What About Pacoima? (Los Angeles, Burbank, San Fernando: real estate, apartments, foreclosures)

[LA4Ever]

First post, happy lurker who thanks all who post opinions here.

I'm a single woman, no kids, average income, getting ready to make the move from renting a small, noisy studio apt. in Hollywood to buying something that feels more like a home and less like a box. I've looked everywhere for decent "starter" options 200K or less and found a great townhouse I really like in Pacoima, near Glen Oaks Blvd. and Osborne. I already know that Pacoima is 90% Latino (which I know makes some people uncomfortable, but I could care less) and parts of it are really lovely.

Does anyone have any personal experience with Pacoima? I'm leaning towards Pacoima because it's only a 5-8 minute drive from Burbank (shopping, things to do) and about a 15 drive from there to Hollywood (middle of day, light traffic). I work near Koreatown, so really prefer to live a reasonable commuting time away. Open to your opinions and suggestions. Thanks in advance!

[LaoTzuMindFu]

I must admit, that I dont think there are any "lovely" parts of Pacoima. The crime and gangs there are awful.

My suggestion, wait around for a few more months as prices continue to drop then go for something in a little better area.

[the one]

tho i have never set foot in pacoima, all i hear from friends and relatives who have lived there is negative.

to me the valley just seems like a dirty dirty hot place. (i know not all of it is) and pacoima is just that. dirty and def enough gangs and shootings. some young guy got killed a couple weeks ago on my friends block. and two weeks before that a 16 yo got killed.

im used to this type of stuff, but for some reason the valley just seems like a OK corral typa place.
but you know what they say. your afraid of everyones ghetto, except your own.

i would wait and find some other place. or maybe rent temporarily in the area and see if it works for you. it just might. but who knows...

[Lake Conroe resident]

You will probably have to learn Spanish in order to patranize local business establishments otherwise you will have to drive out of the area to shop, and though you may not care about living in a 95% Latino area they more than likely will.

[fastfilm]

I have driven through Pacoima surface streets virtually every day for the last 15 years (Woodman and Osborne/Foothill are as integral a shortcut across huge expanses of the Valley as La Cienega/Stocker are to cross WLA to downtown via Stocker, Rodeo, etc. Both routes are L.A.'s "secret freeways.")

You say you wish to move from a noisy box. Just what is your tolerance for even noisier boxes? When you live amongst the very lowest income immigrant groups in Los Angeles, you can't avoid horrendous noise levels, be it DJ parties with outdoor P.A. systems, or the unfortunate reality of domestic and gang violence. A philosophizing friend put it thusly: poverty plus frustration equals violence. I can't believe you want to place yourself into this arena.

When I drive through Pacoima, I notice the amount of unsafe drivers increases drastically, due to the locales' lack of knowledge of American driving laws and practices. I also notice that those "normal," living their own lives family types get the hell off the streets at night. Sort of like other drastically poor areas of L.A., wherein the working poor must barricade themselves in for the night and not come out until daybreak.

Pacoima is not worth it. Even if you're barricaded into your "nice" townhouse, what if you have to leave for an emergency at night or even shopping or entertainment? How street savvy are you? Can you deflect gang vehicles stopped at a red light with you? (Hint- NEVER engage.) Do you mind being considered a target for all the neighborhood's miscreants, just because you're not "one of them?" Are you ready to live like this for as long as you're there? There's a real difference between poor neighborhoods, and poor+dangerous neighborhoods like Pacoima and Panorama City.

There are other options for lower-income would-be homeowners. Even parts of *cough* Van Nuys where I live have starter townhomes that aren't adjacent abject slums. If, as you say, you don't mind not being able to converse with people around you who speak nothing but the language of the country they left, this is even a better option than Pacoima. We drive to close by Sherman Oaks for supplies. My husband also commutes daily to Koreatown, and the 170 freeway to Gower and southward is a much easier commuting option than a lot of others. Burbank itself is 10 to 20 minutes away as well, depending on time of day.

[Lovehound]

I'm with Fastfilm on this. Pacoima is one of the poorer parts of the Valley with all the problems that are associated with poor communities. It's difficult for me to imagine what would be a worse part of the Valley if it isn't Pacoima.

OP, I think you should give some serious thought to another alternative. Like Fastfilm said, maybe Van Nuys. In fact have a look at Van Nuys west of the 405, Victory to Roscoe. I'd rather live there than in Pacoima. In fact I do live there.

[calipoppy]

Don't move to the SFV unless you can afford to live in the hills. Most of everthing else in the Valley is not (or in less than 5 yrs will not) be a good place to put down roots. And its not because its major Hispanic. Its because the Hispanic population that inhabits that area are very poor, a good number are undocumented, disregard the laws and are uneducated which lends itself to a whole host of problems.

[laquests]

Can anyone tell me how these poor, uneducated Hispanics were/are able to afford to live in places like say San Fernando which (as I look on my map) seems to be in a geographicly desireable area- close to National Forest and the Hills? When did this happen and how? Was the place full of apartments? If it was mainly a SFH area why would the older (White) residents flee? A little history please. Laquest

[SandyCo]

To the OP, I agree with everyone else who posted here. If you don't mind hearing gunfire, etc., and dealing with large amounts of graffiti, then by all means move to Pacoima. Basically, that entire section of the Valley (which includes Arleta, North Hills, etc.) is a pit. You get what you pay for in L.A., and if it's cheaper than almost anywhere else, there's probably a reason! There must be a better option; do you really want to gamble with your health and safety?

And welcome to City-Data!

[fastfilm]

Both LA4ever and LAquests have asked valid questions, but City-data.com and its moderators have ruled that threads about immigration and specifically illegal immigration belong elsewhere. I believe that these topics are so integral to understanding Los Angeles demographics that I gingerly will attempt to shed light. Sandyco, keep a ringside seat if I cross the line.

Pacoima and Arleta used to be semi-rural back in the day, as did the entirety of the SFValley even further back in the day. If you've seen the fine film "La Bamba," its depiction of '50's musical icon Richie Valens (Valenzuela) and his family shows that way earlier Pacoima, a place more similar to lower income places around the U.S. to this day on the outskirts of wealthier urban areas. This used to be where legal immigrants settled, in a place they both could afford and that had a community in which they felt comfortable. There were a lot of legal immigrants' families left over from SFValley's earlier rural past. The present City of San Fernando reflects this well: mostly all legal of Latino descent, and settled for generations.

The northeastern-most part of Pacoima even retained two pluses: an industrially-zoned area abutting San Fernando Road and its rail-lines, perfect for business development and job-creation, and vestigial horse-zoning abutting Lake View Terrace which COULD HAVE been developed into higher income horse-zoned boarding facilities and income-producing estates. Horse-zoning in Los Angeles, which is less than 2% of the entirety of Los Angeles County, traditionally has added tons of income and horse-related jobs (retail as well as grooming) to its own economy, as it remains so rare in urban areas.

But no.

Here's what changed Pacoima, Arleta, Panorama City, parts of Van Nuys and the rest of the San Fernando Valley from its prior bedroom community of middle class, lower middle class, blue collar and others, be they American citizens or legal newcomers who all got along well while pursuing the American dream of homeownership and starter homeownership: illegal immigration.

The mid-1980's amnesty, and the post-Northridge earthquake downturn (we really were wrecked all over- believe me. On my block alone, two deaths across the street from me, and massive foreclosures from folks who couldn't afford repairs even with FEMA help) opened floodgates for illegal immigration. Here's how: legal immigrants with homeownership rent to illegal realtives and acquaintances. (That's how you get five families of illegals in one tiny house in Pacoima- they rent from the legal one.) Illegals then convey to all would-be illegals from their countries of origin how easy it is break the laws here and get around the Valley with impunity because of Special Order 40 over the police force, which rules that ICE cannot be brought in, even for apprehended perpetrators.

What resulted is that to which Calipoppy refers. You have ever-increasing, huge populations of people with no respect for American laws, from the smallest to the most critical. (But what about the rest of us, Calipoppy, that never are able to afford those hillside safety oases?)

Smallest nuisances: no communication possible with your neighbors, who will not be speaking English, and could be speaking any of 5 prevalent languages; lack of adherence to American standards of hygiene; trashing and debris because their country of origin had no trash collection and that's what they're used to; everpresent amplified noise blasted at stadium-level P.A. systems; old country misogyny, and so on.

Larger problems: blatant and frequently egregious violations of Building & Safety codes which will endanger your property and investment; dangerous diving by unlicensed drivers who drive as badly as they did in their country of origin, where, for instance, drunk driving isn't considered especially wrong; overall lack of adherence to American practices and laws, because illegals got away with a biggie being here. This sense of lawlessness as the norm incubates the gangs, like MS-13 which claims loyalty to El Salvador, the Mexican Mafia (eponymous but with loyalty to prison gangs) etc. and foments resentment to American citizens, be they born or naturalized, in general. Illegals make terrible neighbors: I know from experience.

Despite more modest real estate costs and what the new posters noted as reasonably convenient locations, nothing will change what has been set in motion, because Los Angeles will continue to do nothing to stem the tide of illegals and gangs. As a longtime neighborhood activist who continues to try to improve the lot of everyone here in my section of the Valley instead of just complaining, I know it is akin to sweeping the waves back into the ocean. I have cynically concluded that the powers that be in Los Angeles City government are only too happy to have a magnet to draw "undesirables" from their own toney residences and propagate them here in the Valley.