Atwater, CA Reviews

Great village atmosphere! - 10/10/2013
I've lived in Atwater Village for the past 11 years. It's rated one of the best neighborhoods in Los Angeles and I am in complete agreement with that. I've seen it become even better over the years. There are great little restaurants like Viet Noodle and India Sweets. The Little Knittery is a great little knitting store. And Pampered Birds is the best place for all things "bird" - with the greatest and funniest shopowner ever named Lourdes! A great brewery just opened up on Glendale Blvd. The Farmer's Market on Sundays on Glendale and Larga is fantastic. If you are lucky enough to be able to buy or rent a place in Atwater you will love it! I'm sorry that I'll be moving out to retire to another state where the cost of living is affordable . .. Read More

I think Atwater is the best city in the valley - 5/8/2012
It went from hellhole to paradise in less than five years. Now, there are more places to shop and eat. What was a boring, open field is now a huge shopping center off of 99 with Super Walmart, Super Target (right next to each other: weird, but convenient), Marshall's, Dress Barn, and a lot more. They're very affordable.

There isn't much to do for fun, but for a city of only 30,000, you can't expect too much. What Atwater does have, though, is Castle Lanes (bowling alley) on the old Castle AFB right next to the entrance of Castle Airport. There are some bars: Almond Tree (south Atwater) and Out Of Bounds Sports Bar (north Atwater) to name a few.

I currently live in Merdead (Merced - proper name), and I was fined by public works for having trash in the blue can. 1) I did no such thing. 2) How would they know who did it in the first place? I'll bet anything that I'm not the only victim of such ridiculousness. Anyway, this won't happen to you in Atwater because Read More

Living in Atwater,Ca. 95301 - 3/6/2012
This is a Little town of about 28,000 people. All ages, mainly Spanish Speaking. There are not very many varities of Resturants, or of Good Quality. The Housing is cheaper here. Apt, Duplexes, avg. $750-900-3bd-2b. This used to be a Military-Base and there are many renovated Base Housing that makes it cheaper to live here.They have Senior housing Complexes. The Groceries and Gasoline are Higher Here then other areas we have Lived in. They have 1 yr old Super=Target & Super-Wal-Mart--very nice and afforable. they have McDonalds, Subway, Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, Wendys,Burger King, lots of Dollar Stores, K-Mart. Save-mart Store is more Expensive for groceries. Raleys is in the next town of Merced-about 10 miles. Veternarian is Expensive Here. Lots of Homeless Animals, animal neglect here. Animal Dumping Ground. Lots of Agriculture,Air Quality is ok in the winter--but if you have Alleries--this is not the place for you.Crime is not too Bad in Atwater, But lots of Gangs and Drugs Read More

Merced is a despicable city! - 4/17/2010
Merced, CA is quite possibly the worse possible city in all of California if not for sure Central CA. Modesto, CA was voted as the worst city in CA by one magazine I can't remember the name of. Merced, CA has none of the likeable amenities like Modesto, CA with so many unlikeableness to boot. Gang crimes are the worse in the nation per capita, teen pregnancies are the worse in the nation, unemployment must be about the worst in the nation and is the worst in Central CA for sure at 21.97% as of this writing. The streets are out of a city that doesn't take care of anything but the city top brass pet projects that do not matter. The city spends millions on a multi level parking garage above and across the street from city hall spending millions while the city streets are in terrible despairingly bad condition. Graffiti is a norm in this city and in the county. You go into stores that you think you are in third world nation with all the Spanish being spoken out loud because the Read More

Climate - 7/24/2009
Very mild Winter, short Spring and Fall, and long hot Read More

Area Travel - 3/11/2008
Atwater is a agricultural area, althought we are growing. The local recreation is average for a city our size but our location is great.
We are 80 miles from Yosemite National Park, 80-100 miles from the ocean at either Monterey/Carmel or San Francisco. Two hours north and you are in Sacramento and 4-5 hours south and you are in the Los Angeles area.
Atwater is almost in the center or the state and relativly close to most types of outdoor Read More

Living in Atwater, CA - 7/2/2005
Atwater California has admittedly suffered some setbacks in the past 15 years, not least of which was the loss of SAC's Castle AFB. Pumping 250M into the local economy in it's heyday, Castle also comprised some 18 to 20% of Atwater's population. Without the Air Force, Atwater became depressed, housing values plummeted, the many apartment units became vacant causing rents to drop, and it became a haven for those on public assistance and/or under employed or unemployed. Since that time the local unemployment rate has varied from 13 to 18%. Crime is, for so small a town, horrific.

The climate is dismal in Winter, with many foggy days where air quality rivals the LA air basin at it's worst. In summer, ground level ozone (the bad kind) takes a heavy toll on those with emphasyma, bronchitis or asthsma. Heat hover around 100 or just above during most of July and August. I'm leaving as soon as I can retire. Read More