Woodland Hills, CA - what can anybody tell me about it?

I was contacted about what seems to be a good job in Woodland Hills, CA. I know very little about the area - is it a good area to live? If a family with a young child wanted to find an area nearby where the public schools were very good, where would one live? I know it's a bit north of Los Angeles, and when I did a housing cost comparison search on the area, a nearby town had a median home price of $580,000 or so, which made me go "ouch"...

I'm in the Hartford, CT area now. cross-posted in the Lounge.

Thanks

California's version of four seasons...
fire
flood
earthquake
mudslides

When I drive into the LA area (it is a basin and you descend into it from the east or north) I always feel that I am descending into hell. The smog is overwhelming and you don't notice it so much when you live there unless it is fire season. But the city is easy to get around (it's built on a grid and all streets follow through from city to city) no public transport to speak of, the freeways are easy to use, but very crowded. Great food choices; mostly fresh and the poinsettias are native there and grow into the trees they are; artichokes are divine and of course oranges and lemons.

I don't know Woodland Hills specifically, is it on 5 or 101? I'm thinking that it's on the ridgeback of the mountain range there. It is a democratic state so you'll be happy with your reps (unless that's a red district) and you'll love Barbara Boxer as a senator. You can get a license and grow up to 6 plants in your backyard, so that will help with the mortgage.

Good luck with your decision. Do you get to go and see before you accept the job?

and, I'd likely try to schedule an interview for Monday or Friday so I could look around for a day on the weekend, just to see the area - maybe tour it with a realtor or something.

Woodland Hills is between Thousand Oaks & Sherman Oaks, northwest of Santa Monica.

not downtown, but close. It's pretty. It's close to the ocean. I lived in an apartment on the beach in Santa Monica for awhile. Very cool. Nice climate. Lots to do in this area. Lots of restaurants. It was on the other side of the 405 for me, so I didn't go to that part often. I had a client over in that area so I went from time to time. The name Woodland Hills gives you an idea of the topography. 1000 oaks, sherman oaks, you get the picture. I have no idea about the gangs there. Look for tagging, You'll never need your heavy coats again, if you make the move. I would think in terms of renting. There are agents for that as well, so you can get a look at that market. You can either keep your house and rent it out, or have a nest egg for the future; but renting is the best idea for the beginning. If you make a mistake on the school thing, it's much easier to change houses that way.


Good luck! Let me know how it goes when you get back.

very helpful information.

It gets really HOT there in the summer. The 405 Freeway might be the biggest reason why LA is known for traffic. The 101 is slightly better.

But there's a lot to like about living in Southern California, even while all the bad stories are true.

It's not a bad area. If your job is Woodland Hills and not Los Angeles, you'd be okay. But the commute into downtown LA is brutal. I lived in Encino and commuted to Beverly Hills for a while, and it was difficult.

Thousand Oaks is a nice community- very suburban, not a high crime rate. These areas are further north and I don't recall a smog issue that far north (and i'm sensitive to the smog).

While I'm not a fan of urban areas in general, if you have to live in the LA area, T.O. is a decent choice. You're also not too far from some nice weekend getaways to the north, maybe an hour from Santa Barbara, even closer to Ventura; you can vacation at Catalina Island, too.

What one would consider a good neighborhood, getting richer as one moves West. But it is LA, you will have to make up your own mind about that. All I will say is that all those people moved here for good reasons, jobs, weather, the beach and the mountains, lots of things to do, but it's not for everybody and there are drawbacks too, crowding, traffic, pollution, heat.

and Westlake Village. My father-in-law lived there for a while. The weather is ideal and smog is not an issue. I imagine you'll pay more for housing than Hartford, but that's the price of California.

CT is not cheap, but the Hartford area is cheaper than what I saw online for that area of California (my current town has a median home price of around $400,000, while that area in CA said median home price is $580,000)

It's not too bad for L.A., though the summer heat can be overwhelming. It's about 30 minutes from Downtown (an hour and a half or so if traffic is really heavy), but you'll rarely need to go there. It's about 20 minutes to the ocean, which is a welcome relief in the summer. 10-15 minutes from beautiful hiking trails in the Santa Monica Mountains. It's got a couple huge malls (which I only go to if there's no other option), a number of natural food stores, Trader Joe's, Normal grocery stores. Low on night-life. Fairly safe. Unless you live in the hills you're out of the fire and landslide area. Not too much in the way of flooding either. It's higher up than the rest of the San Fernando Valley so the air quality is a bit better, but still try to live as far from the 101 as possible. Good public transportation to the nearest subway that goes to downtown, which, being a typical L.A.er I've never been on. Racial balance is very Caucasian with a pretty substantial Meso-American population in Canoga Park, a bit to the North. Small pocket of East Indian's in Canoga Park which makes for easy access to very good Indian Food (OK, I'm a food lover).

As you mentioned, housing costs are high here. I rent a small cabin in Topanga Canyon for a price that would get me a 3 bedroom house someplace else. Buying property is cheap if you can find a time machine and go back 50 years or so. But housing costs in L.A.'s "good" neighborhoods are pretty astronomical.

My wife is Chinese and I think I saw that demographic mix for Woodland Hills as a lot of white people (80%) and the largest minority group as Asian at 7%.

And in general, more espensive as you move west. If you live south of the 101 (generally in the canyons) you will have to be concerned during fire season (and floods during the wet season, like now). But north of the 101 is mainly just flat streets, typical suburban area.

In my experience, the major benefit of So. Cal. in general is the diversity of AWESOME food. You can find the best food in every category in almost every area in southern California. That has to be the thing I miss most about living down there.

Not very green though (foliage-wise). Lots of concrete. Makes it miserable in the summer, all that heat just compounds off the concrete.

Plan to spend a good portion of your life on the freeways, no matter which day or time of day, including the 101.

Good shopping malls in that area. Trader Joes nearby (more than one if memory serves).

Fairly easy access to the coast via Topanga Canyon (Rt 27).

If you love the snow, you'll have to drive to go see it. But you can indeed find skiing within about 1-2 hour drive. Great, great, great hiking and outdoors areas (Santa Monica Mountains to the south/west; national forests about an hour north/east, including Six Flags Magic Mtn for the kids).

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

very helpful

is in an area they call "the valley" (as in valley girl or val dude, lol). middle class, regular place, high RE like everywhere else in cali, northeast of downtown El Lay. can't tell you much more than that as i'm originally from the OC (now in sacramento).