Mountain Living Without Missing Out: How to Thrive on Frazier Mountain in the Modern World
For city folks thinking of moving to the area
Tips for living on Frazier Mountain
by Erik Israelson (I moved to Lake of the Woods 2 years ago relocating from Camarillo, CA)
Living on Frazier Mountain can offer an incredible quality of life, but you have to approach it differently than living in a city. The key is to make transportation affordable and comfortable, connect with the community, and actively take advantage of everything within reach.
Make Driving Easy
My first recommendation is to buy a 2022 or newer AWD Tesla with Full Self-Driving capability.
Full Self-Driving is something you really have to experience to understand. Many people instinctively reject the idea, but for those willing to give it a chance, it can be life-changing. In my experience, a 45-minute drive can feel more like 15 minutes when I am not using all of my mental energy to steer, maintain speed, and constantly monitor the cars around me.
You still have to remain attentive and ready to take control, but the experience is much less mentally exhausting. Instead of every trip feeling like a chore, driving can begin to feel more like time spent relaxing.
Add Solar and Battery Storage
If you own a home, Install solar panels and batteries on your home. With a leased system, you may be able to replace unpredictable electricity and fuel expenses with a relatively consistent monthly payment.
I pay about $200 per month for a system that helps power my home, including air conditioning, while also charging the vehicle I use for a daily commute of roughly 150 miles. It also allows me to make frequent trips off the mountain without feeling as though every trip comes with another major fuel expense.
These details make an enormous difference in your quality of life. When going somewhere costs very little in fuel and maintenance, you are much more likely to make the trip. When every outing feels expensive, it becomes easier to stay home—and that is when mountain living can begin to feel confining.
Make a Deliberate Effort to Connect
Connect with neighbors, local organizations, parent groups, and community activities as much as possible.
Thousands of people live throughout the mountain communities, but you may not regularly see them. We do not yet have the large shopping centers, public spaces, and traditional gathering places that naturally bring people together in a city. Many residents also leave the mountain for work, shopping, and entertainment.
That does not mean nothing is happening. There are many local activities, organizations, and groups, but you often have to actively look for them.
Join local Facebook groups, including the Frazier Mountain Community Bulletin Board and Pine Mountain Club groups. You may be surprised by how many events, services, discussions, and opportunities are available in the area that you would otherwise never know about. There is often far more happening around the area than I have time to attend.
I also believe community life will continue to grow as new development brings additional commercial, retail, entertainment, and gathering spaces to the greater Frazier-Tejon area.
Fight Isolation With Perspective
When you begin to feel isolated, you sometimes have to challenge that feeling with logic.
The human condition can be frustrating. Someone may spend million/s of dollars on a home in certain parts of Los Angeles and then sit in stressful traffic for 45 minutes just to travel to a store. Their friends may consider that completely normal.
Another person may spend around $400,000 - 500,000 on a home in the Frazier Mountain area and drive the same 45 minutes to reach a store 40 miles away, with little or no traffic. Their friends may think they are crazy.
The amount of time is almost identical. The difference is largely one of perception assuming you are able to own a Tesla and have solar power on your home becuse that removes the additional expense of driving those longer distances.
Remember What Is Within Reach
Living on the mountain does not mean disconnecting from Southern California. It means living affordably near many of its best resources.
Depending on where you live and current traffic conditions:
Several major Southern California cities are approximately 45 minutes away.
Downtown Los Angeles and its stadiums, museums, restaurants, events, and other amenities are within reach for a day or half-day trip.
The beaches of Ventura and Malibu are close enough for regular outings.
Multiple lakes, recreation areas, and lake beaches are nearby.
Pine Mountain Club offers access to amenities such as golf and swimming in a forest setting.
The Outlets at Tejon and the Hard Rock Casino Tejon are a short drive away.
Concerts, Amusement Parks, Dodgers games, Chinatown, The Grove, beaches, museums, and countless other destinations can all remain part of your life.
The important thing is to be proactive. Plan the beach trip. Go to the concert. Spend a day in Chinatown. Attend a game. Explore the lakes, streams & mountain trails. Frazier Mountain living becomes much more rewarding when you treat the surrounding region as an extension of your neighborhood.
Instead of looking at a trip to the city as an inconvenience, turn it into an excursion, something fun to plan and look forward to. Combine an appointment or shopping trip with lunch at a new restaurant, a museum, a walk through an interesting neighborhood, a sporting event, or a destination you have been wanting to visit. A necessary trip off the mountain can easily become an enjoyable day out.
Living on the mountain can actually make these experiences feel more special. When beaches, restaurants, entertainment, and city attractions are not part of your everyday routine, visiting them feels more like a mini-vacation. You can enjoy the activity and variety of the city and then return home to the cooler temps, peace, beauty, clean air and open space of the mountains. I lived near the ocean most of my life and rarely went, living on the mountain I find myself enjoying the ocean far more often.
It is also important to actively stay connected with what is happening throughout Southern California and the nearby cities. Follow tourism pages, local event calendars, restaurants, museums, entertainment venues, community pages, and regional social-media accounts.
Whenever you discover an interesting restaurant, hidden attraction, neighborhood, seasonal event, beach, concert, museum exhibit, hiking area, or unusual destination, save it to a running list. Use that list to plan regular dates, family outings, and day trips to the unique places that only Southern California can offer.
The goal is to stay connected and curious. Living on Frazier Mountain should not make your world feel smaller. It should give you a peaceful and affordable home base from which to explore one of the most interesting regions in the world and make your world feel larger!
Take Advantage of Delivery and Technology
Amazon Prime and other delivery options already make mountain living easier, and delivery services will likely continue expanding over time.
As more food, household products, and necessities can be delivered directly to your door, routine shopping becomes less important. The trips you do make can increasingly be for enjoyment rather than obligation.
Enjoy the Financial Breathing Room
One of the greatest benefits of living in the Frazier Mountain area is the opportunity to own a home without spending the amount often required in Los Angeles or other highly populated and expensive Southern California communities.
That financial breathing room can be used to improve your home, travel, attend events, build savings, or simply live with less financial pressure.
Many people leave California because they can no longer afford to live in its major metropolitan areas. Yet they may never consider a more affordable community less than an hour away. One where modern technology and conveniences make it possible to remain connected to the places, opportunities, and experiences that make Southern California so desirable and so expensive.
Living on Frazier Mountain is not about giving those things up. It is about embracing a new perspective: using today’s modern amenities to create a peaceful, affordable lifestyle while still experiencing the best of Southern California whenever you choose.