Please Help!!!!!!Family relocating to LA (Los Angeles, Long Beach: home, best schools, university)

[shelbylominac]

Hello, we are a military family being relocated to Los Angeles AFB. Is it possible to commute from Thousand Oaks or Westlake Village daily to El Segundo (LA AFB)? What would the realistic average commute time be? I've seen anywhere from 50 min. to 3 hours. The housing and schools here seem nicer than more southern areas like Rancho Palos Verdes. We are moving from DC suburb so my husband is used to 1 1/2 hour commute, but we were hoping to shorten that. Would it be worthwhile to commute to be in a more family friendly area or should we try to stay around Palos Verdes/Rolling Hills/Redondo Beach? Any help would be greatly appreciated .

[HSP1161]

The commute from TO/WV to El Segundo would be pure hell. Major traffic going south on 101 across the valley, then again going over the Sepulveda Pass (101 & 405 has been rated the most congested in the US), then once more going through West LA on 405. He'd be traversing at least three notoriously bad traffic stretches, and 2+ hours each direction would be the norm.

The best schools near El Segundo would be in the South Bay - Palos Verdes, Redondo, Manhattan Beach, Torrance. All are very family friendly and your husband's commute would be about 20 minutes or less. Less costly but also family friendly with decent schools would be Long Beach - specifically areas around the University campus (avoid the north/west side). That would add time to the drive and represent a tier down in school quality, plus a safety tradeoff.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by shelbylominac

Hello, we are a military family being relocated to Los Angeles AFB. Is it possible to commute from Thousand Oaks or Westlake Village daily to El Segundo (LA AFB)? What would the realistic average commute time be? I've seen anywhere from 50 min. to 3 hours. The housing and schools here seem nicer than more southern areas like Rancho Palos Verdes. We are moving from DC suburb so my husband is used to 1 1/2 hour commute, but we were hoping to shorten that. Would it be worthwhile to commute to be in a more family friendly area or should we try to stay around Palos Verdes/Rolling Hills/Redondo Beach? Any help would be greatly appreciated .

I work a block away from LAAFB and there are a lot of people who do commute from the Conejo Valley (Thousand Oaks), Santa Clarita, and Orange County into El Segundo. I commute 52 miles one way from south Orange County on a vanpool. It really works out great but (big but), I catch the van at 510AM and work 6-330 and get home 430-445. My ex-manager caught a van to El Segundo from 101 and Reyes Adobe in the Agoura Hills (Conejo Valley) and I know of at least two other vans that go into Thousand Oaks.

One thing, we beat most traffic into OC by leaving at 330 - you won't beat traffic to TO leaving at 330. It is really bad on the 405 from about the Marina freeway (90) north to about Sunset, then it eases up the rest of the way. Even if you left at 2PM it is bad through there. And there are no carpool lanes yet so it is really bad. We have carpool lanes all the way to OC and we beat a lot of traffic that way. In other words, even though TO is closer in miles than OC, the commute is much worse, mainly due to the 405/10 intersection and horrible traffic in West LA.

PC, RH, and the beach cities of RB, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach are very expensive, much more than TO or OC - that's probably why so many of us live so far away.

Places that pop up are western side of Torrance, some parts of Long Beach, Los Alamitos, Yorba Linda, Tustin, Irvine, and south Orange County like Mission Viejo. Most of these places can be commuted in an hour iff you leave early and use a vanpool/carpool lane.

I know there are several vans going to LAAFB as I sometimes ride on them and walk to my building a few blocks away. There are vans going to all the big companies in the El Segundo area and no matter which one you get on, you'd only have to walk maybe a few blocks. The price is around $120/month but government employees actually make money (come up positive each month) by driving the van and through employer incentives.

[HSP1161]

Charles,

I almost -- almost -- caveated with "unless you work strange hours..." but the color you've provided, as always, does a great job of covering that.

I see the southbound traffic on 101 & 405 in the San Fernando Valley on a daily basis and can't imagine anything worse than the stretch between Topanga Canyon and West LA. To your point, there's no carpool on 405 N/B, and the 101 lacks any carpool whatsoever.

It's miles of pure hell, worse than the other known hades of the 91, Newhall Pass, 60, 210 and 57 freeways, and probably worse now than when you lived in TO a few years ago.

Which explains why people would change their sleep/work patterns in an attempt to escape it.

[sim7396]

Life is too short to waste it in freeways, breathing polluted air (which will shorten your life as well). That's just my opinion, but I think we get only one life to live. BTW, my 2001-year model car has only 60K miles because I always make every effort to live as close as possible to wherever my job is.

Good luck, and apologies for the sermon!

[LadyKLO]

Originally Posted by sim7396

Life is too short to waste it in freeways, breathing polluted air (which will shorten your life as well). That's just my opinion, but I think we get only one life to live. BTW, my 2001-year model car has only 60K miles because I always make every effort to live as close as possible to wherever my job is.

Good luck, and apologies for the sermon!

Lucky you! Sometimes it's just not possible to live close to where you work..my 2006 car has over 80K miles but that's because I'm a rebel and love to drive!! LOL~

[24hr7]

Originally Posted by LadyKLO

Lucky you! Sometimes it's just not possible to live close to where you work..my 2006 car has over 80K miles but that's because I'm a rebel and love to drive!! LOL~

16,000 miles a year is pretty low for a commuter.

[LadyKLO]

Originally Posted by 24hr7

16,000 miles a year is pretty low for a commuter.

I live about 30 miles roundtrip from my job and I don't often work 5 days a week. A lot of the times I am out of town on business so perhaps it could be more miles! LOL!

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

I live 7.8 miles from work. Planning on parking the car this summer and riding the bike to work. One of the good things about living in Oxnard and working in Ventura, Both cities do have lots of bike paths.

[Agoura Driver]

I actually made this commute daily but I took the coast. I went over hills to PCH by taking Kanan Rd. or Malibu Canyon. It takes from 50-90 mins depending on a lot of variables. At least it's a pretty drive and on days when the 101/405 is at a stand still it's moving.