Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Area - Good Neighborhoods? (Los Angeles, Torrance: middle-class, apartment complexes, condominiums)

[Clyde Kneejerk]

Howdy all,

Looking to settle in and around Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena for a job I'm about to take (specifically downtown Glendale). I'm afraid I know nothing much about the area - any spots or apartment complexes that are decent neighborhoods with low crime/noise w/in the $1500-$2000 range? I'm single and have no pets but I have legally-owned guns which is why burglaries and such really concern me. The plus side I guess is I'll be much closer to the Angeles shooting range, the bad side is if I pick the wrong neighborhood, well, I'm sure you can put two-and-two together.

Thanks for reading/posting.

[Clyde Kneejerk]

Can anyone comment on any of the below complexes? Most seems to have pretty decent apartmentratings/Yelp scores. I actually would prefer a complex with zero amenities, if there's no pool or bbq or common area that's less opportunity for kids to run wild and partiers to go on everyday til 3AM that seems to afflict bigger complexes on AR and Yelp.

Thanks again.

Burbank
Oaks Apartments
330 N Screenland Dr

Teluca Terrace
333 N Screenland Dr

Glendale
IMT Glendale

Verdugo Village Condominiums
1717 N Verdugo Rd

Lomita Apartments
207 West Lomita Avenue

416 on Broadway Apartments

Pasadena
Pasadena Gateway Villas
290 North Hudson Avenue

The Stuart at Sierra Madre

[ccm123]

North Glendale (La Crescenta, etc) is nice. South Pasadena and generally the east side of Pasadena is nice, although there are other pockets within central Pasadena that are nice (near Cal Tech, as an example). Cannot comment on Burbank as I don't know the area.

[Samoi137]

You will visit all of them to see the properties and neighborhoods, and what the commute to your job, shopping, etc. would be like? You'll have car? I always liked Pasadena, but the exact residence, and commute, as well as costs, would be big factors.

[smokingGun]

They're all really safe areas comprised of upper middle-class homeowners. So you've got nothing to fear. I've found that the closer you get to the hills the less loud drunken 20-somethings you get in your buildings. If you had little kids i'd recommend La Crescenta fwiw.

[Clyde Kneejerk]

Howdy all,

Thanks so far for the inputs. Any other feedback out there? Thanks again.

[readymade]

I live in Burbank and I love it. There's a shooting range here, fyi. And Go-Karts!

I'm not sure that there's a "bad" section of Burbank. I've always felt very safe here. My only worry is that it will be kind of boring for a single guy.

[oomph]

I have lived in this area many years. The highest end suburb is a place called La Canada~Flintridge. This is at the base of the Angeles Crest Forest. To the east is JPL ( jet propulusion lab) and Altadena -Altadena has pockets which can be nice and some more challenging. South of Altadena is Pasadena, Pasadena is bordered on the east by the Arroyo. This surrounds the Rosebowl the west section is very exclusive. up in the hills there you will find Art Center college of Design. Old town Pasdena is the plum here. South of the arroyo is the 134 free way and south of that is Eagle rock. All these areas are acceptable.

West of La Canada Flintridge is La Crescenta and then Tujunga. These are all bedroom communities decreasing in price east to west. Serving all 3 of these areas is a small little retail village on Honolulu Ave called Montrose. Many people find this enclave charming. This is very suburban for my taste. It is a good place to raise children, with La Canada High School being the most noteworthy. South of Montrose is Glendale. This is an emerging city, with a very high concentration of Armenians. At the south end of Glendale is Atwater village a little trendy gentrified area. Glendale can be nice for its location and easy access to central Los Angeles. To the west of Glendale is Burbank. Burbank has some shopping areas on its north and the studios are to the south.

I think Studio City is a jewel in all of these areas. But here you may find a little more raucous life style. Enough rambling. You cant go wrong in most of the areas you chose. At least if you land there , you can get oriented and refine your choice

[buzzkillb]

Part of Burbank is near the runway to the airport. So that may or may not matter to you. You might want look around Olive and San Fernando near the little shopping area and mall as a good place to find an apartment in Burbank.

I worked in Pasadena near the Paseo for many years. If you are going to Pasadena you may want to stick near Old Town on Colorado. But you want to be south of the 210 Freeway in this area. As you travel East in Pasadena, North of the 210 past Lake or so, becomes nicer. There is a funny section of Pasadena that isn't so great, but you would only understand if you drove the area.

Glendale, as you get closer to the hills, becomes nicer. My Mom's house is close to Hoover High School. Believe it or not a lot of celebrities live on this side of the mountain. This is considered a nice area, which has Apartments if you go towards the direction of Pacific and Stocker near the Ralphs. Glendale has the other mountain near GCC (Glendale Community College) which I am not as familiar with. One of my good friends recently moved into an apartment over on that side (Verdugo) and he hasn't had any issues.

La Crescenta would be much nicer but is sort of a drive from places and isn't convenient to public transportation. Others look in Pasadena because generally people like that area and its really easy to catch the subway to get into Downtown for his job. I think it depends on if you have a car, want to drive to work, have kids, and what else you like to do would be easier to pinpoint which of the cities is better to live in. As others have mentioned you can't really go wrong in any of them.

[Clyde Kneejerk]

Thanks everyone.

Boring and quiet, that's me. I really don't want or care for a nightlife and never was much for a partier, if I could I would move into a senior community

The areas I think I should be targeting is along the 134 (anywhere between Burbank and Pasadena) North and South a couple of miles. That will still put me in easy reach to the 110 and 5 to take me back down to the Torrance area for my part time gig. Actually, for this purpose I was considering the Lincoln Heights-Monterey Heights-Los Feliz area (by Washington Blvd for proximity to the Metro Blue Line) so I can split the time/distance between Torrance and Glendale - are these sketchy neighborhoods since they're closer to South Central LA?

Thanks again ya'll, can't say how much I appreciate the advice.