Help! Torrance Area (Los Angeles, Santa Clarita, Orange: low crime, how much, house)

[DFWtoLA]

Hello, I have a potential job offer in Torrance. The job will require a relocation from Dallas to Torrance. The job pays well ($175K). I have two daughters (both 13 years old). My wife will be working from home. We were looking at the Santa Clarita area for relocation (for a different job) when this new job was kind of thrown at me. The problem is I know nothing about Torrance! Can anyone please provide me some info on the place. For example:

1) Is it safe? Is it safe for a family of four? Family friendly?
2) Where are are nice areas to live? Is orange county too far away?
3) What are some nice places to live closer to Santa Monica maybe?
4) What are the schools like (in nearby cities also)?
5) What is traffic like (I know it is bad - but how bad?)
6) What is life like in Torrance - I have a tremendous amount of info on Santa Clarita - where we were looking to move too but, how does Santa Clarita and Torrance rate with each other.

What else can you tell me? What else do I need to know? THANK YOU!!!

[SoCal168]

Hi, I used to live in Torrance. Maybe I can help you with your questions.
1. It depends on the location. Southwest Torrance is good or anything with zip code 90505 and 90503 are good. The closer to Palos Verdes, the better. You will feel safe and family friendly in that area.
2. See no. 1 answer. Orange County-Santa Clarita is too far away.
3. I don't really know about Santa Monica area.
4. Southwest/South Torrance school is good.
5. No idea about traffic to Santa Clarita.
6. I believe Torrance is much better to live than Santa Clarita. Low crimes too.

[Charles]

Is the Santa Clarita job still available? Similar salary? If I had a choice, I would take a job in Santa Clarita for a little less money (say $150K). It's not as crowded. There are plenty of new, nice, master planned neighborhoods (Stevenson Ranch for example), and most likely less traffic hassles. I'm guessing you'd get a 3000 square foot home for the mid $500s. It is hotter in the summer though. I'd take the heat over the urban density of the South Bay.

If Torrance for sure, then Torrance, Redondo Beach, PV, Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, Seal Beach. The beach communities like Redondo, Hermosa, Manhattan and to a lesser extent El Segundo are really crowded and really, really expensive.

California School Performance Maps

Orange County is not too far away in miles but the 405 is brutal southbound in the afternoon. I worked in El Segundo and vanpooled from south OC and even in the carpool lanes and leaving at 5AM and 330PM it was an hour in the morning and 1.5 hours in the PM.

[Joe Van Fossen]

I wonder if this is the same potential job offer from the other poster who is thinking of moving from Texas to Torrance. I had a friend who lived in Houston and interviewed with Toyota (in Torrance). There's something about Torrance based companies and Texans...

There are definitely fine areas of Torrance, and nice surrounding areas like Rendondo Beach and the other places Charles mentioned. Yes, traffic is bad, but from what I understand, Dallas is no picnic either.

[SLA74]

I grew up in the area of Torrance, and can attest to the fact that it is a very pleasant, family-oriented community overall. The less desirable/more-sketchy parts of Torrance are the north and east parts of Torrance, with the south and west parts being most desirable. The Torrance school district is very highly regarded, although of course the better schools are in the better parts of the city. It's basically a very suburban city with lots of peaceful single-family residence neighborhoods, malls, etc. and it does have beach access (actually my favorite beaches in Southern California are the Torrance (Hollywood Riviera)/Redondo Beach (Avenues) ones). It is surrounded by other similar cities, although generally the more desirable areas besides Torrance itself are south and west of that area. It can feel far from the rest of Los Angeles, especially if you're into the more urban cultural scene. A good compromise might be living in the Culver City/Westchester area if you want to be closer to places like West LA/Santa Monica since the commute to Torrance from there is great if you work traditional hours. I lived in Westechester for awhile and commuted to Torrance and it rarely took me longer than 20 minutes and that was on the 405 freeway, which is legendary for its bad traffic.

As far as comparing Santa Clarita and Torrance...I don't know much about SC other than its hot as hell and far from the fun parts of LA. Torrance has amazing weather (my opinion: that area of southern California has some of the best weather on the planet...it's considered hot when it gets into the 80's and in the winter the low 60's is considered cold, plus low humidity and lots of sunshine). Santa Clarita may be cheaper than Torrance in terms of housing...it's pretty expensive to buy a house in that area.

The key to figuring out where to live is also figuring out how much time you'll have to spend in traffic to go anywhere you want. The traffic alone was enough to make me want to leave the area forever, even though my immediate family and most of my close friends are still there. You're not going to really want to go very far from where you live on a regular basis if your idea of fun does not include hanging out in lots of traffic. The area that Torrance is in, called the South Bay, is a nice area and traffic wise is not bad at all compared to the rest of the LA area. That changes if you have to leave the area to go elsewhere in the city. I would definitely not consider Orange County if you'll be working in Torrance. That commute is a nightmare!

Let me know if you have any more questions and I'll try to help!

[PureHapa]

1) Is it safe? Is it safe for a family of four? Family friendly?

Yup, yup, yup.

2) Where are are nice areas to live? Is orange county too far away?

South Torrance including Hollywood Riviera, West Torrance.
OC is not far.

3) What are some nice places to live closer to Santa Monica maybe?

Manhattan Beach but very dense and $$$$$.

4) What are the schools like (in nearby cities also)?

Torrance schools are very good.

5) What is traffic like (I know it is bad - but how bad?)

Not bad compared to the rest of L.A. metro area.

6) What is life like in Torrance - I have a tremendous amount of info on Santa Clarita - where we were looking to move too but, how does Santa Clarita and Torrance rate with each other.

Torrance is about 25% Asian immigrants due to the good schools and safety. It is safe suburbia close to the beach.