West Hills / Box Canyon (Simi Valley, Santa Barbara: 2013, houses, to live in)

[kmo20]

Any random opinions about this area? Would you want to live there? Why or why not? Assume commuting isn't an issue.

[elhelmete]

Assuming commuting is not an issue?

If that's meant to convey that one either works from home or more or less doesn't need to work at all...

Yes.

I love that area.

When I would need 'civilization' it's a quick pop over to Porter Ranch or Simi.

[kmo20]

Originally Posted by elhelmete

I love that area.

What do you love about it?

Originally Posted by elhelmete

When I would need 'civilization' it's a quick pop over to Porter Ranch or Simi.

West Hills has it's own 'civilization' doesn't it? Around Victory, Sherman, Roscoe, etc.? I guess you run into Canoga Park or Woodland Hills at some point but that seems closer than Porter Ranch or Simi.

What about the "extreme fire danger" signs everywhere in Box Canyon? Worth the risk?

[elhelmete]

Originally Posted by kmo20

What do you love about it?



West Hills has it's own 'civilization' doesn't it? Around Victory, Sherman, Roscoe, etc.? I guess you run into Canoga Park or Woodland Hills at some point but that seems closer than Porter Ranch or Simi.

What about the "extreme fire danger" signs everywhere in Box Canyon? Worth the risk?

Fire doesn't bother me.

I love the sky, the varied landscape, the reservoir, peacefulness. When I've been through there it seems like there's little "pass-through" traffic.

West Hills has some commercial activity to be sure in the areas you listed, but Porter Ranch is closer than comparable areas in Woodland Hills. I'm really only referring to larger-scale shopping and restaurants. Even so, Woodland Hills and Calabasas aren't too far away.

[BRinSM]

box canyon is quite nice and feels very rural. it reminds me a lot of topanga canyon, but considerably warmer in the summer. the views there are quite nice as well. you'll either have a view of the chatsworth "resevoir", the mountains, or both. having said that, it's quite secluded. you're probably closer to civilization in simi valley at that point than anywhere in the san fernando valley. i've never lived in the area, but have cycled through box canyon quite a few times. i really like that whole area adjacent to valley circle and north of roscoe.

[nightlysparrow]

Box Canyon and the area it comes down into---Lake Manor, Chatsworth---are unincorporated, so not much code interference from the county. All the area is on septic tanks, but are on county water and power. Fire signs are in all the canyons in LA and all over SoCal. It's THE risk.

There's a lot of funky and cool architecture, including a geodesic dome, but also a lot of modified shacks. There are some intruding bigger houses, but most of the lots are tiny, and the streets so narrow that it's hard to gentrify. People talk to their neighbors. It's nice having access to both the SF Valley and Simi Valley, the 101 and the 118, and you can take Topanga over to the beach.

[UB50]

It's too hot in the summer for me. Same thing with Woodland Hills and Simi Valley. I don't like temps over 90.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

It's the best of both worlds in a sense. On the one hand it is part of the great northwestern hinterlands of Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties but on the other hand, as others have noted, it is not that difficult to do city stuff from there. Canoga and Woodland are not very far.

[kmo20]

Yeah, the geography is great. Very scenic. And relatively affordable.

What about Rocketdyne? Are people just hoping there are no side-effects or has there ever been any proof that the area is ok to live in?

[kmo20]

Another article here.

"One of the biggest questions that remains is: ‘Who would actually want to live on a place, or eat food grown in a place carrying the chemical and radiation history of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory?"