Ive lived in OB/PL my whole life and love 90% of it. LIke the other posters have mentioned PL is pretty diverse. A few blocks can make a huge difference.
Generally speaking, stay away from rosecrans and midway area. The further south you go the better. Also La Playa area west of rosecrans up the hill is very nice and secluded. Lots of trees and old money homes. The further south you go the better for plane noise as well.
Lots of good elementary schools (silver gate/sunset view/loma portal) so so middle and high schools.
For me the airplane noise does not bother me, but for someone not accustomed to the “pl pause” might be bothersome. But like I said this only effect homes near the flight path, which is about a mile or 2 of liberty station.
And as someone else mentioned the traffic has gotten worse since liberty station has started blossoming with more stores and the rock church. (sundays are the most congested!).
Most of my peers live in the east county (la mesa/helix/spring valley/el cajon) so that adds up on our commute time to visit them.
So other than the above 3 factors (plane noise/congestion on sundays/driving 20minutes to see friends), I couldn’t ask for a better place to live.
Super close to downtown, ball park, qualcomm, malls, shopping. 70-75 deg weather all year, close to the beaches/bay, great places to ride bikes and run along the bay etc.
