I have a job interview with a firm in Norfolk and I was just looking to get a little more information about the city.

Overall, what is the cost of living like?  For those of you that rent apartments, what is the average rent in the area?

Where are the good areas to live and what is the rent like there?

How bad is traffic?  I know that there are a couple of bridges, but I am not sure where they are so I don't know if you live in Norfolk if you have to use the bridges every day or if you only have to use them if you live outside the city?

What are the dining and entertainment options like?  What about shopping options?

What is the singles scene like?

If you think that I am leaving anything out, please let me know or just provide other opinions.  Thanks.

ETA: I almost forgot one of the most important things, what are the gun shops and ranges like in the area?  Are there many rifle friendly ranges?  Are there any good private clubs?

My cousin is a Norfolk cop.  Little Creek/ Ocean View (beach)area is crime central (gangs).  Dont be fooled by the nice new homes they are building by the beach because the slums are just across the street.  Look up Bobs Gun Shop for shooting indoors and Pungo Range (outdoors) is a little drive but you can shoot almost anything there (rifle range).  I have not lived there for years so I dont know about traffic.  I hear all kinds of stuff about the tunnel and I-64 (construction).  Hopefully a local will chime in and brief ya on that.  I just know rent or mortgage is cheaper than NOVA.  Good luck.

civprod

I live in Norfolk.

Overall, what is the cost of living like? For those of you that rent apartments, what is the average rent in the area?  

Regards cost of living, I don't think it's too bad. There are a number of grocery stores (Food Lion) that are pretty reasonable, but there are other high end grocery stores that cost an arm and a leg (Harris Teeter).  I am not sure what apartments go for. I own a house in the Larchmont area.  I know you can rent a fairly nice home in the $1000 to $1500 range (3 BR,2 BA). I would guess that apartments are going to be in the $500-$750 range.

Where are the good areas to live and what is the rent like there?
Regards good areas to live, I would try and find a place to rent in the Ghent area. There are a number of older (classic) apartment buildings along/near the Colley Ave corridor with a lot of young professionals. Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) is near there so lots of young medical students and other professionals in the area. Colley Ave has a lot of restaurants and coffee houses etc, for young people to hang out. Lot's of opportunity to meet people. Stay away from the Old Dominion University (ODU) area apartments. It's a fairly low income/high crime area. Also stay away from apartments near Norfolk Naval Base, unless you want to live amongst young sailors right out of high school looking at life as one big party.  Wolfpack, noted to stay away from E.Little Creek and Ocean View, thats good advise unless you know the area, as there are some decent pocket areas, but for the most part he's correct.

How bad is traffic? I know that there are a couple of bridges, but I am not sure where they are so I don't know if you live in Norfolk if you have to use the bridges every day or if you only have to use them if you live outside the city?

Regards traffic, if you live in Norfolk you don't really have to worry about bridges and tunnels. There are lots of city streets and you can figure out a variety of routes to get to and from work. If you live outside of Norfolk, traffic is going to be a bitch to get into Norfolk. You can figure on long delays coming from Portsmouth or from Hampton area even Virginia Beach on any of the expressways. If you lived in some of the nicer areas of Virginia Beach you could commute in on secondary roads such as Virginia Beach Blvd, but would still be looking at a long commute with lots of traffic lights.  There are 3 main water crossings to get to Norfolk, the Hampton Roads Bridge/Tunnel, the Portsmouth/Norfolk Downtown Tunnel, & the Portsmouth/Norfolk Midtown Tunnel.  The tunnels really backup coming into Norfolk in the mornings and out in the afternoons.

What are the dining and entertainment options like? What about shopping options?

Regards dining and entertainment, Norfolk is the dining and entertainment destination for the Tidewater area. Downtown is full of restaurants, sports bars, & night clubs. The Granby Street corridor and Colley Ave area have tons of restaurants. The MacArthur Center Mall is right in downtown and is a huge 3 floor shopping mall with restaurants, movie theaters, and lots of retail stores. The Waterside Shopping Center in downtown is an old retail shopping mall, that's been converted to restaurants and night clubs. It's a huge entertainment venue.  Further from downtown, there are a number of grocery stores as mentioned earlier. Also, your not far from lots of other shopping. There a lot of retail stores on Virginia Beach Blvd and Military Highway in Norfolk/Virginia Beach. There

What is the singles scene like?

I can't help you out much on the singles scene. I am just an old married guy. However, I observe that there are a lot of night clubs in Waterside Shopping Center and lots of upscale bars and restaurants downtown. There are a lot of nightclubs and bars in Virginia Beach.  Don't laugh, but there are also a lot of churches in Norfolk and you will find a lot of young attractive professionals there as well.

If you think that I am leaving anything out, please let me know or just provide other opinions. Thanks.

Norfolk is a pretty good location to live if you are working here. I live in Norfolk and work in Suffolk, so I have a reverse commute with almost no traffic, but I see the cars lined up for miles in Portsmouth trying to get into the city everyday as I am cruising along at highway speeds.


ETA: I almost forgot one of the most important things, what are the gun shops and ranges like in the area? Are there many rifle friendly ranges? Are there any good private clubs?

Regards the shooting scene, this entire area is great.  There are a lot of gun shops; Bobs Gun Shop (Norfolk), The Armory (Virginia Beach), A&P Arms (Virginia Beach), to name a few and there are at least 2 others that I know where they are, but can't think of their exact names.  There are several clubs, VA Beach Rifle & Pistol Club (doesn't have a range now, their looking), Norfolk County Rifle Range(has indoor range pistol range, but no rifle). Several gun shops have indoor ranges (Bobs, A&P) and there is the Pungo Range which is fairly large with ranges out to 200 yards and as short as 25 yards. They have a limited amount of steel targets as well. Pungo is about a 45 min to 1 hour drive from Norfolk. There are a lot of gun shows in the area, with almost 1 a month between Norfolk, VA Beach, Hampton, and Richmond. There are a number of clubs that shoot IDPA/IPSC, Blackwater Shooters is probably the best simply because of their access to Blackwater Training Center in Moyock, NC (not much further than driving to Pungo).

Hope this helps.

BIG +1 to everything Bladerunner wrote.  I'd like to buttress a few points.  

1) Ghent was a great place to live (2 years as a college student).   Somehow it is a nice, quiet neighborhood directly off the stampede path.  I lived there many years ago and can't tell you how much rent is now.  But it was a great place for the money at that time.
2) The low rent areas surrounding ODU and NOB do come at the price of higher crime rates.
3) Avoid the tunnels (downtown tunnel and midtown tunnel) as a daily commute at all costs!

A lot of people live in Virginia Beach and commute into Norfolk. The traffic an be a bitch, however things are generally a lot newer. Think of suburban sprawl...and you have VB.

Downtown Norfolk is really nice now. The city has but a lot of effort into revitalizing downtown, and it really paying off with tons of new restaurants and bars. Also good shopping, including a Nordstroms.

You can also head up to Williamsburg for Busch Gardens, all the historical stuff, and a ton of outlet shopping.

There is water everywhere...so lots of beaches, great fishing, etc. Also lots of good golf courses.

The two biggest negatives here are road traffic, along with a housing market that has gotten to be a lot more expensive than it used to be. All in all, it still is a great place to live.

A big +1 to everything that Bladerunner said.  I've lived here for 17 years (active duty Navy) and he's summed it up very well.

Tom  

Tidewater is a neat area.  Lots of shopping, dining and entertainment.  Live and work on the same side of the water.  You don't wanna commute across ANY bridge.

I've lived in Portsmouth, across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk, since I was born fifty years ago.  I also work in Portsmouth, for the reasons stated above.  Though living here all my life, I still don't know my way around Norfolk and Virginia Beach very well, because I try to never cross the river.  You can cross it, and get stuck for hours before you get home.  The crossings are so congested that one wreck or break-down backs up traffic for miles.  And forget trying to go to another crossing, because everyone else in the city is trying to do it, too.  Tales of bikers getting killed around here appear frequently in the news.  

But, I love living in Portsmouth.  It has a bad reputation, but, like any other city, there are neighborhoods that you just don't go through.  Within two miles of my house is almost every business I patronize, except for a good hospital or a shooting range.  I even bought my Bushy in Portsmouth.  I've had the same job for over thirty years, and it's ten minutes from my home.  

I've traveled a lot during my lifetime, and have never gotten the urge to leave Portsmouth.  I may retire to the woods, but as long as I'm working, I'm planted.

Bob's Gun Shop in Norfolk has a nice little indoor handgun range.  It's short, though.  Fifty feet or less, IIRC.

I do my shooting at A & P Arms' indoor range, across the street from Lynhaven Mall in Virginia Beach.  They let me shoot my Bushy, and the targets go back 25 yards.  They charge ten dollars, and I've never had them run me out.  Last week I shot for two and a half hours there.  They don't make you buy their ammo, either, unless you rent a gun to shoot.  A & P is worth braving a trip across the river for.

Quoted:


Bob's Gun Shop in Norfolk has a nice little indoor handgun range.  It's short, though.  Fifty feet or less, IIRC.   I believe that you remember correctly

I do my shooting at A & P Arms' indoor range, across the street from Lynhaven Mall in Virginia Beach.  They let me shoot my Bushy, and the targets go back 25 yards.  They charge ten dollars, and I've never had them run me out.  Last week I shot for two and a half hours there.  They don't make you buy their ammo, either, unless you rent a gun to shoot.  A & P is worth braving a trip across the river for. Yup, good place.  I used to be the night manager there.  Quit when I had to go on a sea duty tour


Tom