Orinda, Moraga or Lafayette? (San Francisco, Oakland: how much, houses, preschools)

[susanna1]

We're relocating to the East Bay from Southern California. The new job is in downtown SF (Market & 1st). We'd like to keep the commute to under 45 minutes. Lots of travel with this job so need easy access to the airport. Also need high-quality elementary schools as well as preschools without mile long waitlists. Based on all this and our desire to find a family-oriented, neighborly community, we've narrowed down our East Bay possibilities to Orinda, Moraga and Lafayette. The problem is, it's hard to find out what the differences are, if any, among these areas. Can anyone shed light on this?

Beyond API scores (where Sleepy Hollow in Orinda seems to lead at 977), how do the schools compare?

What would you say is the basic "personality" of each area?

How is the regular, ol' day-to-day shopping in the area? How much driving to larger areas like Walnut Creek do you end up doing to find what you need?

[alohakat]

Morage is off the freeway about 10 minutes in good conditions, much longer if you are on one of the two feeder roads and there's an accident. It's beautiful with hilly parts and flatter areas, and runs along touching the Southernmost portions of Lafayette and Orinda. It's also a college town, though it's a smaller private one (St Mary's). The "village area" is mostly a bit older looking than the others but it still has much of what you need.

Lafayette is a bustling little village-type town with a wonderful long flat "main street" (Mt Diablo Blvd) and lots of little nooks and crannies to get to know, very cute and postcard-like. There's lots of little valley's and flatter areas in the subdivisions, and also some quite steep hilly areas too. You can find a street where children can play or choose a street with steeper driveways and less street-children presence. There's a resevoir people love to hike/run around that's beautiful, the Lafayette Resevoir.

Orinda has a country club and an even wealthier set to most outsiders' eyes, with less flat areas to live. It also has a central village area on one side of the freeway and another office-type village area on the other side of the freeway. Interestingly, it also has some little shacks here and there in between mansions, but that's still true of the other two towns. Orinda has the San Pablo Resevoir, which doesn't have a circle path but is great for kayaking or small boating and fishing, but no swimming.

All three have an interconnecting pathway that winds through the hills and through greenbelts behind and between houses. That pathway bustles with life in great weather and always has people somewhere no matter the weather. You could hike/bike/rollerskate/walk all day or for days on that paved path; it has many many trailhead access points and it's a slice of heaven. It's Western-most points touch the edge of public forest land that becomes redwood forest as you rise up towards the backside of the Oakland Hills. At the top of that mountain ridge you can see forever in a clearning, from SF to the North Bay and South. There's a charming little lost-in-time village between the Oakland Hills and Orinda in the midst of redwoods, a great place to spend a day hiking around and patronizing the little town, and you'll feel a million miles away from civilization.

Each little valley in each town has it's own atmosphere. I suggest you just get out and house shop to start to get a feel, and talk to neighbors, just ask around on busy nice Sundays. Walnut Creek is 5-10 minutes away on the freeway, once you get to the freeway. Lafayette has a wide variety of types of grocery stores, and Orinda and Moraga each have at least a couple of choices. Walnut Creek will feel like "just next door" though so no worries if you need to run there. And San Francisco is 20 minutes without traffic on the freeway. Lamorinda is an amazing place to live, and the schools are tops in the state, very involved parents and very active in things to do. All the schools are over 900, and I believe over 925 or 930 on all tests, and you can't go wrong with any. You may want to poll the different schools for their teacher profiles and maybe base more on that, average tenure, creativity of programs, etc. But really, they're all fantastic schools. They all have great parental financial support for added programs. I believe Acalanes was just in the paper this week talking about the 2.5 million in additional funds it received last year, a huge portion of that from the parents, but you can Google for that info.

Market and 1st is a great location for a job! Right at the Ferry Building, right off the Embarcadero exit from Bart, couldn't ask for easier, definately under 45 minutes on Bart.

pm me if you have more questions you'd like to ask me.

[18Montclair]

The one strike against Moraga is the fact that it can be a bit of a drive from the BART station(both Orinda and Lafayette have a BART station) as well as Hy 24.

Other than that, unless there are signs to indicate, you have no clue you've left one town and entered into another.

All three are pretty perfect otherwise.

[tande1n5]

I grew up in Lafayette, and even though that was a while ago, most things still hold the same. The area's called "Lamorinda" by some because you can't really go wrong in any of these places and the difference is minor. If you look at a map you can almost see how they could have been one large area but are split by the Lafayette Reservoir. With a job on Market and 1st, I assume you'll be taking Bart to the city? Lafayette and Orinda have their own stations, and in Moraga you'll most likely be driving to Orinda. Moraga's generally a bit more of a trek to the highway as well, and you'll most likely find yourself going thru Orinda or Lafayette to get to the 24. You certainly can't go wrong in any of these places. Any preferences are generally going to be personal preferences for one downtown, or another's topography, but not from concrete difference in quality of life. they all have the basics and some boutiquey stuff, but if you're talking about the big mall type of shoipping, you'll most likely be going to Walnut Creek or Sunvalley/Willows in Concord.

[bayarea-girl]

Like others have mentioned you really can't go wrong with any of those areas. I'd go with Lafayette or Orinda as they have an easier access to BART.

[LisainCalifornia]

Moraga is more neighborly and family oriented. We live here now, and my kids play outside on our cul-de-sac with all the neighborhood kids every single day (after school and all summer long). My friend who lives in Orinda says she never sees her neighbors, and the kids never play out front. Lafayette has more stores and restaurants, but after living here for a while I am now adapted to the slowness of Moraga. There is no traffic and no crime and the scenery is beautiful. The downsides are the massive amounts of homework your kids will have each day, and the cost of living here. As the others have said, living in Moraga you don't have a freeway entrance (we are five miles from it in either direction--from Orinda or Lafayette) but that is actually a good thing, as it adds to the quiet feeling of the town. There is no traffic noise ever, and only the sound of the cows mooing on our hill or wild turkeys that gooble in our yard. All this, yet we live a 25 minute drive from San Francisco.

We lived in S.F. for many years and even bought our first house there, but living is mighty easy here. We live in a modest 4 bedrrom family home, and have deer that nibble at my roses each morning. My kids walk to and from school each day, and our schools are ranked very high. No crime, clean air, natural beauty and safety for my kids are the draw here.