Los Angeles suburbs.... (Glendale, Oxnard, Santa Clarita: 2009, apartment, condo)

[the city]

Okay, so I was talking to some of my teachers at school and determining what areas are suburban communities and suburbs of LA.

We rules that Agoura Hills and Calabasas are the outer suburban communities.

Hidden Hills and Oak Park are the rural-fringe.

The San Fernando Valley and San Gabriel Valley and Harbor District are the main suburbia parts of the city of Los Angeles (Santa Monica, Northridge, Sherman Oaks etc...)

We decided most inner city areas are urban. And we decided that Glendale and Burbank were inner suburban communities.

We also ruled that the only urban parts are downtown LA, Hollywood, Venice Beach, Mid-Wilshire, and Westwood. And for good urban living my teachers told me to live in a good part of downtown for cost reasons and b/c you can't live in westwood unless going to UCLA.

My teachers also said that Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Oxnard, Ventura, Santa Clarita, and Victorville are some of LA's ex-urban communities.


Am I correct on most of this??? I plan to go to CSUN in 2009 to major in urban planning. I am planning on interning for cities my third year, and be looking for a place to intern for a job my 4th year. I plan on getting an apartment in Agoura Hills at first, and then eventually a condo. This is all of course 5 years down the line, and that's just my goal right now. My plans may change.

[happ]

Your teachers have provided reliable information.

[hsw]

Would argue LA is the model modern urban region which doesn't conform to conventional (and archaic) definitions of a city w/a central business district surrounded by various bedroom suburbs

Suspect most high-income jobs in LA region are based in CenturyCity and BeverlyHills, not Downtown LA

So, are BH/BelAir/HolmbyHills/Brentwood urban or suburban?

Many who work in 1000 Oaks (at places like Amgen) live in neighboring suburbs and almost never visit DLA or BH for business purposes

Many live in Irvine area and work in the various tech cos. in Irvine corridor and also have little need to visit DLA or BH

Suspect most major urban regions in US today, e.g., SiliconValley/SF and even NYC/Greenwich, are more similar to LA's decentralized set-up if analyzed from standpoint of clusters of high-income jobs/industries...and where those workers tend to live...various nominal borders of city limits and state lines mean far less than economic concentrations of jobs and residences

[matt345]

I would pretty much agree with that, except for one thing. I wouldn't consider Santa Monica a suburb. Yes, it's technically its own city, but it's much more urban than a good portion of Los Angeles itself.

[antialphabet]

I would consider Santa Monica and most of West LA urban instead of suburban.

And you also left out the entire eastside, the Los Feliz-Silverlake-Echo Park area. That area is very urban. East LA too. Also South Pasadena, which is out of the central area.

[BRinSM]

why the need to define the urban landscape of LA?

anyways, your observations are mostly correct. as others mentioned, santa monica is not a suburb, more of an extension of the city. i also find it odd that you group oak park into the rural fringe, but put thousand oaks into the exurbs when they border each other and are the same place for all intents and purposes. rural fringe would be more like the far out desert communities.

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by the city

My teachers also said that Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Oxnard, Ventura, Santa Clarita, and Victorville are some of LA's ex-urban communities.

I'd be interested in knowing what criteria or definitions were used to establish LA's ex-urban communities. Santa Clarita, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks -- 30 - 40 miles from downtown LA -- might qualify, but Oxnard and Ventura, 65 - 75 miles, and Victorville, 85 miles seem a bit of a stretch to call ex-urbs of LA. By the time you get to Oxnard/Ventura, at least, you're reached an urbanized area of its own (according to census definitions) with commute patterns to and from in all directions. Just wondering....

[bhcompy]

its tough to call anything a suburb of anything here. its easier to just label something as suburban, urban, etc by type of dwelling and leave it at that because there is no job center

[the city]

Originally Posted by antialphabet

I would consider Santa Monica and most of West LA urban instead of suburban.

And you also left out the entire eastside, the Los Feliz-Silverlake-Echo Park area. That area is very urban. East LA too. Also South Pasadena, which is out of the central area.

oh yeah, i left out those urban communities in order to make my first post not so long.

the communities i listed are ex-urban because they are past the rural parts of the main urban area. lancaster and palmdale are also ex-urban communites. santa barbara is also ex-urban and san luis obispo is also ex-urban. basically after rural-urban fringe all you have is rural cities and suburbs of ex-urbs. so everything after hidden hills and oak park are ex-urbs and rural communities. in a sense, you can call oak park a suburb of thousand oaks and the same for westlake village. but, there are a suburb of an ex-urban community and not of LA (urban city). if there was such a thing, they would be ex-suburban. i also conside malibu to be an outer suburb of LA.

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by the city

the communities i listed are ex-urban because they are past the rural parts of the main urban area. lancaster and palmdale are also ex-urban communites. santa barbara is also ex-urban and san luis obispo is also ex-urban. basically after rural-urban fringe all you have is rural cities and suburbs of ex-urbs. so everything after hidden hills and oak park are ex-urbs and rural communities. in a sense, you can call oak park a suburb of thousand oaks and the same for westlake village. but, there are a suburb of an ex-urban community and not of LA (urban city). if there was such a thing, they would be ex-suburban. i also conside malibu to be an outer suburb of LA.

Not an expert, but it's difficult for me to understand how Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo are "burbs" of any kind of LA. Even the Oxnard/Ventura area is too far from LA to be solidly connected in the same way as, say, Santa Clarita or Simi. Those cities truly are bedroom communities for jobs in LA in a way that Oxnard/Ventura -- or Santa Barbara and SLO are not. Just my opinion, but am trying to better understand.