Lemme get a Palm! (Palm) Lemme get a Dale! (Dale)
Akilae729
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So in 6 days I ship off to Palmdale, California for the summer.
Is it true that there is really nothing to do there? There has to be something.
Are there any cool record shops, places to hang out?
I think i might be screwed cause im under 21 too.
Shit
Is it true that there is really nothing to do there? There has to be something.
Are there any cool record shops, places to hang out?
I think i might be screwed cause im under 21 too.
Shit
Akilae729 on
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From what I've seen going through there, it's about like any smallish town, it's kinda who you know that can make it fun or terrible.
Thats what my boss does
It's true, the rest of Southern California does.
Palmdale is unluckily on the boring side of LA (North of it), and aside from local activities it's not really known for anything. You're about 45 minutes away from LA with good traffic, and hour and a half away from Orange County, and an hour from Barstow if you're into that sort of thing (Rave/party area. That may be Temecula, I honestly can't remember).
Will you have access to a car?
People consider it more than "kind of" hickish.
You might be able to drive out to the mountains and look at poppies, those are pretty neat. Mostly if you're a girl or nature lover, though.
Um, there's this good sushi place called Goldfish (Gold Fish Japanese Restaurant?). It's in a strip shopping center, off Rancho Vista.
You can also go hang out at the mall, watch some movies maybe. It's all kinds of hot right now, so hanging around outside isn't the best idea.
Um, but yeah, driving to LA is probably your only hope of actual fun. Hit Santa Monica maybe, or Malibu. If you find anything actually interesting, let me know so I can file it away for future reference.
Haha I know. I lived in northern CA for a bit (San Jose), and in the mountains east of LA, and have also lived in the UK, so I'm not a typical (former) resident of the town, and I've heard everyone put in their two cents about it. I currently live in TX, though, and these people have no room to say a word about Bakersfield being hickish.
I mean, Bakersfield is a nice enough place to raise a family, and everyone talks about how terrible it is, but I don't hate it. I will just probably never move back.
OP: yeah, just go to LA. You will want to be away from Palmdale as much as possible this time of year, unless you're into, you know, frying eggs on the ground.
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
It is hot as balls here in the summer. 100+ is common. To be a bit cliche, it's a dry heat, so it's not completely stifling, but outdoor activity is basically limited to swimming in a pool or traveling between air-conditioned locations.
The area began as agricultural, boomed with aerospace in the 70s and 80s, and now functions as a dormitory city for the greater LA area. Since LA is so close, nobody really bothered to create anything too interesting here. We do have a crapload of movie theaters, a minor league baseball team (in Lancaster, about 10 minutes north on the 14 freeway from Palmdale proper), and a mall / commercial area that has pretty much any store or dining you'd expect to find elsewhere in Southern California.
Speaking of the 14 freeway, it is the major north/south thoroughfare here and will be your likely route south to LA or the first leg of a journey to Las Vegas or further north in California. There is an older route known as Sierra Highway that parallels the freeway, and it effectively divides the area into the East and West (all street numbers have an East or a West after them - there is an actual street called Division which itself runs near Sierra Highway where it exists). The east portions of both towns are typically older, cheaper, and inhabited by lower-middle class families. There is a large, newish Hispanic immigrant population here, along with good numbers of African-Americans as well. The west is generally newer, more affluent, and whiter, although specific areas on both sides can go against the status quo. Certain areas are absolutely less than safe, and crime is an issue in poorer neighborhoods. The area is also fairly well-known in Southern California for being a haven for white-supremacy groups and meth labs, although having lived here most of my life I haven't really noticed much (although I am admittedly white and don't use drugs).
Likely as good a reason as any for all of this: there is a major maximum security prison just outside town to the north, and the relative inexpensiveness of the area (one of the cheapest still somewhat close to LA) both attracts the families who wish to be closer to inmates and allows it to be used by county and state government as a relocation/reintroduction point.
I love this place as my home, but it doesn't have much to offer anybody without sentimental attachments. The populace is pretty bland, and there's not much love for anything remotely intellectual here. Drop me a PM if you want to know anything more or you find yourself lacking people to hang out with.