Any decent NW Pasadena area northwest of 210? (Irvine, Moreno Valley: for sale, elementary schools)

[SoCalGuyHere]

Very interesting picture, is it because of the proximity to the mountains/hills regarding these wildlife running around?

So Altadena is a little quieter mainly residential from what I am gathering since there are mostly dive bars while pasadena attracts all the outsiders mainly because of old town.

Ok so the 24 is in the hood but a relatively safe area to go at night if i'm working out? Ok if i do workout there it will most likely be at night after work so that works out, just don't wander off in a different direction? Like which way would you have to venture off to for it to get bad? Not that i plan on testing it but just good to know. Wait, there are million dollar homes in that vicinity even though it's the hood?

Would you say the best/richest part of Pasadena is South Pas, SouthWest Pas (left of old town where the million dollar homes are), and/or Linda Vista? Or are there other parts that is even better?

[SoCalGuyHere]

Originally Posted by dvduval

I recently moved to Pasadena, and the helpful tip I would like to give is the importance of coming here and looking around, even in the desirable areas. There are many, many small apartment buildings with signs out front advertising vacancies. You won't find them on sites like Craigslist or apartments.com. They don't have to advertise, and they are small. They are able to rent vacancies just by people like us driving by and seeing the sign. I think you can find some of the best value this way, and $1400 for a 1 bedroom in a good area is most certainly a possibility.

thanks for the tip, I do like the idea of being in Old Town mainly because of my age (early 30s) and being single so it will be easy to go out to grab food/drinks without having to worry about driving and parking. At the same time I'm not looking to just waste my money so I don't think i'll be going out too often, but just the thought of having that luxury of being close by if and when I do go out is a good feeling. The downside is every apartment i driven by in old town seems super expensive, all the ones right off the 110 looks nice and convenient except their asking price is north of $1600 it seems, but makes sense too i guess. Otherwise i am open to going anywhere decent in that area as long as I can get to the goldline via walking or driving, most important is if there is reasonable parking. I'll definitely be checking out the area and drive by.....

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by SoCalGuyHere

every apartment i driven by in old town seems super expensive, all the ones right off the 110 looks nice and convenient except their asking price is north of $1600 it seems, but makes sense too i guess. Otherwise i am open to going anywhere ..

Try the area north of California Blvd, south of Del Mar, west of Lake and east of Arroyo Pkwy...there are lots of apartment buildings and some of them should be in your price range. Anything near Old Town would be much higher.

[HyperionGap]

Originally Posted by SoCalGuyHere

Very interesting picture, is it because of the proximity to the mountains/hills regarding these wildlife running around?

Deer, Bobcats, bears, coyotes, parrots are feral and live in the mountains. The llamas, chickens, pigs, peacocks, etc are kept as pets/hobby farms.

Originally Posted by SoCalGuyHere

So Altadena is a little quieter mainly residential from what I am gathering since there are mostly dive bars while pasadena attracts all the outsiders mainly because of old town.

Yeah the 2 bars in town are quiet local dives.

Originally Posted by SoCalGuyHere

Ok so the 24 is in the hood but a relatively safe area to go at night if i'm working out? Ok if i do workout there it will most likely be at night after work so that works out, just don't wander off in a different direction? Like which way would you have to venture off to for it to get bad? Not that i plan on testing it but just good to know. Wait, there are million dollar homes in that vicinity even though it's the hood?

Any direction would honestly be bad for several blocks. The closest 1 M+ homes would be in the neighborhood I grew up which is about 1 mile northeast on the other side of the cemetery. But it's not like you go across a street and every home on the block is a mansion. One home could be 1200 sf and another 2400 and another 6000. The La Vina subdivision is 2 miles straight up Lincoln, but as I said it's a gated community so those people don't really care how close they are. You can go look on zillow if you're curious. http://www.zillow.com/homes/recently...54_rect/14_zm/

Originally Posted by SoCalGuyHere

Would you say the best/richest part of Pasadena is South Pas, SouthWest Pas (left of old town where the million dollar homes are), and/or Linda Vista? Or are there other parts that is even better?

South Pas is not part of Pasadena. It is a separate incorporated municipality.

I personally think the 2 most expensive/richest areas of Pasadena are the San Rafael area (south of the 134 and west of the Arroyo) and Oak Knoll area (south of ~ Cornell and east of Oak Knoll).

[mrsltd]

Originally Posted by SoCalGuyHere

Mrsltd, what's LCF and what do you mean by Main Drag of this area?

Hyperion, how did you like Altadena? How do you know so much about Pasadena? did you hangout there a lot? How was Altadena? I hear its good and bad depending on the area, like i was tempted to go workout at the Altadena 24 hr fitness once but people told me that surrounding area is pretty hood. I am still curious to workout there one day since people say that gym is nice, not so much interested in the hood though lol. They say if you go north of 24 it gets nice again after about 10-15 minutes the closer you get towards the mountains but there are some bad areas such as that one HS (forgot the name).

LCF = La Cañada Flintridge and "Main Drag" means that Linda Vista is the main street through the area (but it's pretty much all residences on large lots.)

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

Try the area north of California Blvd, south of Del Mar, west of Lake and east of Arroyo Pkwy...there are lots of apartment buildings and some of them should be in your price range. Anything near Old Town would be much higher.

I live within those boundaries and I agree, that is the best bet for affordability, proximity to nightlife and everyday amenities, transit adjacency, etc. - basically all of the reasons I ended up in Pasadena.

[sstevo2012]

The only bad thing about Altadena is that it'll take you 15-20 minutes on local streets to get on the 210 freeway.

[HyperionGap]

Originally Posted by sstevo2012

The only bad thing about Altadena is that it'll take you 15-20 minutes on local streets to get on the 210 freeway.

I definitely agree with you that for the majority of Altadena residences, freeway access is huge pain and is easily 15-20 minutes away. However! The western portion of Altadena (a.k.a. the sh**y area is actually quite convenient to the 210 as it basically cuts due north at this point. My house was only 5-6 minutes away from the 210 W onramps at Lincoln or Windsor which made for convenient access to La Canada/Montrose or the 134 going to Eagle Rock/ Glendale or the 710 S spur going down to the 110. Where it sucked nuts was if I had to go eastbound to Arcadia or Eastern Pasadena.

[buzzkillb]

We live in Altadena near the 24 hour fitness in the area where it goes from really bad to better. I think it gets nicer on the Western portion as you go from Woodbury to Altadena Drive. It's very block by block once you start going above Woodbury West of Lake or Fair Oaks. I still wouldn't go near Pasadena above the 210, West of Lake.

[mrsltd]

Originally Posted by buzzkillb

I still wouldn't go near Pasadena above the 210, West of Lake.

That's a pretty large slice of land to avoid altogether. This also includes the Linda Vista area on the other side of the bowl. My guess is you're talking about living in, not just passing through? If the second, that's a tad extreme.