Posted on 04/14/2009 1:05:08 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
If John Steinbeck were alive today and had yet to pen "The Grapes of Wrath," it's not too hard to imagine the novelist telling the story of a family making its departure from California.
Released 70 years ago today, Steinbeck's novel of the Great Depression told of the hardships endured by the Joads, an Oklahoma family that braved Route 66 in an ultimately fruitless search for prosperity in the Central Valley.
Steinbeck's novel isn't the only story of those who have moved to California.
Students learn of the Spanish missions and the Gold Rush. The nostalgia of Route 66 is woven into the civic fiber of communities like San Bernardino. Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant sang how he "made up his mind to make a new start/going to California with an aching in my heart" in words that became a classic rock staple.
California's population continues to grow, but in recent years, more people have left the state than moved in from other states.
What remains to be seen is whether California has reached a point where financial opportunity itself has fled eastward or whether the state is experiencing a short-term trend.
Stater Bros. Chief Executive Jack Brown said he's not willing to give up on California. He said Golden State businesses face many regulations but also serve the country's most populous state.
"I've had supermarkets in 11 states, and I've never been in a state that offers more opportunity than California," he said.
One way modern reality differs from the world of "The Grapes of Wrath" is that today's economic slump could be hindering Californians' eastward migration.
"We have been getting a lot of Californians moving here for the past 10 years. That has slowed down considerably," said Paul Hiller, executive director of the Boise Valley Economic Partnership in Idaho.
Hiller is the former head of the Riverside-based Inland Empire Economic Partnership. He's not the only ex-Californian in his current workplace - senior receptionist Kathi Jones is an Idaho native who returned to the state after living in Southern California.
Jones lived in a West Covina that she said was "becoming gang-infested territory" 16 years ago when she returned to Idaho, bringing along her husband and two teenage children.
California Department of Finance statistics, released in December, show that California recorded domestic outmigration of about 135,000 people. It was the fourth consecutive year that more Americans left the state than moved in.
Each person who leaves the state has a different story. Bertha at Base Line U-Haul in San Bernardino declined to give her last name but said she has noticed people who recently moved to California are moving east again.
One woman who made the trip from Florida didn't find what she was looking for and rented a trailer for the return trip. Several families have returned to Colorado recently, she said.
Alaina Harris, now of Oklahoma City, said she grew up in Vacaville and went to college at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa.
She said she moved to Oklahoma City to take a public-relations job after earning a master's degree from Georgetown University in 2007.
"I was able to purchase a home out here, which is something I would not be able to do at my age in California," said Harris, 26, who purchased the home with her fiance, whom she said is a U.S. Air Force flight trainer.
The prospect of affordable real estate and an escape from onerous taxation and business regulations are commonly heard reasons for people to leave California.
"In comparison to California, we tend to have fewer regulations and license fees," said Cara Roberts, director of public relations for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.
But Bill Carney, current chief executive of the Inland Empire Economic Partnership, believes that stories of an exodus from California have been greatly exaggerated.
"Every time we have a recession, we go through that," he said. "It was in the early '90s. The hype is always much greater than reality."
Don’t stop in New Mexico.
I may go the opposite direction.. Tahiti or Bust!
We’d make an exception for you. :)
I welcome antoine form those liberal states but do not bring those liberal votes with you
You made a mess of your state so do not bother coming here and making this state look like the state of CA
I’d like to see if they are all republicans and conservatives or Dem and liberals as if it were all conservatives and they moved to other states then they are helping to keep those states red but CO turned blue so maybe it is Dems
California: a land settled by people harboring illusions of scoring instant wealth. It’s mystique is almost that of a casino, but on a grander scale. Those who didn’t want to sweat and toil for success moved to the west coast where success- understood as happiness, affluence and toys- was believed to fall into anyone’s lap. The California Dream- that the people who move there are entitled to the lifestyle they imagine themselves living is destroying the state.
Where is that ?
When you have a limiting boundary containing a people who wish to continue to progress, that progress will occur, just not geographically. One of the many reasons California seems like such a restless place.
It is owned and run by the French. Lots of labor unrest, strikes and resentment of Americans by the locals. In the resorts, they will refer to Americans, in French and behind our backs, as “Cheeseburger.”
We were there in 1975 and it was heaven. Went back in 2000 and it had changed, and not for the better. I asked a Brit in Papeete what it cost to live an American lifestyle (this means daily hot showers, access to electrical appliances,international phone service/sat TV/internet, a car, etc). He said $10,000/month USD. Even if that was high, we saw little evidence of a large US expat community. The out islands are slightly better than Tahiti, but the inter-island planes can go on strike at any time, but there is the ferry. Every thing is imported, preferably from France. The exchange rate is favorable to the Euro and that makes it expensive for Americans. You do need to speak French. It was on our list before the last trip. The Marquesas may be better for a beach bum existence.
Amboy, CA. IF you go out where the 66 splits from the 40 at Barstow, there are some weird towns out there. Abmoy, Essex, Goffs, and Cadiz are some of the strangest places in the Mohave desert. A few friends and I drove out to Cadiz and there were orchards out in the desert with paramilitary jeeps and such driving around a la Andromeda Strain. Nothing beats having a 4X4 in So Cal - there are hundreds of abandoned towns out there.
Amboy in the Mohave. OK, I know where that is, that’s the old 66. I haven’t been there, though. When we headed east from Barstow en route home, we went up I-15 to Baker to visit Death Valley, but didn’t come back that way. Although I love seeing ghost towns (because they’re such a rarity in the east), my one concern about visiting some of those off-the-beaten track places is getting stuck. We saw D.V. at the start of May, and it was already brutally hot (over 100).
California: a great state to leave. The “State of Ruin” state.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.