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Yes, that's a similar problem in Norwalk, since there are some nice houses in the district around Rowayton.
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All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
As a recent transplant from Los Angeles myself, thought I'd chime in.
1. great schools. The other posters here are far more experienced here, but from what I'm gathering from friends here and my experience thus far many public schools here are the same quality as a lot of private in LA. Saw your comment re: the need to vote in republicans to lower taxes...be careful what you wish for. California republicans did that in the 70s via prop 13 and yes, it kept property taxes down but as a result California went from having some of the best public schools to the current rank of 46th. Yuck. The public cannot get something for free. If you want good education it must be paid for. If republicans came in and lowered the taxes here would be a lot of angry people (like me) who moved here for the excellent schools, all to lose it. We equate our add'l taxes as being what we used to spend for one private school tuition...but since we have 2 kids, we are now actually in better shape.
2. easy commute. Look at the metro north lines...tons of options for your 40 minute timeframe. My advice to you is drive around the villages/towns/cities on all 3 of the lines - the Hudson (the river villages), Harlem (like Bronxville, Tuckahoe, Scarsdale, White Plains), and New Haven (along the LI Sound as well as up in CT). We are in Eastchester and my husband has a 30 minute commute the GC. It's wonderful.
3. Newer homes. It's not like it is in LA where you will find areas with all new homes, since most of these areas have been established for some time...which we found to be a plus, and here is why...the character you see now is likely to be the character you get in 5, 10 years. In L.A., our neighborhood was constantly changing. E.g. new billboard allowances (and a crummy city council) in LA made it so we had neon billboards going up in the middle of our old neighborhood. LA is in a perpetual growing pain...an identity crisis if you will. Anyhow, yes, you will find newer homes sprinkled all over the place, but don't rule out older homes. Most older homes here aren't 70s ranch - but can be wonderful pre-war homes with craftsmanship that doesn't really exist anymore. These prewar homes have such character!
4. Close to shopping. I am finding I spend even less time to get to shopping here than when I lived in LA. If you live in one of the areas with a 40 minute commute, I have a feeling you'd find the same. Each town/village usually has some kind of main street that will most likely have a coffee house of some sort and maybe a book shop. However, going further here isn't what it is in LA. The parkways here are set up so no matter where you are, you aren't far from bigger shopping. From here in Bronxville/Eastchester I can hop on the Hutchinson Pkwy and be in White Plains (the "Westchester" mall has many wonderful options, there is also a Whole Foods) in 15 minutes. It took me 20 minutes to get the the Beverly Center in LA and I lived twice as close. Then there is the ultimate shopping which is in NYC. Ruling out rush hour, I can drive to midtown in 20 minutes.
5. family friendly. There are a lot of different kinds of towns and villages in southern Westchester...but the common thread is that they all seem to be family friendly. The enormous number of summer camp options is one really good indicator...there are a ton. It just depends on what you are looking for. Great people can be found everywhere. When contemplating our move last year, some of the threads on area we chose (Bxville PO, Eastchester) frightened me. But, I have been overwhelmed with how welcoming people have been and I've made a lot of new friends. We have family and friends all over the place up here and find people in all areas to be very genuine.
Good luck! I highly recommend spending a good amount of time in the various towns and villages to see which suits you. The river towns are wonderful, and have a vibe all their own, as do those down the middle like Bronxville and Scarsdale and those on the sound. It's a very personal choice
Wow Tammy, I could have written your entire post! It perfectly captures the experience of moving here from LA. We've been in Pleasantville since last June and just bought in Chappaqua. The vibe here is so family and community oriented, in contrast to the fractured urban sprawl that is most of LA. When I first started posting here with questions about my move, I received a lot of "WHY would you want to move HERE from CALIFORNIA??" responses. All I can say is when I see my kids riding their bikes up and down our street, exploring the "woods" at the end of the block, building snow forts in the backyard and sledding on the nearby hills, and all the neighborhood kids running through our yard (and house LOL) I truly know we made the right decision. The schools are also spectacular and I would say even better than most private/parochial schools in LA from what I have experienced (my little ones are 3 and 6 but I have a college-age stepson who went K - 12 in private school).
I'm back in LA every few months or so for work and as soon as I hit the 405 fwy I start missing NY .
Thanks Cali - and your post mirrors my feelings so far as well! So many people ask me 'why, oh, why' did you move . NY has been great for the kids; great for our quality of life. I've been back to LA twice since the move and as soon as I see the rampant blight, and listen to my old friends fretting about getting into a private school, our decision to move is reaffirmed. As an LA native it was a hard decision to make, but LA has a lot of work to do to become more family friendly IMO.
We just went through Chappaqua on a Sunday drive last weekend...it's beautiful!
I agree - the situation in Los Angeles is really a shame. The only places you can really find anything close to the communities here are the newer developments on the far outskirts of the city or in Orange County, and then you have a 2+ hr commute each way for work. I will take my 45 minutes on the train ANY DAY.
Maybe things will turn around in CA in time for us to eventually retire there once the kids are out of the house and the NY taxes don't make much sense anymore. My husband and I are both LA natives as well and we miss the family a lot, but that's pretty much all we miss.
Best of luck to you in Eastchester - great place and love that Lake Isle!!
Wow, thanks all! This is really helpful. We also have 2 kids under 4 and although I work PT now, I will likely be a SAHM for the forseeable future. We also kind of look at the taxes as private school tuition. I just don't understand why there are so many school districts there, though! I would guess that a ton of money goes to fund each one.
CalitoNJ - I live 1 mile from PDR (next to LMU) and love it. What areas are most like that? I never go north of the 10 or east of the 405 if I don't have to, if that is any indication!
jjinla- yes, there are a lot more districts, but they don't work like in Los Angeles. I cannot speak to all districts here, but in mine, the superintendent makes a salary but the board doesn't...the board for the school lives in our district, and they are volunteer positions (mostly parents). In LA we had a large paid school board that represented very large schools all over the city, which is just too big to give the appropriate personal attention to each school, and in my view, that is one of the reasons there was little sense of community and it wasn't managed effectively. I've heard people here want to join in with other local districts as a cost saving measure...but then I doubt we'd be able to staff the board with volunteers (that would be just too much work to ask of a volunteer), and we'd probably have to pay them. Our small district has only 3 admin positions. That is unheard of in the LAUSD, which employs over 3,000 people (most of whom make 6-figure salaries), and they've got the bureaucracy to go with it. Since your oldest is 4 you probably haven't been entrenched much in the mess that is the LAUSD...but the only advice I'd give is to not want the school districts here to adopt ANY ideas from LA in education. LAUSD has made a mess of things and if anything, I'd recommend they split up in to smaller districts as what we have here.
Oh, well if they are volunteer that makes sense! I just can't believe the difference in per-pupil spending. Even in Manhattan Beach, which is an AMAZING district, they spend less than half.
Never, never would I send my kids to an LAUSD school. They are actually having a huge battle here right now because so many affluent parents were transferring their kids out of it into neighboring districts, that the superintendant banned it because they get paid per-head by the state regardless of where the kids live and he wanted the $$ for himself. Now all hell is breaking loose.
Even though it isn't our choice (hubby is in advertising and NYC is where the best jobs are) I will miss nothing in LA except for the weather and my friends. You guys have a Whole Foods and a Trader Joe's, so the important bases have been covered.
I must warn you...one more thing you will miss are the movie theaters. Take them in while you can.
If there are any investors out there: Now hear this! Go to the Arclight on Sunset Blvd, or El Capitan on Hollywood Blvd, take notes, then refurbish one of the theaters here with a nice big screen (and don't forget arclight's popcorn). There are so many families here in Westchester that an El Capitan would make a bundle!
Net-net, the movie theaters here suck. That has been my only annoyance in the move. But, if crummy movie theaters are all I've got to bemoan...I've got it pretty good!
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. NY has been great for the kids; great for our quality of life. I've been back to LA twice since the move and as soon as I see the rampant blight, and listen to my old friends fretting about getting into a private school, our decision to move is reaffirmed. As an LA native it was a hard decision to make, but LA has a lot of work to do to become more family friendly IMO. 
