The sad thing is it almost sounds feasible. We've got *alot* of illegals here (southern california) blatantly sitting under the local overpass looking for work, so the police wouldn't be a problem because they hardly do anything about them. There are park and rides all over the place I could spend the night. I'd shit at college, no big deal. And again, showering at the beaches isn't too suspicious. I'm in the perfect area to do this. Aside from the fact that the idea's pretty retarded, it's almost amazing how workable it sounds. And to be pretty damn honest, if I had no other choice, I'd do it. Obviously, safety's an issue, and I can't exactly conceal a firearm in a car. :/ Gas + insurance is another problem, so reasonably going between the beach and college would actually be expensive, especially if gas is 5 DOLLARS A GALLON this summer again. (Maybe not more expensive than rent in this area).

It still sounds pretty fricking cool.

EDIT:
Business districts are perfect for sleeping at night, btw. There is nothing there after 9 or so. Just putting it out there.

gas was 5 dollars a gallon in california last year?

Pretty close to it. It topped at around $4.33, but that's still ridiculous.

Seriously though, I think the van thing would be a huge mistake for you.  Try apartment hunting online (Rent.com, http://www.apartmenthunterz.com, or the real estate section on Yahoo.  Then just get a roommate to split the bill with you.

I was thinking about it, but if I have to pay any more than $400/month I might as well dorm (car, insurance, cell phones all add up). I could at most get a 1-bedroom and share it, which doesn't sound appetizing to most people anyway.

Honestly, you could do this.  I am not saying it would be the BEST IDEA, but this is doable.  First of all, I don't agree with Jamie; staying in nice neighborhoods will not work.  People don't like looking out their windows and seeing mysterious vans parked across the street, especially when all the other cars are Audis and Mercs and shit.  It's just ludicrously conspicuous.  Buuuut I was talking to Steel about some other options and came up with a few.  One is you could find an apartment building/complex, one where cars are parked all over and no one knows which cars belong to whom or, for that matter, really knows anyone at all.  At this point you'd be able to get away with parking there and no one would even know you weren't supposed to.  People probably wouldn't notice or report you, and cops don't really randomly cruise around apartment building parking lots so you're probably safe from them.

Another idea is to stay in a retail type area, but not in the parking lot.  Parking lots are dumb because they're wide open spaces that are completely empty after the stores close.  You're going to catch anyone who drives by's eye by being a LONE VAN in an otherwise empty parking lot in the middle of the night.  Cops, thugs, all types of dicks!  It's a bad idea.  But if you've ever walked behind a shopping plaza, you'll notice that cars are parked there overnight all the time.  These cars, I assume, are supposed to be there.  But the point is if you're going to be anywhere in a parking lot, it should be here I think.  For one, you're not immediately visible, so people driving by won't be able to see you from the road, or without actually looking for you.  You're in a secluded area that generally doesn't get much traffic at night where ideally you wouldn't be noticed by anyone.  Now, there are also some factors here that I didn't really figure out because I've never needed to put thought into this.  There would have to be cameras in the back of these buildings.  I doubt anyone is watching them consistently but they might notice a random van that comes there every night.  Or maybe, if there were enough cars that stayed there overnight, they wouldn't and you'd just blend in with the random vehicles that for some reason people leave there.  It's kind of risky, though!  It also makes you look a bit more suspicious because this is where all the back doors to places are (another consequence of this is that people unload shit here in the early mornings and will see your van and possibly know it does not belong).  This is, I think, the best of the parking lot options, though.

Another idea is a parking garage.  I'm not sure but these seem like they'd be relatively safe and cops don't just DRIVE THROUGH THEM do they?  In any case, you'd pay admittance and probably be allowed to stay there in relative seclusion through the night.  On one hand, parking garages have security measures in place designed to protect cars that park there, so that would in theory contribute to your safety, but a) I don't know how thorough or reliable those features really are and b) I don't know if they'd really let someone sleep there on a regular basis.

I think the best idea if you try to do this is to find a friend and try to get them to let you park in their driveway at night.  You must know people with HOUSES, which means maybe you could talk them into letting you just park there for the night and have a safe place to sleep.

Finally you could maybe try a storage space.  You can get storage spaces for cheap as hell and with one big enough, you could actually park your van in it overnight.  With some lighting, you could probably even live in the storage space itself!  They're not heated, which would be a big deal here, but in SoCal I don't imagine it ever gets very cold, even at night, so you might be alright.  It's a secure place that you'd have a legal right to, though, and it's cheap.  You could either park your van in it and just stay in the van at night or get a big one and park your van in it and then get out and have like a bed and a desk and shit in the storage space itself.  The owner wouldn't want you doing this but there'd probably be ways around this.  This is probably the SAFEST option as you'd be completely protected and no one would even know you were there.

Does your campus not have a gym with showers??  

Only advice I can think to tell you: don't stick to a predictable routine, because that's where some jackass is gonna realize the ideal time to jack anything of value in your vehicle. Or just jack you.  

Also, do you not have a pass that would entitle you to overnight parking on your campus?  Also, I'm pretty sure Wal-Mart allows overnight RV parking.  Not sure if you have Wal-Mart over there.

And damn, this VanDwelling website guy is ingenious about converting vans.  I like how he talks like there is some kind of movement against VanDwellers.

I want to limit my run-ins with others that don't understand what VanDwelling is about.

to avoid being bothered by cops or others that feel that  VanDwelling is not right.

wats a walmart


although he makes a point.  some walmarts do allow overnght rv parking and maybe your campus would allow you to park there overnight too, although thats still a bit conspicuous.  some dudes were talking about how they had a gym membership that meant they had a place to park their car at night and shower in the mornings.

Also, what would your budget be for a van?  You could get one for cheap but it'd cost some money to renovate it and make it completely livable.  You could maybe think about getting an older, smaller RV, since they're actually made for this kind of thing.  Then you could find an RV park in the area and use that maybe, or a Wal-Mart or something.  It'd be like camping every night!!  Or if you can find someone who'll let you use a bit of their land (maybe a relative?) you can get an old silver Twinkie or some other kind of cheap trailer and put that on it.  Without plumbing you wouldn't fully be able to use the bathroom in it, and you'd have to run power into it unless you were just planning on sleeping there and not living/studying in it, but it'd be a stable place to sleep where you wouldn't be ROBBED or anything and you could always study at the library and shower at your school or something.  Using the bathroom would be weird but you could probably do it in the trailer and then take it with you when you leave I guess?  At that point I think I'd prefer the van/RV.

im gettin so pumped about this ! ! !

well this is america buster. . . two car garage for every family

I actually checked with storage space. It's not 'zoned' for residential living so that's ruled out. Walmart + RV park sound like interesting ideas because I live next to both, and they are conveniently next to the library. There's also a parking garage for the hospital where my dad works, and I know the code to get in heheheh. Great thing about the hospital is, people park their cars overnight all the time. Gym membership sounds interesting too, I'd check it out. Unfortunately all of these are next to the police station...but as long as I don't do anything illegal they shouldn't bust me. I just need to mix up my places a little bit. But yeah, wow, showers at school I never thought about that. That's a great idea.

no of course theyre not zoned for residential living.  they'll kick you out if they find out youre doing it but it's definitely something people do.  so far the parking in your dad's hospital parking garage seems like the best idea

Heh now the trick is to grow some balls and actually do it.

At my moms neighborhood there are vans, etc all over the streets and its a brand new housing edition with a homeowners association

Texas? More like mars