Relocation to OKC from Los Angeles???

I may be taking a position that would require me to move from Los Angeles to Oklahoma City.

I did some undergraduate work in Kansas City, MO and only have very limited knowledge of the mid west in general and Oklahoma specifically.

Can some local folks tell me what life is like in Oklahoma City?

I know that it will be a much slower pace than Los Angeles, which is a big plus and housing and cost of living is much much cheaper (another big plus). But what about every day life? What do people do for entertainment, dining, leisure activities etc. On a map it looks a long way from other larger regional cities like Dallas or KCMO. Where do people go for weekend getaways etc.

I am just curious about quality of life issues and general things such as likes and dislikes of local folks.

TIA

Relocation to OKC from Los Angeles???

Look over the rest of this forum for lots of information.

What do people do? That depends on your likes and dislikes. Like any other town/city there is plenty to do if you want to look for it, and nothing to do if you don%26#39;t. There is live music aplenty, check out the entertainment section at this site:

www.okgazette.com/News/templates/home.asp

And there are plenty of places to eat, and more coming all the time.

There are some interesting museums, although not as many as NYC or Chicago, and there is at least one movie theater that shows non-mainstream films.

http://www.okcmoa.com/

Bricktown is a hot spot for partying, if that%26#39;s what you like.

Quality of life? Once again, depends on what you consider quality. By the standards used in national polls, we aren%26#39;t all that great since we are far from skiing and the ocean and resort type areas. But we have some decent school districts and some nice neighborhoods and (compared to LA) ZERO traffic congestion. :) So that must count for something, right?

And while 230 miles may be far when you live in LA, a day-trip to Dallas is not at all out of the question here in the mid-west. A long weekend in St Louis or KC is also not unsual.

The pace is as slow as you care to make it - and it can be as fast as you can handle, although not continuously. lol

I moved here from NYC and never regretted it, although I do occasionally miss the excitement of theBig Apple, overall, I would rather live here than there.

And like you said - housing is dirt cheap compared to NYC or LA.

:)

Relocation to OKC from Los Angeles???

Thanks modcon :)

So what is the weather like? Is it a four seasons climate? How cold does it get? Is it really humid, like NOLA or FL? I looked on weather.com, but still like a personal perspective.

How is it living in tornado alley? I know you can at least predict tornado%26#39;s, unlike our earthquakes here in Los Angeles....

We do have four seasons - although winter, spring and fall are usually pretty short. And there are many warm days during the winter months. Summer can seem interminable -especially when the temperature nears or tops 100 for several days (or even weeks.) Spring and Fall seem very short for this former NY resident. If we get 6 weeks each of real spring/fall weather I feel lucky!

Basically, what I consider winter weather usually lasts from mid December through mid February. Average temperature in the winter months? low to mid 40%26#39;s during the day, 20%26#39;s at night. There are significant exceptions to that. In early December, 1983, we had several days of near to sub zero temperatures. And there were several days of temps in the teens and 20%26#39;s this winter. But those were often followed by sunny days in the 50%26#39;s to 70%26#39;s. (we had quite a few of those 70%26#39;s days this year. In fact, many trees were starting to bud out in late December, 2006 thinking it was spring.)

So, figure 8 weeks of winter, 12 weeks of spring/fall - that leaves 32 weeks of summer. It really isn%26#39;t that long, but anything from the 80%26#39;s on up is summer to me, and those temps can be around from early May to late October.

Humidity is relative (pun intended.) Like NO and Houston? Not often, but occasionally. High humidity around here may be in the 60-70 percent range, and while 80%26#39;s are not uncommon, they aren%26#39;t all that frequent, IMO. But when the temp is 105, even 45% humidity can seem pretty darned humid!

And that%26#39;s more typical - humidity readings in the upper 40%26#39;s, 50%26#39;s and low 60%26#39;s ranges, occasionally dropping down into the teens and 20%26#39;s and rarely up into the 90%26#39;s. I know a lot of natives that think it%26#39;s really humid here, and over the years I have become more sensitive to it myself. But compared to where I grew up, it%26#39;s pretty ';dry.';

Tornadoes do not worry me. I am wary of them and respect their power, and I take precautions, but I don%26#39;t really spend a lot of time thinking about it.

We do get plenty of warning and TV coverage during severe weather often spans several hours of continuous broadcasting. Also, tornadoes are pretty random so even if one is headed in your general direction, unless it is very large (May 3, 1999 is an example -very large and the most powerful tornado ever recorded) they most likely will not affect you directly.

Overall, I would rather live in an area with tornadoes than hurricanes (which I look at as extremely large tornadoes), earthquakes or even lake-effect snows (those 6 foot snowfalls they have in Buffalo NY.)

Overall, Oklahoma weather is pretty pleasant, once you get used to the July/August blast furnace and learn to live with the wind. That%26#39;s pretty much a constant here in Oklahoma City - wind. It%26#39;s not uncommon to have 10-15 mph winds gusting to 25. I%26#39;ve also seen a lot of 15-20 mph days gusting to 35 mph. After living here for 38 years, I consider anything under 20 mph to be a ';light breeze.'; :)

It%26#39;s kind of hard to tell you about life in Oklahoma City without knowing what you do in L.A. that we could match. Tell us about your entertainment, dining, leisure activities etc. What do you do on a regular basis there that you want to duplicate here.

You guys are giving some great advice, thanks =)

Believe it or not we try to live a pretty simple life here in this big megaopolis know as LA.

We like to go out to eat a variety of foods, movies, occasional clubs, the beach and up to the mountains occasionally. My wife is from the Philippines, so she likes that we have lots of Filipinos and Filipino food here.

Even though we hate the traffic, we love the weather and the variety of things here.

We also like to go to Vegas quite a bit and I am not sure if you all have any casinos close.

Everything I have read about OKC, makes it sound like a very pleasant place. It%26#39;s just the idea of getting used to a place that is so very different (even in a good way) from Los Angeles and the west coast.

I know quite a few people that have moved here from SoCal area, none are thrilled with the choices of things to do here. Being from here, we think we have alot of choices for restaruants, movies, clubs etc... but really we are limited.

No beachs close. Mountains are a 12 hour drive. And very limited Filipino food choices. We have Indian Casinos, but they are NOTHING like vegas, and the odds are horrible, worse than vegas.

On the up side our traffic is nothing compared to yours. Our longest wait on average for traffic jam is at most 15 minutes. Crime is very very low in comparison. We pride ourselves on being friendly and helpful. This is a great place to raise kids. Housing is soo cheap here in comparision, I know one lady who lived in an 1,100 sq ft house in Compton, sold it and moved out here into 3,000 sq ft and still had money left over.

But as far as quanitity of things to do on a daily basis, we lead a more simple life. I guess life is just what you make of it. I love my state, have traveled all over the world and couldn%26#39;t see any other place to call home.

I would suggest coming here and visiting before jumping all in. Most of the people I know from SoCal move back within 18 mos. They say they love it here, but are bored.

Don%26#39;t mean to be a nay-sayer just sharing my observations.

While I agree with some of what whyowhy says, I can%26#39;t agree with it all. I personally know several ex-SoCal residents that love it here. But they wanted to get away from that part of the country and Oklahoma was more central to the types of things they like to do. (One loves to do organized long distance bicycle rides and OK is a lot closer to some of the larger ones in the USA.)

And while we may not have the variety available in SoCal, it%26#39;s not all that desolate either. :)

You should definitely give us some ideas of what type of activities you like other than the ocean or mountains or Vegas so we can say yea or nay as to whether anything similar is available or not.

Hi, I%26#39;ve lived in the OKC my whole life so I feel qualified to answer your questions. I work in healthcare and my husband is an architect

As you already know, the housing costs are ridiculously cheap which makes the standard of living higher for those on lower incomes.

An example, my house is 3300 square feet on a 1.25 acre lot in a heavily treed subdivision in Edmond, a suburb. Five years ago the going price for this home, built in 1975, was $220K.

For fun, people here are very family oriented. People with kids spend a lot of time with their activities. Sports are very popular; just about every kid plays either soccer, football, baseball, or basketball.

There is even a lacrosse team at my daughter%26#39;s high school, and the swim team there (my daughter is a swimmer) has taken state the past few years.

If you play golf, you will love it here. There are lots of nice public courses and the cost is less than on the coasts (although not cheap in my opinion).

College sports are huge, particularly the University of Oklahoma football, basketball, and women%26#39;s basketball teams. There are plenty of Nascar fans here too, as well as rodeo, but I don%26#39;t count myself in either of those groups :-) .

The Bricktown area, adjacent to downtown Oklahoma City, has a lot of restaurants, bars, and clubs. It%26#39;s a fun place to go, and friends often meet there after work for a beer.

Besides the usual chains (PF Chang%26#39;s, Outback, Chili%26#39;s, etc.) there are a lot of locally owned very good restaurants. People here eat out a LOT, more than the national average.

There are some good museums, although not as many as in major cities. Traveling exhibits make the rounds through here, such as the Titanic exhibit or Egyptian jewelry or whatever. The museum of art downtown features a large Dale Chihuly glass sculpture.

If you have a boat, there are three local lakes for waterskiing/boating/fishing and one lake, Hefner, for sailing. Lake Arcadia, just a few miles from me, can be reached in ten minutes for boating and camping. There is a large tennis club near me as well, and many neighborhoods have their own swimming pools with swim teams in the summer for the kids.

There are also several nice state parks with horseback riding, golf, hiking, camping opportunites.

You are correct in that it is a long drive to another major city. Dallas is about three hours from here, but considering the hassles of air travel nowadays it is actually faster to drive to Dallas than to fly, commercial.

Airlines have better routes from OKC now than in the past. Recently, two airlines added a direct flight from OKC to Baltimore. Many flights to the coast connect in Dallas, Denver, or Chicago depending upon the airline.

Avoiding the DFW airport is a mantra of mine so I never fly American. United routes through Denver going west, Delta through Salt Lake City and Southwest has multiple routes.

The weather is good most of the time. It is somewhat humid in the summer, but nothing compared to New Orleans or Housten. The humidity in those cities knocks me over when I travel there.

Usually it doesn%26#39;t snow much if at all, but this past winter there was a snow/ice storm that left the ground white for 2.5 straight weeks--extremely unusual. Must be the global warming again.

Hope some of this helps! Come see us, the Skirvin Hilton downtown OKC is a lovely hotel as well as the Colcord. These are unique local properties, and then there are the standard chains found everywhere.

You all have been very helpful =)

My contacts from OKC have invited my family %26amp; I over for a visit sometime in the near future.

I will let you know what my impressions were of your city after we get back from the trip.

Thanks again!

We just moved to OKC from Princeton, NJ. We love OKC! The only thing I miss about Princeton is the Whole Foods grocery store. You%26#39;ll love it here.

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