Best community to live in Los Angeles?

[Sorcerer68]

I was house sitting in April at Pt Dume (Malibu) and the one thing that drove me nuts was the drive into town. The worst traffic I've experienced since I've been back in L.A. has been the stretch of PCH from Malibu to Santa Monica. YIKES! I thought the Malibu locals were joking when they told me it could take an hour and a half to get to Santa Monica during rush hour but they were right. The good news is that the drive to Agoura Hills was always a piece of cake. The problem was I never wanted to go there.

[OutOfSoCal]

my only advice is live as close as possible to pepperdine, traffic is hell in So Cal 90% of the time. one car pulled over to change a tire can delay you an hour

[Sorcerer68]

Originally Posted by OutOfSoCal

my only advice is live as close as possible to pepperdine, traffic is hell in So Cal 90% of the time. one car pulled over to change a tire can delay you an hour

Even longer if they are attractive .

[mallthus]

Truthfully, as a native Californian, the most important question you need to ask yourself is "Where am I going to work?", since then you can pick a community based on what you consider to be an acceptable commute.

For instance, I think a lot of us understood you to say that you're looking for locations within commuting distance of Pepperdine University's main campus in Malibu. Irvine is about 100 miles south of Malibu and Poway is nearly 200 miles south. On distance alone, these are unreasonable commutes and if you factor in traffic, these are insane 4-5 hour drives.

Truthfully, there is no such thing as a "best" single family community in the LA area. You'll need to layout what's important to you and your family.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

- Where will I work?
- What can I afford for housing?
- Do I have school age children? Do I want to send them to public or private school?
- What kinds of stores, restaurants and businesses do I need close by?
- Do I want to live near the beach? Near a golf course? Near mountains or lakes?

Get back to us here with this info and I think you'll get some well thought out and reasoned responses.

Cheers!

[califantastic]

Malibu is not that great a place to live unless you enjoy isolating yourself and/or you are a billionaire. There is nothing to do there but go to the beach, hang out in your mansion, or sit in your car for an hour plus going into town. If you are going to live at the beach might as well go somewhere more practical with things to do, restaurants, shopping etc.

[Jen38]

Ok, I'm jumping on your post until you figure out the answers to Mallthus's questions - hope you don't mind!
My husband may take a job that is somewhere near Dodgers stadium area. After doing a lot of research on the best schools, family friendly areas - I came up with Santa Monica, Calabasas, La Canada and Manhattan Beach. Out of all of them, Calabasas seemed the most affordable, surprisingly. Is this too far of a commute? He would be at the office between 8:30 and 6:30pm.

La Canada was second on my list but I don't know anything about it. Also, it was more expensive. Is it a small town?

I need a lot of information because I have not been to LA in 10 years! We used to live in Woodland Hills. I'm sure it has changed a lot. Also, that was back way before children!

Thanks for any advice!

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Jen38

My husband may take a job that is somewhere near Dodgers stadium area. After doing a lot of research on the best schools, family friendly areas - I came up with Santa Monica, Calabasas, La Canada and Manhattan Beach. Out of all of them, Calabasas seemed the most affordable, surprisingly. Is this too far of a commute? He would be at the office between 8:30 and 6:30pm.

La Canada was second on my list but I don't know anything about it. Also, it was more expensive. Is it a small town?

I need a lot of information because I have not been to LA in 10 years! We used to live in Woodland Hills. I'm sure it has changed a lot. Also, that was back way before children!

Thanks for any advice!

Calabasas, Manhattan Beach, or Santa Monica to the Chavez Ravine area will be a rough commute during the hours posted.

La Canada will be much better.

There may be other places to consider too.