Sepulveda and West 80th “Westchester” — good area for kids? (Santa Monica: houses, neighborhood)

[adpraeteritum]

I grew up in LA and the IE, I’ve lived in Albuquerque for 3 years and before that I was in Phoenix for 4 years. I’m a 25 year old single dad with a 6 year old boy. My grandparents still live in LA, around Sepulveda and W80th and my grandpa’s buddy has offered me a good job so I’m considering going to live with them with my son. Schools aren’t a huge concern, they’ve agreed to pay for Catholic for him, but I still want to get some opinions about the area. I grew up on the other side of the county in San Dimas and then in Redlands and I’m really not familiar with the West Side at all.

[Taiko]

A Y.M.C.A. , a Presbyterian Church and a Mormon Church are the dominant features in that area. Besides traffic zipping by on Sepulveda BL itself I really don't see a problem for children

[ccm123]

That is not a bad area for kids, as long as you are off of the main road (Sepulveda), which
has a lot of traffic. (As mentioned previously.)

Another possible consideration is the jet aircraft departure noise as you are in close proximity to LAX. I believe you should be fine, as the complaints of aircraft noise are usually from the south side of LAX (in the city of El Segundo, south of Imperial Highway.)

I lived in El Segundo & Redondo years ago and Westchester is regarded as a family neighborhood.

[Cloudwalker]

It's a pretty good spot for your situation. Apart from the highway of Sepulveda, it's solidly residential around that area, lots of families, generally safe, pretty tidy and quiet (although I think you have to pay attention to student housing closer to Loyola). Easy access to the 405. If you ever get the chance to go out yourself, you are fairly close (10-15min drive) to Venice, Culver City, Santa Monica. You will hear airport noise, but not so bad in that area as the areas closer to Playa del Rey (most of the houses are double-glazed etc). You will hear it more at certain times of the year because of atmospheric conditions. And how great for your son to get a chance to live with older generations in your family.

[1200RT]

There are some great side streets in Westchester - It gets nicer as you get closer to Lincoln, IMO. A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, I used to own a home on Loyola between 80th and 83rd - spent a few summers there after graduating college. Wish I still owned it, because its worth 3x what I sold it for (and this wasn't really that long ago in the scheme of things). It'll really depend where exactly the house is on if its good for kids - 80th is a through street, so can be fairly busy, but I believe they put speed humps in a few years back.