[quote=lostkitty]I think we’ve narrowed it down to PV because of the schools, but the shoreline looks to be all rocks and cliffs. Is that correct? I’ve been putting various PV and RPV addresses into the walkscore.com site and it is surprising what a difference there is in each location walkability-wise.
We will also visit Torrance and Manahattan Beach schools to see if they are a better fit for us. I think each high school has a certain feeling to it and the kids will know right away.
We are actually tired of our big beautiful house here and want to find a 1-story or other small beach cottage – even a condo would do for the short term. I am not seeing anything like that in PV or RPV either. We are done with the RSF-esque living (that is what we have now). Too much cleaning and maintenance.
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So lost kitty…
PV is not “walkable ocean” in the sense that you can walk to the beach. Actually, you can live and see in a nice ocean view, but I think typically to actually access the beach, you need to drive 10-15 mins “down the hill”. It’s on a peninsula.
Second, there are a few apartments. And there are some condo-homes: search for Mira Verde which is a complex which for practical purposes are SFH rentals. You’re probably better off renting a SFH though. There are plenty of rentals, and like I said, some folks really overleveraged in PV just like everywhere else.
Third: As far as public schools. The school supposedly is well funded, but the school is quite large. I graduated from HS and i think there were about 800 students in my graduating class. I guess it’s competitive depending on if your kids choose to compete, but being east coast educated, I doubt they’ll have a problem. Just a fair warning. There is a significant asian community there. I’m not kidding saying most of the AP classes were had a big percentage of asian kids (including English AP) 25-30% of the class. conservative estimate. Some people would have issues with that, just saying…There are plenty of your waspy old money people though too, if that’s folks things too. (And yes you had your bimbo “OC bitchy people” too)
The two high schools are
PVPHS and PVHS (the former was formally named RHHS)
PVHS was known as the snob school, as it is situated in generally the wealthiest part of the city.
I wouldn’t call the school ultra competitive, it really depends on the person…I didn’t study all my life, I pretty much spent most of my freshman year with my cheerleading girlfriend and then then goofed around sophomore year when she dumped me for a shithead. Did enough work the remaining years to still graduate 63rd approximately, which was fine by me since I had no plans of going something of the likes like Stanford/Harvard/MIT. Most public schools are high scoring. There are plenty of AP classes, and if played right, you can AP out of college for about 2 years if your kids so chose. I APed out of my first two years but ended up repeating some of the classes in college to take it easier.
Since your kids seem to be the most important thing, you should consider letting your kids drop by the schools to see if they would fit in.
Can’t comment on Torrance West High or Manhattan Beach, though if you can aford to live in Manhattan Beach, you’ll have easy access to the beaches. My friends from West High were much cooler though, because they were down to earth.
Just fair warning: you will run into fairly snooty/snobby families in PV. The kind you really just want to slap in the face.
Frankly, I live in CV now, and while the beach is like 10 mins away…I think i visited it a total of 2 times this year, both when I had friends visiting out of state.,
