OT: Victoria, BC

[aqib]

Hi everyone.

I have an interview in Victoria, BC next week and I was curious if anyone here lives or has spent time out there and if you could give me any insight on the place.

Thanks in advance

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[StrictlyCommercial]

Hi everyone.

I have an interview in Victoria, BC next week and I was curious if anyone here lives or has spent time out there and if you could give me any insight on the place.

Thanks in advance

It's a place where we all chose to live because it's the same temperature all year round.

 

[Luongos Knob]

langford sucks

 

[Bonham]

Lived here pretty much my whole life and it's more my pace than a city like Vancouver.

Summers are awesome and winters are generally pretty mild with less rain than the lower mainland. It's within driving distance to a ton of amazing spots on the island -- gulf islands, Tofino, Hornby, Gabriola, Port Renfrew, etc. If you're into outdoors and nature then it pretty much can't be beat.

There are a bunch of nice restaurants and night life is decent, though obviously less bustling and vibrant than a bigger city. Pretty easy to get around if you have a vehicle, though public transport is generally pretty crappy. Traffic is atrocious if you plan on leaving the city and heading up island, especially on the weekend, though the new McKenzie overpass will hopefully help a little (won't be finished for two years). If you live in Langford, or anywhere west of the city, then you will have to deal with some serious gridlock just to get in and out of town for work. Same deal if you need to take the ferry in the summer -- I've been stuck in multiple sailing waits and usually always reserve now.

There is a definite homeless/drug problem in certain areas near and adjacent to downtown partly due to the forgiving climate compared to the rest of Canada. I've never really felt threatened, but certain areas aren't exactly pleasant.

Housing prices are ridiculous (not as bad as Vancouver) and are only getting worse. There isn't a ton for sale here which is inflating housing costs significantly. This has resulted in a major economic boom, particularly in trades, though who knows how long it will last.

Some of my favorite neighborhoods if I could choose where to live would be Queenswood/Arbutus, Cadboro Bay, James Bay, Cordova Bay, Oak Bay, and Gordon Head. These neighborhoods all have their appeal, though obviously it comes with a significant price tag. If you're into being near downtown and within walking distance I would recommend James Bay or somewhere near Fernwood. It can be pricey, but you can still find decent deals.

All in all, I've lived in Vancouver and Ontario, and wouldn't pick either of them over Victoria. Good luck with the interview!

 

[WhiteCurse]

One of my least fav places on the Island, add in Tofino.

Now talk that with a grain of salt, i enjoy the smaller more wild places on the Island. I avoid the Yuppies and wanna be hippies

 

[ProstheticConscience]

It's apparently the major hotspot for Satanists and occult study in BC.

It's just that charming.

 

[Iceberg Slim]

It's apparently the major hotspot for Satanists and occult study in BC.

It's just that charming.

Yep. Satanic Capital of the World: http://bsideoftheticket.ca/tag/satanic-capital-of-the-world/

North America's "satanic panic" was going strong when I lived there and still remains a big part of Victoria's local urban legends.

Ley lines, spiritual portals, topographic area maps that were rumoured to form a pentagram (they don't), secret underground tunnels, grave robbings, rituals, cults, the list goes on and on.

There was always some weirdo at a party who believed that Victoria was rife with Satanists. Usually they'd try to corner anyone who'd listen and start telling stories in a hushed whisper about the evil "secret history" of the city.

The discredited book "Michelle Remembers" (circa 1980 and about a girl's recovered memories of ritual Satanic abuse) really put the city on the satanic panic map for a while.

 

[BassMason]

If there's a trend you will be sure to find it in Victoria. Top knots and breakfast joints about sums it up. Well maybe not top knots anymore. What is it now polkadot shirts?

Rent and traffic are brutal.

 

[Hammer79]

It's a very left wing city and extremely anti-development, especially the closer you get to downtown. There are a few tourist attractions around the city, but overall it's a pretty sleepy town that shuts down early every night. It's fairly expensive for rent, although not to the extremes of the lower mainland. There are a lot of rather run-down apartment buildings from which to find a relatively cheap place to stay.

Winters are mild although you might see some wet snow once or twice a winter. The summers are mild or even a bit cool, rarely breaking above the mid 20's.

Esquimalt Lagoon would be one place I would recommend hanging out, Clover Point and Beacon Hill Park are others. Thetis Lake is probably the most popular swimming hole, although there are other swimming spots like Matheson Lake or Sooke potholes.

 

[PM]

Lots to do in and around Victoria and the night life isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. Some
Pretty good music events and food/wine festivals. Lots of great places to eat too, make sure to check out Little Jumbos and Olo. I've lived all over the city and if you're renting I suggest James Bay or Vic West close to the bridge so you can walk to downtown fairly easily while still having a bit of separation.

The anti development sentiment is basically just old people who own homes but everyone else I know understands that people need places to live. Rent is crazy high right now, the place I just left went up from $1250 to $1600 and was taken by the first person who viewed it. If you can afford to buy a small house with an income suite in a neighborhood like Fernwood or Hillside your mortgage payments will be almost the same as rent. Condos are super overpriced right now but could start coming down. Houses aren't as bad unless you are trying to get into the top neighborhoods like Oak Bay, Fairfield, Uplands and Cadboro Bay but they are still expensive.

Outside of Victoria I suggest checking out Tofino, Saltspring, Hornby and the other Gulf Islands. Favourite swimming hole is Sooke Potholes and taking an inner tube down the Cowichan River is a must as well.

 

[aqib]

Thanks everyone. I have never been anywhere in BC before so this is helpful. I moved back to Toronto last year from the states (no not because of Trump). When I applied for this job I assumed that Vancouver Island was a suburb like over a bridge from Vancouver itself. So I went online to do some research and there are some people who really love the place and some people who really hate it.

Two quick follow up questions:

1) If you are going to a Canucks game is there a ferry that drops you near the arena or do you have to take your car and make it an overnight trip.

2) It doesn't seem like the most diverse place. How is the environment for visible minorities?

 

[thepuckmonster]

Thanks everyone. I have never been anywhere in BC before so this is helpful. I moved back to Toronto last year from the states (no not because of Trump). When I applied for this job I assumed that Vancouver Island was a suburb like over a bridge from Vancouver itself. So I went online to do some research and there are some people who really love the place and some people who really hate it.

Two quick follow up questions:

1) If you are going to a Canucks game is there a ferry that drops you near the arena or do you have to take your car and make it an overnight trip.

2) It doesn't seem like the most diverse place. How is the environment for visible minorities?

1) any game is going to be an overnight trip unless it's a home matinee. The last ferry is 9pm in non summer time and the ferry is still an hour out of downtown

2) there's a massive Asian population in Victoria and the Persian community is growing. That's really about it though.

 

[CurtisLoew]

Thanks everyone. I have never been anywhere in BC before so this is helpful. I moved back to Toronto last year from the states (no not because of Trump). When I applied for this job I assumed that Vancouver Island was a suburb like over a bridge from Vancouver itself. So I went online to do some research and there are some people who really love the place and some people who really hate it.

Two quick follow up questions:

1) If you are going to a Canucks game is there a ferry that drops you near the arena or do you have to take your car and make it an overnight trip.

2) It doesn't seem like the most diverse place. How is the environment for visible minorities?

I wouldn't worry about being a visible minority, my girlfriend said it best when she told her parents that "Canadians look at different races like they're different hair colours."

 

[topched88]

So. Many. Girls.

 

[JanBulisPiggyBack]

As a whole Victoria has a little something to offer everybody, it's a lot like the mainland but scaled down.

If you are younger there is no shortage of events, bars, clubs, craft breweries, concerts and good times, against all scaled down from Vancouver. It's a university and college town on top of being a huge tourist and cruise ship destination, the downtown gets flooded with visitors every summer both a good and bad thing.

The surrounding area is amazing and you should make the outdoors are healthy part of your existence, a few people have listed some spots, don't miss out of the west coast trail if you ever put a week together for a hike. Ucluelet, Tofino, parksville, stathcona park, mount Washington, etc all good times.

Neighborhoods - all are diverse and seem to have no huge desperation in class with the exception of oak bay, uplands and Cordova bay, where the wealthier folks live. James bay and Arbutus is middle income and up ( with people taking advantage of rentals ) everywhere else like esquimalt, Victoria, saanich and view royal are run of the mill all low/medium/high owner and rentals. Langford is a hole and so is colwood, big time development happening there but you can't remove the redneck element. Big trucks and girls with juicy sweatpants and tramp stamps.

I'm from Vancouver but moved here when I was 7 years old and can never see myself moving back, most people try and end up coming back in the end. The biggest draw backs are the growing traffic, drug use ( downtown doesn't have a east Hastings to hide them in) and being stuck on the island due to the ferry being run by a bunch of idiots

Good luck with your decision

 

[LickTheEnvelope]

The anti development sentiment is basically just old people who own homes but everyone else I know understands that people need places to live. Rent is crazy high right now, the place I just left went up from $1250 to $1600 and was taken by the first person who viewed it. If you can afford to buy a small house with an income suite in a neighborhood like Fernwood or Hillside your mortgage payments will be almost the same as rent. Condos are super overpriced right now but could start coming down. Houses aren't as bad unless you are trying to get into the top neighborhoods like Oak Bay, Fairfield, Uplands and Cadboro Bay but they are still expensive.

I still feel like I've been missing something on how people can afford rent now.

I mean I can kind of sort of understand it but at that point I don't see how people can save money for retiring, kids, etc.

I know where I live on the mainland in 2010 I could rent a place for about $700 a month and that same place now is about $1350 a month, 1 bedroom.

It's suggested you cannot spend more than 30% of income on housing and have any sort of life or savings, so at the current rent levels you need to make at least $54,000/year to start. From tax stats across Canada in 2009 more than 75% of Canadians who filed taxes make less than $50,000/year and I'd suspect that's higher now.



I know there's a mass influx of wealthy Asian people to the cities so I'm curious to see what happens with the stats. The numbers don't make any sense and I don't see any kind of government direction.

/endmusing

 

[Hit the post]

I still feel like I've been missing something on how people can afford rent now.

I can only guess a number have a roommate or two (or more); but yeah, it's crazy expensive nowadays.

 

[StrictlyCommercial]

My rent is $750 for a 1 bedroom with a water view.

 

[Rotting Corpse*]

I still feel like I've been missing something on how people can afford rent now.

I mean I can kind of sort of understand it but at that point I don't see how people can save money for retiring, kids, etc.

I know where I live on the mainland in 2010 I could rent a place for about $700 a month and that same place now is about $1350 a month, 1 bedroom.

It's suggested you cannot spend more than 30% of income on housing and have any sort of life or savings, so at the current rent levels you need to make at least $54,000/year to start. From tax stats across Canada in 2009 more than 75% of Canadians who filed taxes make less than $50,000/year and I'd suspect that's higher now.



I know there's a mass influx of wealthy Asian people to the cities so I'm curious to see what happens with the stats. The numbers don't make any sense and I don't see any kind of government direction.

/endmusing

I don't understand your confusion. Even if I accept your math at face value, you are suggesting that around 1 in 4 people nationwide can afford to live there yet are confused at how it has a population of 80,000?

 

[timw33]

Complaints about the traffic are a complete joke compared to the traffic in Vancouver and other large cities.

 

[Rotting Corpse*]

this is a very interesting site if you have never seen it before. You can plug in any two cities and compare.

 

[Bitz and Bites]

I've lived in Victoria since 1980 and it's definitely changed although some of the changes are for the better.It's easily the most livable city in Canada based on size and climate but that means it's also been discovered by both the 1%ers as well as pretty much every wanna-be junkie in Western Canada.That means we have a major affordibility/housing problem right now as well as a homeless/drug problem but not nearly as bad as Vancouver's and you can still walk around anywhere at night without having to worry about your personal safety.

Being a visible minority shouldn't be an issue unless you move to Langford or Colwood which are still crawling with redneck white trash despite tons of new development and an influx of outsiders.Anywhere outside of there should be cool as there's been a large Chinese community here forever and several generations of South Asians who are pretty much accepted as regular Canadians by now.I see more and more middle eastern people around so I'd imagine they have a fair sized representation here now.

Getting off the island is usually an expensive,time-consuming hassle but there's so much here that there's not much need unless you're trying to maintain a long distance relationship.

That's it for now.

 

[oyvey]

It's a government town popular with retirees and young families. Generally though, it's gotten younger, more innovative, and less anti-development in recent years. Whenever I visit, I barely recognize the downtown with all the new condos. Oak Bay is a very old, affluent, NIMBY-ish community, but it's the main one. There's lots of development in Victoria, Saanich, and Langford.

Pros: lots of outdoorsy stuff, ocean/mountains, quiet, good food/drink scene, lots of cool pubs and cafes, big creative community, weather (warm and mild, less rain than Vancouver)

Cons: downtown is quite scuzzy, big homeless/drug problems, too many tourists, expensive, horrible traffic in some areas (Western Communities),

It is a very left-wing area, for better or for worse.

I grew up in Central Saanich. It and Langford are the only areas I'd advise against living in. James Bay, North Park, Fernwood, and Cook Street Village are all good neighbourhoods if you want to live close to town. Or Quadra Village if you want to pay a bit less. When I lived in North Park, I paid $720 for a bachelor, though I don't think you could get that nowadays.

 

[Josepho]

Lots to do in and around Victoria and the night life isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. Some
Pretty good music events and food/wine festivals. Lots of great places to eat too, make sure to check out Little Jumbos and Olo. I've lived all over the city and if you're renting I suggest James Bay or Vic West close to the bridge so you can walk to downtown fairly easily while still having a bit of separation.

The anti development sentiment is basically just old people who own homes but everyone else I know understands that people need places to live. Rent is crazy high right now, the place I just left went up from $1250 to $1600 and was taken by the first person who viewed it. If you can afford to buy a small house with an income suite in a neighborhood like Fernwood or Hillside your mortgage payments will be almost the same as rent. Condos are super overpriced right now but could start coming down. Houses aren't as bad unless you are trying to get into the top neighborhoods like Oak Bay, Fairfield, Uplands and Cadboro Bay but they are still expensive.

Outside of Victoria I suggest checking out Tofino, Saltspring, Hornby and the other Gulf Islands. Favourite swimming hole is Sooke Potholes and taking an inner tube down the Cowichan River is a must as well.

I've spent a ton of time in the Southern half of this province and Salt Spring definitely takes the cake as the best area. Honourable mentions to Whistler and Campbell River solely because of Elk Falls.

Absolutely fantastic place to be in the summer and I recommend it to literally anyone who's intrigued by the nature scene.

 

[FOurteenS inCisOr]

I've spent a ton of time in the Southern half of this province and Salt Spring definitely takes the cake as the best area. Honourable mentions to Whistler and Campbell River solely because of Elk Falls.

Absolutely fantastic place to be in the summer and I recommend it to literally anyone who's intrigued by the nature scene.

Ha!

Elk Falls is great, but unfortunately you can't avoid CR getting there.

Prefer the Comox Valley, personally.