Which neighborhoods? (Santa Monica: to rent, condo, buy)

[luvpunkbetty]

We are a couple in our early 30's looking to start a family and move to LA. We can spend up to $2500 a month, and would love a yard. What neighborhoods are young families moving into? We want to be able to walk to stores and cafes. An area full of creative, artsy musician types.
Any help is so appreciated!!!

[bhcompy]

you're not going to find a lot of places that suit your needs(yard, price, walkable, and artsy) here. best bet would be belmont shore/naples/coastal long beach, but it will be tough finding a decent place with a yard for that price i think

[Mike121]

I know I'll probably get ridiculed for suggesting this, but, I'd go with Silver Lake or Echo Park or the flat part of Hollywood. Meets the requirements: yard, price, walkable, artsy.

But, the big concern there is that the local schools are in poor shape, and, some of the housing stock is in need of some serious repair.

In LA, I think it is safe to say that the way people deal with the poor schools is influenced by their race. White people often send their kids to private school or try to move to expensive enclaves where the schools are good. Latinos send their kids to the local schools and hope for the best.

A good, if slightly outdated, resource on how to get a good free education for your kids in the LAUSD is Sandra Tsing Loh's guide. http://www.sandratsingloh.com/media/The_Guide_v2.pdf

[Charles]

Originally Posted by luvpunkbetty

We are a couple in our early 30's looking to start a family and move to LA. We can spend up to $2500 a month, and would love a yard. What neighborhoods are young families moving into? We want to be able to walk to stores and cafes. An area full of creative, artsy musician types.
Any help is so appreciated!!!

Why do you want to move to LA?
What line of work are you in?
When you start a family, will there be one or two people working?
Where are you going to be working?
Are you going to rent forever? If no, what will be your housing price range?

[the one]

i second the echo, silver lake areas. los feliz but it might be a bit pricier. LB is nice to, very pedestrian (in some areas, not so much in others)

as for schools. children achieve when parents are invovled. in private schools the kids receive more individual attention from teachers. in public, the parent needs to be involved a lot more.

on a side note" latinos deal with education in many different ways. go to east los or south central and see how many paraochial schools exist and check the demography. granted these arent the prestigious, exclusive schools that the "white" families might enroll their kids in, but its private none the less and it provides the attention some kids need. not all latinos kids go to public schools.

[Lexilula]

If you're willing to rent, or buy a 2 BR condo, I would highly recommend Santa Monica. Not sure about the young family aspect (we lived there before we had kids), but we loved the creative feel of Main Street and the walking conveniences of 3rd st promenade. We often talk about moving back there now (we had to move to Boston for work) and just living with little or no yard. The farmers market on main street (sundays) is the best!

[Mike121]

In my previous comment about race and schools, it was clearly an oversimplification. I apologize if I caused offense. I was describing the Anglo and Latino parents that I know and should not have extrapolated this to be universally true.