Looking for some solid advice on LA areas to consider moving to - please help (San Diego: middle-class)

[Chinolala]

Okay, maybe you can provide me some advise. I am very loosely thinking about move to Southern California. I don't have any specific area in mind, as long as it's somewhere between the Thousand Oaks area, south to Redondo Beach or Orange County. If I sell my condo, I'd have about $60k in the bank and a paid off car. I'm in a line of work that I should be able to find a job within 3 months tops. Finding a job isn't my concern. I just have no idea where to live. I've been to Santa Monica, Malibu, Laguna Beach, etc. and know I can't afford to live there. I don't have children so school quality is of no importance to me. Living close to the beach isn't a priority or necessarily an option, but it would be nice to live within 15 miles from it. Having lived in Chicago for most of my life, I'm used to high gas prices, bad traffic, crime, gangs and all the plights of living in a large city. I do like the ethnic diversity of Chicago and don't know if Southern California is as diverse? I once moved to a different city and found it to be black and white..no European culture whatsoever and I lasted 1 year there. I LOVE the ocean, the beach and the hills that CA has. I find the state to be very beautiful and I'd like to give this a try. Having done alot of research on the web, it seems that real estate prices are so expensive! I don't know if I could even afford to buy a single family home in Compton. I live in a condo now and would like to have 1000 sq ft and parking. I'm pretty low maintenance. The area doesn't have to be completely safe/gated or anything like that. If I can take a walk after dark close to my condo, I'm fine with that. I would probably initially rent before I buy anything and the areas that seem to be in my price range are: Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Agoura Hilla, Moorpark, Simi Valley, Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach. I haven't researched Orange County too much but maybe Irvine is a good option? My present commute to work right now is 14 miles and that takes 45 minutes to an hour so I'm used to a sucky commute. I do use public transportation when I go into the city and may want to live near the Metrolink if at all possible. Can anyone give me some advise on where to concentrate my research on? And would be moving from Chicago be a culture shock in any way? What should I know?

[sgvkev]

Here's some info:

You should be fine in all those areas you listed as none of those cities have any bad areas really. I'll throw in Huntington Beach (northeast side since that's where most of the condos are while the rest is mainly single family homes and very upscale), Tustin (east of Red Hill), Costa Mesa (except for southwest which is the bad part although it may not look like it at first glance), and Orange (north of Katella) as well.

A hint on what's a bad area and what isn't is a large Hispanic/black population. In LA county almost every bad area has a large Hispanic population (not necessarily majority as west SFV has majority white areas that are iffy like Reseda and Winnetka and Rosemead in the SGV has a majority Asian population but isn't a good area by any means). Not stereotyping by any means just stating the facts.

SoCal is very diverse. You have white areas (anywhere that's middle class or above), Asian areas (Alhambra, San Gabriel, Monterey Park, Rosemead, Walnut, Diamond Bar, Temple City, Arcadia, San Marino, Rowland Heights), Hispanic areas (most cities that have a bad rep), and pockets of black areas (northwest Pasadena, south central LA, parts of Compton, Carson, and Inglewood).

Hope this helps.

[laviachi]

As a former Chicagoan, I think you would feel culture shock if you are more of a city person. If you are more of a suburban in mindset there is less of a culture shock. Public transit as you know it in Chicago does not really exist. Yes, there are buses and trains here but very few go to where anyone actually works. Chicago is a true city with neighborhoods, architecture, culture, all in one place. Everything out here is spread out -- most of SoCal are overgrown suburbs turning into more citified places due to high density of population. Life is more like operating out of hubs such as Schaumburg, Oak Brook, Joliet, and Oak Park -- with a car. You mention the areas "don't have to be safe" but the areas you mention out here are more equivalent to Arlington Heights, Hoffman Estates, Wheaton & Naperville. Irvine is similar to Schaumburg/Oak Brook. I've mentioned before that there is "perception vs. reality" when dealing with California, especially coming from the midwest.

[sponger42]

I suggest you check out El Segundo if you can find a job anywhere. It's centrally located near the Airport, Marina, and fun beach cities. Live a little inland (bike to the beach) near the refineries for cheaper rents. It's about a 1.5 hour drive to San Diego, 7 hours to San Francisco, 7 hours to Mammoth (world-class skiing), 15 minutes to downtown and hollywood (in the middle of the night with no traffic). During traffic hours, you can take the green/blue line subways into downtown and even the redline over to hollywood if you're up for a big journey (thanks to the transfer times).

If I could live/work anywhere in the LA area, I would pick El Segundo thanks to it's location, reasonable prices, and decent surfing.

However, if you can't work just anywhere, just live where you work. Commuting more than 10 miles during regular work hours (and less in some cases) will totally kill your soul out here due to the hideous traffic. If you can't ride a bus/bike/subway to work, you'll hate your life in less than a year, I garantee it. Unless you can work off-hours.

[blueyes721]

how about Culver City?

[Chinolala]

Thanks to everyone that replied so far. The more info, the better.

[Sorcerer68]

Redondo or Hermosa. My personal pick is South Redondo, I grew up there and IMHO it's the nicest of all the areas mentioned. North Redondo is another animal although you'll find more reasonable rent there. I've lived in both. No, they aren't separate cities. Hermosa is nice too but you'll be much closer to your neighbors.

[straight outta camden]

My advice is not to buy. The CA real estate market has very likely peaked, credit is more expensive, and the fallout from the subprime implosion is likely to severely affect the kind of middle-class areas you are thinking of living in. Rent instead, at least until you are very sure where you want to live.

[Art Landing]

Would coming to LA from Chicago be a culture shock?

If you've not been here, probably. But millions have adjusted and so likely will you unless you just love wind and snow.

As for slamming the Hispanics, forget such bigotry. They're the dominent racial group so there are elements in that group that need to be watched. But generalizations are not valid. Some heavily Hispanic areas, Rosemead for example (which got slammed above), have violent crime rates 60% below the county average according to the Sheriff's department.

Schools are definitely a factor - the city has an intermediate school Science Olympiad team that has won three years in a row and the elementary schools boasts some of the highest API scores in the region.

Not buying until you know what you want is definitely a good idea. We don't have the population density to support eastern style public transportation, which is why most of us live in cars. Expect to follow suit or spend 2-3 hours a day on a bus.

We do have ethnic diversity - the LA School District has to offer classes to 55 different languages and every group it seems has its (name your country of origin)town. But most people will give you a smile if you give them one of yours.