Thriving Raw Communties

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Permalink Reply by AwesomeUniverse!!! on December 11, 2007 at 11:05am

Hi Tim! I'm with you on that idea. I am not used to dealing with the snow so I am looking for a place warm at this point. I was in Sedona recently and it is really beautiful! It seems pretty expensive and overwhelmed with tourists at times but that may be my first choice based on beauty. I've been in Vermont for a summer and it was beautiful but the long cold season would get me down. I have seriously considered Asheville- they have a great music scene and budding raw food scene. One place you may not have considered is Patagonia\Tucson. It is the lushest past of the desert and really beautiful in a serene desolate sort of way. It is the location of The Tree of Life so there are always really neat people coming through there. Tucson has a lot of music and potential I think. The TOL is going to have a movie come out at the Sundance Film Festival so when that happens they are going to get a lot of publicity so if you are in the market to buy real estate that would be the place. I would like to have a place and rent rooms out to tol people in the near future. There is a lake there I canoed on 4 times and a nature preserve so a lot of the land won't and can't be developed. There are pecan and vegetable farms in the area too- amazing for a desert environment. Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Running Raw on December 11, 2007 at 11:12am

Liz :)

thank you for the input :)
i hadn't yet considered that area.

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Permalink Reply by Ian on December 11, 2007 at 1:12pm

Jacksonville/St. Augustine, Florida

OK, so this is where I live, true. I was privaledged enough to attend a raw foodist meetup in Jan. 2006, to the tune of about 12 people. I have since watched that community balloon to over 150+ members, plus 2 raw restaurants open up, with 2 organic deli-style places now offering raw foods. I also have plans to open up a raw cafe in Jacksonville, and have a sidewalk style place with a late night juice bar (3:00 a.m. and beyond, hopefully). One of the raw restaurants here, The Present Moment Cafe, ranks as my #1 raw dining experience, above the likes of Cru, Juliano's, Pure Food & WIne, Loving It Live, and even Quintessence.

Highly recommended for those who enjoy the warm weather. I believe it's 78 degrees today, actually :-)

Ian

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Permalink Reply by Running Raw on December 13, 2007 at 4:06pm

Wow, I've never been to Jacksonville... I may have to give it a look... my parents tell me it looks like LA with all the freeways everywhere.

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Permalink Reply by Seabluedolphin on September 5, 2008 at 10:19am

Ay, Jacksonville native here..its very hot humid and crowded...
the beaches can seem very dirty and crowded as well...
extremeely humid for a runner...training can be very hard to adjust to coming from ca.
just my 2%..
but the town is growing exponentionally...so if that is an important part of your equation
then you may want to ck it out..
Also, iwould consider air quality too..there are many factories...hence more pollution.

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Permalink Reply by Wendi Dee on December 11, 2007 at 10:35pm

Hey there, Tim!

We've been actively searching for a new place to live, too! Portland is great for the people, but it rains a lot there. Personally, clean air and sunny days are on my list of top priorities. We've been seriously looking into the Fort Collins/Loveland CO area, since the air there is supposed to be great. Arizona is coming up again and again for us, too. Next in line is New Mexico. It's such a big change, but I'm sooooo ready for it. The air here in Pittsburgh is awful and the sun hasn't come out to play in such a long time. You might have a lot of cold weather there in Vermont, but at least the air is clean!

I look forward to following this thread to see what others are saying. I'm glad you started it.

I see you have Chicago, IL, on your list. After watching your videos that were taken at the Chicago meetup, it made me look into the area. It won't work for me as far as the air/sun, but it sure looks like a great raw community there!

Good luck with your search for the best place!

Love,

Wendi
XOXO

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Permalink Reply by Running Raw on December 13, 2007 at 4:07pm

Chicago has the biggest and most connected raw community I've seen anywhere... it really feels like a big supportive family there.

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Permalink Reply by Alicia A. on December 11, 2007 at 10:55pm

The Philadelphia area in PA/South Jersey/North Delaware seems to me to have potential.

It doesn't much in the way of raw food restaurants and such and the North Jersey/NYC metro area has more raw-friendly products in their natural food stores than ones around here, BUT this area produces a lot of produce, which means in season farmers markets and such are plentiful and affordable.

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Permalink Reply by Running Raw on December 13, 2007 at 3:29pm

William...

thank you... that's another great site... with some good info on location.
i'm thinking i may just head back to Venice/Santa Monica, although i really wasn't happy there.

Tim

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Permalink Reply by Ian on December 13, 2007 at 3:36pm

Out of curiosity, what was it that you didn't like about Santa Monica? I was only there for a long weekend, and it was nice to simply "get away", but I couldn't picture myself staying there either, oddly enough.

Ian

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Permalink Reply by Running Raw on December 13, 2007 at 4:01pm

I lived on the border of Venice and Santa Monica, so i consider both home.

positives:
always sunny, always warm
never hot, never humid
no bugs
farmer's markets year round 5 days a week
4 raw restaurants within 2 miles
10 raw restaurants within 12 miles
8 health food stores within 3 miles
the beach only 6 blocks away
the 26 mile bike path only 5 blocks away
the 12 mile grass park along the beach and through Brentwood
the Santa Monica Mountains 4 miles away, with hundreds of miles of running/hiking and biking trails
the San Gabriel Mountains 22 miles away, with 10,000 foot snow capped peaks, lakes, streams and wilderness
beautiful, intelligent people
youthful population
amazing art scene
dozens of live bands every night around the city
and so on... I have called Los Angeles home for 10 years and I haven't found a better place yet.

the negatives:
the smog (although not nearly as bad at the beach)
the people - everyone comes to LA to make it rich and leave, so no one really calls it home... no one takes pride in the city and wants to make it a great "community"... it's more about every person for themselves... people will hang out with you if it benefits their career somehow... i felt like an island in a sea of pretense.
lack of collaboration
the architecture
the transportation system
the constant sunshine

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Permalink Reply by Ian on December 13, 2007 at 4:10pm

Interesting critique. I could see some of that, particularly the architecture, as everything in CA is post gold rush (1848). while the east coast towns date back much further, Pensacola (1559), St. Augustine (1565), and Williamsburg/Jamestown (1607) and thus have more creativity in the architecture department (on historical grounds, anyway. St. Augustine is simply just a magical city)

Liz's post below about Austin, TX is right on the money. I forgot all about that place! I would move there in a second if my educational goals were all settled. Austin is literally alive, and I would rank the raw community there near the very top of my list. The Whole Foods there even has a raw/vegan cafe inside of it.

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