What's wrong with Agoura Hills? (Los Angeles, Simi Valley: lease, condos, how much)

[GeoW62]

Reading the "Topanga" thread piqued my interest in this area, so I did some research and have concluded that Calabasas or Agoura/Agoura Hills look really intriguing to me. Prices are high, but not way out of our range, and there are actually a lot of excellent looking large condos (2100 sq. ft for $659k?) there. Great schools, relatively close to Burbank (except for 101 issues), highly educated population. Any thoughts? For one thing, is there any "there" there (or in Calabasas)? My wife and I are always amazed at the lack of a town in these towns...

[fastfilm]

If you lived in Calabassas and had errands in North Hills, you could use the 118 (vestigially good running freeway) to the 5 to the 170 to the 134, off at Pass Ave. for the studios, to commute to Bubank and have a pleasant, pretty zippy ride for L.A. Agoura you're stuck with the 101. You shouldn't be amazed at our urban sprawl and lack of "towns," it's how things developed when we had rail transit.

[enlightenme]

There is nothing wrong with either of those areas; they are actually highly desirable areas to live for the rich and famous. They were considered more rural at one time and living out in the "country" from Los Angeles; however, a lot of that has changed with growth. Their little downtown still tries to keep the quaint feel of an old cowboy town, but in a fake, trendy way. I have to say using the word "downtown" is a bit of stretch too. For example, the big area in Calabasas is called The Commons and it is really just a well-built, high scale looking strip mall. I worked in that area for years, but never actually lived there. It is safe and not a bad area, but I never felt like I was driving the right car, had the right haircut or the latest fashions when I would enter those areas. I think you wanted an artist community and eclectic from your previous posts and I really don't see that there. It is close drive to many cool places, which is another reason so many celebs end up living there. You aren't part of the LA scene, but close enough to get to it.

[brian_2]

You know Calabasas "enlightenment" - I can relate. I was there before they built the Commons, and after it went up. The go-go dot.com days West Valley crowd gravitated towards life there - restaurant beepers given to patrons to alert them when their tables were ready, 30-somethings snarfing drinks and shrimp cocktails at the snazzy family-friendly bar, bored children with their affluent parents getting 24oz Jamba drinks with protein powder (or was it an antioxidant boost), quick bites at the Corner Bakery for a chicken pesto pizza and a cappuccino brownie. Then these families, couples and singles retire to their million dollar homes behind a gate down Parkway Calabasas where life goes on anonymously to the sound of water sprinklers, balls being bounced off tennis courts, and the swish of another luxury SUV headed out to Ralphs for another sweet gulp at the coffee bar before shopping for flowers and grocery goodies to take home to put in the Sub Zero in the 600 SF kitchen. At the same time anywhere else in LA and the Valley, Hispanic-Americans are working by the sweat of their brows to feed their families, and/or send money home on jobs that support all those affluent and upper middle class Californians. And so it goes, and so it goes.

[shannon94]

I use to live in Agoura Hills right off of Reyes Adobe Road. Great area...but yeah ...it can take you 3 hours to get to the airport from there on the 101. It's a short drive to Malibu.....if you can afford it and don't care when property values plummett...because they will...go for it!

[Keithns]

Real pretty area but how much HOT weather can you handle?

[miracle]

I love Agoura and Agoura Hills, it feels like the only real californian areas remaining in Los Angeles, I love driving from Agoura to Malibu by Kanan Road, also is good the proximity to many shops and malls in Simi Valley and the west-end of the Valley, also many things to do in close Calabasas. The only thing bad with Agoura Hills is the 101, if you work in Los Angeles basin or in other part not the west en of SFV because of that highway is probably the worst in SoCal, but the rest is pretty good, some McMansions but still remains those country like small and large houses that makes Agoura feels different from the rest of the county.

[Sorcerer68]

B O R I N G. There's almost nothing to do, it's a bedroom community. If you like that sort of thing, it may be for you. It is in no way close to Burbank...if you drive there at 2am it's not bad. My ex-girlfriend lived in Agoura Hills, it's pretty easy to get a free car wash at Reyes-Adobe Shell.

[Winston Smith]

Bedroom communities, to be sure. Nice areas in that they're close to the beautiful Santa Monica Mountains, easily accessible to U.S. 101, reasonably close to LA if you work there. My biggest complaint with the Agoura/Calabasas area is that you need a car for everything; it's totally car-centric. This alone puts it off the list of any place I'd consider living. As enlightenme alluded to, the car is a fashion and status statement in this part of LA.

[mcorrales]

My 25 year old younget daughter lives in Agoura Hills and loves it. She is in the entertainment industry and makes excellent money, she has leased a condo for the past two years at $2600 a month and has just recently put in an offer on a brand new three bedroom townhome and she just says that after all the places that she has visited in her career and has lived at in SoCal, she loves this area the most. Says that it is somewhat isolated but that after the hustle bustle of her career and her traveling a great deal, she loves coming home. Just her point. She is right by Malibu state park.