Commuting to Century City - Where to Live with Good Schools? (Los Angeles: house, neighborhood)

[Meowen]

I live in Hollywood and commute to Century City in about 20 minutes in the morning leaving at 6:45 and 35 minutes in the evening between 4pm and 5pm. You could try around here or maybe Fairfax district.

[looker009]

Originally Posted by Meowen

I live in Hollywood and commute to Century City in about 20 minutes in the morning leaving at 6:45 and 35 minutes in the evening between 4pm and 5pm. You could try around here or maybe Fairfax district.

OP wants good school, both hollywood and west hollywood do not have great school.I would not call Gardner school or Bankrupt school a good school.

[looker009]

Originally Posted by ruxmont

Sherman Oaks also looks like a nice area. How are the schools there? Greatschools and Schooldigger list all charter schools for the area - how hard are the charter schools to get into?

Yes Sherman Way is nice area, as for charter school i do not much about it. My suggestion would to call the school and find out if there is lottery involved or some other testing needed to get in.

[pwright1]

The key to a happy life in Los Angeles is living close to where you work. One of the biggest problems in LA is its traffic and suggesting places like Thousand Oaks and Calabasas should be out of the question. Can you imagine doing that 5 days a week? 35 miles one way in rush hour traffic?
That's 350 miles a week.

[SoCal_Native]

Originally Posted by pwright1

The key to a happy life in Los Angeles is living close to where you work. One of the biggest problems in LA is its traffic and suggesting places like Thousand Oaks and Calabasas should be out of the question. Can you imagine doing that 5 days a week? 35 miles one way in rush hour traffic?
That's 350 miles a week.

True. And either find hours that can eliminate most of the traffic OR get a job near a place like Thousand Oaks or South Orange County if you have kids.

[looker009]

Originally Posted by pwright1

The key to a happy life in Los Angeles is living close to where you work. One of the biggest problems in LA is its traffic and suggesting places like Thousand Oaks and Calabasas should be out of the question. Can you imagine doing that 5 days a week? 35 miles one way in rush hour traffic?
That's 350 miles a week.

The farther away you live more you get for your money. With that being said, there are plenty of jobs in the valley to reduce the commute.

[vincenze]

Why can't you rent something like this?

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...6438856_zpid/?

$4,350/mo4 bd2 ba2,200 sqft
1016 S Cloverdale Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90019

[Texamichiforniasota]

Originally Posted by looker009

OP wants good school, both hollywood and west hollywood do not have great school.I would not call Gardner school or Bankrupt school a good school.

Melrose Elem Science Magnet is rated pretty highly. Transferring in to LA schools seems like it would be a bit of a challenge, in that a lot have applications almost a year in advance. We went through the process last fall for a child enrolling this Aug. There lots of great magnet and dual language programs in LAUSD as well as some good charter schools. There are also a lot of terrible charters and terrible LAUSD schools (especiallyif you live in/near a bad neighborhood). The good thing about the charter, magnet, and dual language programs is that you have to apply, so already you are going to be with parents who put at least some effort into their kids education. The bad thing is the charters all have their own application cycles, and except for a few that have multiple campuses, you'll have to talk to and apply to each one separately to get in.

One challenge about looking at schools in LA is that a lot of magnet programs and especially dual language programs are housed at schools where maybe one or two classes per grade are the magnet or dual language programs, and the rest of the classes are just neighborhood kids. Looking at a summary of scores for a school doesn't necessarily tell you how good the magnet or dual language program is since there could be a lot of kids who aren't in the program. For example, there are some schools rated a 5 or 6 where the dual language programs have some of the highest exam pass rates in the district, but the non-dual language program kids do terrible, so the overall school scores are average. The kids in the Dual Language program don't really interact or even have class with those kids who aren't in the program, but the overall school looks mediocre when really the dual language program is quite strong.

This is an article from 2017 with a link to a spreadsheet with all of the district program test scores broken down by program instead of by school: EXCLUSIVE: For the first time, parents can now compare student achievement at all LAUSD magnets | LA School Report

I found the spreadsheet helpful, so I hope you will too- Good luck!

[ruxmont]

Originally Posted by pwright1

The key to a happy life in Los Angeles is living close to where you work. One of the biggest problems in LA is its traffic and suggesting places like Thousand Oaks and Calabasas should be out of the question. Can you imagine doing that 5 days a week? 35 miles one way in rush hour traffic?
That's 350 miles a week.

Originally Posted by looker009

The farther away you live more you get for your money. With that being said, there are plenty of jobs in the valley to reduce the commute.

We're weighing our options, and I'd rather have a smaller place and a shorter commute; time with the kids is invaluable. I don't think saving a few hundred dollars and/or having a few extra hundred square feet isn't worth the misery involved in a rough commute.

Originally Posted by vincenze

Why can't you rent something like this?

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...6438856_zpid/?

$4,350/mo4 bd2 ba2,200 sqft
1016 S Cloverdale Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90019

The place looks decent, but the assigned elementary school is terrible. Good schools are absolutely crucial for us.

Originally Posted by Texamichiforniasota

Melrose Elem Science Magnet is rated pretty highly. Transferring in to LA schools seems like it would be a bit of a challenge, in that a lot have applications almost a year in advance. We went through the process last fall for a child enrolling this Aug. There lots of great magnet and dual language programs in LAUSD as well as some good charter schools. There are also a lot of terrible charters and terrible LAUSD schools (especiallyif you live in/near a bad neighborhood). The good thing about the charter, magnet, and dual language programs is that you have to apply, so already you are going to be with parents who put at least some effort into their kids education. The bad thing is the charters all have their own application cycles, and except for a few that have multiple campuses, you'll have to talk to and apply to each one separately to get in.

One challenge about looking at schools in LA is that a lot of magnet programs and especially dual language programs are housed at schools where maybe one or two classes per grade are the magnet or dual language programs, and the rest of the classes are just neighborhood kids. Looking at a summary of scores for a school doesn't necessarily tell you how good the magnet or dual language program is since there could be a lot of kids who aren't in the program. For example, there are some schools rated a 5 or 6 where the dual language programs have some of the highest exam pass rates in the district, but the non-dual language program kids do terrible, so the overall school scores are average. The kids in the Dual Language program don't really interact or even have class with those kids who aren't in the program, but the overall school looks mediocre when really the dual language program is quite strong.

This is an article from 2017 with a link to a spreadsheet with all of the district program test scores broken down by program instead of by school: EXCLUSIVE: For the first time, parents can now compare student achievement at all LAUSD magnets | LA School Report

I found the spreadsheet helpful, so I hope you will too- Good luck!

Great info. I will check it out. Thank you!

[Social Democrat]

OP - you may want to check out Beverly Hills. Don't everyone say no way, take a look at the attached listing to get an idea of the possibilities.
BH is next to Century City, has great schools and is safe.
The attached listing has 3 bedrooms plus a bonus room so could work for the OP and family.
It's free to look, right? Good luck and welcome to California!
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3...20520468_zpid/