Top 10 Best Places to Live in LA (Los Angeles, Long Beach: home, neighborhood)

[Cattknap]

That is true - Los Angeles is the largest - if you think that Bixby Knolls and Belmont Shore are the only nice neighborhoods in Long Beach, you need to pay us a visit and really see what you have been missing - as stated our temps are generally much lower in the summer and our air is better than many of the "best places" listed in this thread. We also have a wonderful little historic airport and Jet Blue - one of the best run airlines that flies all over the U.S.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Cattknap

That is true - Los Angeles is the largest - if you think that Bixby Knolls and Belmont Shore are the only nice neighborhoods in Long Beach, you need to pay us a visit and really see what you have been missing - as stated our temps are generally much lower in the summer and our air is better than many of the "best places" listed in this thread. We also have a wonderful little historic airport and Jet Blue - one of the best run airlines that flies all over the U.S.

As I had stated, I am impressed with how Long Beach fixed up its downtown.

Still, because of LBC's size, it would be more fitting to list individual neighborhoods on "best places" lists. It would be appropriate to list Belmont Shore or Bixby Knolls on a "best places in LA county" list. LBC is so much bigger than any other place on the list that it could give people the wrong idea and think that North LB is a good place to live ):

[fairweathergolfer]

I agree with your assesment of Long Beach and what it has to offer. There are some very nice areas, charming, old money homes and some very cool neighborhoods and communities. I would also add to your list there are some very, very good golf courses in Long Beach as well--critical to the suvival of the California species .

Originally Posted by Cattknap

Majoun - please don't bad mouth Long Beach - it is clear you haven't spent much time here. There are many nice areas of Long Beach: Bixby Knolls, Virginia Country Club, College Park Estates, Naples (yes there are canals and gondolas and gondola rides), Belmont Shore, Belmont Heights, El Dorado Estates, Los Altos, numerous historic areas - Long Beach has many charming Craftsman neighborhoods - Ocean Blvd. that runs right along the ocean is home to gorgeous early 20th century mansions - most of these places have multi-million dollar homes. Long Beach is the largest city in the County of Los Angeles - do you realize how large a county that is? The city is huge and diverse...sure there are bad areas just like there are bad areas in every large city, but there are more nice areas in Long Beach that bad areas. Long Beach property values have done a good job of holding their own - house prices are still continuing to rise slowly here when most other housing markets in Los Angeles County are languishing - the reason for that is that Long Beach is very nice, very diverse, very charming and a lot of value for your buying dollar - and we have miles and miles of beach, bike trails, gorgeous parks, wonderful shopping, lots of art galleries, an arts district, a fabulous aquarium, numerous historic sites and museums (Rancho Los Alamitos and Rancho Los Cerritos) and our convenient freeways connect up with just about any place you would want to go in So. California.

[fairweathergolfer]

Thanks so much for putting together this list in your initial post. I agree too with the statement of yours that I set in bold below. I agree is important to make a list of all the items you included PLUS include within that set a requirement for good public schools. So people know there are still places they can move and not have to take out a second, third, and forth mortgage to put their child(ren) through to high school graduation.

[quote=TheRealAngelion;1361373]I love Hancock Park and Windsor Square. But even though I personally would choose to live there over Palos Verdes or Calabasas, for example, there are no good public high schools that serve that community. Ditto for places like Bel Air and Westwood. So I think it's important to point out communities in which people can live in LA that still have good public schools from K-12.[/QUOTE]

[hgclyde]

Outside the city, Hacendia Heights, Rowland Heights, Cerritos; Whittier, Palos Verdes Peninsula cities, Lakewood; Arcadia, South Pasadena, Chapman Woods;Pasadena ;Monterrey Park, Alhambra, Claremont, San Dimas, Diamond Bar and Walnut.
Santa Clarita Valley is great too. (I know its over 20 oh well)

[LALady]

Originally Posted by straight outta camden

What about traffic and parking? Figure that in and Beverly Hills goes from #1 to at, or near, bottom.

Brentwood ain't much better.

[VillageLife]

Some other ones; Hacienca Heights,Rowland Heights,Walnut,San Dimas

[prim2007]

Originally Posted by TheRealAngelion

In your opinion, what are the top 10 best communities overall in which to live in LA County, including neighborhoods within the city of LA, smaller cities, and unincorporated areas of LA County.

The criteria I used for my list included the following: Family oriented, good public/private schools (the area had to have at least one high school with a rating of 8 or better on the “Great Schools” Web site), good recreation areas, sense of community, shopping conveniences and amenities, cleanliness, safety, quality of housing stock, etc.

In Alpha Order:

1. Beverly Hills
2. Brentwood
3. Calabasas
4. Manhattan Beach
5. La Canada/Flintridge
6. Pacific Palisades
7. Palos Verdes Estates/Rolling Hills Estates
8. San Marino
9. Santa Monica
10. South Pasadena

The Rest: I tried to do a top 25 but had a hard time excluding someone so I came up with 16 additional communities for a total of 26:

Agoura Hills
Arcadia
Burbank
Cerritos
Claremont
El Segundo
Glendale
Granda Hills/Porter Ranch
Long Beach
Malibu
Redondo Beach
Santa Clarita
Torrance
Woodland Hills
Whittier
Westlake Village

You think some of these places beat out Pasadena? That's not what the market bears when it comes to home sells etc.

[TheRealAngelion]

It’s nice to see people sticking up for Long Beach. I think it gets a bad rap, unfairly. Mostly because of the media and rap music. The truth is Long Beach is not even in the top half of the 322 cities ranked as the most dangerous in the nation. One of the reasons I included Long Beach on my list is because unlike many of the other cities, it’s still a place were a moderate income family can live and have excellent public schools to send their kids to from K-12. It has 16 public schools including 1 high school with a “Great Schools” rating of 8 or better. A second high school has a rating of 7, which isn’t bad. I also agree that LB has a lot of great neighborhoods that some people just don’t seem to know about and the city offers a lot of shopping, recreation and entertainment amenities.

[fairweathergolfer]

I live in Brentwood and am parking around this place 24/7 and I must say it may not look as though we have lots of parking, much of which is free and easily accessible, but we do. We have tons of free parking lots and spaces. Yet we also have tons of people working, playing, running errands this adds up to making parking a bit chaotic and not seamless at times. In some situations though it can cost money (alot!) and in others it may take some time to realize you can park in certain areas for little to no money that one would not expect would be little or no money. The side streets actually do have a lot of available parking as well. One may just need to walk a block or two, but they are nice walks and can easily be made in high, high heels .

I rarely park on San Vicente as THAT is busy and difficult, but there are so many other options. Dutton's has a huge parking lot, Long's Drug. Behind the restaurants--most all free parking (some need validation or just a buck or two, others completely free), grocery stores all free. This is why they have the attendants/security to keep non shoppers from taking the spaces. Also people who live close by choose much of the time to walk as everything is close and the walk is fun, interesting, lovely and quick.

So overall I have to say, parking to a newcomer or someone who does not frequent the area when it is busy may seem overwhelming and frustrating, but take a left or right turn down a street and you will find something that you do not have to pay for relatively quick. You never have to pay for parking here unless you choose. If one expects to have free parking garages 24/7 two inches from where they are going they are going to have problems and over time they will spend enough to buy a home here if this is how they choose to park (two inches from where they are going at all times).

This is LA and Brentwood has many great businesses and things to offer in a very small amount of space with loads of people from all over the region enjoying the services or working etc. Of course parking will be a challenge at times. Yet is it so much more parking friendly and PARKABLE then Beverly Hills (where one can not find hardly any parking most of the time and there is not a lot available even when one has their wallet out and wants to park reasonably close). The side streets can be just as restrictive and inaccessible. BH is also much larger then Brentwood and although parts of it are walkable, it is so large you can not park and then just walk around the entire community for a day and enjoy all that it has to offer as you can in Brentwood. Beverly Hills especially does not have much free, long term parking. There is quite a bit free, long term parking in Brentwood. In fact there is no comparison to horrid areas like Beverly Hills.

Brentwood parking summary: Loads of parking available. On occasion it takes some ingenuity and walking a block or two to take advantage of the no pay parking. Certain areas (i.e. Barrington and San Vicente) have rare parking and few spaces overall (although most are free). Expect to not park on San Vicente (they are pay anyway and not for long--who wants a parking ticket?!) and utilize alternative parking in which there are many options. This area is very walkable and yes, you will be parking further away then you would probably want during peak hours unless you are going to the cleaners, Hamburger Hamlet, Cheesecake Factory. Down the block from this more challenging dense area is grocery shopping, Long's Drugs, large mall multiple business structures, several restaurants, Dutton's etc all of which have huge or smaller parking lots and either free of validated parking that is low cost.

Come out early. Park and enjoy the commmunity on foot. This is part of the appeal and why people love it here. It is extremely walkable everything close by and within walking distance. Plan your errands and once you park enjoy getting tasks done, get some excellent food, do your shopping and enjoy the opportunity to have a great walk and interesting entertainment while doing these things. It is the combination of the walking and sites and overall beautiful landscaping that makes everyday in Brentwood feel a bit like one is always on vacation.

Originally Posted by LALady

Brentwood ain't much better.