Moving to L.A.

[Coronita]

[quote=Navydoc]I would second the Torrance recommendation. I lived there myself for my first year here. Be aware that Torrance is quite large and diverse, with neighborhoods ranging from having refineries in your backyard to upper middle class near Rolling Hills. RPV is lovely, but quite expesive, as is Manhattan Beach. The area of Torrance bordering Rolling Hills at PCH and Crenshaw is quite nice, with reasonably priced homes. There is a large Japanese community there which is interesting, and since I moved there from Japan it made me feel comfortable. They tend to take very good care of their neighborhoods and demand quality schools. Adds a nice flavor of divesity to an otherwise overwhelmingly latino city.

As for traffic, it’s LA. Much worse than San Diego as a whole. The 405 headed south in the afternoons can be pretty brutal. Avoid the 110 like the plague.[/quote]

Gardena has a large japanese community, and there are plenty of Karate dojos in Gardena lostkitty (got my ass kicked there in competition in my youthful days).

Torrance has a large Japanese community, mainly because there are(were) a lot of companies with offices in Torrance. a lot of the Japanese employees go out there to Torrance on a job rotation for 5-8 years. It works well for the rental markets, especially around the area of the townhomes off PCH (behind the Target and Del Amo Fashion Center).

Torrance is big, and borders some seed(ier areas). Just make sure you pick an area in torrance which is better. I would try to avoid the area around Lomita (though it’s not a bad area, isn’t great).
Torrance has a plethora of shopping malls/etc, and you’ll find the place pretty convenient. Del Amo is one of the largest malls. It use to be a better mall, but in more recent days there has been a lot more crime and hangout for some gangs, especially on the newer side of the mall. There also your typical Costco, Home Depot, and Sam’s Club. PCH is lined with ethnic restaurants, and small shops along Hawthorne

PV’s air is more stiff. This is the “Shops at Palos Verdes”, which are more like your and standard fashion valley stores( Banana Republic,etc). You won’t ever find a target/walmart/home depot in PV. Residents would never allow it. However, you won’t find a gang problem there. The biggest drawback of PV, is that you always have to go out of the area to shop. You have your Vons, Sprout, and Bristol Farms supermarkets. But you won’t find any big discount stores there.

[lostkitty]

Thank you everyone! This is why I LOVE Piggington. I rarely write anymore, but I read it every day.

First of all – just to clarify – my girls were joking. With the excellent education they are getting in NY comes the frequent/incessant use of sarcasm. They said it with fake “bitchy” voices and a heavy Valley Girl accents.

Your suggestions are so helpful I will check them out. I especially like the Japanese thing. We lived in Japan as well and my girls went to Japanese preschool (yochien). We like lots of Asians around (I feel racist even writing that) because the work ethic in school is strong and there will absolutely be a youth orchestra nearby of the right caliber.

I do feel a little uncomfortable when a few of you write that there are areas of Torrance to avoid. It is so hard for someone “not in the know” to get led astray.

I also like the PV suggestions. I dont have a problem at all with “rich” people having grown up in RSF and SBeach/Del Mar. I think maybe what you are remembering me say negatively about Coronado folks was that our “friends” kept telling us we were “crazy” to leave and “crazy” not to jump into that real estate market. Lots of suggestions to get ARM’s etc. It was annoying. Now the tables have turned though and I feel sorry for many of those same friends and hope they can climb out of their financial quick-sand. it is really awful for a few of them in particular.

That said – I dont think we can afford to live in a neighborhood of million+ dollar homes anyway. We do not have all the pieces to the puzzle yet – job $$s, sale of this house etc. We are just as happy to go out and rent for a while and figure it all out for ourselves. But with a daughter in 10th grade we want to make a semi-good decision from the get-go.

[lostkitty]

Thank you everyone! This is why I LOVE Piggington. I rarely write anymore, but I read it every day.

First of all – just to clarify – my girls were joking. With the excellent education they are getting in NY comes the frequent/incessant use of sarcasm. They said it with fake “bitchy” voices and a heavy Valley Girl accents.

Your suggestions are so helpful I will check them out. I especially like the Japanese thing. We lived in Japan as well and my girls went to Japanese preschool (yochien). We like lots of Asians around (I feel racist even writing that) because the work ethic in school is strong and there will absolutely be a youth orchestra nearby of the right caliber.

I do feel a little uncomfortable when a few of you write that there are areas of Torrance to avoid. It is so hard for someone “not in the know” to get led astray.

I also like the PV suggestions. I dont have a problem at all with “rich” people having grown up in RSF and SBeach/Del Mar. I think maybe what you are remembering me say negatively about Coronado folks was that our “friends” kept telling us we were “crazy” to leave and “crazy” not to jump into that real estate market. Lots of suggestions to get ARM’s etc. It was annoying. Now the tables have turned though and I feel sorry for many of those same friends and hope they can climb out of their financial quick-sand. it is really awful for a few of them in particular.

That said – I dont think we can afford to live in a neighborhood of million+ dollar homes anyway. We do not have all the pieces to the puzzle yet – job $$s, sale of this house etc. We are just as happy to go out and rent for a while and figure it all out for ourselves. But with a daughter in 10th grade we want to make a semi-good decision from the get-go.

[lostkitty]

Thank you everyone! This is why I LOVE Piggington. I rarely write anymore, but I read it every day.

First of all – just to clarify – my girls were joking. With the excellent education they are getting in NY comes the frequent/incessant use of sarcasm. They said it with fake “bitchy” voices and a heavy Valley Girl accents.

Your suggestions are so helpful I will check them out. I especially like the Japanese thing. We lived in Japan as well and my girls went to Japanese preschool (yochien). We like lots of Asians around (I feel racist even writing that) because the work ethic in school is strong and there will absolutely be a youth orchestra nearby of the right caliber.

I do feel a little uncomfortable when a few of you write that there are areas of Torrance to avoid. It is so hard for someone “not in the know” to get led astray.

I also like the PV suggestions. I dont have a problem at all with “rich” people having grown up in RSF and SBeach/Del Mar. I think maybe what you are remembering me say negatively about Coronado folks was that our “friends” kept telling us we were “crazy” to leave and “crazy” not to jump into that real estate market. Lots of suggestions to get ARM’s etc. It was annoying. Now the tables have turned though and I feel sorry for many of those same friends and hope they can climb out of their financial quick-sand. it is really awful for a few of them in particular.

That said – I dont think we can afford to live in a neighborhood of million+ dollar homes anyway. We do not have all the pieces to the puzzle yet – job $$s, sale of this house etc. We are just as happy to go out and rent for a while and figure it all out for ourselves. But with a daughter in 10th grade we want to make a semi-good decision from the get-go.

[lostkitty]

Thank you everyone! This is why I LOVE Piggington. I rarely write anymore, but I read it every day.

First of all – just to clarify – my girls were joking. With the excellent education they are getting in NY comes the frequent/incessant use of sarcasm. They said it with fake “bitchy” voices and a heavy Valley Girl accents.

Your suggestions are so helpful I will check them out. I especially like the Japanese thing. We lived in Japan as well and my girls went to Japanese preschool (yochien). We like lots of Asians around (I feel racist even writing that) because the work ethic in school is strong and there will absolutely be a youth orchestra nearby of the right caliber.

I do feel a little uncomfortable when a few of you write that there are areas of Torrance to avoid. It is so hard for someone “not in the know” to get led astray.

I also like the PV suggestions. I dont have a problem at all with “rich” people having grown up in RSF and SBeach/Del Mar. I think maybe what you are remembering me say negatively about Coronado folks was that our “friends” kept telling us we were “crazy” to leave and “crazy” not to jump into that real estate market. Lots of suggestions to get ARM’s etc. It was annoying. Now the tables have turned though and I feel sorry for many of those same friends and hope they can climb out of their financial quick-sand. it is really awful for a few of them in particular.

That said – I dont think we can afford to live in a neighborhood of million+ dollar homes anyway. We do not have all the pieces to the puzzle yet – job $$s, sale of this house etc. We are just as happy to go out and rent for a while and figure it all out for ourselves. But with a daughter in 10th grade we want to make a semi-good decision from the get-go.

[lostkitty]

Thank you everyone! This is why I LOVE Piggington. I rarely write anymore, but I read it every day.

First of all – just to clarify – my girls were joking. With the excellent education they are getting in NY comes the frequent/incessant use of sarcasm. They said it with fake “bitchy” voices and a heavy Valley Girl accents.

Your suggestions are so helpful I will check them out. I especially like the Japanese thing. We lived in Japan as well and my girls went to Japanese preschool (yochien). We like lots of Asians around (I feel racist even writing that) because the work ethic in school is strong and there will absolutely be a youth orchestra nearby of the right caliber.

I do feel a little uncomfortable when a few of you write that there are areas of Torrance to avoid. It is so hard for someone “not in the know” to get led astray.

I also like the PV suggestions. I dont have a problem at all with “rich” people having grown up in RSF and SBeach/Del Mar. I think maybe what you are remembering me say negatively about Coronado folks was that our “friends” kept telling us we were “crazy” to leave and “crazy” not to jump into that real estate market. Lots of suggestions to get ARM’s etc. It was annoying. Now the tables have turned though and I feel sorry for many of those same friends and hope they can climb out of their financial quick-sand. it is really awful for a few of them in particular.

That said – I dont think we can afford to live in a neighborhood of million+ dollar homes anyway. We do not have all the pieces to the puzzle yet – job $$s, sale of this house etc. We are just as happy to go out and rent for a while and figure it all out for ourselves. But with a daughter in 10th grade we want to make a semi-good decision from the get-go.

[Navydoc]

As a general rule of thumb Torrance gets better the further West and North you go. The seedier areas are quite obvious. The part of Torrance that starts to rise “up the hill” into Rolling Hills and RPV is probably the nicest, but there are other good areas as well. The side by Carson not so nice. As I stated earlier Torrance is very large for an LA community. I write this of course as I look out the window of the 7th floor of Harbor UCLA Medical Center, which is right at the Torrance/Carson border.

[Navydoc]

As a general rule of thumb Torrance gets better the further West and North you go. The seedier areas are quite obvious. The part of Torrance that starts to rise “up the hill” into Rolling Hills and RPV is probably the nicest, but there are other good areas as well. The side by Carson not so nice. As I stated earlier Torrance is very large for an LA community. I write this of course as I look out the window of the 7th floor of Harbor UCLA Medical Center, which is right at the Torrance/Carson border.

[Navydoc]

As a general rule of thumb Torrance gets better the further West and North you go. The seedier areas are quite obvious. The part of Torrance that starts to rise “up the hill” into Rolling Hills and RPV is probably the nicest, but there are other good areas as well. The side by Carson not so nice. As I stated earlier Torrance is very large for an LA community. I write this of course as I look out the window of the 7th floor of Harbor UCLA Medical Center, which is right at the Torrance/Carson border.

[Navydoc]

As a general rule of thumb Torrance gets better the further West and North you go. The seedier areas are quite obvious. The part of Torrance that starts to rise “up the hill” into Rolling Hills and RPV is probably the nicest, but there are other good areas as well. The side by Carson not so nice. As I stated earlier Torrance is very large for an LA community. I write this of course as I look out the window of the 7th floor of Harbor UCLA Medical Center, which is right at the Torrance/Carson border.

[Navydoc]

As a general rule of thumb Torrance gets better the further West and North you go. The seedier areas are quite obvious. The part of Torrance that starts to rise “up the hill” into Rolling Hills and RPV is probably the nicest, but there are other good areas as well. The side by Carson not so nice. As I stated earlier Torrance is very large for an LA community. I write this of course as I look out the window of the 7th floor of Harbor UCLA Medical Center, which is right at the Torrance/Carson border.

[lostkitty]

Two more questions:
1. Are there any good websites to find rentals? Realtor.com has very little.

2. What about walkability of these towns? Any better than others? We like running/walking.

[lostkitty]

Two more questions:
1. Are there any good websites to find rentals? Realtor.com has very little.

2. What about walkability of these towns? Any better than others? We like running/walking.

[lostkitty]

Two more questions:
1. Are there any good websites to find rentals? Realtor.com has very little.

2. What about walkability of these towns? Any better than others? We like running/walking.

[lostkitty]

Two more questions:
1. Are there any good websites to find rentals? Realtor.com has very little.

2. What about walkability of these towns? Any better than others? We like running/walking.

[Author]

Posts