Approximately 70% of the mountain (folks that live on the mountain) commute to work off the mountain, there is really no work to speak of on the mountain. Lake Arrowhead is beautiful and you either work for the school district here, sell Real Estate, or you may have a business that is successful but many fail. Folks come here to visit, fall in love with the beauty that surrounds you and decide to buy a home and begin a new life here. They quickly learn in a few years if they make it to that, the commute is too much for them and then move off the mountain. In the meantime the folks that live on the mountain have a lingo all their own. If you are going down the mountain and you will need to go down the mountain for almost anything and everything, it is referred to as going down the hill, if you are headed up the mountain it is referred to as going up the hill. Lake Arrowhead is a large tourist attraction, holidays you are wise to stay in your home, because the tourist are here. Now many folks who of course have businesses are pleased with the tourist, I have no business on the mountain nor do I work full time on the mountain, so I prefer the tourists stay as far away as possible. Over the years many movies have been filmed here and used to be a big hang out for film stars, many live here now, as do many wealthy folks. They move here for a variety of reasons if not just the beauty alone.
We are very average income, worked hard all our life and still do, purchased our home, an old large home for an excellent price by CA standard market prices. The home, has of course more then doubled in market value. I live next to four empty lots and have a beautiful view of the lake from most windows in my house. I love it here due to the nature that surrounds you, I wake up to birds singing, wildlife in the forest and this beautiful lake, the temps are almost always cooler then below. Most days and more so in the summer I feel I live in a tree house. We are at 5000 feet, however we do have some hot days. Most homes do not have air conditioning, you simply don't need it. I had wanted to live here for some 20-25 odd years after first seeing it, my husband however is more of an ocean person and wanted nothing to do with commuting down the hill. We both have good jobs and knew that wasn't changing, so a commute if we moved here was inevitable. He has a company car and does drive a lot anyway, I work 70 miles away, one way. I leave at 4:30 a.m. and return by 4:30 p.m. most days, I work 182 days a year so for me the commute may be long when I make it but I'm off half the year, so I continue, we both work down the hill so we do deal with the high temps during the day if our jobs have us out and about.
We seldom want to go on vacation because we feel we are on vacation 24-7 since moving here. My home is surrounded by vacation homes, folks that my come up once a year, some folks don't come to their home for years so it is very private. It is also a very safe area to live in, we do have crime here but it is at a minimal at best.
I will give you a for instance, we have a Bed and Breakfast about a mile from our home on North Bay Road, it has sold and resold every year since we moved here, folks buy, think they can earn a full time living and then quickly discover in the winter months business can be very slow, depending on weather and roads. The Bed and Breakfast is "Eagle's Landing" they most likely have a website if your curious, I think it has been on the market for some time. Anyway now that I bored you with my details, sorry for the length of the post but that's Lake Arrowhead. |
