Considering the area for a job. Seems alright except being such a navy and military industrial complex town has me worried it will be unpleasant to live there as a leftist. Any chapos have some insight on the area?
Seems like Langley might be a bit of a commute from there
Sometimes you just gotta post and damn the consequences
Don’t know why you’d ever want to leave the Langley area, but it’s a bit warmer and close to the beach
I was there back when I was in that military industrial complex some time ago (not as long ago as I would like).
Basically, everyone that lives there is there because of the military in some way or another, whether it's working for it, or their parents or grandparents were in the military or shipyard workers. There are a ton of bases there (Norfolk Naval Base, Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads, Naval Air Base Oceania, Oceania Dam Neck Annex [combat systems training and SEALs], Portsmouth Naval Hospital, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Langley Air Force Base on the north side of the bay, probably a couple more that I missed). It's a big part of the culture there.
Downtown Norfolk itself is kinda cool, and there is a bit of theatre and other culture that's actually pretty accessible price-wise. Mass transit is shitty in Norfolk and complete garbage everywhere else in Hampton Roads. Virginia Beach is full of old, rich racists that keep voting to keep mass transit out because they associate black with poor and hate both groups.
If you're heading down for a job in concerts/entertainment/theatre, don't. All of the event spaces are owned by a cartel that even ran IATSE out of town, and the workers are mostly racist old roadies.
It's a swamp that gets hit with hurricanes constantly, and, for fuck's sake, if you do move there, don't work on the other side of a bridge, tunnel, or bridge-tunnel from where you live because there is always an accident in the middle of it and you'll go nuts trying to get there.
More importantly, wages are depressed compared to cost of living due to the number of military retirees who are willing to work for lower wages because they're pulling a pension.
But, if you do go there, check out The Dirty Buffalo. It's the only part of that place that I miss.
It's populated enough that you could dodge the MIC people if you wanted to, but you will see their trucks. I live in a different city with a lot of ex-military and contractor types and it's not like you're made aware of it every single day.
I haven’t been to many cities, but Norfolk is one of the coolest cities I’ve ever been to. I have a relative that lives there and I’ve visited a few times, and every time I don’t want to go back home.
when it came to exploring the city, hitting up comic and vape shops, finding new restaurants, and riding the in-traffic train was really fun. Plus the beach is right there and I saw dolphins, lol. It felt like a really cool, happening place and I’d like to live there someday, maybe. But then you have climate change and Norfolk is right on the coast, so that makes me nervous.
I never lived there but I had a friend in the Navy who was stationed there for I think 4 or 5 years and he couldn't wait to leave it once he got out. They were originally from texas but said the culture there was everything he wanted to escape, and he lived off base. He also told me the food fucking sucks there, like it's just chain after chain, worse than average america.
I mean when it really comes down to it, if you're gonna make more money and think that will make you more happy, or at least cause less stress, you might as well give it a shot. I'm sure you can find some people who aren't in the military on a meetup.com group or some shit and just hang out with them if you want to make friends.
