The Dude wrote:

fatdad wrote:Why not do yourself a favor and move to Silverlake, Los Feliz, Eagle Rock, Pasadena, etc...?

Not exactly the cure for avoiding traffic...

It's LA! You can't avoid traffic, just minimize it. Plus, part of my point was that people seem to demonize the traffic in LA without considering ways to make their situation better.

fatdad wrote:

SJ wrote:My Santa Monica to downtown commute has been slowly killing me. Save yourself, tell the others what you've seen here.

Yeah, my Venice to downtown commute was killing me, then I decided to stop hitting myself in the head with a hammer twice a day and moved. Life is MUCH better now.

Why not do yourself a favor and move to Silverlake, Los Feliz, Eagle Rock, Pasadena, etc...?

I'm gonna steer clear of the Echo Park/Silver Lake areas for awhile...

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2010/05/h ... herpes.php

I'm originally from HB and I've lived in Laguna and Santa Cruz. If you liked SC then you might like Laguna. Similar vibes but there's a lot more money in Laguna. It's pretty expensive but you still might be able to rent a place in the canyon for not too much money. I think there are still some bouldering spots in the park in the canyon (everything outside the park is private land).

Someone mentioned HBS. It's been a while since I've been there but back in the 80s and 90s the localism was pretty nasty, at least in the lineup. Might be different now...

Thanks for the tips. We spent last weekend in LA and settled on the Long Beach / North OC area. Now to find the right place.

DukeJH wrote:Thanks for the tips. We spent last weekend in LA and settled on the Long Beach / North OC area. Now to find the right place.

Good choice! It's a good location; south of the LA craziness and close to the nice areas in OC.

Luciano136 wrote:

DukeJH wrote:Thanks for the tips. We spent last weekend in LA and settled on the Long Beach / North OC area. Now to find the right place.

Good choice! It's a good location; south of the LA craziness and close to the nice areas in OC.

Snooze...Kind of boring and, at least for Long Beach, kind of far from the hills. Still, if you have a family, it's nice and quiet. Wait...weren't you going to work around LAX? If so, that commute will eat you alive, at least from North OC.

fatdad wrote:

Luciano136 wrote:

DukeJH wrote:Thanks for the tips. We spent last weekend in LA and settled on the Long Beach / North OC area. Now to find the right place.

Good choice! It's a good location; south of the LA craziness and close to the nice areas in OC.

Snooze...Kind of boring and, at least for Long Beach, kind of far from the hills. Still, if you have a family, it's nice and quiet. Wait...weren't you going to work around LAX? If so, that commute will eat you alive, at least from North OC.

Depends what you're looking for I guess. Plenty to do in OC. Also little to no traffic in HB. Unless you really like to hike on week nights, Long Beach really isn't that far from the mountains either.

But yeah, I would NOT commute to LAX for sure!

Luciano136 wrote:Depends what you're looking for I guess. Plenty to do in OC. Also little to no traffic in HB. Unless you really like to hike on week nights, Long Beach really isn't that far from the mountains either.

But yeah, I would NOT commute to LAX for sure!

True enough. I was born in LA but grew up in Costa Mesa, so I know all about OC and what's to do--Santa Ana Mts., Irvine hills, bouldering at Corona del Mar, etc. Long Beach is OK; Belmont Shores is nice. My point was mostly that it seems that if you settle there you've made more of a conscious decision to be near the coast than the hills. I'm by the coast in Westchester, but I feel like I'm close enough to the Santa Monicas where I can get a quick fix without too much of a drive.

fatdad wrote:My point was mostly that it seems that if you settle there you've made more of a conscious decision to be near the coast than the hills.

Climate is nicer near the coast. No air conditioning required.

Long Beach is convenient to mountains. The 605 will take you to the San Gabriels and the 22 will take you to the San Berdoos.

fatdad wrote:My point was mostly that it seems that if you settle there you've made more of a conscious decision to be near the coast than the hills.

I can see that and it's actually true for me. I love the mountains but prefer to live near the ocean; probably just because I grew up near it.

Mamma likes the coastal climate and thinks the "boring" OC will keep the kids grounded. We spent Sunday in the San Fernando Valley and she ruled that out quickly. Too damn hot. Best I can tell, it'll take about an hour to get to LAX (which is not too different than my commute to DFW) if I plan to get there around 0700. Going home may be a different story.

DukeJH wrote:Mamma likes the coastal climate and thinks the "boring" OC will keep the kids grounded. We spent Sunday in the San Fernando Valley and she ruled that out quickly. Too damn hot. Best I can tell, it'll take about an hour to get to LAX (which is not too different than my commute to DFW) if I plan to get there around 0700. Going home may be a different story.

Depending where you are, an hour may be right. Of course, when there's an accident or when it rains, it might be a different story.

I highly recommend a motorcycle; I couldn't live without mine anymore (and I don't really have traffic) !! Carpool lane access all the time and if traffic comes to a standstill, you can legally split lanes (you obviously have to be careful and not go too fast). Apart from a few days a year, you can also ride year round.

I plan to take my Suzuki Katana 600 with me and probably will upgrade to something with hard bags. It looks like a straight shot up the 405 is pretty open early in the AM. I bought the bike to commute for the southwest nether regions of Fort Worth to DFW (75 miles RT and about an hour each way). It's just too hot to ride it in Texas in the summer.