpaceShipTwo. We have a company which has tested more rocket motors this century than any other firm on earth and has flown more man rated rocket powered craft than the rest of the world.

 

[AllDone]

My next door neighbors lived there for twenty years and say they liked it, but they retired to San Diego.... I've spent time in Hemet and Paris, California and can't say that I would want to live there, but the area does offer inexpensive housing.

 

[Major Tom]

I owned some rental properties in the Lancaster/Palmdale area a little over 10 years ago. Only visited there a few times, as they were managed for me, and I only owned them for a couple of years.

The high desert sun can be harsh. If you own, you'll probably need to repaint and re-roof a little more often than you would otherwise. As has been said, lots of aerospace stuff there - it's where the events in the film "The Right Stuff" took place. One of the main drags through town is named "Challenger Way".

Big, wide open streets and spaces. Dusty and hot in the summer. Empty lots with Joshua trees. Culturally, maybe not a whole lot going on, but not everyone needs that. This is based on hearsay rather than hard data, but when the general economy turns down, places like this are harder hit, and take longer to recover. You might want to take a look into crime rates there. I'd definitely recommend a visit if you're seriously interested.

I saw Spaceship One take off from Mojave in 2004. Very exciting.

Heh, I just noticed that there's a place just north of Palmdale and Lancaster, called "Reefer City".

 

[grasshopper]

I have a brother and a niece that live in Palmdale. The niece moved because her husband flew jets and stuff for the Air Force. They seem happy enough there. We compare weather and it is similar to our high desert southern Arizona weather.

 

[Fedup]

It's definitely a desert. I would say a middle of nowhere. I passed by it once, not sure if I what I saw from the freeway represents the whole place. But it was sparse.

 

[Lakewood90712]

It would not be a first , second or third choice for low cost California living. Aside from being high desert , always a full variety of large brand new homes. A large portion of the residents on public assistance, and a lot of crime , drugs.

There are 'Pretty" areas of the Palmdale/Lancaster/Quartz Hill area. I worked there during one of the aerospace booms.

Quartz hill had the priciest homes, and the most drug houses at the same time. You would not see this unless you lived there for awhile.

Best to lease a house for some time before taking the plunge, IMO.

 

[Geld ist Freiheit]

It would be a temporary thing.
Might have a line on a j*b there. If I took it (should say if offered it) it would likely be the last j*b I have. Sort of a "fork in the road" moment. I can probably run out the clock where I'm at but this would be more interesting.
The position would be in Palmdale so I'd have to live somewhere within a reasonable commute.

 

[Lakewood90712]

It would be a temporary thing.
Might have a line on a j*b there. If I took it (should say if offered it) it would likely be the last j*b I have. Sort of a "fork in the road" moment. I can probably run out the clock where I'm at but this would be more interesting.
The position would be in Palmdale so I'd have to live somewhere within a reasonable commute.

A large multi year defense contract is just getting started. Quite a few direct and in-direct jobs are indeed opening up.

Up the hills to the west: Lake Hughes , Lake Elizabeth , Green Valley , to the south and a little further away and more expensive: Canyon Country , Acton.

to the north: Rosamond

 

[calico1597]

My aunt lives in Palmdale. She and my uncle (he recently died) moved there about 10-15 years ago from Tehachapi to be closer to health care. She loves it, we've visited annually the last five years, seems like a decent place to live. She's in a nice neighborhood, feels safe, lots of shopping nearby. My cousin lives nearby in Lancaster, I think she comes to Palmdale to shop.

I had a message from her yesterday, they've had some temps near 100 already.

 

[SteveNU]

Born and raised in Lancaster. Haven't lived there since I was 19, over 40 years ago. Still have family there and we just moved my Mom to a place in Palmdale a few weeks ago. Like others say it's hot in the summer and can often be quite windy.

It's a nice place to visit but I don't think I would like to live there anymore. Too much crime and quality of life issues. My Mom was living in Tehachapi also and it's nice up there but it's a good drive to Palmdale.

 

[Sunnymar]

I do volunteer work at the LA county jail, many inmates tell me they live in Palmdale, it is the single most common city inmates are from.

 

[ItDontMeanAThing]

The Los Angeles Times has summary crime stats from year summary down to individual crimes on a day.

Violent Crime Ranking - Mapping L.A. - Los Angeles Times
Property Crime Ranking - Mapping L.A. - Los Angeles Times

I looked at the property crime rankings. Of the places I'd been which are ranked near Palmdale - I wouldn't live there. They're bars on the windows type neighborhoods.

In the middle 90s (so hazy memory means I may have the details wrong), Los Angeles real estate prices dropped and dropped some more. Palmdale was way overbuilt, so the prices cratered. Some civil servant realized that people on public assistance could afford HUD house payments in Palmdale. People relocated to Palmdale and brought gangs with them. Last person I know who lived in Palmdale left in 2000.

 

[cbo111]

I worked at Edwards AFB for the past 13 years. I would not recommend Palmdale or Lancaster. Both have significant gang/crime problems. The weather is also not desirable. I live in Tehachapi, which is about 45 minutes to the Palmdale airfield. Nice little mountain town, low crime with 4 seasons.

 

[Geld ist Freiheit]

Thanks for all of the excellent input.
Sounds like the area is less than desirable.