Where should we live in socal to minimize our commutes? (San Francisco: apartments, rent)

[JonDL]

I'm a born and raised Socal guy but I've been living in San Francisco for about a year and a half and am now ready to move back to LA. Me and my girlfriend are looking to move in together, only problem is she works in Torrance and I will be working in Thousand Oaks. We're trying to find a place somewhere in the middle to make both of our commutes a little bit easier. So far, we're thinking Sherman Oaks / Encino area to stay close to the 101. I want to ask people's opinions about the following areas in terms of

1. The commute to Thousand Oaks and Torrance
2. Cost (my girlfriend and I are pretty recently out of college so we're not swimming in money yet)
3. Safety, Entertainment, etc.

North Hollywood, Valley Village, Canoga Park, basicly the south Valley as far east as north hollywood.

Also can anybody comment on the morning commute (leave the house at 6 a.m.) from Thousand Oaks to Torrance?

Edit - I should say that the max we're willing to spend on rent is 1400 / month. Unfortunately for us, this kind of rules out apartments south of the hill in Westwood, Bel Air, Santa Monica, etc.