Job in Glendale, where to live? (Pasadena, Burbank: apartment, for rent, insurance)

[garbage]

I'm from Sydney, Australia. I have a highly probable job available for me in Glendale. I have a wife and 2 daughters (5 and 2).

Where could I live for under $2600/month? I'm after the following:

1. Safe neighbourhood
2. Good schools
3. Ideally a house, not apartment
4. Places nearby to ride the bicycles around
5. Somewhere easy for my wife to get to work. She works in life insurance but does not have a job to go to. Where are the life insurance jobs in LA?
6. Somewhere where I can still duck out for takeaway at 7pm and feel relatively safe.

We like the beach, but is living in the beachside areas going to be an absolute nightmare of a commute to Glendale?

[poptones]

Near Glendale? That shouldn't be too hard at all! Look in the Silverlake area. Find a place in the hills - the higher up the hill you go, the higher the rent and the more secure. I had a very nice 1br place with a spectacular view of downtown LA and a large balcony and it cost me like 800 a month. That was nearly ten years ago, but I'm certain the neighborhood couldn't have gone downhill that much - especially since I still see it on TV every week on LA Ink.

Silverlake is an artsy place with lots of atmosphere and it's just around the corner from Glendale. One of my favorite places ever.

The beach is close to an hour from Glendale/Silverlake on most days. Get on Sunset and drive west. It's a beautiful drive and you'll come out right at the boardwalk on the 101. It's not a long way - from my apt in Silverlake I could see (albeit tiny) the ferris wheel at the beach and, on holidays, the fireworks popping off. It's not the distance, it's just that you have lots and lots of lights even at night. Takes like twenty minutes to go from Silverlake to W. Hollywood unless you're willing to take risks. In the evenings, in traffic, it would take me 45 minutes to make the 8 mile commute from the office on Sunset to my home near Sunset Jct.

That said, I doubt a family of four is going to LIVE there on $2600 a month. You could certainly rent a house for that, maybe even pay the bills, but I doubt you're gonna make ends meet if all you got is $2600 a month.

[garbage]

Thanks for the reply. Sorry, I should clarify that $2600/month is for rent alone. I've only been to LA once and that was 15 years ago as a tourist, but I'm surprised Glendale is an hour from the beach. It certainly doesn't look far on the map.

[poptones]

Yeah, LA will get ya like that. Like I said: it's not that far if you could fly. Maybe if you bought an autogyro and a place you could park on the roof...

Keep in mind it's a big area. Glendale is contained between the 2, the 134 and the 5. You don't say WHERE in Glendale the job is. Silverlake is near one edge, but it could be all the way on the other side.

If you're making plans from there for properties to investigate, keep in mind when looking on the maps the snaky streets are going to be in the hills. The hills are where you want to live. The valley floor is HOT and smothering and may not be the nicest neighborhood (though that isn't a given). Areas with snaky streets, or near them, will put you in nicer climes. Don't be fooled by proximity; 500 ft on a street can make a huge difference in security and quality of life, especially when it's on a hillside.

[garbage]

Looks like the suburbs are a lot bigger in geographical size than I'm used to. Work would be where the Ventura Fwy crosses N Brand Boulevard.

[poptones]

See, Silverlake would be a LONG commute from there. It doesn't look too far, but you kinda have to figure like 2 minutes a block. Not always, but in rush hour it will take that sometimes or more.

I'd look to shoot straight up Brand toward the hills. A place in the Cumberland area might be in your budget. The places closer to the reservoir would have more privacy but will probably start at like twice your price range. Of course you're near the freeway, but freeway traffic in LA is a nightmare at rush hour, especially if you head up the 5 or the 2 (Glendale fwy).

Oh yeah, the area north of the 134 toward Pasadena is pretty nice, too, but you'll be dealing with traffic. There's a couple of places along the 134 there that have messed up traffic even late into the night, no idea why. It's pretty, but it'll be probably a 45 minute commute. If you get to Pasadena you've gone too far - that's "the hood." Not what you might expect: great soul food places and not scary like Slausson (well, like Slausson used to be), but it's not where I would want to be.

[uptown_urbanist]

Silverlake isn't a long way from Glendale, especially not that main downtown part of Glendale. That would be a very easy commute, and can be quickly done by city streets (I used to take Los Feliz Blvd to Brand up to Broadway every day during rush hour as part of a longer Hollywood-Pasadena commute; that section won't take long). Actually, for many of these areas you might want to stay off the freeway.

And Pasadena is very nice (except portions of NW Pasadena, which are presumably the ones mentioned above), but you might as well stick closer to work.

Silverlake is really nice if you can find a place you can afford; other options include Glendale itself, Burbank, or Eagle Rock (part of the city of LA, and east of Glendale). I know a lot of people who have chosen Burbank because the schools are decent, the cost is lower than some of the other cities with good schools, it's safe, and it's known for being pretty family-friendly.

[backpacker71]

Montrose. Close to Glendale, super safe. A gem of a city in the foothills of the Verdugo Mountains right next door to Glendale, it practically is Glendale.

[BRinSM]

i would look in the la canada/la crescenta area. it's very nice and suburban and also close to glendale. avoid the beach, you can take trips there on the weekends once it warms up.

[uptown_urbanist]

Isn't Montrose officially part of Glendale? Either way, that's a great suggestion. La Canada could work, too, but prices tend to be high there. It's worth a look, though.