Commute from West LA or Santa Monica to Duarte

[calipoppy]

Originally Posted by rajuncajun

I hear ya. I think it's the "hippness" of those areas. She likes walkable, trendy, vibrant, etc. Hopefully you start to see where I'm going. I'm trying to get her sold on Pasadena b/c of the relatively short commute, but she keeps stating that she wants to look at the other areas that I mentioned previously. She says that she doesn't mind driving an hour one way. Sometimes you gotta' choose your battles and this might be one that I'm not willing to fight as I work out of the house.

BTW, I have yet to hear one person say that any of those westside areas are a tolerable commute.

You won't get that because quite frankly its not really a tolerable commute. It wears on your nerves to do that type of a daily commuting grind. Its not just the distance but the rush hour traffic headaches. Santa Monica to Duarte will probably be about an 1 to 1 1/2 hour commute each way every day (on a good day). If its raining or there is an accident she would need to give herself about two hours to get to Duarte.

[drshang]

I think the point that needs to be made to her is that driving 1 hour in LA rush hour traffic is much worse than driving 1 hour in a regular city or non-traffic situation. It is not a "zone out" type of commute, where you can relax...it is not just annoying because of the time.

[oomph]

You are getting good information in this post. You can duplicate Santa Monica hip in Old Town Pasadena. What you are going to noticeably miss is the commute and the ocean. I am a lifelong Angelino and I would rather sit in a dentist chair than that commute. Further you have no idea how long the surface streets commute just around Santa Monica can take. It can take an easy hour to get from Santa Monica to UCLA (Westwood). And this will happen everyday.

[drunk on kool aid]

James Carville and Mary Matalin moving to LA?!

Not everyone has their soul destroyed by a long commute through traffic. I've known people who've commuted from Thousand Oaks and Santa Clarita to East L.A. for over a decade. They left early or late to miss the worst of traffic but they never dwelled on their commute. One of my friends commuted over 40 miles from the South Bay to UC Irvine for the entirety of his undergrad years. He was really laid back through all of it. The wife might be totally OK driving from Santa Monica to Duarte (City of Hope?) and find the trade-off of living on the westside well worth it.

From the description of her tastes, she'll hate Glendora, La Verne, Sierra Madre, etc. Downtown Monrovia is nice and charming but it's pretty small and definitely not Santa Monica or Los Feliz. Arcadia has a decent amount of activity but more of the giant mall variety. On the other hand, if she's a foodie with a fetish for Chinese food, the SGV is the place to be.

I think downtown Pasadena is the closest to Duarte that even comes close to what she wants. That could give a 30 minute commute. The Los Angeles neighborhood of Eagle Rock, which is just west of Pasadena, touches the 134 and is considered desirable by yuppies so that might be acceptable.

San Marino, Bradbury and La Canada/Flintridge are some of the most expensive cities in the LA metro and would never be described as hip, walkable, trendy or vibrant.

Can you just rent in Santa Monica and move later if she finds the commute unbearable? Put NPR or Pacifica on the radio and it won't be wasted time.