From Dallas to Los Angeles. What's the best area to live in LA? (Thousand Oaks: cul-de-sac, apartments)

[skyway31]

Originally Posted by munchitup

Probably because she has to drive to the Westside for work most of the time. Right now from Manhattan Beach to West Hollywood is a 57 minute commute just to go 21 miles: Manhattan Beach, CA to West Hollywood, CA - Google Maps
The advice is being ignored because it is bad advice.

OP says she is self-employed with occasional meetings in West L.A. and WeHo. She says she is used to commuting. She is considering places like Thousand Oaks, Calabasas and Los Feliz. Do I need to link up the commute times for those places to West L.A. and WeHo? It's a 50 minute commute to WeHo right now per Google due to it being rush hour at its worst. It's currently 31 minutes to West L.A. If her meetings were ever held not around peak traffic times, the commute would be less. It's never taken me that long to go from MB to WeHo. Then again you're the guy who tried to tell us it was an hour and a half from MB to Hollywood not during rush hour. You'd be best served not confusing projected public transit route times with private driving route times.

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by skyway31

OP says she is self-employed with occasional meetings in West L.A. and WeHo. She says she is used to commuting. She is considering places like Thousand Oaks, Calabasas and Los Feliz. Do I need to link up the commute times for those places to West L.A. and WeHo? It's a 50 minute commute to WeHo right now per Google due to it being rush hour at its worst. It's currently 31 minutes to West L.A. If her meetings were ever held not around peak traffic times, the commute would be less. It's never taken me that long to go from MB to WeHo. Then again you're the guy who tried to tell us it was an hour and a half from MB to Hollywood not during rush hour. You'd be best served not confusing projected public transit route times with private driving route times.

And Thousand Oaks and Calabasas would be bad choices as well (even worse actually). With gas over 5.00 a gallon I'm not sure why you would want to live so far away from where you work when there are perfectly good options that are closer.

[BarcelonaFan]

The key to enjoying LA is to live close to work. Commuting sucks.

[skyway31]

Originally Posted by BarcelonaFan

The key to enjoying LA is to live close to work. Commuting sucks.

I agree that commuting sucks. That's a part of L.A., though. People find the neighborhood that suits their interests, which is rarely where they work. The interests and profile created by the OP clearly points her to Manhattan Beach. What does she do if that is clearly the most appealing place to live but there is a bit of a longer commute? She may like Santa Monica. But then again she may decide that if she lives in a town with a beach she'd like to be able to make a short walk to the beach, rather than have a weird, long walk over a bridge and down a cliff crossing the Pacific Coast Highway. Point is, she should see for herself. For her to completely disregard Manhattan Beach sight unseen would be laughable. Certainly not unprecedented, but laughable.

[abcnbccbs]

Originally Posted by skyway31

There can't possibly be a better place in the entire country for someone fitting this profile than what I've suggested. Money magazine agrees with me. Yet I have a feeling the suggestion will be completely disregarded nonetheless.

Manhattan Beach seems nice and everything except it's near Compton and Inglewood on the map. I don't want to take any chances at ALL. It's best for me to stay away from that area for peace of mind. I'm a scaredy cat, sorry. LOL!

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by skyway31

I agree that commuting sucks. That's a part of L.A., though. People find the neighborhood that suits their interests, which is rarely where they work. The interests and profile created by the OP clearly points her to Manhattan Beach. What does she do if that is clearly the most appealing place to live but there is a bit of a longer commute? She may like Santa Monica. But then again she may decide that if she lives in a town with a beach she'd like to be able to make a short walk to the beach, rather than have a weird, long walk over a bridge and down a cliff crossing the Pacific Coast Highway. Point is, she should see for herself. For her to completely disregard Manhattan Beach sight unseen would be laughable. Certainly not unprecedented, but laughable.

Another thing to keep in mind is this person is coming from Dallas and mentioned affordable in the OP - I wouldn't call the Beach Cities affordable, especially by North Texas standards. In fact it is prohibitively expensive - when a couple of my friends lived in Manhattan Beach off of PCH a couple of them had to take part-time jobs to supplement their income working for a major studio in West LA (yes they did that terrible commute and had to flex their schedules to make it work). Even this place was over a half mile from the beach, which is walking distance but not less convenient to the beach than using the stairways to walk to the beach. I have a hard time believing the OP is going to be able to afford the rents of the places right along the water, but maybe she could who knows.

Long commute, expensive gas in the region, very high rents are what make the Beach Cities seem like a bad choice compared to more inexpensive and proximate locations like Sherman Oaks or even Santa Monica (also very expensive).

[abcnbccbs]

Originally Posted by TrueDat

As an LA native who now lives in Dallas, you guys have given some good advice. But one thing that hasn't been mentioned is weather. I'm guessing after Dallas and its convection-oven summers, the OP probably wants to feel some of that sweet California relief. She's less likely to get that in Studio City and the San Fernando Valley in general than on the Westsode (Santa Monica, West LA, Miracle Mile) as the ocean breezes are blocked from getting into the Valley by mountains.

The microclimates of Southern California are not something a lot of Dallasites would be familiar with as, when it's hot in North Texas, it's hot everywhere. There are no mountains or big bodies of water to provide any kind of variety within the Metroplex like you get in LA. The difference between, say, Woodland Hills and Manhattan Beach on the same day can be dramatic. The difference between Plano and Duncanville here in North Texas, not so much.

So, if that's important to you, OP, stick with the Westside. In terms of weather, the Valley will feel closer to Dallas than the Westside will.

Yes, the weather here in Dallas is one reason for the move. I've read that the Valley area does get pretty hot and that's not what I'm needing. I'm looking forward to 70's and 80's during the summer not the normal Hell degrees of 108 in Dallas. You can't even function in weather that's 90 degrees or higher.

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by abcnbccbs

Manhattan Beach seems nice and everything except it's near Compton and Inglewood on the map. I don't want to take any chances at ALL. It's best for me to stay away from that area for peace of mind. I'm a scaredy cat, sorry. LOL!

No offense but if that is too proximate to ghettos for you good luck finding anywhere in Southern California to live. You are watching way too much TV if being within 5 miles of a (semi) ghetto area scares you off. Actually Compton and Inglewood are not that bad... Now I'm starting to think you should just suck up the commute and live in Calabasas (as that is one of the few places in SoCal isolated enough to be far, far from any "bad" areas. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if Dallas has a worse crime rate than Los Angeles at this point - this isn't a dangerous city, especially for young, educated and (presumably) white females. If you were a poor Central American or a young black male in Florence-Firestone than maybe I would be more worried. You have nothing to worry about.

The Beach Cities are probably some of the most desirable and safe communities in the nation. As I mentioned I don't think they are a good fit for you, but not moving there for crime reasons... that is truly laughable.

[skyway31]

Originally Posted by abcnbccbs

Manhattan Beach seems nice and everything except it's near Compton and Inglewood on the map. I don't want to take any chances at ALL. It's best for me to stay away from that area for peace of mind. I'm a scaredy cat, sorry. LOL!

I figured it was something silly like this. That's why you have to visit. Manhattan Beach is arguably the wealthiest community in L.A. and home to many celebrities. You're going to be MUCH more impacted by crime and seedy areas in Hollywood or the Valley than you would be in Manhattan Beach. In those areas, things can be more block to block. Not so in MB. MB is impacted in no way by Compton.

In fact, I'd wager that the guys saying the commute to WeHO is too long etc would even concede that the Compton thing is a joke. Trust that if you ever visit MB, you will realize how silly you're comment is. You may indeed find that the commute is too long or another area is more to your taste. But you will also easily see that the Compton thing is a hilarious joke that will leave you red-faced upon recalling it.

[skyway31]

Originally Posted by munchitup

Another thing to keep in mind is this person is coming from Dallas and mentioned affordable in the OP - I wouldn't call the Beach Cities affordable, especially by North Texas standards. In fact it is prohibitively expensive - when a couple of my friends lived in Manhattan Beach off of PCH a couple of them had to take part-time jobs to supplement their income working for a major studio in West LA (yes they did that terrible commute and had to flex their schedules to make it work). Even this place was over a half mile from the beach, which is walking distance but not less convenient to the beach than using the stairways to walk to the beach. I have a hard time believing the OP is going to be able to afford the rents of the places right along the water, but maybe she could who knows.

Long commute, expensive gas in the region, very high rents are what make the Beach Cities seem like a bad choice compared to more inexpensive and proximate locations like Sherman Oaks or even Santa Monica (also very expensive).

OP is considering nothing but places that are expensive. And she's so set on moving to a nice neighborhood that looking on the map and seeing Compton is 5 miles away is too risky. LMAO. So, she's not looking for somewhere cheap. WeHo is not one iota cheaper than MB...