Considering Thousand Oaks or Rancho Palos Verdes from Australia. Any other areas we should consider? (San Francisco: rentals, condos)

[Sydper]

I did look at Torrance but I was a bit freaked out at the talk of high crime in some areas. I guess I'm used to areas being safe or unsafe not a mixture. I was worried about crime spilling over into the safer parts of Torrance. Is that a reality or can you go about your business without worrying about safety?
Where is the old part of Torrance and the downtown area?

[Alter]

Originally Posted by Sydper

I did look at Torrance but I was a bit freaked out at the talk of high crime in some areas. I guess I'm used to areas being safe or unsafe not a mixture. I was worried about crime spilling over into the safer parts of Torrance. Is that a reality or can you go about your business without worrying about safety?
Where is the old part of Torrance and the downtown area?

The high crime area really isn't Torrance, it just has a Torrance post office address. Pretty weird but it is really part of Los Angeles and has their school district, police, etc. You would want to be in Torrance proper and get all the Torrance services. For "old" Torrance I would look at the areas bordered by Crenshaw Blvd, Carson, Torrance Blvd., and Western. You could spill over any of the first three streets but stay west of Western.
I've been in the area 12 years (work and live here) and walk A LOT. My kids walk, my guests like to go for walks. I wouldn't claim any area is crime free but none of us has ever had the least problem.

[cowboyxjon]

Redondo Beach.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Sydper

8) Budget for rental housing $3000 per month. 3BR house or condo.

Originally Posted by cowboyxjon

Redondo Beach.

Is this possible?

[mrsltd]

3) Good high schools, preferably with a strong technology, computing program. In an ideal situation we would prefer our son to continue studying Japanese but realize this is not a common foreign language of study in the L.A. area.

I know that there places in both LA and Orange Counties where Japanese schools are. Orange County (I think in the west side of Anaheim or maybe Cypress) has at least one if not more J-schools.

LA County would have even more. Torrance, as cited above, might be an excellent choice for you. It is next to Gardena, the south side of which still has a decent sized Japanese-American community. Also, in that aforementioned area of LA with a Torrance zip code (part of 90501 and 90502), known as Harbor Gateway, there are dozens and dozens of international businesses, some of which are branch offices or American headquarters of Japanese companies. It is very likely that there are people studying Japanese to get ahead in their employment. I don't know of any specific schools, but I think a number of places in the South Bay area (El Segundo and points south, west of 110) would be good, given all your requirements.

[AnneB123]

I live in the WLV section of T.O. - near the intersection of WL Blvd. and Hillcrest - this is a great area - from our neighborhood we can walk to coffee, good resturants, movies, book stores - all at the corner of WL Blvd. and T.O. Blvd - WL High is right there too - it has an excellent reputation. Agoura is nice too but more just neighborhoods I feel. T.O. has more to offer I think. There are tons of hiking trails all thru the Conejo Valley - it is a great area for families - the folks are very nice - even the rich ones - Good luck!

[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by osuzana

Was that the fire of 1994? We did evacuate living in Westlake with a baby. Could barely breathe. Really did a number to the hillside of Potrero Cyn all the way past Newbury Park.

Yup, the 1994 fire. Were you east of WL Blvd? I was right there by the Triunfo Park.

Funny thing was that when the fire was first spotted, people went about their normal business as if nothing is wrong. Within 2 hours the entire vally (the other side of Potero Hills) is on fire.

[Sydper]

Thanks for the advice everyone. It's great to get local knowledge.

My husband will check out Torrance as well. He'll be visiting Westlake village tomorrow.

He arrived in California on Tuesday and has been in the Bay area visiting Half Moon Bay, Walnut Creek/Lafayette area in case the job is based in the North.

[HB2HSV]

Spydper,

Regarding to Japanese schools. There are a few neighborhood with high concentration of Japanese-American population that I know of. Others can probably add more.

1) West LA area (Sawtelle Blvd, 1 block west of Sepulveda Blvd, between Santa Monica Blvd & Olympic)

2) Gardena/ Torrance area (warning: Gardena area is high crime these days)

3) In Orange County, Fountain Valley at the corner of Brookhurst & Garfield.

All these places have Japanese stores and they will have bullentin boards where people post stuff, including teaching Japanese. All these places have good Japnese food as well. We love to visit different place while we were living in OC, really miss this stuff now that we're in Alabama...

[Joseph Marnix]

Check Belmont Shore in Long Beach

Instead of PV, try Torrance or Redondo Beach. Actually, I think Torrance has a better highschool performance. I believe The TV show 90210 was filed in Torrance High School.

One of the best school is Calabaza but that's more north of LA, and I think it's Ventura County already.

You can try Cities down in Orange County like Irvine, Tustin, Lake Forest, good schools districts.