Sugarhouse Vs. Daybreak: Where Should I Move?
On Jan 31, 2013, at 10:03 PM, a NICE FRIEND wrote:
Hey. I stumbled across your website while trying to find some information about Daybreak. My family is relocating to SLC from ANOTHER CITY this summer. I have been hellbent on moving to Sugar House to be near downtown and in a diverse area of the city. Well, the more I look, the more discouraged I get at the prices and what you get for that price. So, today I started opening the search. Daybreak looks like the kind of place my 3 kids would love. I will hate being that far away from the city but a newer house would be nice with all the amenities it has to offer. Cutting to the chase, I am in-active (hate that word!) Mormon living with a very active husband. I wonder how life would be socially? I want to meet people who enjoy a glass of wine and going out. How is it being a non-mormon in that community? I know in Sugar House it is very diverse with lots of places to go out at night. Thanks for your help!
Dear NICE FRIEND,
Thanks for emailing me about Daybreak. I still live here and I still love it dearly, but it IS different than living in Sugarhouse.
I have ZERO friends in this neighborhood, aside from my sister and her husband, who moved here because we live here and another couple who were our friends before they moved to South Jordan. In Sugarhouse, I knew the people on both sides of our house and across the street. They came to my Halloween parties, which are decidedly non-Mormon parties, and they were great acquaintances. I don’t have that here.
In all honesty, I think it was because we didn’t have children. All the families came over to introduce themselves, but when they saw that we had no children for their kids to play with, they never spoke to us again.
On the other hand, your children will be PAINFULLY lonely in Sugarhouse. There will be NO children within walking distance to play with. I had the hardest time finding kids to shovel my walk or mow my lawn. They just weren’t there and my friends with children who live in Sugarhouse have to drive them to play dates. That is not the case in Daybreak. It’s like Lord of the Flies here and most times, you will wonder where the adults are.
You might have an easier go of it because your husband is LDS. That will provide you with introductions in the neighborhood that I haven’t had. Even if you only go to church with him every other weekend or so, you will have a much larger social life in Daybreak because of that advantage.
More importantly, crime is nonexistent in Daybreak. In Sugarhouse, our bike (and yard ornaments) were stolen, a man was arrested by the police in our backyard and panhandlers KNOCKED on our door asking for money. I haven’t had any problems like that here and I LOVE Daybreak for that.
The drive downtown is arduous, however. If you or your husband are employed downtown, then you will be looking at a 45 minute commute each way. That time estimate is a hopeful one, so if there has been an accident on the freeway or if it snowed the previous night, you’ll have to leave an HOUR before work to get there on time. The same is true if either of you is employed in Provo. If, however, you work in Sandy, West Valley or anywhere else in the central valley, you’ll be just fine.
Daybreak DOES have a wine club and all the people there are very friendly. I’ve only been to a couple of the get togethers, but they were fun every time I went. You can find them here: Daybreak Wine Club. They didn’t have anything like that in Sugarhouse, or if they did, I never found it.
If you had asked me a few years ago why we were so close to our neighbors in Sugarhouse, I would have said because our houses were so close together, but I live in a part of Daybreak where our houses are JUST as close as they were in Sugarhouse. I have NO idea why things were friendlier in Sugarhouse than they are here in Daybreak.
In the end, making friends as an adult is difficult. When we were kids, we were thrown together by school and proximity and sometimes I think the sheer repetition of seeing the same faces made them precious. As adults, it’s difficult to reproduce that experience. I wish I had an answer to problem, but I really don’t.
I DO know that whether you move to Sugarhouse or Daybreak, I’m perfectly willing to meet up with you for lunch. Moving to a new state is difficult, but at least you have one friend here already.
Best,
Laura Moncur
P.S. I’m putting this on my blog for other people who are trying to decide where in the valley to move, but I’m removing your name (and origin city) so that you stay anonymous.
