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I support your desire to minimize the commute. To that end, I would like to offer these two opinions with a differing perspective.
Regarding Mission Hills and it's walkability, while Washington Street in Mission Hills is very busy with traffic, there are also more modest and quieter business areas. Ft Stockton's business area is generally more quiet than Washington. Further west on Ft Stockton there is a small business area near the junction of Arden and Ft Stockton Drives which is very pleasant. You can't go wrong with the desirability of Mission Hills.
Regarding the elementary school in Kensington not being up to par. There is a history there that needs to be understood. At the start of the mass immigrations in the 1970s, the school was flooded with non-English speaking immigrant children who necessarily consumed all of the instructional time. As a consequence, the English speaking children were withdrawn from the school and scores suffered. The lack of English proficient students who could teach English by example helped perpetuate the low scores into the 1980s and seeing that, new English speaking families moving into Kensington in the 90s and 00s didn't enroll their children either.
However, 40 years on, the mass immigration into Kensington has run its course (even the rentals are too expensive for new immigrants), and the local English-speaking families are beginning to enroll their children back into the school. Scores are on the upswing, dramatically I've been told. Also, Franklin is not known for having poor teachers or disciplinary problems with students. It's important to understand that the lower scores are not a result of school dysfunction, but a process of English familiarization that is a diminishing issue.
Kettlepot - thank you for your insight about Kensington's elementary school. It's so hard to quantify a school on paper. Our kids are going to be fine as long as their school isn't dysfunctional - we're not looking for a "bubble" environment for them, though many of the small beach areas with their own downtowns we gravitate towards indeed have very homogenous schools full of privileged kids. I went to very diverse urban schools that wouldn't have rated highly on paper at all, and turned out all the better for it.
But speaking of bubbles, we are now looking more closely at Encinitas, because it seems that we can get a 4 bedroom house w a yard, walking distance to town and train stop and beach for within our budget (whereas in Bird Rock anything walking distance to town/beach would be a box with no yard whatsoever)
Kettlepot - thank you for your insight about Kensington's elementary school. It's so hard to quantify a school on paper. Our kids are going to be fine as long as their school isn't dysfunctional - we're not looking for a "bubble" environment for them, though many of the small beach areas with their own downtowns we gravitate towards indeed have very homogenous schools full of privileged kids. I went to very diverse urban schools that wouldn't have rated highly on paper at all, and turned out all the better for it.
But speaking of bubbles, we are now looking more closely at Encinitas, because it seems that we can get a 4 bedroom house w a yard, walking distance to town and train stop and beach for within our budget (whereas in Bird Rock anything walking distance to town/beach would be a box with no yard whatsoever)
If it works out, I doubt you'll regret settling in Encinitas.
Kettlepot - thank you for your insight about Kensington's elementary school. It's so hard to quantify a school on paper. Our kids are going to be fine as long as their school isn't dysfunctional - we're not looking for a "bubble" environment for them, though many of the small beach areas with their own downtowns we gravitate towards indeed have very homogenous schools full of privileged kids. I went to very diverse urban schools that wouldn't have rated highly on paper at all, and turned out all the better for it.
But speaking of bubbles, we are now looking more closely at Encinitas, because it seems that we can get a 4 bedroom house w a yard, walking distance to town and train stop and beach for within our budget (whereas in Bird Rock anything walking distance to town/beach would be a box with no yard whatsoever)
Adding on to kettlepot's comments about Franklin Elementary in Kensington, in the South Park area, the "regular" public elementary is McKinley, which like Franklin in Kensington has become a very good little school with involved parents as South Park and North Park have gentrified. McKinley's curriculum is based on the International Baccalaureate program, which students can continue at San Diego High School. Although your children have a ways to go until you need to start worrying about college admissions, colleges love IB students, due to the rigor of the curriculum. Here's an article about McKinley: McKinley Elementary
In South Park you also have the great Einstein Academy. Like the High Tech schools in Point Loma, it is a charter school, but it actually has consistently higher scores than the High Tech schools, including Explorer elementary, which was mentioned by another poster. Of course the HT schools and Einstein Academy are all charter schools, which use a lottery system for admission.
South Park and Kensington have similar feels to Mission Hills and Point Loma, but are a bit more walkable than Point Loma. So that is why I suggested them as possibilities.
All that said, the schools in the San Dieguito school district (which serves Encinitas) are excellent. Parts of Encinitas do have a bit of a cookie cutter feel but if your husband doesn't mind a longer commute, as Encintan says, I doubt you'd regret your choice.
You mentioned a concern about Coronado feeling "touristy." The truth is any coastal area in San Diego -- including Encinitas and La Jolla -- will have it's share of tourists in restaurants and shopping areas. But, once you get into the neighborhoods where people actually live, you'll quickly find a more "real" feel, even if you're in a bit of a "bubble."
Ultimately, of course, it doesn't matter what any of us think of different areas. The only opinions that matter are your family's. The nice thing about San Diego County is there are plenty of wonderful places to live and raise a family. Good luck with your search, and welcome to San Diego!
Hello! We are going to move in the new year from LA's Southbay (Manhattan Beach specifically for anyone familiar) to the SD area. My husband will be working in Little Italy, and our budget is realistic for a house we'd be happy with in any of the areas we've narrowed it down to (we are more concerned w location and not as picky about the structure, I understand we'd be getting less house in some areas we've shortlisted than others). Looking for a combo of several of these features in the location we choose:
Walkability to restaurants, bars, shops is a +
Walk or bike to something cool to do outdoors as a family (could be dock to get on SUP's in bay, sandy beach, hiking trails, whatever, we are active and like it all)
Great public elementary a must (not as adamant about high school, our kids are 1 & 4 and we might not be here forever)
Views (if not ocean, views of city hills, anything pretty that doesn't feel 'boxed in' would be great)
Short commute to downtown ideal but we'd consider somewhere like Solana that's right along the train line so he at least wouldn't have to drive it
Vibrant, not a 'cookie cutter' suburban feel, not super sleepy small town feel either (I find Del Mar too sleepy / staid from the time I've spent there, maybe I'm wrong. Not sure about Solana)
Lots of young families + sense of community (big priority)
Airport noise not deafening
Right now we are narrowing in on:
Bird Rock area of La Jolla
Mission Hills (seems like north mission hills is swankier and some houses have views, but the area isn't walkable)
Point Loma (ruled out Liberty Station b/c of airport noise so left w not walkable areas like Sunset Cliffs and Wooded Area)
Solana Beach (people seem to throw this out as the 'manhattan beach' of the area a lot, so thought we should consider)
My question is does this seem like a proper short list given our priorities? Anything you'd add or eliminate? Any of these areas jump out as clear winner given our wish list?
Thank you for any feedback!
Have you guys made the move yet? If so, where did you settle and how do you like it?
We did buy a house, we lived down there in 2 different VRBO's (Encinitas and Bird Rock area of La Jolla) for a month first. We ended up going a completely different direction than we'd have thought back when I wrote this post, and bought a house in Olivenhain (farm house style w hillside views and acerage, not one of the gated communities there). We loved Encinitas, but what we found was that because of the way the towns are situated along the 101 and b/c of the train tracks, those north county beach towns aren't all that functionally walkable even if you live right by the downtowns. Also, the train ended up not being the best option for my husband anyhow (he can work ~10-7 meaning he misses rush hour traffic anyhow, and it's a 30 min drive at those times from Encinitas vs a 1 hour train ride with limited options for depart times). Then we started poking around E of the 5 in north county (which we'd initially ruled out b/c of mostly developments / non walkable), and fell in love with this particular house. It is obviously not walkable to anything, but it does back onto the horse trail, so we can take the kids and our dog out there to hike and poke around. Reading back on this, it checks relatively few of the boxes we started with...sometimes you just don't know what you're looking for until you find it! I had no idea a rural (tho yeah it's really a swanky semi rural) area was within a 35 min commute of dt san diego.
We did buy a house, we lived down there in 2 different VRBO's (Encinitas and Bird Rock area of La Jolla) for a month first. We ended up going a completely different direction than we'd have thought back when I wrote this post, and bought a house in Olivenhain (farm house style w hillside views and acerage, not one of the gated communities there). We loved Encinitas, but what we found was that because of the way the towns are situated along the 101 and b/c of the train tracks, those north county beach towns aren't all that functionally walkable even if you live right by the downtowns. Also, the train ended up not being the best option for my husband anyhow (he can work ~10-7 meaning he misses rush hour traffic anyhow, and it's a 30 min drive at those times from Encinitas vs a 1 hour train ride with limited options for depart times). Then we started poking around E of the 5 in north county (which we'd initially ruled out b/c of mostly developments / non walkable), and fell in love with this particular house. It is obviously not walkable to anything, but it does back onto the horse trail, so we can take the kids and our dog out there to hike and poke around. Reading back on this, it checks relatively few of the boxes we started with...sometimes you just don't know what you're looking for until you find it! I had no idea a rural (tho yeah it's really a swanky semi rural) area was within a 35 min commute of dt san diego.
Sounds like you made a great choice, mtosd People new to the San Diego area can also learn a lot from your experience -- namely, when you're moving somewhere new, leave room for happy discoveries and new ideas about your "must haves." Glad it worked out for you, and a belated welcome to San Diego!
OP unless there is a reason to be close-in and you can afford it, I would look at Del Mar or Encinitas, exponentially more kids than anywhere central and better schools. Not sleepy or staid at all, actually busy and trafficky
Agree with this, OP. Lived in Hermosa/Manhattan for many years. Del Mar/Encinitas is the closest thing to the South Bay as you'll find. Encinitas has become more developed over the last 10+ years, but is very close to what Hermosa used to be like in the 80s/90s. In particular, Leucadia eerily reminds me of Hermosa before they redeveloped Pier Ave. And, you can have the railroad tracks run right through just like the really old days in the Southbay, which is now the greenbelt. I think it was sometime in the late 80s La Jolla is good too, but I always feel like there are too many tourists there for my liking. Of course, I can't say what it's like living there. Maybe it's way different than my perception.
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