lostkitty, for walkability, its hard to beat the beach cities. Manhattan, Hermosa, and Redondo Beach all have nice areas where you can find unique shops and restaurants to go to. There’s also a long path called “The strand” that goes for 20+ miles along the beach. Its great for walking, biking, roller blading, jogging, etc.
In Manhattan Beach, many of the stores and restaurants are near Manhattan Beach Blvd. In Hermosa Beach, the main area is on Pier Ave. In Redondo Beach, there’s a lot of stuff on Catalina Ave. If you can rent a place near any of these areas, you’ll be in a very walkable neighborhood.
If I had to rank these beaches on beauty, it would probably be: Manhattan #1, Hermosa #2, and Redondo #3. But I think they are all very nice beaches. I think your kids would love living in any of these areas.
PV is definitely not a beach city. Its not very walkable at all. On the plus side its a very nice city with very good schools.
Personally, I think your kids will probably enjoy the beach cities more than PV. From my experience, I’ve found that the closer I live to the beach, the more I like L.A. There’s always so much activity going on at the beaches. The closer you are to those activities, the more you tend to participate in them.
