The West Valley is not the East Valley
I grew up in the West Valley. Let’s call everything west of the I-17 the West Valley.
It’s a nice shiny happy place to grow up, if you’re in the better-off parts. There are bike paths and parks and churches and malls and libraries.
I also spent a good chunk of my twenties there. Dating was excruciating, because you know what? There are no single men.
I’m not kidding. They all live central and east, where the good jobs are.
You go out to a TGIFriday’s or Starbucks and it’s all Nice Single Women. The level of desperation is rather like going to the Humane Society. So you tend to date guys online or long-distance, which is an entire level of suck in and of itself.
The West Valley is a great place to raise a Nice Family and go to a variety of churches. It is a terrible place to work in technology or have a liking for light rail, independent bookstores, good coffee, arthouse films and decent Chinese food. (No, West side, you do not have decent Chinese food. Don’t EVEN say P.F. Chang’s.)
Just had to get that off my chest. Agree or disagree?
November 28th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
I personally think that Tempe is not bad for culture/nightlife around here, though downtown Phoenix also has pockets of coolness, eg. First Friday and some cool coffee houses. Is Tempe east side? I know if you get too far into Mesa it’s also “nice place to raise a family but it all shuts down after dark” territory.
I’m very biased towards Tempe. If it were cooler, rained, and had four seasons (as in, if it were somewhere else) I think it would be the ideal city.
November 28th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Being here for 30 years and living working all over metro Phoenix I can definitely say anything West of I-17 is the West Valley.
November 28th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
I live in the far west valley and agree. Although, I’m a software engineer who runs a web development company, works mostly from home and enjoys it. Probably not the demographic you were referring to when you said it’s a “terrible place to work in technology.”
There’s only 1 good coffee shop I know of, Ground Control, but they refuse to get wifi, which means I only occasionally go there to grab a coffee. Light rail? No. Maybe in 25 years… And the Chinese restaurant near us recently closed, so it’s funny, and a bit sad, that you bring that up. As for single men, I haven’t seen many. We’re surrounded by a lot of families with young children.
I find the central corridor has many of the things that you think are missing from the WV. That’s why I spend quite a bit of time working and playing near downtown
November 29th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
I couldn’t agree more! Tracie and I have conversations like this all the time. We live in the West Valley and it really isn’t the place for a couple without kids who likes culture and good coffee.
Will the West Side ever grow up and get interesting or will it just remain a place to raise a Nice Family? I’m not really sure.
November 30th, 2009 at 7:05 am
When I live in the Valley, I have always been surprised (and slightly amused, or perhaps bemused is a better word) at how big a deal the locals made of the distance, and difference, between East and West Valley. It’s all one city, for chrissakes — or Greater Metropolitan Area if you insist — surely it’s not too difficult to drive East (or West) a dozen or two miles to meet a date?
November 30th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
There are some good (non chain) restaurants in the west valley, even in the Avondale and Goodyear area, but they are fewer and more sparsely distributed than in Central Phoenix and the East Valley. There are two good Thai restaurants, one good Vietnamese restaurant, one good Chinese restaurant, and two good Japanese restaurants that I know of around my part of the west valley. When I first moved there, there were no Thai or Vietnamese restaurants, and just one good Japanese and one good Chinese restaurant. We still don’t have an Indian, Middle Eastern, Greek, or Cuban restaurant that I know of.
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:58 am
Well, it’s funny you say there are single women but no single men – I’ve been telling Big Frank that there are no single women out there!
December 4th, 2009 at 1:12 am
I don’t know enough about the valleys to comment, but I’m glad to read everyone’s input! Thanks! Definitely take this into consideration when I move.
December 6th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Correction on the Indian Food restaurant. I just found one that opened recently on the corner of McDowell and Litchfield Rd, not too far from where I live.
January 3rd, 2010 at 9:39 am
Hey, We have Jimbo’s and the Cardinal Football stadium, I refuse to call it the UofP..
You could still be living in Stow Mass., or worst yet, Hudson New Hampshire.