Working in Santa Barbara, Thousand Oaks and Burbank area, is feasible living in Santa Monica? (Bakersfield: to rent, price)

[cammino]

Working in Santa Barbara, Thousand Oaks and Burbank area, is feasible living in Santa Monica? Hi,
we are moving to California.
We'll be working in Santa Barbara, Thousand Oaks and Burbank area.
We are not very practical of the area but we know that traffic is a real issue.
We are considering living in Santa Monica.
Do you think is feasible under a commute point of you?

We have a little baby. Is Santa Monica safe?

We are looking for an area where the main things (like food, grocery etc...) are at walking distance.
What about Santa Monica?

What do you think is an average price for a three bedrooms to rent near downtown?

Hope to hear from you.
We will appreciate any suggestion.

[EscapeCalifornia]

How often will you need to drive to Santa Barbara, Thousand Oaks, and Burbank? You know those areas are quite far from each other and not exactly near Santa Monica, right?

[Winston Smith]

San Mo to TO might not be too bad if you use the canyons, but getting to Santa Barbara -- 90 miles -- would be a rough one. Commuter traffic on the portion between Ventura and Santa Barbara is an absolute meat grinder during a.m. northbound and p.m. southbound. On that part of the commute you MUST count on the fact that three to four times a year a semi will wreck or some other catastrophe will tie up traffic to the point that the 30 miles between Ventura and SB could take 3 hours. The Santa Monica - Ventura stretch will take around 60-70 mins most of the time. Well, except for those times that a winter mudslide or a summer brushfire closes PCH. Can't advise you on Santa Monica - Burbank except to say it's cross town, so expecting a lot of traffic is probably a safe bet. Good luck!

ETA: Based on your destinations, IMO, you'd be better off living somewhere along highway 101 than Santa Monica. If you chose Ventura, for example, you'd also open yourself to alternative commuting options, train and express buses, to all three of your work sites.

[Dwimmerlaik]

For my job I travel all of the Southern california from Bakersfield to the north, ventura to the west, cerritos to the south and palm springs to the east, so I'm pretty familiar with the commutes all over.

Honestly, if you were splitting your time evenly between those 3 locations, the best spot would be Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, even Moorpark. Price wise, they are probably on par with Santa Monica or perhaps a bit cheaper depending on what you want. Moorpark would be cheaper still.

Thousand oaks is kinda mid point between SB and BBank. Not necessarily in terms of distance, but in terms of what you can expect in travel time. To get to SB you would just head up the 101 freeway for 45 minutes to an hour. To get to burbank, your best bet would be to forgo the 101 and instead take the 23 north to the 118 through Simi Valley all the way to the 5. From there Bbank is about 10 or 15 minutes. All together, getting from Bbank to TO would be about an hour, hour and 15 on average. Taking the 101 to 134 would be more direct, but thats just a brutal meat grinder any time even glancing at rush hour. I used to work in TO and commute from Valencia, and I have a friend who communted to TO from Burbank, so I'm confident in those times.

TO is also a very safe city and a great place to raise a family. You are only about 15-20 minutes over the mountains from the beach. The downside, there isnt as much culturally going on in TO, and having a vehicle is a must as it is not walking or public trans friendly.

I can see why you would want to live in Santa Monica, as it is right by the beach and definitely has a more bohemian type of attitude, and some nice walking districts. But overall I think TO is a nicer area and a safer area. Not that Santa Monica is a bad place, far from it. But TO is known for its saftey as it routinely ranks in the safest cities in the US.

Plus, getting most places from Santa Monica that you would be going would be a pain in the ass at even the best of times. To get to TO from Santa Monica the best bet would be to avoid the 405 to the 101 at all costs, as going through the Sepulveda pass to the 101-405 interchange take forever. The better way would be PCH to Topanga canyon or perhaps even Kanan. You would still be looking at close to an hour though, and PCH can get mightly backed up as somone else said. Then from there you are looking at that second 45min to an hour journey to SB. Going to Burbank is the other direction, and the best option there would probably be taking the 10 freeway east to the the 5 north, a better option than 405n-101e-134e. But that can be a mixed bag. No traffic its 20 minutes, but it can take an hour to 1.5 depending on time of day.

If these numbers dont seem great to you, and you would be going to one of these places everyday, I would reconsider SM. But if you really like the area and dont mind a commute, or dont have to go to these places every day, SM could be a great place to live for you.

Hope it helps.

[Charles]

This is a duplicate thread from another forum on which I suggested Camarillo: Metrolink to Burbank, drivable to both Thousand Oaks and Santa Barbara.

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by Charles

This is a duplicate thread from another forum on which I suggested Camarillo: Metrolink to Burbank, drivable to both Thousand Oaks and Santa Barbara.

Seems the OP posted the question within another thread then ultimately posted the question to a new thread (this).

Camarillo is on 101 and thus convenient to Metrolink options to Burbank and express bus options to Thousand Oaks, but it cuts out express bus commuting options to Santa Barbara without first driving to Oxnard or Ventura. Not bad, but not as convenient as living north of Camarillo. Oxnard/Ventura serves all points mentioned with trains or buses. Then again, I keep hearing talk about a Camarillo - Goleta commuter train coming...eh-hem...soon.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by cre8

Seems the OP posted the question within another thread then ultimately posted the question to a new thread (this).

Camarillo is on 101 and thus convenient to Metrolink options to Burbank and express bus options to Thousand Oaks, but it cuts out express bus commuting options to Santa Barbara without first driving to Oxnard or Ventura. Not bad, but not as convenient as living north of Camarillo. Oxnard/Ventura serves all points mentioned with trains or buses. Then again, I keep hearing talk about a Camarillo - Goleta commuter train coming...eh-hem...soon.

Yes, I thought of Oxnard as the Metrolink originates there (heading east) and it is closer to Santa Barbara. Whatever less driving to SB is more driving to TO. And Oxnard would be a longer train ride. I didn't know about the express bus from Oxnard to SB, so sure, Oxnard would be a good candidate too.

[cammino]

In each town, in one month, i'm going always there.
20 % to santa monica
60 % to TO
20 % to burbank

What about goign trough malibu?

Thanks

[Charles]

Originally Posted by cammino

In each town, in one month, i'm going always there.
20 % to santa monica
60 % to TO
20 % to burbank

What about goign trough malibu?

Thanks

What happened to Santa Barbara?

[xyzxyz]

I would try and find something out by Thousand Oaks. Why would you want to live in Santa Monica when Santa Barbara, Thousand Oaks and even Burbank are so far away?