Anyone from near Chino, Ca (outside of LA)?

Situation is that I have a decent chance of getting a job in Chino, Ca if I push the company I interned at, apply and ask for recommendations from the manager. I interned with its parent company. I was pretty seriously considering packing up and moving from Pa...That is until I looked up EXACTLY where Chino is. East of LA. Awesome. Blah. LA is one of those places I can honestly say I have never had the urge to visit. It isn't so much LA, it is all big large bulky populous cities....So the prospect of picking up and moving to its doorstep has me less than thrilled. I'm looking for input from those living in the general area or that have visited east of LA about what kind of town it is, how safe it is, how pleasant, weather, etc. Not really sure what kind of salary would go along with it, but how expensive is it to live (reasonably) well? I'm also afraid of becoming trapped in suburbia. Are we talking endless houses that look identical with a Toyota or SUV in the driveway and a dog 'spot' in every backyard?

Chino is an okay city. Any time you're looking east of L.A., that's where the newest housing developments are, and they're still relatively affordable. Chino's not close to the beaches though, if that's your thing, and it's not very close to L.A. proper... maybe far enough to be in a more comfortable population zone though.

What will be hard to deal with is L.A. road traffic. The worst in the country by all accounts. My daily commute is 30 miles, it takes my an hour and 45 minutes to get home, and that's if I leave the office at 3:30. (Traffic is very light when I go to work though, but that's at 5:45 AM.)

The weather in Chino will be great year-round. You should go to Wikipedia and compare Chino's average income per capita and compare it to other California cities to get an idea of how the people live. (Comparing to your city would be interesting, but I'm sure the cost of living is different between CA and PA, and will disrupt your analytics.)

I lived in Chino in the late 80's to mid 90's and enjoyed the mix of suburban and rural living. But since then it has become much more crowded with the loss of dairy land and new housing developments. Cost of living still less then LA but expect crowded commutes going west (towards LA).

If you get a job in Chino and live in Chino then traffic won't be much of an issue. It's if you leave the Chino job for something closer to LA that you'll have a serious traffic problem.
I remember Chino most for the dairy smell, but it's been awhile since I've been there.

If you anticipate having to leave the Chino job at all then you may want to live in Diamond Bar, and look at how much housing costs there before you commit to moving to Southern California. You'd commute east to Chino in the morning and west to Diamond Bar in the afternoon, opposite the way traffic normally flows. Then, if you left the Chino job for something closer to Los Angeles you'd be over the worst congestion points. On the other hand, Diamond Bar is miles of look-alike houses, though older houses than the Chino look-alike houses.

Thanks for the responses guys! You've given me some things to think about. I'm very concerned about life around a city the size of LA because i'm from a rural area. When people ask me where i'm from, I just go 'it isn't really a town.' I can handle small city life in the suburbs, but I'm a bit concerned about Chino. Its sounding like i'd enjoy it less and less, from the sound of it. Which, puts me back to graduating in December and jobless. Sweet.

Pm'd you

Are you talking Chino or Chino Hills? They're next to each other, but very different. Much of Chino still smells like cows and chickens! It's starting to build up, now, though, and is getting nicer and nicer all the time. Chino has more industrial areas than Chino Hills. Chino Hills boarders Diamond Bar and is somewhat like Diamond Bar, which is good (very, nice!). Not too long ago (well, it maybe have been a while ago....15-20 years-ish ago), I mostly thought of Chino as being a more rural type town. Lots of cows, chickens, small farms and very few houses. I think in the past 10 years, though, they've really started building a lot of houses. I've been there a bunch of times (it's about 15 minutes from my house and work) in the past 5 years (delivering for work) and it always surprises me just how much it's built up. It's still nothing like Los Angeles, though. Not even close. It's pretty quiet there, if you ask me--no tall buildings (some parts have very large warehouses and businesses, but they're all pretty much new and very nice--nothing like LA), no congestion, not too much noise, and still a lot of open space (cows and chickens, too!) You don't have to worry about it being like Los Angeles, because it isn't anything like it, not yet, at least.

I'm in Chino Hills, a separate town, but just right next to Chino. It's a good centrally located spot for most of So. Cal and there's been a lot of development recently in the areas that was once farmland. Most of the south part of Chino are industrial areas while you see more residences in the middle and eastern parts while retail areas are to the north. The agricultural areas are in the very east parts of the city but much of the area is being developed into residential and retail space.

When I think Chino I think cow turd. The air .... oh the air! *gag* like Trashman says, the area is developing and maybe the livestock is being pushed out. I couldn't live there. You should Google Map it and do a Street View for your own personal tour.