Dec 302006
What would it be like to live in Southern California? … I’ve got friends with family who live in Los Angeles, Pasadena, Cerritos, Long Beach, Buena Park, Santa Ana, and the like, so it’s not like they’re unconcerned about their children’s education. It may be more affordable to live in one of those places than expensiver suburbs like Irvine, Aliso Viejo, Huntington Beach or Laguna Nigel. I’d like to think a child’s educational formation is not irreversibly determined by a school district’s ratings and where a family lives. (Where would I find credible info about a school district rating anyways?)
Personally, I’d love to live in an urban setting …
if you move into the arcadia/temple city/monrovia area, I would love to know your interest level in being part of a church plant targeting unchurched young professionals with young families. The school district (arcadia and temple city) are nationally recognized. I moved here to raise my family (good schools, things to do, ministry ops). Just in case you might be interested.
I might not be the one to ask about real estate, but I am wondering how many more days you’re gonna be hanging around these parts as I sure would like to have a meet-up if you have the time.
Hey DJ, I actually grew up in Thousand Oaks, a medium-size suburb north-west of San Fernando Valley. It’s a bit further from everything but still a good area with decent & newer schools. It’s not as asian-centric as say San Gabriel, or Irvine, but there is a young emerging asian population. It’s about 30-40 min from UCLA and less than half hour to Santa Barbara, which i love! About the different schools in So Cal, I personally found it was better to NOT be in such a high profile, uber-competitve district, where asians were the majority (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
Now living in Silicon Valley where it seems everyone’s a clone of everyone else (asian, young-adult, engineer), I just look back and appreciate having friends from all backgrounds and religions. Just my 2 cents. Best wishes in your research.. and Happy New Year to your family!
Actually sounds like you should be in NorCal and SF more specifically
Hey bro,
I had a good friend that lived in downtown Fullerton. Great spot, lots of cafes, restaurants, cigar shops with a cool artistic vibe. Hope that helps.
Shalom
Thanks all for the good feedback so quickly! I forgot to mention proximity to an airport on the short list, and by proximity I mean 30 minutes sans traffic.
As for “artistic inspiration”, I’m told that the sunny hillside along Newport Beach and south from there works better than the gritty urban vibe of edgy downtowns.
1 person emailed me offline to say my short list is contradictory or mutually exclusive, but they don’t have to be, right? It just means that it’s less obvious and I’m hoping by going public with our exploration, we can learn from the wisdom of the crowd.
I’d recommend two possible locations. I lived a year and a half in Pasadena (my birthplace, btw), and my wife and I loved it. It’s got a suburban feel, but you can walk to Old Town or go down Lake Ave. It’s a short drive to downtown LA. It’s got a great artistic vibe. It’s safe and hopefully the local college, CalTech, rubs off on the school system, but I have no idea about it.
Another city to consider would be Costa Mesa (although it’s about 40 minutes from LAX sans traffic, but John Wayne airport is right there for US flights). It definitely has an artistic subculture, and although it’s not urban, it’s going through an urban “upgrade”. It’s got a great mix of urban and suburban with the South Coast Plaza area and the Performing Arts Center. If you go to the West side, you’re right next to the ocean. It’s also got a great mix of lower income and high income as well. If I were going to move from Truman Show like Irvine, Costa Mesa would be on the top of my short list.
As another Thousand-Oakian, I’d agree that it’s a great place to live — I was just there last week! But, the cost of living there has become quite high. For a close/similar location, you might want to check out Simi Valley or Moorpark. If you like the mountains and don’t mind a short drive (20-30 minutes) to an urban setting, there’s alway Valencia (which is also close to Magic Mountain).
I spent most of my childhood living in Cerritos. I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to live in Cerritos, and I knew it!
The population of Cerritos is roughly 60% Asian. Cerritos is home to Gretchen Whitney High School, the top high school in California (and my alma mater).
It’s a shame that we had to move after I graduated from university….
Thinking about moving to south pasadena, have two kids 12 and 13 they attend a private school in Philadelphia but want to know how is the living with family in south pasadena.