Moving to L.A.

[Petra]

We might be moving to L.A.
Can anyone talk from experience and tell me how life will be there with two elementary school age kids?
Am feeling a bit reluctant so would love all positive and negative info.
Thanks a lot.

[Northpac]

Assuming you mean L.A. of sunny California?

Born and raised in the surrounding area till highschool. Moved back down after college, but got smart and left. Don't go back unless absolutely have to....  not the best place for kids, terrible smog and the traffic is horrible, not to mention is reasonably superficial in many parts. If you can move south like to places like San Diego, much nicer - good luck.

[Pomp]

LA is a great place to live, really does have the best and worst of everything.  You can surf at the beach and ski in the mountains on the same day, enjoy great weather almost year round, and as long as you have money, you can get almost everything you want.  The bad is of course you have the natural calamities to worry about.  I remember in 1993-94 we had the forest fires that burnt down much of Glendale and Malibu, the 6.8 earthquake, the rain brought in by El Nino that washed brought mudslides to Malibu and flooded the entire southern coastal cities like Torrance and Gardena.  

Are you moving to the city of LA or just LA County, which holds dozens of cities ?  If the former, anywhere west of W.Hollywood (ie. from Hancock Park to Santa Monica), it's really pretty affluent and safe.  If the latter, there are many cities that are pretty okay with children growing up.  Specifically cities like Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Marina Del Rey, Santa Monica, Malibu, Pasadena, etc.  

If you have specific questions, you can e-mail me.  Don't freak out about LA, it's a great place if you know where to go or where not to.

[Joe V]

When you say LA I'm assuming Los Angeles, California.  I live in San Diego, about 100 miles South of LA.  San Diegans hate LA.  It's very overcrowded.  Lots of traffic. Lots of smog.  There are lots of different communities (There are over 5 million people in the greater Los Angeles basin.)  If you end up in the suburbs in a landed house you should be fine but be aware of the neighborhood.  The newer the neighborhood the better although it will likely increase your commuting time.  Also, to live in California you need a car for every driver in the family.  My Wife and I have 3.  The extra is for just in case one of the other cars goes into the garage.  Rent for homes is much less than Singapore; US$1500-2000 for a 2000 sq ft.  Condos are much cheaper.  Home prices are going very high in the past 10 years.  A house bought 6 months ago for $250,000 can be worth $310,000 now.  Don't expect it to be like Baywatch and Hollywood.  Move to San Diego, it's cleaner and less crowded though LA is encroaching and we continue to fight the Los Angelization of San Diego.

On the other hand there is alot to do in LA.  Las Vegas is a 5 hour drive.  Mountains with snow skiing are a 2 hour drive and the beaches are right there (SoCal ocean temps are 50-70 deg F, not real warm as one would think)

Good luck!  I'm moving to Singapore in March 2002 so we're swapping places!

[JLC]

LA rivals only Paris in pretension.

No one is anything in LA. You are who you know. This you will discover when you try to get into a restaurant, night club, etc. If you can find them, that is. Good ones often omit posting a sign.

Quality of life is directly proportional to commute time.

You and your children may be in for quite a culture shock, depending on where you are from. LA can be as raw and gritty as the worst American cities, and you may find frequent need to enter or pass through questionable neighborhoods. Be aware of personal security, and prepare your children for it.

LA is generally considered to be the definition of perfect weather. That’s a relative statement, but unless you dislike sunshine I doubt you will complain.

The variety of outdoor activities in (somewhat) close proximity is impressive.

A general consensus of people I know would place LA slightly below average compared to other American cities. It does have in its favor vibrant local culture and arts, access to a cosmopolitan lifestyle like few other places in the world, and exceptional weather. Conversely, it is flat, dirty and superficial.

Could be worse – could be Detroit.

[maxthecat]

Hi Petra,

I think you'll enjoy living in L.A.  It is what you choose to make it--and there's a lot of material to work with.

We currently live in Santa Monica, which is a beautiful beach city bordering west Los Angeles.  We have one elementary school-age daughter, a pre-schooler and a baby.  We're going to Universal Studios this Friday, the L.A. Zoo on Saturday, and probably the beach on Sunday.  There's a lot to do here !!

Public transportation is non-existent for all practical purposes, so figure on driving everywhere--you'll most likely need two cars.  Rush hour traffic is terrible--some freeways worse than others--and is comprising more and more of the day.

Of course there are some "bad" neighborhoods, but in 30+ years of living here I've never been to them--no reason to.  You'd basically have to go looking for them.

You'll be fine, and I'm sure you'll enjoy the experience, once you adjust to what L.A. is--everything.

Wish I could tell you more--but based on the limited info about you and your family I can only offer these generalizations at this point.

[This message has been edited by maxthecat (edited 30-08-2001).]

[leaving]

Hey..what about San Jose California? Heard it's quite a 'conservative' town? How's the nightlife?

[Pomp]

The opinions I hear here of LA is pretty typical of most I hear from people who have been there but never really lived there.  Not totally untrue but probably a little bit of stereotype.  Like Max says, many parts are beautiful.  If you move to LA, chances are you'll never spend anytime in east LA and only go downtown in the day.  In fact, I lived downtown for couple of years and it wasn't too bad at all.  The other parts are really pretty okay and west of La Cienega, it gets pretty affluent and beautiful.  

Btw, Max, are you still practising architecture in LA or are you here already ?

San Jose is very expensive so be prepared.  Real estate is more expensive than Singapore, thanks to the Silicon Rush.  Not much going on there but it's only a 40 mins drive to San Francisco and from there, another hour's drive to the beautiful central coast.  

[dihult]

Hi. My family and I just left sunny California and are now living in S'pore. You might want to take a look at Ventura County which is right on the western border of LA county. Depending on where you will be working you can easily live in places like Simi valley, Thousand oaks, Moorpark and still enjoy wide open spaces and an ok commute. These are relativly conservative communities but they are safe and the living is easy. The 118 freeway is still pretty smooth at rush hour. You don't, however, want to contend with either the 405 North and South, or the 101 freeways....world's largest parking lots if you know what I mean.

Go for it. Southern California has a lot to offer. Like everything else you need to put things into perspective and ask yourself what you want out of living. Check out the LA times website for housing info and other tidbits that might help.
Good luck.

[maxthecat]

Hey Pomp,

Practicing landscape architecture over here in L.A.  Just finished working on a project for Catalina Island.  My dream is to move to Singapore but my wife thinks I'm crazy.  I keep working on her though, and I think she's starting to bend ever so slightly.

Besides landscape architecture, I'm pursuing a master's in geography and trying to convince PhilM to let me be his manager.  You're Singaporean, aren't you?  I think you know more about L.A. than me.

Petra, in addition to Pomp's advice, which I agree with, let me just add that you can visit such places as San Diego (2 hours away by car), Mexico (2 hours +) the desert (Palm Springs etc. 2 hours) the Sierra Nevada Mountains (4 hours +) . . . too many places to mention.

Almost forgot to mention Catalina Island--one hour away by ferry.  It's where they've filmed many movies including "Mutiny on the Bounty" and "Chinatown", is where Natalie Wood drowned mysteriously, plus lots of other fascinating trivia, great scuba diving, and if you go hiking on any of the trails, chances are I designed it.

[This message has been edited by maxthecat (edited 31-08-2001).]

[Pomp]

Hey Max, you do realize PhilM works for a paint company, right ?  How is landscape architecture going to come in ?  PhilM is a great guy to work for though and also happens to be a good friend and neighbor.  Btw, Santa Catalina is beautiful.  Took the trip there 3 times but never sat foot on the island !  As for movie history, LA is full of it and you are almost certain to bump into a filming set every other week and they are pretty interesting.  Saw them film Batman Forever in the middle of downtown, Baywatch on Venice Beach, plus Party of Five and Forrest Gump on my school campus

Not sure about the opportunities here for landscape architects but there's always something.  The Asian landscape architecture, particularly the Javanese/Balinese, are very popular now and it may be great exposure for you to work here and then take it back with you to the US.  Whereabouts do you live in Santa Monica  anyway ?  Do you ever go down to that little old cinema with the old box office out front (think it's called Aero) ?  Love that stretch of shops and the cinema too.  Btw, you say you design trails.  Anywhere that you'll recommend ?  Particularly interested in Santa Monica Canyon or Topanga Canyon area, hear it's really beautiful there although I have only driven through it via Mulholland.

[This message has been edited by Pomp (edited 31-08-2001).]

[maxthecat]

Pomp,

How did you manage to go to Catalina 3 times without setting foot on the island?

Yes, it is the Aero theatre, I think Robert Redford owns it now, and it's on Montana Avenue, Santa Monica's own Rodeo Drive.  We live on the same street, about 10 blocks away.  Small world, huh?

Had an Asian Gardens class my last quarter in school.  Asian landscape architecture is awesome.

[This message has been edited by maxthecat (edited 01-09-2001).]

[Pomp]

Hi Max,

Couple of times I went to Catalina to whale watch (Petra - see how much there is to do in LA ?) and one other time I went scuba diving but it was cold and miserable.

Montana, that's it.  I remember it was one of those states, thought it might have been on Colorado or Wyoming but somehow didn't think there was a Wyoming.  Lovely stretch of shops and quiet and quaint, not touristy and pretentious like Rodeo Dr. at all.  I love the Aero, old cinemas like that are going extinct.  I remember the box office ticket seller also doubled as the popcorn seller and at the end of the movie gave my friends and I each a huge bucket of popcorn and even let me have the movie poster at the end of the run.

Get your ass over here soon, will ya ?  If you can't convince your wife, I'll psyche her up when I go over there next.