I'm looking for an easy commute to LA and good schools (Los Angeles: safe neighborhoods, magnet schools)

[DawnW]

Be careful with Pasadena. I lived in Pasadena for 14 years and would move back in a heartbeat, but the schools (public) are sub-par and last I read, 50% or more of the students in the area attend private schools. South Pasadena has its own school district and is excellent. La Canada is great, but housing is pricey, La Crescenta area is very good and less.

Dawn

[/b]

Originally Posted by aguamarina4u

Go with Pasadena

The South Bay is a great place to live which includes El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach and West & South Torrance. But the traffic to and from downtown LA is horrendous!

[TheRealAngelion]

Originally Posted by maaci

Am I being realistic when I say 30 minute commute and good schools. Do I have to go farther out? I looked into Calabasas' schools and they are very good. Would that be like an hour commute?

Thanks for your help

A 30 minute commute is a luxury in LA. Since you have a young son, you should keep your options open to a longer commute to ensure you find the best possible community to raise him. Calabasas to downtown would be about an hour. But that's very normal in LA. Calabasas is a lovely, newer city. Very clean, affluent, new money. It's built up against the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, so you are very close to nature. The ocean is just on the other side of the mountains about 20 minutes away via Malibu or Topanga Canyons.

South Pasadena is another lovely community. Much closer to downtown. Like Calabasas it's small, clean and affluent. Feels and looks more like an east coast hamlet than your typical Socal neighborhood. Lots of trees, older homes (one of the greatest collections of California Craftsmen bungalows in the state), proud residents who really care about their community and its preservation. You also have a more culturally aware and intellectual presence in So. Pasadena. Lots of college professors from USC and Caltech live there.

You would do well in either of these communities. They're just very different in look, feel, style, and geography.

[Rats]

Calabasas, San Marino and South Pasadena are all great areas. But why live in Calabasas and have a horrible commute, if you can live in La Canada or San Marino, which both have slightly better schools than Calabasas' Las Virgenes SD and are both within 30 minutes of downtown. With your salary, you can afford to live anywhere. I think San Marino would be the best choice for you, since the 110 fwy goes straight to downtown.

[lily finch]

If Claremont (52 freeway miles East of L.A./less than an hour's drive) isn't too far, look at their school scores ..(Dept. of Ed./Sacramento and made public for free...they will mail them out or ask the Claremont Unified School District). LOOK at claremont on this site. There are four colleges in Claremont and the professors and instructors children all go to Claremont schools. That's why it's an odd little cluster of high academia in a slightly upscale neighborhood. The children come from homes and backgrounds that regard education dearly. The freeway (210 to the 134) drops right into downtown L.A. or you can take it straight across to the 405. also...Claremont Unified School District maintains an OPEN ENROLLMENT policy so if you can't afford anything in Claremont, you can live in an adjacent community and enroll your children on an "Inter-District Transfer" (the conditions are that you get the kids to school on time and there are no serious behavior problems...grades don't matter, as they say "we can handle any academic shortcomings" and thats so true!). SO that opens up the possiblities of Upland, Rancho Cucamonga, Pomona, Ontario. If you need help, just write to me lilysinbox@aol.com. i always like to see kids in really good schools, not just what some realtor alleges is good. Get the facts.

[montevista1]

i say burbank, glendale or s. pasadena. all close all different than lausd. all you can take the train to work

[JerZ]

Originally Posted by lily finch

If Claremont (52 freeway miles East of L.A./less than an hour's drive) (snip)

This is incorrect. It takes my husband an absolute bare minimum of an hour and 15 minutes to get to work, and that's on a very, very, very good day. (Never on a Friday, BTW.) And we live two towns *closer* to LA than Claremont.

My husband was born and raised in Alta Loma, San Marino and Pasadena and knows every side street, traffic trick, where the cops are hiding (LOL!), speeds most of the way during the rare stretches where it isn't stopped traffic and it still takes him that hour and 15 at the very best. More typically it's an hour and a half and on Fridays, it's up to two hours.

Claremont is, however, a beautiful town, and a college town to boot, which makes it even better.

[DawnW]

Personally, I would watch Glendale Unified. The La Crescenta schools are part of Glendale, but are very good, but the south end of Glendale is not where I would send my kids.

Dawn

Originally Posted by montevista1

i say burbank, glendale or s. pasadena. all close all different than lausd. all you can take the train to work

[Sorcerer68]

Originally Posted by lucero32

South Pasadena has some of the best schools in the area. The city has a wide variety of housing options too. You'll find everything from million dollar homes, to modest apartments and townhomes. As other post on this site have discussed, it is a great family oriented neighborhood too. I can't recommend it enough.

Yup, with your criteria including ez commute and good schools, South Pas is a slam dunk. I was just there today. It sure is pretty.

[Atlantasfinest]

Go with South Pasadena! I lived there for 3 years and went to Junior High there before my family moved to Ladera Heights and it's a great community, excellent schools and wonderful housing and super close to downtown via surface streets or freeway(which is very important). It's really the perfect town for what your looking for.

[TedTrent]

Hi:

Almost everyone I know tells me that Downtown Los Angeles is the inbetween point from everywhere. If you want to live somewhere where it doesn't take along time to get anywhere. Come live Downtown is about 40,000 other people.