Best commute to Torrance? Help please!! (Los Angeles, Inglewood: home, neighborhood, school)

[tellisdo]

Hi! I am moving from South Florida to Los Angeles area this month. I will be working in Torrance and my husband will be going to UCLA Anderson in Westwood. We are newly married with no kids and are looking for a cool area that is somewhat of a drive compromise for both of us. Since neither of us have ever lived there it is hard to figure out.
Would the commute from Santa Monica to Torrance be any worse than the commute from Marina Del Rey?
What do you think the commute would be like to Torrance and back if the work hours were 10-6?
Are there any other areas you could reccomend?

Thanks so much!
Tiffany

[PittNewbie]

Originally Posted by tellisdo

Hi! I am moving from South Florida to Los Angeles area this month. I will be working in Torrance and my husband will be going to UCLA Anderson in Westwood. We are newly married with no kids and are looking for a cool area that is somewhat of a drive compromise for both of us. Since neither of us have ever lived there it is hard to figure out.
Would the commute from Santa Monica to Torrance be any worse than the commute from Marina Del Rey?
What do you think the commute would be like to Torrance and back if the work hours were 10-6?
Are there any other areas you could reccomend?

Thanks so much!
Tiffany

Great school! Check out the UCLA married student housing off national blvd. on both sides of the 405 easy access to drive south to Torrance.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by tellisdo

What do you think the commute would be like to Torrance and back if the work hours were 10-6?

It's bad going north on the 405 in the afternoon.

Check this out during the times you could be commuting. Look at which way (north or south) is worse during your commute hours. There are many neat places for you to live between Torrance and Santa Monica and Westwood - but as you are asking, it all depends on traffic. West of the 405 becomes more expensive as those become the beach communities.


Sigalert.com Los Angeles Traffic Map

[BRinSM]

the commute to ucla will be much worse, the closer the better. as for SM vs. MDR, it depends on how close to the freeway you are in SM, but generally MDR is south of SM, thus closer to Torrance and a shorter drive.

[MtnSurfer]

Hi Tiffany,

Welcome to California and the LA area. I grew in the South Bay lived in Torrance and took classes at UCLA. So I have a lot of experience driving the LA freeways, mainly the 405. I will try and be as honest with as possible which you can take with a grain of salt as you should all posts on a forum such as this.

The Good: UCLA is a great school. Torrance is a really nice place to work and/or live in Southern LA County. You're young, married and have your whole lives ahead of you.

The Bad: LA Traffic sucks plain and simple and don't let anyone lie to you and tell you any differently. LA County is the most populous county in the nation with ~ 10 million people. And everyone is trying to get to work, the airport, etc... at the same time every day. The 405 travels from the South Bay to the West Side where UCLA is. It passes LAX on the way. There are hundreds of thousands of people driving this Freeway In Both Directions when you will be going to work.

So I say this as a warning and to ensure domestic tranquilty in your new marriage. Make sure your drive is a bit closer than your husbands. You will most likely be driving during normal business hours - the worst time. He will be a student and have a bit more latitude with his schedule. And you are making a sacrifice to help him advance in his education and future career. So I commend you for that. My wife did the same for me at one point in our marriage.

Make no mistake, there will be some pain invovled. Do not underestimate the LA Freeway system. I recommend not making one person take the full brunt of the drive. So your initial idea of somewhere in between is a good general one. Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey, El Segundo or Westchester would be places to look.

There are many times when the 405 will come to a complete stop. Then you start looking for quick exits and alternate routes. Unfortunately many daily commuters do the same thing.

Last thing to consider. I know living near the beach may sound appealing at first. But you are better off to live closer to the Freeway as long as it is not in a bad neighborhood (e.g. Hawthorne, Inglewood, Gardena, etc...).

My 2c,

Derek

[s0nginmyheart]

I know this is a reverse commute for you, but I commuted from Torrance to Westwood/Brentwood for a couple years, and then from Torrance to Santa Monica for several years when our office had moved. Your commute during rush hour will be at least an hour with traffic (granted this will fluctuate with accidents mostly - however I've seen everything from fires, to plys of toilet paper 'snowing' on the 405).

At any rate. In the mornings, I'd leave home just before 8a and would usually get to the office by 9a. 405 southbound is usually clearer than northbound. If you are leaving around 10a, it may be a lighter drive. On days I had morning classes, I'd leave my place (Torrance) around 10:30a and would be able to get to the office (Santa Monica) by 11a.

Evening traffic is going to be bad either way, sorry. I usually took a detour around the airport which shaved off about 20 minutes each way.

[sirinyat]

I would second the suggestions about looking around in Marina Del Rey or Westchester. From some parts of Westchester (along Sepulveda), your husband could still take transit to campus if he were not to be given a parking permit on campus.

Speaking of which, parking at UCLA is awarded on a point-based system, and there are additional points awarded for distance from campus/transit to campus. Living somewhere like Santa Monica actually confers negative points because of the excellent transit accessibility to UCLA's main campus. Just keep this in mind.

[bobfrapples]

Originally Posted by s0nginmyheart

At any rate. In the mornings, I'd leave home just before 8a and would usually get to the office by 9a. 405 southbound is usually clearer than northbound. If you are leaving around 10a, it may be a lighter drive. On days I had morning classes, I'd leave my place (Torrance) around 10:30a and would be able to get to the office (Santa Monica) by 11a.

Is the one hour commute (8am departure, 9am arrival) a best case scenario? Are there weekdays when it's 45 minutes? And how long does it take if it's a bad day? 2 hours?

Do taking the side streets help with the time, or is it mainly for the sanity of being able to move every few minutes between red lights?

Also, coming from South Torrance between Hawthorne and Crenshaw, what is the recommended place to get onto the 405? Should I stay on the local streets longer and hop on at Inglewood or Rosecrans? Or get on at Crenshaw which would be the closest entrance distance-wise?