Considering commuting from Santa Barbara to Westlake Village - any experience? (San Diego: apartment, to rent)

[amg123456]

Hi - I have a potential job opportunity in Westlake Village.

I currently live in San Diego. I took the Pacific Surfliner train to Santa Barbara this weekend. SB is a great little town and a beautiful place.

I drove to WV, TO, Simi Valley from SB last weekend. The area seems like kind of a drag for a young professional.

Therefore, if I was to work in WV then I would need to live in SB.

I Google Mapped WV to SB and the distance is about 55 miles with about a 55 minute travel time.

I just wanted to see - is this an accurate reflection of the commute time between these 2 cities? Traffic did seem pretty light up there. If my commute time would be around an hour then I could make this work.

[Charles]

That's a long way, one way even with no traffic. But there will be traffic, especially since you would be heading east, along with everyone else in the morning, with the sun in your eyes slowing you down on the freeway. Sam in the afternoon, into the sun. Maybe 1:15 is more realistic.

How about Ventura? It might be a little more interesting for someone single.
Still, there are some single things in the Conejo Valley and you aren't too far from Ventura and SB for weekend stuff. Even west LA, Santa Monica are doable for fun on weekends.

[sms1967]

There are a ton of younger celebrities living in Westlake Village, etc. How the hell can it be a drag? I would think SB would be full of old money and little social scene for someone 20 to 30-years old. Plus, WV has Calabasas, Camarillo and other neat communities right there.

[NYSD1995]

Santa Barbara is mostly old people and college kids. Not many young professionals there as there are no jobs. If you are willing to commute between SB and WV you might as well just live in LA.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Live in Studio City or West LA. Commutes from such places to WLV would not be worse than from SB. And living locations would be way more interesting than SB.

[MonkeyKid]

Trust me you do not want to live in Santa Barbara as a young professional. Better to move to west L.A.

[amg123456]

I have lived on Melrose and La Cienega in LA and in Marina del Rey on the beach in LA.

LA is OVERCROWDED and the people aren't very much fun IMO. Not their fault - It takes them 1.5 hours just to go eat at McDonald's because of traffic. Their rent is $2K for an apartment that would rent for $750 anywhere else in the country. etc etc.

city-data says that the median age in Santa Barbara is 34. I'll be 34 in May. Santa Barbara has a nice community feel unlike LA!

I drove through WV. Seems to be kind of like Newport Beach but without the beach, restaurants or fashion valley. So what's left? Boredom. Maybe you can provide info to the contrary.

[Axxlrod]

I wouldn't recommend you live in SB as a young single person. You'll get bored pretty quick. Yes there are bars on State St, but you'll get tired of drunk college kids every weekend. There aren't many young professionals in SB for two reasons - lack of jobs and cost of living. Have you checked out the cot to rent a decent place yet in SB? Hold on to your wallet.

Calabasas is a very cool and hip city close to WV, and close to LA too for all that stuff. I'd live in Calabasas.

[mckenna1]

Westlake Village is where the movers and shakers of Hollywood have been moving to for the past ten years. It is so much cooler than Santa Barbara and leaves West LA in the dust.