Reviews & Comments
Lake Charles, LA
re: I grew up in Lake Charles. - 5/21/2014 -
8/25/2014I just saw your post. I actually moved away from San Antonio recently, but I'm happy to answer your questions.
Culture shock is such a relative factor that I can't really speak to how you'll be affected by it. Having gone from Lake Charles to New Orleans to San Antonio to Colorado Springs, I haven't felt culture shock. Sure, cultures are very different in each of those places, but I haven't felt disoriented or otherwise uncomfortable. You might have a different experience.
I graduated from McNeese State University (the local university) in Lake Charles, and I think that you can get a perfectly fine education there. I'm not sure what field of study interests you, but MSU's business (particularly the MBA program), nursing, and engineering programs were all well regarded during my time there. The Department of English and Foreign Languages offers a notable MFA in Creative Writing that was pioneered by one of my former professors. Each Spring semester, MSU hosts a wonderful series of lectures, concerts, and events called Banners, which brings some very interesting cultural experiences to the Lake Charles area.
Lake Charles is home to an annual festival called Contraband Days, which celebrates Jean LaFitte's association with the city. For years, it was the second largest festival in the state (next to Mardi Gras), but I'm not sure if that still rings true.
Regarding crime and safety, you'll probably be fine. There's a clear delineation of which areas are safer than others. In New Orleans, a wrong turn can take you from a place of perfect safety to a place where you shouldn't be. It's not like that in Lake Charles. Most places that are both south of I-210 and west of Common Street are completely safe, but you don't necessarily need to limit your search for a residence to that part of town.
The weather is very different from San Antonio. Many people think that San Antonio is humid, but San Antonio is bone-dry in comparison to southern Louisiana. Temperatures won't be as high as they are in San Antonio, but the far higher humidity in Lake Charles will make the heat more oppressive than you're accustomed to in San Antonio.
As a child, I was perfectly happy in Lake Charles. As I transitioned into my early teens, I changed, and my view of my hometown changed as well. I became discontent and very much wanted to leave. Some people stay put in one place for their whole lives and are perfectly content with that. That's not me. I needed to move and not just for a job. In reflection, I don't view my discontent as a fault of the city. I simply yearned for different sorts of culture and intellectual stimulation. Lake Charles has its own sort of those things, but that was all that I knew. People frequently feel a need to expand beyond what they're accustomed to, and I was no different.
Lake Charles, LA
I grew up in Lake Charles. -
5/21/2014I spent the first 24 years of my life in Lake Charles, so it's my hometown, though I no longer have a reason to return. I lived at a single address in the middle of the city for the whole of those 24 years. I left primarily because finding suitable employment was a struggle. There are ample employment opportunities in fields such as healthcare and engineering, but I found pickings to be slim for a liberal arts major like me.
During the bulk of my time in Lake Charles, crime wasn't much of an issue, but it was an increasing problem. By the time I left, crime was very much a concern in my neighborhood. Most crime occurs on the north side of of the city, as that's the most economically depressed area. The south side is more affluent and is as safe as safe can be, but the city is expanding to the south. As more affluent families move south, the economic depression and crime in the north moves in to fill the voids. This is a very gradual process that has been going on in Lake Charles for decades, and it was more apparent in my neighborhood than anywhere else in the city.
When I left Lake Charles, the city was still somewhat void of enjoyable activities for an urbane young man that didn't involve drinking, clubbing, bars, or some combination of the three, but that's definitely changing. Since my departure, occasional visits back to the city bear out the fact that some fairly rapid cultural expansion is taking place. Heck, even the modest shopping mall now has outlets that are more like what one would find in a larger city, rather than the stodgy, dated outlets that formerly occupied the building.
I still have trouble with the ingrained notion that Lake Charles has ample dining options of high quality. It's true that Lake Charles has its gems, but much of the dining options aren't particularly noteworthy. But, of course, I see growth here, and I see a lot more diversity than in the past.
On the whole, Lake Charles isn't a bad place to live, but it's not a place for the robust and adventuresome. The pace is steady (but not too slow), and it's a sufficiently fine place to raise a family and make a comfortable living for those whose education, skills, and training are a fit for the local workforce.