Lancaster Information (Los Angeles, Anaheim, Santa Clarita: section 8, 2010, apartment)

[LauraB]

I am looking at Lancaster and noticed that it's much more reasonable then say Anaheim, Los Angeles, West Hollywood.
My specific questions are:
Anyone that lives or has lived in the Lancaster/Palmdale area, can you give me more information on what traffic is like?
Would you consider it a safe area?
Is there any specific areas that are safer than others?
Where do you work, is it a reasonable commute to say Santa Clarita, Pasadena or Los Angeles?
I'm sure there is a reason it's more affordable than Chino Hills or Woodland Hills which concerns me.
I have a family and I am a single mother, so I do very much care about safety. Good schools etc. I being a single mother do not qualify for the much more expensive places, I don't make minimum wage but I noticed that the average pay range for what I do is much less than where I am at now, I noticed it's about 10 an hour which is why Lancaster looks so promising.
I see it's in Los Angeles county, so I hope that's a good thing.

[drowningintherain]

I've been on this forum for almost a year and I have yet to read anything favourable about the area. There are several threads on here concerning Lancaster and Palmdale, try using the "search" key. From what I have read it's doesn't fit any of the criteria important to you, ie: good schools, low crime. I drove through there in the summer and it was hot and ugly. You will really struggle on $10 an hour anywhere in L.A. I was all set to move there with my wife and kids later this year after she graduated nursing school, but after much research it became apparent that we would struggle in L.A on 75K. Now I'm in a nursing program and we've put the move off until the summer of 2010. If you are making more at your currrent location I would reconsider this move, big time.

[LauraB]

well you were right on nail there on information, so thank you.

[General Patton]

I have lived in Lancaster for 21 yrs now and can hardly wait to leave. Traffic is like any other large city, terrible. Crime is horrible to the point that I sleep with a loaded gun under my pillow. The illegals are slowly taking over and their gangs have moved into the area yrs ago and are growing. I still have 2 daughters in high school (AV High) and a son in Jr High (Piute). Both have gang problems of which AV High is by far the worse. AV High has full time deputies at the school (who are armed of course) along with many security guards. Property is loosing value at the monemt and will probably keep dropping. It has been overpriced for several yrs now. At it's peak, a 3/2 might sell for $350,000 while jobs pay an average of $8 to $12 per hour. The low pay is the reason mamy people commute to SFV.

[OctoberMoon]

I lived in Palmdale for a year and my mother lived in Lancaster for 2 years. I moved in 2006 and she moved in 2007.

I will answer each of your questions:

Traffic IN Lancaster and Palmdale is not bad. It's nothing like L.A. The commute to and from Lancaster to L.A, though, is terrible. You would be taking the 5 and 14 and at certain times of the day it's bumper to bumper.

No, I wouldn't consider Palmdale/Lancaster safe. It's not as horrific as some people make it out to be on these forums, but it's not a great area either. A lot of lower income people with kids in gangs who were priced out of L.A. city have moved to the area.

I would consider the west side of the city safer than the east side.

There are hardly any good jobs in the area. The commute to Santa Clarita would be about 30 miles, and the commute to Los Angeles city about 75 miles one way from Lancaster. I used to go to Pasadena once a week when I lived in Palmdale, which is closer than Lancaster, and it took me at least an hour to get there. NOT a fun commute. Also, if you come back during traffic hours it could take upwards of 2 hours.

Of course there is a reason it's more affordable than Woodland Hill or places like that. It's secluded in the furthest corner of Los Angeles county in the mohave desert! It's gets over 100 degrees daily in the summer (sometimes as much as 115) and it will sometimes snow in the winter. There is only one crappy mall out there and a few big box stores. The commute to L.A. is long and boring. Woodland Hills is 15 minutes from downtown or the beach without traffic and is a much safer, better area. Palmdale and Lancaster is at least an hour to an hour and half to downtown or the beach without traffic and is not too great of an area.

Just because Lancaster is in L.A. county does not mean it's ANYTHING like L.A. city. The way it looks, the weather, and the overall appeal is nothing like L.A.

[N-Dawggy]

I was born and raised in Los Angeles and know the city pretty well. LA is a very intresting place becasue you can have a million dollar home in one block and then have a section 8 apartment down the road. Woodland Hills is nice but a few blocks down you have horrible cities like Canoga Park, Reseda to name a few. Have you guys driven by the Reseda Section 8 housing? Horrible place. I don't know much about Lancaster, but I do have friends in Palmdale and they like it. It's no Los Feliz/Santa Monica/ Calabasa etc. but then again it is affordable. The thing with LA is you'll run into gang members any place at anytime, but if you are a decent citizen that doesn't start trouble then you'll be fine. Of course there's always those instances where you are a target for no apparent reason, but that's just tough luck. I know gang memeber that frequent nice resteraunts in west hollywood, melrose etc. The night clubs get full of thugs that like to start trouble.

[junkman18]

Originally Posted by LauraB

I am looking at Lancaster and noticed that it's much more reasonable then say Anaheim, Los Angeles, West Hollywood.
My specific questions are:
Anyone that lives or has lived in the Lancaster/Palmdale area, can you give me more information on what traffic is like?
Would you consider it a safe area?
Is there any specific areas that are safer than others?
Where do you work, is it a reasonable commute to say Santa Clarita, Pasadena or Los Angeles?
I'm sure there is a reason it's more affordable than Chino Hills or Woodland Hills which concerns me.
I have a family and I am a single mother, so I do very much care about safety. Good schools etc. I being a single mother do not qualify for the much more expensive places, I don't make minimum wage but I noticed that the average pay range for what I do is much less than where I am at now, I noticed it's about 10 an hour which is why Lancaster looks so promising.
I see it's in Los Angeles county, so I hope that's a good thing.

Their is lots of information already here, Put Palmdale/Lancaster in search lots of stuff..