Living in the San Gabriel Valley (Los Angeles, San Francisco: 2009, rentals, restaurants)

[VillageLife]

The 210 is right where Pasadena is at.I don't have a map to show you.
You would have to go south and pass through the streets,pass by some cities to get to the 10 freeway

The reason of the smog is trapped in the Valley. It's not open. There is no beach or open terrain. Valley. So when there was all these fires.All the smoke from the San Fernando Valley,Chino Hills,Brea,all aggregated in the San Gabriel Valley.
Even though there is smog,the area is still very nice. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else!

[timelesschild]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

Interesting; the previous poster said well over an hour, you say 20 minutes. Is the 210 a faster moving freeway than the 10?

They are both slow conveyor belts at rush hours.

Is the entire SGV blanketed with thick smog in the summer? Are there any microspots where the air quality is relatively better?

1. I don't notice the smog except on a very few bad days (maybe 5 in the whole summer) when I couldn't even freaking SEE the mountains. Gaaahhhh....

2. You have to figure it's better at higher elevations.

[worldlyman]

As a longtime Houstonian and ex-SoCalifornian, this thread is interesting.

The San Gabriel Valley is one of my favorite areas of L.A. whenever I visit.

Valley Blvd, the main drag is the opposite number of Houston's burgeoning Bellaire Blvd...a rival to the SGV. Lollicup Teazone was a starter place for me as far as boba in Cali. They expanded into Houston but the local stuff got so varied that Lollicup closed up here eventually.

If Valley is a more quaint, classic Main Street style with Asian neon...then Bellaire Blvd is a very modern wide, more auto-oriented urban/suburban thoroughfare with garish Asian neon that goes down miles all the way down from Fondren to Highway 6.

If Valley is more laid-back, not as temperamental...then Bellaire Blvd is very frenetic and edgy en route to the developing Sugarland entertainment area. But, there is a very nice urban park with a waterway sidewalk just off Bellaire Blvd in New Chinatown.

The "Asian Oasis" seems to look more calculated in its growth (or re-growth) whereas "New Chinatown" is spastic and booming. Heck, there's an impressive glass and steel small Chinese-style skyscraper at the corner of Bellaire Blvd and Beltway 8 that the SGV lacks.

There's not much integration in the San Gabriel Valley compared to Bellaire Blvd though. The parallel and cross streets of Bellaire Blvd offer a multitude of halal, Pakistani, Nigerian, El Salvadoran, Filipino and African-American businesses en masse. The infamous "urban mall" Sharpstown (where Beyonce's sister has been spotted and laughed at) is an adjacent gateway to New Chinatown coming in from the Southwest 59 Freeway.

There is no "urban mall" as such to really be found in the SGV. It is what it is...and there are those Houstonians that would like to demolish the "urban mall" though I think that would be counterproductive here but I digress...(since when does everything have to be a whitebread upmarket First Colony or Memorial City or Woodlands or Willowbrook Mall out here?).

Except for token blacks and such...there is not a crossing, freewheeling African-American galavanting that goes through the San Gabriel Valley the way it crosses through Bellaire Blvd. In L.A., most Filipino businesses are in Carson or West Covina...most Vietnamese businesses are in Westminster/Garden Grove...most El Salvadoran businesses are near Koreatown...African-American businesses are generally down Inglewood and other points in South Central.

In fact, Bellaire Blvd in Houston is like taking Valley Blvd's Chinese stuff and placing it on the eastside of the Beltway 8, and taking Westminster/Bolsa's Viet stuff and putting that on the westside of the Beltway 8!

There is a general mix in L.A. of course but Los Angeles can feel a tad more segregated compared to Houston. Hollywood has always been and will always be nominally whitebread whereas downtown Houston once felt "chic Sunset Strip" but morphed into an interesting mix of African-American hip-hop, Chicago Rush Street and Latino fiesta.

But I love getting boba along Valley Blvd/Atlantic (Asian Oasis) and Bellaire Blvd (New Chinatown). There's generally no shortage of Asian places to get some chow at 1:30 a.m in either Houston or L.A. So I have to say I enjoy the parallel universe or yin and yang thing of the Asian commercial zones in both cities, Sunbelt style.

There's another "Asian Oasis" or "New Chinatown" area in northwest Houston along Veteran's Memorial Drive. It is more of an open highway format as opposed to the garish urban/suburban format of Bellaire Blvd...but lots of Asian businesses there nonetheless.

Houston kinda feels like a newer, more "lean" version of L.A., so yes, I like both Houston and L.A. Better than San Diego, that's for sure.

[worldlyman]

As a longtime Houstonian and ex-SoCalifornian, this thread is interesting.

The San Gabriel Valley is one of my favorite areas of L.A. whenever I visit.

Valley Blvd, the main drag is the opposite number of Houston's burgeoning Bellaire Blvd...a rival to the SGV. Lollicup Teazone was a starter place for me as far as boba in Cali. They expanded into Houston but the local stuff got so varied that Lollicup closed up here eventually.

If Valley is a more quaint, classic Main Street style with Asian neon...then Bellaire Blvd is a very modern wide, more auto-oriented urban/suburban thoroughfare with garish Asian neon that goes down miles all the way down from Fondren to Highway 6.

If Valley is more laid-back, not as temperamental...then Bellaire Blvd is very frenetic and edgy en route to the developing Sugarland entertainment area. But, there is a very nice urban park with a waterway sidewalk just off Bellaire Blvd in New Chinatown.

The "Asian Oasis" seems to look more calculated in its growth (or re-growth) whereas "New Chinatown" is spastic and booming. Heck, there's an impressive glass and steel small Chinese-style skyscraper at the corner of Bellaire Blvd and Beltway 8 that the SGV lacks.

There's not much integration in the San Gabriel Valley compared to Bellaire Blvd though. The parallel and cross streets of Bellaire Blvd offers a multitude of halal, Pakistani, Nigerian, El Salvadoran, Filipino and African-American businesses en masse. The infamous "urban mall" Sharpstown (where Beyonce's sister has been spotted and laughed at) is an adjacent gateway to New Chinatown.

There is no "urban mall" as such to really be found in the SGV. It is what it is...and there are those Houstonians that would like to demolish the "urban mall" though I think that would be counterproductive here but I digress...(since when does everything have to be a whitebread upmarket First Colony or Memorial City or Woodlands or Willowbrook Mall out here?).

Except for token blacks and such...there is not a crossing, freewheeling African-American galavanting that goes through the San Gabriel Valley the way it crosses through Bellaire Blvd. In L.A., most Filipino businesses are in Carson or West Covina...most Vietnamese businesses are in Westminster/Garden Grove...most El Salvadoran businesses are near Koreatown...African-American businesses are generally down Inglewood and other points in South Central.

In fact, Bellaire Blvd in Houston is like taking Valley Blvd's Chinese stuff and placing it on the eastside of the Beltway 8, and taking Westminster/Bolsa's Viet stuff and putting that on the westside of the Beltway 8!

There is a general mix in L.A. of course but Los Angeles can feel a tad more segregated compared to Houston. Hollywood has always been and will always be nominally whitebread whereas downtown Houston once felt "chic Sunset Strip" but morphed into an interesting mix of African-American hip-hop, Chicago Rush Street and Latino fiesta.

But I love getting boba along Valley Blvd/Atlantic (Asian Oasis) and Bellaire Blvd (New Chinatown). There's generally no shortage of Asian places to get some chow at 1:30 a.m in either Houston or L.A. So I have to say I enjoy the parallel universe or yin and yang thing of the Asian commercial zones in both cities, Sunbelt style.

There's another "Asian Oasis" or "New Chinatown" area in northwest Houston along Veteran's Memorial Drive. It is more of an open highway format as opposed to the garish urban/suburban format of Bellaire Blvd...but lots of Asian businesses there nonetheless.

Houston kinda feels like a newer, more "lean" version of L.A., so yes, I like both Houston and L.A. Better than San Diego, that's for sure.

[Tiger Beer]

Very interesting comparing Sugarland TX with SGV.

The only REAL problem with SGV is it is still California...which means immensily HIGH prices for housing, rent, etc. compared to income.

With TeXas, you avoid that.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

Interesting; the previous poster said well over an hour, you say 20 minutes. Is the 210 a faster moving freeway than the 10?

Well, you said "rush hour," which I take to mean the time during which people are driving to work or school. The only time you can get from Covina to Pasadena in 20 minutes is on the weekend, before rush hour, or after it. BTW, rush hour did not used to start until about 6:45-7:00 am. It now starts a little after 6:00 am....probably because of the all the housing built in the last 25 years.

How do you think the SGV compares with San Bernardino county to the east (Ontario, Rancho Cuc., Upland, SB, Fontana, etc)? I've heard some BAD things about the latter two.

There are cultural differences, you can't get around that. If you've been living in L.A. and you move to the Inland Empire, you will definitely be in for a shock in terms of culture, interests, etc.

[VillageLife]

Worldlyman,That was a very interesting comparison

[RPEP09]

thanks worldlyman, I was from monterey park and now live in SL, tx... I know exactly what you are talking about. although IMO, sgv is better.

[VillageLife]

Originally Posted by RPEP09

thanks worldlyman, I was from monterey park and now live in SL, tx... I know exactly what you are talking about. although IMO, sgv is better.

Gee I never thought I would find all of you living close by

[ubringliten]

Nothing beats the "Asian Oasis" in the States! I lived there in 1980 and left in 2006, and I have never seen anything changed that drastically. Hearing you guys talked about it makes me proud I grew up in that area. LOL. My fiancee and I going to SGV to see 30-40 relatives this weekend for Chinese New Year. Woohoo! Happy OX Year, fellow CD members!