question about commute to Thousand Oaks / Amgen? (Oxnard, Camarillo: apartment complexes, renting)

[geekgirl2000]

I hope you guys can offer some advice on this?

I have a 6 month job in Thousand Oaks which requires me to move out there to live from Jan - July. My family will stay behind here in Chicago until I'm done with the contract. We have a fantastic home here in Oak Park, IL and no plans to move to CA permanently.

Am considering renting a fully furnished beach house in Port Hueneme area (Silverstrand Beach, Hollywood Beach, PH Beach) and commuting daily on the 101 to TO. Any ideas how long this commute would be???? Is it rough? Has anyone done it?

I have to be in TO at 8am and can't leave before 5pm (no flex time).

???

I've lived in San Fernando Valley before and hated it. MUCH too hot for me and really disliked the vibe there. I used to commute Canoga Park to Agoura Hills and it took me 45 mins - 1 hr one way (longer on bad traffic days). It was boring but doable. Anything longer might be rough tho.

Places I'm considering are:
1) Port Hueneme / Oxnard - for closeness to Ocean & cool weather.
2) Malibu if I could afford it - again proximity to Ocean & cool breezes
3) Topanga Canyon - again cool weather up in the hills, nice and lush, less suburban/boring than places like TO/SFC/Camarillo areas
4) Sorta considering Ojai even tho not close to Ocean but has "out in nature" vibe and is "diffierent" kinda like Topanga. Also v. affordable.

Have about 2,000 to spend per mo on a furnished place INCLUDING utils. Would love to live on the beach in a quiet area and wake up to hearing the waves.
Ideally want to be within 30-60 mins from TO for work.

Any ideas MUCH appreciated!!!!!!

Thanks
Kelly in Chicago

[Charles]

First thing, heat won't be a problem from Jan to June, maybe for a couple weeks in July.

Port Hueneme to Amgen will be with traffic and into the sun up the Conejo Grade so it will be slow. I'd wag 45 minutes.
Ojai would be quite a schlep as there is only one way down to the 101 - and then you'd have 101 eastbound traffic.
Topanga Canyon, an interesting place if you can find something that isn't outrageously expensive.

Check out the top of Ventu Park Road (south of the 101). A bit more eclectic than is most of the Conejo Valley.

Westlake Village is really nice.

The 23 from the beach into Thousand Oaks is a twisty slow road.

Can you get a fully furnished beach house for $2000/month? It would be nice on weekends but consider the other five days: Up at 630, out the door at 7, at Amgen a little before 8. Not much time. Home at 6, dinner, chores, errands, again, not much time.

[osuzana]

Pretty bad traffic going home from Newbury Park to the Oxnard area. $2000 actually would be fairly low for a fully furnished rental. I would try a private home first or some of the larger apartment complexes near Amgen off Hillcrest or even Westlake Village.

[DowntownVentura]

The Arroyo Villa apartments are where Amgen puts their visiting scientists and other highly compensated employees for temporary housing. Not too bad, it is quite convenient. They use some other apartments across Hillcrest for visiting technicians and I wouldn't live over there

They do have furnished apartments available, at least Amgen is able to get some.

If it were me, I would consider these. You can walk to work and use your free time to go to the beach, mountains, etc