[Crash_Bandit]

Figure I might as well put up a token defense for the rest of California.

Since the idea of earthquakes is a deal breaker, remember that most of them occur along the fault lines under the Los Angeles basin, the SF Bay Area, and along the coastal mountains in between. The same faults follow just off the coast the rest of the way north. This leaves a lot of the central and northern state mostly earthquake free.

In my case, the Sacramento area is about a 2 hour drive to San Francisco, a 2 hour drive to tahoe/Reno/skiing, and about the same to the napa valley area. Summers can get rather warm with at least a few heat waves over 100F. Winters are mild with very rare snow here in the central valley. Floods are a concern if you end up in a development that was put in a flood plain, but most areas are very well protected. And housing costs are fairly reasonable for an urban area in Ca. at around $200/sqft. So a 1500 sqft home ranges between $250,000 and $350,000 depending on condition and neighborhood.

I can't speak for the business tax side, but if you find a newer building to base a restaurant in, most access related regulations should already be dealt with or be easy to fix. There isn't a lot of middle eastern cuisine in the area, unlike the millions of sushi restaurants, so I would avoid the latter.

If you are looking for a quieter college town, San Luis Obispo is the home to Cal Poly in the central part of the state. As an old T-shirt said, it isn't the end of the earth, but you can see it from there. But with Big Sur, Hearst Castle, and Vandenberg AFB (rocket launces!), nearby there is plenty to go look at. It is also in an active fault area, so it has a flaw as well.

Further north is Chico, home to Chico State. At the northern end of the valley. Its about 2 hours north of Sac, so SF and Tahoe are about 4 hours away. Its got a fairly old timey downtown, a lively nightlife (Chico State has a reputation as a "pro" party school), and was one of main filming locations for the 1938 Robin Hood movie staring Errol Fllyn. Add in a major bicycling culture and the Thunderhill racetrack with its 25 hour endurance race and you've got just about everything. Plus slightly lower housing costs.

Oh yeah. And most importantly, there are at least 3 SVX's for sale on craigslist in the area that appear to be in pretty good shape.

Feel free to ask for more details or visit if you want to check it all out.