Welcome to San Diego! I loved Paris, and hope to go back someday soon.
Some info for you: I live in Pacific Beach, the town just south of La Jolla. Some people think of drunken fights when they think of PB, and that’s not wrong. There are lots of college students and lots of bars for them to drink and get drunk. But, if you are a few blocks north of Garnet Ave, on a single-family block, it can be very nice. The important part is the SF block, and that the next block isn’t condos/apartments — you want a few surrounding blocks of SF homes. We’re getting some great coffee shops and restaurants on the north-west end of PB (The Fishery is very good), and it’s definitely more relaxed than being near Garnet. One nice thing about lving south of UTC and your office, is that you would be close to downtown.
Other than PB, I have also lived in La Jolla, one block off the Cove. (And a year on a small island off the coast of Belize, but their real estate market is nuts.) I loved LJ, walking on the beach, diving at the cove, restaurants, coffee shops, book stores, etc. The scenery is inspiring. I might still be there, but I don’t like condos and can’t afford a SF house there. However, I met my husband while I lived there and he thought it was too pretentious and does not want to live there.
Also, my husband works in Solana Beach, which is just south of Encinitas, and we love to go to that area. It’s much more attractive than PB (I wish we handled our commercial areas like they do), and has a great vibe. It’s interesting, with good food and bookstores, etc., without the nose-in-the-air feel of a ‘new money’ area. The main annoyance there would be that commuting south is painful. Of course, if your commute in Paris was worse, maybe it wouldn’t phase you.
A side note: I bought my PB house in Oct ’03 (1 block from kate sessions, old house, 1375sf, $550k), and I’m fascinated to see whether I’ll be underwater at some point. Luckily I have no plan to sell, and also did very well with other real estate during the bubble, so I can’t complain for a second. But I’m very curious!
