Hi guys, I'm thinking of taking off to California for the winter and I dont really know where to start. I am a 23 poker player from the UK and currently live in Leeds and have been for the last 4 years. I like the city but the winters are depressing as hell here and the hours for online poker in the UK are brutal, particularly in winters when the sun goes down at 4 or something dumb.

Anyway, at the moment I have four other poker friends who are on the same page and we want to start window shopping for places to rent in a warm climate with English speaking people. Having spent a month and a half living in Vegas this summer I very much enjoyed the culture (read; the service industry) and the people in the US and would be happy moving there. I don't really want to live in Vegas since it would kill me so after many episodes of Entourage we have settled on California, it's near to Vegas anyway.

So basically I am asking where are the best places to start looking for rentals in California? Ideally we want to be near a beach and within walking distance of some bars and not be out in the middle of nowhere. The place must be moderately balling, we are all reasonably well off but don't want to completely do it in on a Beverly Hills mansion. I've looked at some places online at Laguna Beach, Palm Springs and a few other options in San Diego and LA that look good but don't fit the beach criteria. It's really hard to get a feel for anywhere just off pics on the interweb though so I wondered if any Californians could help me out here!

Quite sure Craigslist is the main place to look. Edit: oh wait, you meant suggestions for geographical locations? Uh I have no idea.

santa monica, venice, hunington beach or hermosa beach

Are you not finding anything because your are narrowing your price? Cali is one of the most expensive states to live in the no matter what your looking for. Also there is only so much beachfront property.. If a ballin, beachfront place in Calli is what your looking for then your most likely be looking for one of the highest priced locations to buy/rent in the USA.

Only states that might be higher I can think of would be: Manhattan/NYC, Florida, and Hawaii (if you even count it).

Try Newport Beach, Huntington, Seal Beach as well as the San Diego area.

Huntington beach in orange county http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/
Pacific beach in san diego.

If you want to live with fellow Brits....then Santa Monica...

If you want to open your horizons, here are my suggestions:

1.) Venice
2.) Santa Barbara
3.) Huntington beach
4.) Hermosa beach
5.) Pt. Loma and La Jolla in San Diego
6.) Loz Feliz
6.) Los Feliz

You know when it's winter in Europe it's also winter in the US right?

California might not be as cold as Iceland but it's certainly not all that nice in the winter time either.

Luckily there are numerous English-speaking countries that have summer at the same time as the UK experiences winter. Commonly these places are located in the Southern Hemisphere.

Incredibly lol none of us had actually considered this, sigh
any suggestions

Australia, New Zealand, South Africa

And if you don't mind learning a bit of spanish or portugese, Argentina and Brasil.

The weather in Miami is nice too, a bit expensive though, I guess Australia/NZ is a cheaper option. I am heading off to NZ in December myself.

Santa Barbara.

/thread

Doesn't seem to be really warm during the winter to me
http://www.weather.com/weather/wxcli...ly/graph/93106

Not that I would mind that much, it's just that I think the TS had a warmer climate in mind.

SB is basically 80 degrees year round. It rains a bit but has by far the best weather in California during the winter.

+ great beaches, restaurants, clubs, bars, gorgeous women, celebrities, close to LA etc

Only negative is that it is expensive, particularly for housing

There's a thread in MSNL that you might want to check out about poker players living in San Diego

After 30min of googeling I give up and ask here.

I am looking for a place close to the university of Berkeley and cant find out names of loactions close by. Its located in the San Fransisco bay area right?'
If someone have some names where I should look for an apartment I would appreciate it.

http://www.padmapper.com/

Just zoom in on Berkeley and it'll show you all the craigslist/apartments.com listings.

Bakersfield is the only way to do California.

Big Sur

not in the winter.

Ya sorry, your best bet sounds like San Diego.

Not an American, but traveled California from south to north 1.5 years ago. Would have to agree with Matt.

The main thing about the weather in California is this: right by the coast, the weather is not warm anywhere except for the very southwards places like San Diego. Everywhere else it was mostly 16-17 degrees C, and this was in June/July. The sea isn't too warm either, again except for the southern part and late summer/fall. However, if you move slightly inland, the temperature rises a lot. In the south-eastern parts of California, temperatures are waayy higher.

Having said that, I loved California to death and would happily move there. The nature, the wine, the food (foodie/wine freak, me? Nah...), the people, loved it. You'll have to compromise between getting the ideal place (like Ocean beach in SD with lots of young people, partying etc) which are expensive and other less ideal places which are cheaper.