Where would be the nearest new home community to downtown la? (Los Angeles: townhomes, neighborhoods)

[csilvia]

Hi!,
I just moved to LA and I would like as much advice on the following:

1) I want to live and raise my children (2 and 8 year old) in a nice, calm, clean and new home community. I would like to live in a place where we can easily take bike rides in the neighborhood and where there are nice, clean parks that the boys can play in a soccer league on the weekends. (This is the ideal situation but I am also open to living in an older community but that its clean, safe and I can take walks with my kids.)
I will most likely be working in downtown la, koreatown, huntington park or south gate but I would like to come home away from the business of the city to a calm, peaceful, clean, newer community.

2) I want this neighborhood to be not more than 45 to 1 hr commute from downtown LA. ( I would have to be at work by 7:30 am so please let me know what freeway I would have to take and what time I would have to leave home to make it to work by 7:30 am)

What city or area in la county would fit this description?

I have read in the threads that Pasadena/South Pasadena is a good place but it tends to have an older/darker feel to it and I really would like an area that is newer, brighter and sunny. Also, Santa Clarita seems to have alot of new areas but it just seems so far out there over the mountain.Also, I have read about Hancock Park but that just seems too close to the city and I want to be away from the business of the city.

So with this in mind, are there any other cities or towns that fit the description above?

3) How are the following freeways in the morning: 60, 10, 5, 101, 110 going towards downtown? When does traffic begin in these freeways? If I had to be in downtown by 7:30 am then what time would I have to leave my house on each of the freeways listed above to make it on time?

In advance, thank you for your advice and input!

[Narfcake]

Originally Posted by csilvia

3) How are the following freeways in the morning: 60, 10, 5, 101, 110 going towards downtown? When does traffic begin in these freeways? If I had to be in downtown by 7:30 am then what time would I have to leave my house on each of the freeways listed above to make it on time?

To put it gently, the traffic will SUCK on all of those freeways. My 20 mile commute typically takes 50 minutes in the morning ... and going to Whittier. If I had to head into downtown, and that time could easily double.

Traffic starts in the 5 o'clock hour, and progressively gets worse through the 8 o'clock hour, in which then it'll start dwindling and ease up by around 10.

For less commuting headaches, see if you can take the Metrolink into the city.

As for what community ... sorry - I don't have any answers. Newer communities are all located in the outskirts of the metro area, typically at least 50 miles/1-1/2 hours out.

[ferretkona]

No one ever asks about the old dirty ran down areas??

[DowntownVentura]

use Sigalert.com Los Angeles Traffic Map to check onrealtime freeway conditions

[sll3454]

The newer homes are townhomes and puds. Are those okay? Other than those, the newer homes are just here and there - not in new developments. To get to the newer developments, you have to go farther out.

What price range are you considering?

[missionhome]

I really think Santa Clarita meets your requirement for being a bright, sunny, and new community. It is very family friendly and has good schools. You have to remember, downtown Los Angeles where you are working is one of the oldest parts of the city. Hence most single family development radiating around downtown is old and you have to go far outside of that radius to get the new communities you are looking for. The neighborhoods near downtown are very dense and crowded as well. There may be areas where a small development of new homes was done in a old area, but the overall greater neighborhood will still be older. For communities where most of the construction is newer than 1990, your options are really just Santa Clarita in Los Angeles County and then communities in Orange County, Inland Empire, and Ventura County (which are far from downtown L.A.)

Santa Clarita would be my pick, and I would ride Metrolink. The train departing Newhall station leaves at 6:10AM and arrives at Union Station at 7:03AM giving you enough time to get from Union Station to your work. Much more relaxing and you avoid having to park downtown. You can read, do work, sleep, etc... instead of fight traffic on the horrific freeways into downtown. If your employer doesn't include parking in your job, the cost for daily parking can be over $15 per day downtown.

[nickdahammer]

I don't really understand what you mean by '..Pasadena/South Pasadena is a good place but it tends to have an older/darker feel to it..' Newer is nice, but those communites have an awful lot going for them. And Hancock Park/Larchmont doesn't even feel like the City, at least not to me. Mt. Washington, which is where I live, feels like an oasis within the City as well.

That said, yes, Santa Clarita (and Stevenson Ranch, for that matter) are close to transit and about as suburban as it gets, though far from downtown.

[csilvia]

Thank you so much to each of you for your input! Some people have also mentioned porter ranch or granada hills. What do you think? If the nearest new community to LA is Santa Clarita, then what would be the next 5 new communities that would be closest to downtown? (even if the commute is over an hour). Thanks

[JohnG72]

Price range is everything.

There aren't any other new build communities within a 1 hour 630am commute of downtown other than Santa Clarita and Porter Ranch.

The rest of the new build areas would be parts of Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Huntington Beach and Chino Hills. Money matters tons.

If it helps, Cerritos was build up quite a bit in the 80's.

[bhcompy]

cerritos and cypress both are near the la metro and metrolink and are relatively new for la suburbs. commute to dtla probably in the 70 to 90 minute range by car, maybe more