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Old 04-17-2019, 10:43 AM
 
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Can anyone recommend a walkable family neighborhood within a reasonable commuting distance to downtown? Santa Monica and Silver Lake are on the list. We're quite flexible on pricing. A nice view is a huge plus. Many thanks.
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Old 04-17-2019, 11:22 AM
 
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What's your budget? Renting or buying? Commuting from Santa Monica to downtown LA is miserable. May want to check out Culver City or Los Feliz too.
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Old 04-17-2019, 11:28 AM
 
Location: TOVCCA
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La Canada Flintridge has the best views, and has top schools. Pasadena and Glendale have some walkable areas.
No area of SoCal can be called truly walkable, as things are so spread out, it gets above 100 degrees regularly, and traffic makes walking or biking dangerous.
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Old 04-17-2019, 11:57 AM
 
Location: Avignon, France
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nightlysparrow View Post
La Canada Flintridge has the best views, and has top schools. Pasadena and Glendale have some walkable areas.
No area of SoCal can be called truly walkable, as things are so spread out, it gets above 100 degrees regularly, and traffic makes walking or biking dangerous.
Sorry, but I beg to differ. I live in Santa Monica and I’ve found it to be quite walkable. I can walk to the beach, market, restaurants, bank, post office, dry cleaners. It rarely gets to 100 degrees here. Usually in the low 60’s to high 70’s during the day. Gets warmer during the summer, but still not unbearably hot. Traffic can suck, but being so close to LA and the West Side makes it a heck of a lot better than commuting from places like Pasadena, and Glendale.
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Old 04-17-2019, 12:20 PM
 
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Actually, commuting from Santa Monica to downtown is not miserable, it’s pretty reasonable for LA as it is a reverse commute, usually around 25-30 minutes in the morning. Far more people going the other direction to work in Santa Monica. Evening commute is not bad either https://xtown.la/2018/10/14/las-most...ening-commute/. There’s also the Expo Line option. SM also has a more mild climate than Silverlake, a good school district, WalkScore of 83.

Agree that Culver City is also a good option. Good school district, Expo Line, WalkScore of 73.
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Old 04-17-2019, 12:22 PM
 
Location: So Ca
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Originally Posted by Sydney123 View Post
Sorry, but I beg to differ.
Agreed. There are plenty of walkable cities in greater L.A., and very few get up to 100 degrees, unless one is speaking of September here. Downtown Monrovia, Sierra Madre, Claremont, South Pas, Westwood, etc, etc.

Another thread on walkable/walkability/walk ability: http://www.city-data.com/forum/los-a...k-ability.html
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Old 04-17-2019, 01:25 PM
 
2 posts, read 2,666 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Social Democrat View Post
What's your budget? Renting or buying?
Buying is a strong preference. We're quite flexible on pricing.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Social Democrat View Post
Commuting from Santa Monica to downtown LA is miserable. May want to check out Culver City or Los Feliz too.
Thanks! Very helpful

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sydney123 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by nightlysparrow View Post
No area of SoCal can be called truly walkable, as things are so spread out, it gets above 100 degrees regularly, and traffic makes walking or biking dangerous.
Sorry, but I beg to differ. I live in Santa Monica and I’ve found it to be quite walkable. I can walk to the beach, market, restaurants, bank, post office, dry cleaners. It rarely gets to 100 degrees here. Usually in the low 60’s to high 70’s during the day. Gets warmer during the summer, but still not unbearably hot. Traffic can suck, but being so close to LA and the West Side makes it a heck of a lot better than commuting from places like Pasadena, and Glendale.

I'm afraid I must agree with Sydney123. We just spent the day in Santa Monica, and it was quite a pleasant, walk-friendly experience. I should also add we've kept a home in Palm Beach, FL for many years, and despite being significantly hotter than LA, we never found the temperature to be "dangerous."


Quote:
Originally Posted by Cloudwalker View Post
Actually, commuting from Santa Monica to downtown is not miserable, it’s pretty reasonable for LA as it is a reverse commute, usually around 25-30 minutes in the morning. Far more people going the other direction to work in Santa Monica. Evening commute is not bad either https://xtown.la/2018/10/14/las-most...ening-commute/. There’s also the Expo Line option. SM also has a more mild climate than Silverlake, a good school district, WalkScore of 83.

Agree that Culver City is also a good option. Good school district, Expo Line, WalkScore of 73.
Thank you, Cloudwalker! That is exceptionally helpful. We recently did the SM -> downtown drive at 2pm. It took roughly an hour. How often would we be hitting that kind of traffic, based on your experience? Also, any elaboration on your thoughts re: Culver City, etc. would be terrific! Thanks much


Quote:
Originally Posted by CA4Now View Post
Agreed. There are plenty of walkable cities in greater L.A., and very few get up to 100 degrees, unless one is speaking of September here. Downtown Monrovia, Sierra Madre, Claremont, South Pas, Westwood, etc, etc.

Another thread on walkable/walkability/walk ability: http://www.city-data.com/forum/los-a...k-ability.html

CA4Now, thanks for that... Did you catch my original question: Can anyone recommend a walkable family neighborhood within a reasonable commuting distance to downtown?

To elaborate, family-friendly is pretty significant. Yes, as a New Yorker/Brit couple, we have a fair understanding of the terminology.



Regarding our exact thought process, some (overgeneralized) examples from our lives would be:


(Greater) LONDON
+walkable & family-friendly: Hampstead

-walkable / not family-friendly: Leicester Square



(Greater) NEW YORK:
+walkable & family-friendly: Manhasset

-walkable / not family-friendly: Times Square


(Greater) DC:
+walkable & family-friendly: Georgetown

-walkable / not family-friendly: Dupont Circle

Last edited by urbaner; 04-17-2019 at 01:53 PM..
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Old 04-17-2019, 05:19 PM
 
Location: TOVCCA
8,452 posts, read 15,043,863 times
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I don't consider Santa Monica as "family friendly." It's a massive tourist draw, has a significant homeless problem, crime is up https://www.smdp.com/serious-crime-i...percent/172447 and parking is terrible (if OP wants to commute). Of course, by the beach it's not as hot as other LA areas. And I think the commute time to DTLA is way worse than the other areas I suggested.
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Old 04-17-2019, 06:48 PM
 
2,088 posts, read 1,973,589 times
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Agree with Los Feliz, Silverlake and Santa Monica. If walkable is important, you might have to scratch off a view. Most of the places with great views are in the hills, and as a result are not very walkable. The exception would be if you are on the upper floors of a tall condo building, or maybe within a few blocks of.the beach. Most of the places in the hills have steep, narrow streets and often limited sidewalks, not to mention exclusive residential zoning, so no shops or anything to walk to. Views are awesome, but that is one of the tradeoffs.
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Old 04-17-2019, 07:10 PM
 
Location: So Ca
26,731 posts, read 26,812,827 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by urbaner View Post
CA4Now, thanks for that... Did you catch my original question: Can anyone recommend a walkable family neighborhood within a reasonable commuting distance to downtown?
I did miss that; sorry. That certainly limits the cities.
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