Is Los Angeles/Southern California a Good Place to Raise Children?

[Kolob64]

Hi Sunil's Dad,

We have lived in many locations and my kids are loving LA. They are teenagers and there is just so much to do here. We started in Santa Monica because it was close to my husband's work. His office moved and we are looking to move closer to his office.

We home school so we don't have to deal with the local public schools. Santa Monica supposedly has highly ranked schools, but what I see is very busy kids being pushed hard by their parents. There are plenty of gang kids from the Pico neighborhood and Santa Monica does not integrate well. On the grade school playground near us I would see the kids playing all divided up by race. OTOH when I was in Westchester the kids on the playground were more race blind and all just mixed together. From your posts that is what I think you may be looking for. Westchester has decent grade schools, but the High Schools busses kids in from Inglewood so you would want to look at private, charter or home schooling. Westchester is totally mixed race.

We are looking at Ladera Heights because it is closest and nicest by my husband's new office. It is 70% black and we are white, but I get no wierd vibe there at all so I don't care. My kids lived in Mexico for a year and would be less of a minority in Ladera than they were in Mexico. The got used to having kids be mean to them or not be allowed to play with them because they are white in Mexico, so they know the drill. (It was not most people, just a nasty minority) When I was looking at houses in Ladera the homeowners were sending their kids to private schools. There are tons of good ones to choose from and for the price difference they are affordable. You are still very much in the city and we enjoy that.

Many kids, like mine, bypass high school and head straight to community college. Santa Monica College is one of the best in the nation and is easy to access from anywhere on the west side. They are easy to work with for high shcool concurrent enrollment or for early graduates who want to move on. Kids who are ready can transfer at 18 as juniors and save 2 years of college tuition without leaving home early. My daughter will transfer, my son is a later developer and will enter college as a freshman rahter than transfer student.

Before I moved to CA the first time my oldest was a baby. I asked a friend with 8 kids what she thought of raisnign kids here in CA. She is a Mormon like me and said it is far easier to raise them in CA and I have seen that. Ironically for all the vice that is out in the open, the youth are more solid here than anywhere else I have lived. There are so many people of all kinds that it is not too hard to find good friends. My kids like the diversity and SMC has diversity of every kind, income, background, race, religion, you name it. As far as I can see Ladera is not terribly diverse, it is pretty solidly upper-middleclass. It is also very friendly and my home schooling friend who lives there and is white loves it.

With the many offensive media depictions of African Americans as ignorant gang bangers it would not hurt anyone to spend time in an upscale black neighborhood to lay the steriotypes to rest. Home schooling is also growing rapidly in the African-American community as an escape from low expectations fueled by stereotypes.

[Sonrise]

No.

[MexGirl]

I live in the LBC (Long Beach) ,I have a one year old and I'm looking to move to Austin ,so my son may have a better place to grow, don't get me wrong I love LA, for me and adult. If you can afford a home in the $W's and private school,then your K.I just want a community were I can walk him to school and play with the kids in the neighborhood,like riding his bike,and going to the park.Unfortunately thats not LA.
Just to address about Ladera, yes it's and upper black neighborhood. then you drive 5 blocks out any direction and it's what we call Ghetto, I had and investment property in the area they call the jungle. You can Imagen why it was called this.I had a terrible time with every tenant that went Thur that place.Drugs , prostitution, gang members ...you name it.
So my advise to you as a realtor....look in Redondo,Palo's Verde's,Westchester. and a good private school.
At the end of the day ....just be a parent ask your kids what they are up to? Meet the other parents.Be involved in their every day life. LA can blind you withs it's big city lights.

[WinnieC]

I think the South Bay is a good option for you. I would consider both Torrance,El Segondo, and Redondo Beach. El Segundo is a nice small community with an excellent school district. Torrance is also known for having a good school district and is very diverse city.

[uptown_urbanist]

Yet another vote for South Pasadena; there's homes available in your price range, and I think you'll like both the high quality public schools as well as the diversity. It's an ideal place to raise kids, in many ways: safe, good schools, beautiful, sense of community, nice parks, kids can walk places (and take buses and the light rail), and it overall has a small town feel yet is within close distance to both Pasadena and its offerings as well as downtown LA. It's on light rail, too, if public transportation is important to you.

When we found our (now former, alas) rental in South Pas I decided that we'd hit the jackpot when it came to finding such a great family-friendly place that was both within our budget and also so conveniently located. (San Gabriel Valley, sandwiched between Pasadena and LA)

And, as an added bonus, it's very green, with streets lined with beautiful and well-maintained bungalows.

There are some nice beach towns north of San Diego along PCH; (Encinitas, Carlsbad, etc.) - the homes within walking distance to the beach are really expensive and I don't know about anything about the schools, but maybe theyr'e places to investigate if you're looking for a more San Diego-oriented area. They have a nice beachy vibe and seem pretty family-friendly. Encinitas has a great downtown (and some beautiful beaches with good surfing) filled with local stores and cafes. It's also on a commuter rail line to San Diego.

[casualsurfer]

I haven't read through all the pages of postings, but I grew up in a neighborhood called Oak Park, right by Agoura Hills, and close to Thousand Oaks/Westlake Village. The school is smaller though I understand it's much bigger now than when I went to school (we had less than 500 people in OPHS at that time, and I knew just about everyone in school), but I love that area and if I could afford it I'd move back in a heart beat. Air quality is great, diversity is great, and food is also very good in the TO/Westlake/Agroura area.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by casualsurfer

I haven't read through all the pages of postings, but I grew up in a neighborhood called Oak Park, right by Agoura Hills, and close to Thousand Oaks/Westlake Village. The school is smaller though I understand it's much bigger now than when I went to school (we had less than 500 people in OPHS at that time, and I knew just about everyone in school), but I love that area and if I could afford it I'd move back in a heart beat. Air quality is great, diversity is great, and food is also very good in the TO/Westlake/Agroura area.

I'm very familiar with Oak Park too and the good news is, it and other outstanding communities of the Conejo Valley are getting more and more affordable.

Oak Park School District is (or has been) accepting out of district kids (I think) because the demographics has changed in the past 20 years or so and there are less school aged kids (as was the quoted poster). A new Ventura County library was built and it is shared by OPHS.

The biggest negative about the Conejo Valley is that if you aren't working in it than you are working somewhere else (duh), but that almost always means a nasty commute east into or through the San Fernando Valley or, not as bad, down to a job on the Oxnard Plain (like Mugu or Hueneme).