@ jstech: click on the link below. I hope this will help you with what you are looking for. Else, other members will contribute in this discussion.

http://sdbikecommuter.com/forums/search.php?PostBackAction=Search&Keywords=moving&Type=Topics&btnSubmit=Search

Unfortunately, what you're looking for quite simply does not exist in San Diego. Sorry. I was in the same situation (I'm guessing with the amount of time before you start your job, you're finishing a degree?) and looking for the same sort of living situation a year and a half ago.

Traditional walkable neighborhoods in San Diego are limited to the areas of older development, which mean along the coast and around Balboa Park. Most of the coastal neighborhoods are the domain of the old and rich, where most businesses close by 7pm and you're unlikely to encounter anyone between the ages of 18 and 50.

If you want fun, younger, walkable neighborhoods, Ocean Beach and the neighborhoods around Balboa Park (Hillcrest, University Heights, Normal Heights, North Park, South Park, Golden Hill) are basically your only options. Parts of those neighborhoods are within 10 miles by freeway (congested during rush hour, of course) of Towne Center Drive. However, acceptable bike routes are 15 miles or more long, as San Diego north of the 8 was developed by terrible people who couldn't possibly imagine people wanting to get around by any other means than an automobile.

deprotinator outlined an area known more-or-less as University Towne Centre or the Golden Triangle for you. It has young people, chain restaurants, giant apartment complexes, freeways, and malls, and is somewhat walkable but barely bikeable, as all the roads have the same number of lanes and speed limits as a freeway. Basically, living there is like living at the mall. I wouldn't live there.

Pacific Beach is within an acceptable (if stimulating) bike ride of your work, and has quality grocery stores and restaurants in a walkable neighborhood. However, as deprotinator mentioned, it is a cultural wasteland, full of drunk bros. I wouldn't live there.

One final option is going multimodal. You could live in one of the neighborhoods around Balboa Park, and then either:
-bike to the Hillcrest Medical Center, and catch the Hillcrest Shuttle (with a 3-bike rack) up to the UCSD Medical Center in La Jolla
-bike to the Old Town Transit Center and take the 150 bus up to UTC.
The Blue Line trolley will also theoretically go to UTC by 2015.

At least in my field of computer engineering, all the decent jobs in San Diego are in awful office parks way out in the suburbs. Working in one of those office parks, your options are to live at the mall, next to drunk bros or old rich people, or buy a car and drive it a lot every day. I chose to leave San Diego.

AlanKHG:At least in my field of computer engineering, all the decent jobs in San Diego are in awful office parks way out in the suburbs. Working in one of those office parks, your options are to live at the mall, next to drunk bros or old rich people, or buy a car and drive it a lot every day. I chose to leave San Diego.

Nicely put, Alan!

As a postscript - as he is too modest to spell this out - Alan had a job here that graduates in his field would die for, but he wasn't able to make San Diego work for him as per above, nevertheless: He now lives in Brooklyn, NY.

While I agree with the comments of deprotinator, I also share much of the pessimism of alanKHG (we actually lived together). I work up at the university and had a similar situation to what you are asking for now. Before coming here, folks (other graduate students) told me the Bohemian neighborhood in town was Pacific Beach- where I lived for my first year until I left for the sake of my work and for the sake of scoffing at one's definition of "Bohemian" (apparently it wasn't clear I meant something along the lines of coffee shops and young idealistic intellectuals prowling the streets until 3 AM- this place actually probably doesn't exist, anywhere, in their defense).

I lived in the heart of PB and hated it. I now live in La Jolla (near the cove) and it has two distinct features: (1) it possesses stunning natural beauty, and (2) the average age and net worth of its denizens are large multiples of my respective features. I left central PB because it is awful for a student to be attempting serious studies in. La Jolla is boring and old as all get out, but this suits me better than it suited Alan because I am a student. Still, PB, as everyone has said, had excellent walkability, a useful business district, and access to good grocery stores with very good prices within a few blocks of each other. I should add that I also lived in North PB, a very different animal from central PB, and did not mind it at all (there are also a few friends from this forum hanging out up there).

I plan to move to University Heights/Hillcrest/North Park after my lease in La Jolla lets up. I will likely go the multi-modal route that Alan mentioned- more useful to me than to you because you still have a few extra miles to clean up after getting to UCSD's campus. A generic biking route, which I would also consider, would look like this (I chose the University Heights area and the approximate address you provided for start and end points). The route is flat except for the climbs near the Uptown Mesa (where all the aforementioned neighborhoods lie) and the approach to the UCSD mesa and can be chosen to be pleasant (there is even, gasp, a bike path along the way!). The overwhelming cultural livelihood of the Uptown Mesa is driving (not literally) me there, in comparison to the blandness of La Jolla (there are events catered to un-young people all the time that enjoyable, though) and the smoldering ruins of the cultural wasteland of PB, where no lilacs breed on the dead ground, where there is no winter to keep us warm and kindly free our minds, tabula rasa, from the past memories of inebriated sins with the kind whiteness of snow, that sub-Unreal City. Alright that was completely overblown, but I couldn't resist tossing in some bastardized T.S. Eliot verse (cool story), with all this talk of cultural "wasteland." Anyway-

Just a final note on UCSD's geographical circumstances- don't be tricked into thinking that the presence of a university means an all around excellent neighborhood will present itself in its vicinity. UCSD was built in its present location because of the historical location of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. It is surrounded by an uber-wealthy neighborhood towards the coastal cliffs (though there is easy coast access)) and UTC everywhere else. UTC is a biker's nightmare and I don't care how people pitch it, it is one of the most terrifying places to bike around. It was designed with the post-1957 vision of freeway-centric (Southern) California and as such is full of effective freeways, meaningless cloisters of condos, and a giant-ass mall. I decided not to live there because of my lack of bike options, and another friend of mine, who now lives with me, left and rides his bike an infinitely larger amount of time than he had before (because the previous amount of time on a bike was 0 seconds). Despite this, it is a major residence of UCSD students, and a shameful excuse for a university neighborhood.

I should add that the biking facilities from PB to UCSD are acceptable, though PB's main thoroughfares are still quite the awful story for bikers (this, however, is an improving situation!). Commuting from La Jolla is also quite reasonable.

The description of PB as "Bohemian" made my morning. Thanks dstone.

I'll agree with Sam on the positive side of living downtown. I'm at the edge of East Village, across from City College. Walkscore.com rates East Village as one of the most walkable neighborhoods in San Diego. The sheer variety now available throughout downtown is overwhelming in terms of mixed-use, making it good for singles, couples, younger, middle-age, renters, and owners. Being outside the Gaslamp means we don't deal with the traffic and events that make it difficult to be a local.

However, my wife works up in the UTC area, and I've done EVERYTHING to figure out a non-driving route for her to work. The best I could do was:
1) bike only - about 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours, three awkward/dangerous transistions or intersection, two big (for her) hills, and the danger of being on the Rose Creek Bike Path and Rose Canyon Bike Trail after dark;
2) Bike-and-bus (the trolley gives zero potential for her destination) - over 2 hours total, multiple transfers, significant wait between transfers;
3) Drive - 15 minutes, almost entirely on the 5, with a hefty parking garage fee.

My conclusion is that La Jolla/UTC is a car-access island, and so she drives. I don't harangue her about it anymore. So, as much as downtown works for me, I don't think it would work for jstech, given his requirements. You may want to do the walkscore.com thing, and compare it with Google Maps with bike routing on. If you get a chance to do a house hunting trip, post the dates here. As has been mentioned, the forum members are a diverse group of bike lovers, and would recommend rides and volunteer to give two-wheel, unofficial tours. Once you're able to experience the place for yourself, you'll decide what you're comfortable with. Some folks are perfectly happy riding Pacific Hwy, and some wouldn't stray from the Harbor Bikeway. Welcome aboard.

I live in Carlsbad, 25 miles north of UTC, and usually do a multi-modal commute: drive, drive and park car part of the way to my destination, bike-Coaster train-bike. I must say the commute along the Pacific Coast Highway from the north is stunning and beautiful.

There is a Hwy 101 bus runs along the Pacific Coast Highway that goes to UTC. You can either ride all the way or take the bus from Del Mar or Torrey Pines State beach to UTC. From UTC you can either bike or walk to Towne Center drive.

The Sorrento Valley train station has many shuttles going to Torrey Pines, Sorrento Valley, and UTC area. The station also has bike boxes to park your bike at the station.

From this station there are few options to go to the UTC area:

1) Take the MTS shuttle to UTC. Then walk or bike to Towne Center drive

2) Ride up on the ramp to I-5 south and exit Genesee. That is if you have the nerves of steel to ride uphill on the shoulder of I-5 S. Distance approximately 4 miles but mostly uphill. The return bike ride to Sorrento Valley station can be gnarly as you take the I-5 North exit from Genesee to Sorrento Valley rd that is mostly a fast downhill.

3) The scenic route that goes to Torrey Pines State beach and park. Approximate distance 11 miles. Here is some of the views. If you can't see it go to the folding bike thread and scroll down to my photos and multi-modal commute.

Wow--thanks for all the great input. I admit I've not read every word of every post, but I intend to in the coming weeks, as I narrow down my search. Some quick responses that may inform you more about me:

@deprotinator:
I was out in LJ for two months last summer, and I lived in the UTC area at the time (working in the same place--I was participating in a short-term workshop). I agree that it's pleasant enough, but I don't mind a longer commute if it gets me more of what I want, so I've expanded my search. It's definitely on my list, though.

@Sam, AlanKHG, others who suggested multimodal:
I've been doing a multimodal commute for the past three years, which has been very pleasant (I too love reading). However, I really want to try for all-bike. My work schedule is flexible, so I'd like to have a flexible commute schedule to go with it, and to me that means no transit and no driving (having to avoid rush hour). Although having transit as Plan B is good too.

@markphilips:
I agree that the coast north of LJ is beautiful--last summer I went riding along the PCH just for the views. That's basically what put Del Mar on the list--I'd be perfectly happy riding down to Torrey Pines Beach and back up every day, looking to the right in the morning, and the left in the evening.

@dstone:
Bird Rock, duly noted. I biked through here once last summer--I remember the roundabouts. It might be the right blend of PB and La Jolla to give me what I want. I'll definitely look at it more closely.

All that said, I'll probably sign a year lease (or shorter?), see how things go, and stay open minded about moving. PB is still high on my list, although I'll probably look farther north or inland than I would have otherwise, to avoid the noise.