Have you lived in or visited Riverside County, California? Tell us about it!
Riverside
October 2019 — I When I first moved to Riverside. CA, U.S.A., 10 years ago, I didn’t like this city too much. What I’ve learned over the years is that I was only feeling this way because I did not know the people who reside here. The residence of Riverside, CA, are mostly families who enjoy outdoor activities and want a safe city to raise their family. The city used to be much safer. However, with the laws which passed a few years ago, it created a state that provides benefits for the criminals and takes away the innocents rights. This is a state problem as oppose to a city problem. With that being said, although the crime rate is rising, I can see the families who live here stick together and protect one another as much as possible from the criminals. Not all cities have that. The community of Riverside is much safer for that aspect. It is a large city with over 400,000 residents. It’s combined nationality of residents is another reason I like Riverside. People come from all over the world to work and raise their families here. The school system for the most part, is a good choice. My son has learned that people from all of world are the same – human. He has learned to adjust his communication with children who do not speak English. Riverside has many activities for families to enjoy. Although, I from the beach cities, I used to feel, if there isn’t a beach within walkinbmg distance there’s not much to do. However, my 8 year old son and I have enjoyed the skate parks since he started skateboarding at age 4, we enjoy hiking, or going to the library. In our neighborhood we do have occasional visits from wildlife. We’ve seen coyotes, fox’, pelicans, squirrels, boars, and mountain lions, and we even have 100+ donkeys who live up the road and enjoy roaming our neighborhood sometimes. The city of Riverside is against feeding the wild animals because it makes it difficult for these wild animals to survive naturally when humans feed them. Thus, it has recently become against the law to feed these creatures. After 10 years, I’ve decided living within walking distance to the beach is a huge plus, but have also learned if I do not want to drive in hours of traffic to get to a beach, there are plenty of alternative in Riverside, CA.
Desert Center
October 2019 — I live in Desert Center, California. Desert Center is in the Mojave Desert in Southern California. We are about sixty miles east of Palm Springs, California, and fifty miles west of Blythe, California. We have to drive at least fifty miles in either direction to one of those towns to buy groceries and anything else of major consequence. Desert Center is located at the junction of Interstate Highway 10 and California State Route 177. And all the people from Los Angeles who travel to Lake Havasu for three-day weekends pass right through Desert Center (or, as we locals call it, “DC”) and **man** is there ever a LOT of car traffic passing through this place!! An important part of Desert Center is also a “resort” named Lake Tamarisk–named after the man-made lake located there–where most of the residents of Desert Center *really* live. Lake Tamarisk has a beautiful nine-hole Riverside County golf course, an truly outstanding library, and a fire department which has saved many a life, and much property, in this and the surrounding area. A few years ago when I moved here, Desert Center was the location of a California State Prison and a Kaiser Iron Ore Mine. The town was booming with several thousand living here. It had an elementary school, a nice little local market that sold most of the essentials (including beer!), an eight-pump gas station, and at least two doctors. But the prison and the mine closed down a few years ago. Today, unfortunately, everything except the library, the golf course, and the fire department have closed, and the population has skidded to about 126 souls. But surprise! The town and environs (except for Lake Tamarisk, of course, and some other parcels in the area) have just gone up for sale. So if you have always wanted to own a town, here is your chance!!
Murrieta
June 2018 — I grew up in a smaller city named Murrieta, located in Riverside County, California, United States. By “smaller city”, I mean it wasn’t a town where everyone knows each other, but it wasn’t a big bustling city like San Francisco. The city was mostly comprised of retail stores, fast food restaurants, and suburban neighborhoods. There really wasn’t a whole lot to do around there, but there was a lot of undeveloped land. Because of this, the typical thing kids would do was to ride their bikes over to the land and cause mischief. Some days they would make jumps, other days they would be throwing dirt clods at each other, and on rare occasions, usually when the crazy kid in the neighborhood was involved, they would do something like start a fire. Around the neighborhood, things weren’t much different. Kids would do stupid things, like toilet paper people’s houses, and sometimes there was fights between different kids. Parents would occasionally get involved and that usually ended poorly, because everyone’s child is innocent in their own mind. It was pretty much your typical suburban lifestyle around there. When I drive through that city now, it feels like a lot has changed since the late 90’s and 2000’s, but nothing major really has. The buildings are older, people have moved, but living there is still your average middle-class suburban life.
Temecula
May 2018 — In southern California, Temecula is a valley filled with all kinds of housing, parks, strip malls, and a colorful older section as well right off the 15 freeway. Temecula is a flourishing city that possesses a Promenade mall, three movie theatres-Edwards, Carmike, and Temeku Cinema, several notable wineries and Pechanga Casino Resort. What is so interesting about this town is that it can either be packed with people or ghost town empty depending on the time of day or night you travel there. Unique to the city is the fact that there is only one restaurant there that is open twenty-four hours. It is small, close to the I-15 freeway and equal distance between San Diego and Riverside. There is always some big event going on the weekends and throughout the week as well. It is a great place to visit, also good for commuting families on their way to San Diego, to Riverside, or anywhere else for that matter. Family friendly and generally filled with children-based activities, there is always something fun to do in Town. It is surrounded by other valleys and towns. There are ranches and plain unincorporated areas which give an indicate of the desert it once was and still can become during the hottest days in summer or anywhere else for that matter. Give Temecula a try one of these days. It is very picturesque and a great place to hang out if one enjoys a small-town aura in a big city location. Have fun and enjoy.
Menifee
April 2018 — Menifee, California Menifee, the town that I live in, is a small city in the Inland Empire region of Southern California. It’s a fairly new city established in 2008 and consists of a rapidly growing population of around 80,000. The town is a beautiful place to live with plenty of open space, lush greenery, and beautiful homes surrounded by picturesque mountain views. Although the town is not very diverse with Whites and Hispanics being the majority, I’ve found it to be a peaceful and welcoming place to live nevertheless. Winters here are mild but summers are sizzling hot (and dry, it hardly ever rains) with average temperatures soaring into the 100’s in the peak of the season. One major downside in Menifee is traffic. Strangely for a relatively small town, we have tons of traffic on all the major roads and highways especially during the morning and evening rush hours. Another downside is the high cost of living and the scarcity of the town’s viable job market. Unlike the big cities, Menifee is more of a family-oriented, elderly friendly town. There are no major nightclubs, party spots, mega malls, stadiums, theme parks, concert arenas or movie theaters– so to be quite honest, younger or more adventurous people might find Menifee pretty boring. There are a few strip malls, grocery stores, retail shops and public parks to enjoy. The promise of a mega shopping complex, movie theater and road expansion has been looming for a while. However, I moved here roughly 2 years ago into my first home, and not much has changed since then. I often travel to the neighboring big cities for entertainment, business affairs, and trips to the airport (Menifee doesn’t have a major commercial airport). In conclusion, Menifee is a decent place to live but not so exciting to visit.