(This was written in the Summer of 2014.)
Last Spring, I looked up our house in Zillow to see how much it was worth and my head exploded.
I was born and raised near Los Angeles, a half mile from the beach.
I say “dude” in normal conversation, wear Hawaiian shirts, and have long hair.
My wife and I fell in love with Prescott, AZ over 20 years ago and have visited as often as possible since then.
Three years ago, we had the chance to buy a house there as a relaxing weekend get away.
People are paying crazy money in Southern California for houses.
It was time to take the money and get out.
Our house sold 3 days after we put it on the market and we moved full time to Prescott.
Here’s a list of what I’ve learned by moving to Prescott, AZ.
1. Los Angeles is like a bad ex-girlfriend.
You used to think she was the best thing in the world, center of your universe. Now that you’ve moved on and found some perspective, you can see how crazy, ungrateful, and abusive she was.
What a beach.
2. Mexican food really is better in Los Angeles.
Sorry, but it’s true. Arturo’s and Casa Alverez in Prescott are pretty good, but they aren’t the best. Back in California, El Sombrero has the best carnitas and Sion’s, the best pozole.
Of course, Tito’s Tacos in Culver City will always have a warm spot in my heart.
(It could just be heartburn.)
3. “The Valley” refers to Phoenix, not San Fernando.
The San Fernando Valley is part of LA, but with out any of the good stuff, and 20 degrees hotter.
Phoenix is like LA, but without any of the good stuff, with more sand, and 40 degrees hotter.
4. “PV” refers to Prescott Valley, not Palos Verdes.
Palos Verdes is where the rich people who want horses live near Los Angeles.
Prescott Valley is where the people who can’t afford to live in Prescott live.
Of course, everyone can have horses here, because it’s Arizona.
5. I’m a traffic snob.
I know traffic. The 405 is legendary. Sitting on the 110 on a Friday afternoon at 4:30 will cause you to question all that is good and pure in life.
Here, people consider it “traffic” when there are 3 cars stopped in front of them at a light on Gurley street.
6. Helicopters are not normal.
In Prescott, when you see the occasional helicopter, you think “Oh, no. Someone got hurt and they’re going to the hospital.”
In LA when you see a helicopter, you think “Oh, yeah! There’s a car chase! Turn on channel 9!”
7. Prescott is a mile high.
After living at sea level most of my life, getting used to living above 5,000 feet takes a minute. The air is thinner and drier. Your skin will dry out.
I get winded walking up stairs.
(Maybe I’m just out of shape.)
8. Prescott is a vacation destination.
Families with kids, and young couples, and bikers, all visit Prescott for the weekend.
People who live in Phoenix have weekend homes here. There is something scheduled in the Courthouse Square every weekend, all Summer long. This is a cool place to visit, so it has a lot of tourists.
When you live here, you can be annoyed by the tourists too, just like in LA.
9. Everyone in Prescott is nice.
No matter where you go or who you talk to, everyone is really nice and helpful.
And not just people trying to sell you something, but everyone.
Even the cops are nice.
It’s just not normal.
9. Everyone is Los Angeles is not nice.
We visited Los Angeles after we lived here for a while and went to dinner at a favorite place. Listening to people and watching them on the street made me realize just how arrogant and narcissistic they all were.
I wanted to wash the stench of hubris off my hands.
Since I was raised there, I wondered if I was like that, but then realized that, no, I was better than them.
10. There are others among us.
There are a lot of people in Prescott who are from California. Everywhere you go, you’ll meet someone from California.
I was raised with a “Locals Only” attitude. “Welcome to California. Now go home.” That doesn’t exist in Prescott. They love us here.
Especially when we sell our California houses for a lot of money and bring it all here.
12. You’re home in Prescott.
I don’t know what it is, but it just feels like home here. Maybe it’s the courthouse square. Maybe it’s the people. I don’t know. The city’s motto is “Everyone’s home town” and it’s true.
Everyone who visits says it feels just like home, except for the awkward family dinners.
13. Prescott has everything you need.
They have toilet paper, beer, Doritos, a Trader Joe’s, and an In-And-Out. There are 2 Walmarts, a Costco, car dealers, a huge hospital, a mall, and museums. There’s a new Thai place that’s pretty good and an awesome sushi place.
I was surprised to find that the “Fry’s” grocery store here is really “Ralphs” grocery store in LA.
Prescott has everything you need, unless you’re a hipster who needs the urban nightlife.
Then stay in LA.
14. Prescott doesn’t have everything you want.
It’s still not LA. The nearest Apple store is 90 miles away, in Phoenix. Getting specialty products is more difficult. The Internet is your best friend. Order it on line.
Everyone knows my name at the UPS store. (Norm!)
15. Moving is hard.
I realize now that inertia played too big of a role in where I lived. It’s hard, physically and emotionally, to go through your stuff, throwing things away, and giving good things to Salvation Army. Maybe I’m a hoarder. Maybe I’m just lazy. I don’t know.
I’d rather be a fish than a barnacle.
16. I don’t miss LA.
The biggest surprise is that I don’t miss LA. I have been waiting for the moment to miss “back home”, but it just hasn’t happened. I miss the way it was in the 70’s and 80’s, but I just don’t care any more.
I miss the beach, and by that, I mean the sand and the water. As soon as you reach the bike path, I’m done. You can keep everything else.
The Eagles lied. I checked out and I left.
17. I wish I did this years ago.
Maybe it wasn’t the right time of life or maybe there were things that held me back, but I wish that I had moved here years ago. I have this feeling of clear headedness and lightness and freedom living here. I keep waiting to feel “trapped” or feel that we made the wrong decision, but all I can think of is “This is awesome, dude! Look at where we live!”
Living in Prescott is living the dream.
I’ll never go back.
I’m from New York. When people talk about traffic here, I just look at them as if they are crazy. In New York, it takes at least an hour and a half to go 12 miles! Don’t talk to me about traffic.
LA traffic is legendary, but I’ll give it to you with New York traffic.
You win.
If this heaven then give me more….I love Prescott because it is the best ! NO….It’s the greatest place I have ever been.
Sorry dude oh, we don’t want any more Californians here. You’re bringing your liberal ideas and yes we carry guns openly. Don’t take our friendliness as naive dumbness. We’re very aware of the mass influx of Californians. Just remember the flag don’t tread on me and we’ll get along fine. A poor person in Prescott Valley
Ha! I’m a political refuge. I have no liberal ideas. Open carry makes you a target, so it’s a tactical mistake. Concealed carry is the only way to go. Don’t mistake being from California as being stupid and we’ll get along fine.
As far as traffic goes, it’s more of a complaint of how much more of it there is than in the past years. It used to be pretty light, but now there are so many people passing through that it is a culture shock to those of us who have always lived here. I swear you cant go down 69 without hitting every single red light. I’ve also noticed that Phoenix and California drivers are much more aggressive, I do not mean that in an offensive way either. I’m just saying that people used to drive in a more passive manner, but of course that’s changing. Either way, it’s good to hear your perspective on Prescott!
One thing that I was told is that we natives to Prescott upon learning that someone is new there ALWAYS tell someone that it’s pronounced Pres-kit. I was wondering if you had such an encounter?
Totally understand the difference between what it was like years ago and what it’s like today. I had the same thing happen in LA.
We actually stumbled across Prescott over 20 years ago on a family vacation. We’ve been coming back every year since then, until we could finally afford to move here. I knew to call it Press-kit since that first trip here.
I remember when traffic was lighter here, and I’ve seen the changes over the years, so I feel that pain.
LA traffic is worse than anywhere else, except I’ll give to the person above who’s from New York. I drove on Time Square once. It was so traumatic, I remember it to this day.
Now, we live in Walker at the end of a dirt road. Traffic is when I have to wait for deer to cross the road.
I’m a second generation CA Native, retired LE, and just waiting (if we can) another short year until the wife retires. We’re actively looking for land to purchase and build on in the PV area. We already have several friends who have relocated to PV from here in ‘Dago’ (‘Dago’= San Diego, CA). Like the writer of this article, I wear shorts and Hilo Hattie Hawaiian shirts from Maui and ‘flip flops’. At 63, I still call them flip-flops! Like all my friends, I grew up hangin’ at PB, OB, MB, South Mission, Wind N’ Sea, La Jolla and Blacks and could never quite get ALL of the sand out of my ’69 Camaro. But (this is that ‘but’ part) I’m done with all of the special interests (read; Democrats) ruining MY beloved home State, which certainly includes rerun CA Gov. ‘moonbeam’! My grass has been dead for years as are most of my avocado trees because my water bill was more than most persons mortgage payments thanks to a ‘smelt fish’, which probably was called ‘bait’ before ‘Jerry & The Dems’ found yet another liberal way to waste our money! And don’t even get me started on his bullet train to nowhere, telling me I can’t own a gun, or hiring that treasonous lying eric holder and spending $80MIL of my tax dollars defending illegal aliens who already get everything FREE, while we cannot afford a real PPO medical insurance policy so we can see the doctor WE want! So save us two seats at that taco shop in Prescott please. I don’t care if it’s as good as Puerto Nuevo…enough Pacificos and any Mex food taste great! Viya con Dios!
Hey, dude! Welcome to Arizona soonish.
First, you realize that I’m a real estate agent that lives here, so I’ll be happy to show you around, unless you already have an agent.
I partially learned to drive in my big brother’s 69 SS 396 Camaro. We can talk street racing stories when you get here.
We have the best gun laws in the nation, along with Montana and Alaska. First thing I did when I bought land here was get an Arizona driver’s license and buy an AR-15, just because I could.
I love the smell of Arizona in the morning. Smells like freedom.
Hey man been thinking of moving to Prescott I have family there currently sell Real Estate in MN would you be willing to have a conversation with me about real estate in Prescott?
We agree with about all of your 17reasons to move here!
We have been here for about a year now.
Retired from Phoenix about 15 years ago and moved to Honolulu sure wish it would have been here to Prescott. They might call Hawaii paradise but it’s way better here in Prescott. Phoenix changed about the same way La.did but would match Phoenix Mexican food to La. anytime I M N S H O 🎈
Bought the house in 2004, but didn’t get to move her until October of 2014 after my husband passed. Best thing I ever did; getting out of Southern California and never looking back. Prescott is like a little slice of heaven on earth, and I found some good tacos!
My Dad moved here almost 20 years ago, but I didn’t catch up until 2014. It was the best decision I’ve ever made, too. I had the displeasure of working 4 “industry” types, and saw the arrogant, youth and beauty culture reflected throughout the population. I never want to encounter another hipster as long as I live! Disagree with only one comment: There is a quiet, in-frequent resentment of Californians here. But that is SO unfair… we did bring them In-N-Out and Trader Joes. So where’s my Pozole?
Im from california. i hate the people, ideals and mindset from california. Maybe its because im from slo but i absolutely hate tourists too. If you want to drive around slower than a frozen snail to take in the sights, go back to california and do it on the 101 like everyone else. Go to oregon, washington and colorado, leave AZ the hell alone. #NotCal
Y’all forgot to mention one major advantage Prescott has that I think is very obvious; the nearest Interstate Highway is 30+ miles away. Interstates are necessary, like sewers and dumps, but it’s smart to keep some distance from them.
For Mexican food, try a little whole in the wall called Maya, on Momtezuma, kind of across from the second hand man. It’s not much for looks but the food is great, especially the fish tacos (fish not deep fried) and the shrimp tacos. It was recommended to me by Mexican-American friends.
Born and raised in Arizona.
Traffic is traffic.
We settle where we want.
I never found a reason to leave.
Mexican food is very “regional”.
It tastes different in Oklahoma too.
Sometimes, we settle we were were put and never stop to think about what we really want until it’s too late.
Mexican food tastes best in my memories.
I agree, many of us settle where we were born because we accept it for being normal. It’s only when we get out that we realize how obnoxious it really was. As for Mexican food, LA’s is so good because it’s prepared by illegal aliens for illegal aliens and not watered down for American tastes!
Great sentiments!
I miss CA though and love to visit my family there. And I will make the argument that we live in PV because we prefer it over Prescott from a political level-better council, bigger vision, more progressive, better police and fire (sorry, but that goes back to forward thinking boards and councils) I love the open space of PV as well! All personal opinions though.
But other than that, I concur with all your thoughts :)
Wow, that’s rather offensive. I live in Prescott Valley not Prescott, not because i cant afford Prescott. That’s where i lived the first time i came here. Prescott is beautiful but i don’t like sliding along the streets that ALL go downhill with a pole at the end on ice during the winter. I like streets that are wide enough so i don’t have to pull over to the let oncoming traffic pass me. I like to be able to go out, sit in my yard and watch my kids ride skateboards and not fall because they cant stop going downhill. I like to enjoy the snow but not have to shovel it or wait for the snowplows to dig out my street. I like to be able to walk around the neighborhood and not get winded trying to get back up the hill to my home. I like Prescott Valley because my kids can walk EVERYWHERE. To school, the park, the library, the movie theater. Prescott is great, but not for families with ADHD teenagers. LOL.
Well, if I didn’t offend someone, then I wasn’t doing my job.
You make PV sound like every suburb in America, only flat and boring.
Well, let me apologize forward if I offended anybody by abbreviating Prescott Valley ‘PV’ or just ‘Prescott’. I didn’t realize (yet) they were separate entities. Once I was corrected when we were vacationing in San Francisco and while at din-din on The Wharf, I said ‘Frisco to my wife, and the waitress said the locals didn’t like that. I never knew liberals were SO sensitive! So I promise to start educating myself on the proper names for the towns in my soon-to-be adopted State. I DO know Yuma (natch) but until then, my wife and I remain trapped as Comrade Members in the People’s Socialist Republic of Kaleefornia. Das ve danya.
Hate how fast it is growing and worry about the water supply. Actually heard a person from California say this could be the next Silicon Valley. Instant rage. I live in Chino Valley but it is being invaded also.
Best Mexican food around is in PV – Tito’s Guadalajara.
And really, it’s Pres-cut, not Pres-kit. :)
My favorite reason is #9, which I agree with 99 percent of the time.
Born and raised here…..it is Pres-kit….trust me. It is very easy to tell who isn’t from here and trying to sound local….
Someone needs to tell us if it’s Press-kit or Press-cut. Can we have a definitive answer, please? I don’t want to say it wrong.
I have always been told by the long time locals after moving here in 2004 that it was pres-kit, like bisquit. In 15 years i have never heard of Pres-cut. It is a no no to pronounce the second syllable as “Scot”. To me Pres-cut sounds to much like Pres-“scot”. Might check the local museums and city hall to see what their answer is.
I can totally sympathize with all the native locals about how distressing it is to see their small, secret gem-of-a-town grow so fast and become something so completely different in a bad way than what it used to be. I was born and raised in the other PV – Palos Verdes, in the “People’s Socialist Republic of Kaleefornia,” to quote BigGeorge. It is criminal what has happened there and I hope for your sakes it doesn’t happen to Prescott or Prescott Valley or Chino Hills or the other areas nearby. In the late sixties, PV in Calif. used to be a beautiful, peaceful oasis near the coast. Single lane roads. Lots of open land. No smog. Just perfect. Now it is full of midwesterners who saw the Rose Parade on tv and wanted to escape their own snowy, cold mess. Lots of foreigners, too. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but when you feel like a foreigner yourself in your own home-town and have ceased to understand the language that the majority is speaking, that to me is a problem. It is overbuilt to the point where houses are constructed on one square foot of real land and the rest is hanging in the air. The traffic is horrendous—an hour to get out of your driveway. Prescott- you need to stop lauding the beauty and glory of your town. You need to cease and desist all mention of how wonderful your area is and you need to lay low. “If they hear about it, they will come, so stay mum.” Good luck!
No one is talking HEAT. Sounds like a nice place to live but isn’t it, like, 110 degrees in the summer? If it’s too hot to go outside then it’s not a nice place.
This isn’t Phoenix. Prescott is a higher elevation than Denver. Look it up.
We are located in the mountains, surrounded by National forest. It snows in the Winter.
This is the town where rich people in Phoenix buy a second home to get away from the heat.
I understand your confusion. I remember the first time I drove into Flagstaff, over 30 years ago, in April. I was thinking “Arizona”: cactus, sand, heat, etc., and there was a foot of snow on the ground in Ponderosa Pines.
Northern Arizona is a whole other world than the Southern half.
Making my escape from the ruin of California as well. Would love some advice/referrals on moving companies.
I’m a local Arizonan. My family has been here since the early 1900s. I love Prescott and wouldn’t mind living there, but sadly, living in the Valley is about career, retirement in my 50s, health, and family. I suspect I’ll probably sell my house after I retire, for a screaming profit….probably to a Californian…or Canadian, LOL! I lived in Flagstaff over 10 years, but that’s been slowly degrading in friendliness as transplants have moved in. Myself and everyone I know left Flagstaff in the 90s. My poor hometown.
I loved the Valley more before the late 90s and I live here now. What’s making the Valley difficult to manage? Transplants from out of state, specifically Californians. Driving habits, arrogance and narcissism was mentioned and I concur. I like a few Californian transplants and I suspect it’s because they didn’t like those three behaviors either and they assimilated like they should have been an Arizonan all along. Most Arizona locals can pick out the majority of southern Californians just by talking to them. Sorry kids, you give yourselves away and you don’t even know it. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Everyone will get along much better. Don’t bother telling me not to visit California, that’s not a problem. I haven’t wanted to visit in a decade. My last 3 visits were horrible in too many ways to count; unfriendliness, traffic, and the beach just isn’t as pretty as desert sunsets and the forest along a creek. The only way I’ll ever cross the western border is if work forces me to go to a conference or if I’m visiting the handful of National Parks. Sorry, but not sorry if I offend.
The heat is tough to swallow sometimes, even for us locals. When I worked outside a lot, the heat didn’t bother me much unless I was standing in the sun, working on my skin cancer. Now that I work in an office all day, my body rejects acclimating. Freeze to death in the office then walk outside and have a heat stroke….but it’s a dry heat right? LOL! By the time July comes along, I’m a bit more acclimated and driving around in a truck with temperamental air conditioning is easier to tolerate. The upside of being in Arizona, is that one can actually escape the heat. Few states have a geography capable of offering the option to drive an hour north to coolers climates. After living in other places for 13 years, I ran back here and am so happy. I find it hard to imagine myself ever living in another state again.
As a transplant my advice would be …DON’T PUT PHOENIX DOWN.. It may be hot but we don’t live full time in a fire hazard. You didn’t move because you loved Arizona, you
just made money decision.
Thanks for your kind advice, Denny, but I’m sorry, Phoenix is a horrible place to live. People live there because it’s a financial decision. Everyone who lives there wishes they could live here in Prescott. I know that because I sell real estate here to them.
Now, California is the worst place to live. I moved for political, social, and safety reasons. When you live in the “good part” of town and the SWAT team searches your neighborhood door to door with dogs, it’s time to move. Unreasonable taxes, outrageous laws and regulations, overwhelming traffic, and crowds, are all good reasons to move.
I love Arizona, the laws, the people, the social environment, political climate, all of it. I love mostly the northern half, but all of it is magnitudes better than California.
Don’t call me a “transplant”. Call me “reborn”.
You still have a lot to learn about Prescott Conrad…..just an fyi from someone who is born and raised…..
Don’t we all?
Conrad, we’re from Dallas, visited Prescott last year, and are now considering moving there. It’s beautiful! Now that you’ve lived in Prescott a while, can you speak to the distances of the quad cities? It looks like they’re all 30-60 minutes in drive time away from Prescott when we like the businesses best in Prescott proper.
I don’t think it’s over 30 minutes to anywhere. My sense of traffic and distance has changed since we moved here. 30 minutes seems like a really long time to drive now, but I used to do that every day to work. It’s pretty easy to get anywhere you want to here.
William H. Prescott ….Press-GIT , …….. not cot, got, not kit , not ott … … ….git.
now ask me how to say ‘gyros” ……. Gea’ Here -oh (God help you if your don’t hit that H !!!!! )
and Nevada. nah-VOD-Duh …no knee. no VAD …. (talking to you California)
Trust me I was born on the East coast and lived in the, ‘fur sure, fur sure, Valley (Reseda , Tarzana AND Encino ) ”
and even a time in Colorado …. (Ah-Dough) …Orlando, …Washington D.C …. Reno ….. Houston ….. etc.
I adopted linguistics skills that are not, shall we say… colloquial accentuations.
I support Building the Wall………..
It just has to be built to follow the Colorado River, north from Yuma to the Nevada State Line.
Gotta keep all this Californians from changing our Beautiful State of Arizona. ;)
I don’t mine people moving to Arizona, JUST LEAVE YOUR IDEAS TO CHANGE OUR STATE IN CALIFORNIA.
This is a genuine question and not a combative one. I see so many remarks about Californians wanting to change Arizona, and the vitriol surrounding that topic, but I don’t understand what it is that they would what to or nees to change and why it such a contentious issue. Can someone shed some light on this for me please?
It’s political. If you go down to the Courthouse Square on a Tuesday afternoon about 2:00pm, you’ll see a group of people with very liberal views, with signs. People who live in AZ want to keep our guns laws, and our freedoms, and our, for lack of a better word, our conservative views. The state has been traditionally a conservative state, going back to Barry Goldwater in the early 1960s. It’s been slowly turning more liberal over the years. That’s a concern. When people vote for liberal politicians, the politicians pass liberal laws, and those laws roll down on us and how we live our lives. For me personally, don’t you dare come for my guns. In CA, you have to go through a background check to buy ammo. It comes down to politics and in the past few months, and up until the election especially, politics is on a hot heat, ready to boil over.
We have owned rental properties in Prescott valley for 30 years. Quality tennants are hard to come by. Although I agree I was surprised that it was not all desert and brown. We have decided to sell all the properties and reinvest closer to home in California. We will do better with multi families over here and they will increase in value on a greater scale. Prescotts nice to retire for some but if your use to California it has more opportunity. You have to buy 4 houses (well maybe 3 these days) to get what you get out of one in California. Depending on your interests I would think living full time in Prescott would be limiting. You can Drive to the middle of nowhere in California or to the coast. Up into the mountains or national parks, forests and into the hood. It rains, snows and the earthquakes for added excitement. Californias a big state and a variety of options are within its borders..
This was great to read…thanks so much. I’ve lived between LA and Texas for the last 30 yrs (from Houston) and have been considering Northern AZ for a long time…Springtime is my leaving goal (back in Houston..need drier weather and mountains for the rest of my life)
Loved your initial blog from 2014. Do you feel the same way given how polarized politics have become or would we be in for a rude awakening if we moved to Prescott from California now?
What kind of rude awakening? I love living in Prescott more than ever. The longer I live her, the more thankful I am. We have all kinds of politics here, mostly conservative, but we’re not as “cancel culture” about it. It’s OK if you have a different opinion. No one will break your window or yell at you in a restaurant. We’re more civilized here than they are in CA these days. Beside, it’ll over be over after Nov 3. 2020, (or get worse, I don’t know.)
Hi, Conrad enjoyed reading your blog. I am from the I.E. myself Rancho Cucamonga to be exact. Recently accepted a teaching position in Kingman! While it is a bit of a culture shock I can’t get over the fact that the mortgage on my brand new, new beautiful home is $300 less then what I payed to rent an apartment in an up and down neighborhood in Ontario. While I consider myself to be fairly liberal on many issues I have no concern with changing any local politics to align with myself… All that I ask for is perhaps a target and a hobby lobby to appease my wife! Kingman is booming like crazy, hopefully, we add a few more big box stores without the threat of becoming overbuilt as I witnessed in my native Cucamonga which is essentially now a soul less OC suburb clone. How can I convince my wife that a weekend in Prescott is better than a shopping expedition in the Inland Empire?
We are looking at buying land and building our home in Prescott. Moving from San Francisco Bay Area. As stated in many posts above what the leadership as done to CA is appalling and we are looking forward to a more peaceful way of life in Prescott. That being said we are very active but don’t play golf and was wondering if anyone had suggestions on the best ways to meet people in Prescott. I have always worked a lot and won’t be as much so need make a bigger effort than i have had to in the past. Based on comments I probably wont mention I’m coming from CA ;)
(Have only now just found this blog, as I plan (dream) of my own move to Prescott, but I am definitely not of retirement age….)
Colette, there is plenty to do to meet people, that doesn’t involve golf. Hike or bike Peavine Trail or Thumb Butte, or any of the other myriad trails around the area, always lots of people walking, hiking, and biking. Have a Sunday morning breakfast at one of the several diners in downtown (the kinds of places that close at 2pm), always packed on the weekends. As people have mentioned, the Courthouse Plaza has weekend events in the summer. And in the evenings, you can hit Whiskey Row, depending if you partake and what your definition of a “bar” is.
I’m a Realtor and refugee from CA too. Most of my real estate clients are also from what formerly was called the “golden state”. California has severely declined and at an increasing rate recently. I still have family there, but some are leaving as soon as possible. The pandemic lockdowns and now the vaccine card mandates have made it a miserable place to visit. Crime is rampant, due to lax laws. Homelessness abounds, even very close to those luxury homes in PV (Palos Verdes). The leadership places more importance on a bullet train to Vegas than reservoirs and aircraft for fighting the huge fires. I saw a sign on the side of I-10 after just crossing over into AZ the other day that read “Welcome to freedom. Don’t bring here what you left there”. That’s all we ask of those moving to Prescott. Don’t let this paradise be ruined as CA has been.