Job offer in Culver City - where should we live (2 young kids)?

[Anonymous]

Hello! My husband has recently been offered a job in Culver City. We currently live in Bethesda and love our neighborhood and elementary school. This is going to be a VERY tough decision for us!

In a couple of weeks, he and I are going to go out there to check it out. Any recommendations as to where we should live if commuting to Culver City? We have two young daughters (6 and 2). Regarding schools, we would prefer public schools, but are open to Catholic schools as well. Although my husband lived in LA right after college, we are absolutely clueless as to where to live with young kids. Thanks so much!

[Anonymous]

Bethesda transplant here -although I'm in Orange County. With that said, I have a good friend who just transplanted from Bethesda to Playa Vista, which is Culver City adjacent. They LOVE Playa Vista. Their kids are in college, so they weren't worried about schools when deciding on where to live - so I am not sure what the quality of the schools are.

Another city/town that is somewhat close to Culver, that I know for sure has good schools is Manhattan Beach. The issue is affordability. What's your budget?

[Anonymous]

California native here (longtime Chevy Chase resident). You'd need to deal with the 10 fwy a bit but Pacific Palisades has decent schools and is about a half hour away. It has Bethesda-like centers for shopping and restaurants. Love Pacific Palisades. Culver City schools used to have one of the better schools in that area. It used to be a less expensive area 25 years ago. Nothing is inexpensive anymore. Good luck with your decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:California native here (longtime Chevy Chase resident). You'd need to deal with the 10 fwy a bit but Pacific Palisades has decent schools and is about a half hour away. It has Bethesda-like centers for shopping and restaurants. Love Pacific Palisades. Culver City schools used to have one of the better schools in that area. It used to be a less expensive area 25 years ago. Nothing is inexpensive anymore. Good luck with your decision.

LA traffic seriously sucks. Live close to your work as much as possible.

[Anonymous]

Really need to know your budget. Cheviot Hills and Beverlywood are close to CC and have good elementary schools but homes are $2 mil and up.

[Anonymous]

16:26 here. I looked up the driving time on Google before recommending. It shows 30 minutes or less. Really aren't going to do too much better than that, unless you are in certain parts of Santa Monica.

[Anonymous]

OP here! Thank you so much! If we do decide to do this, we are planning on renting out our house in Bethesda. We just finished renovating it about a year ago and it will be painful to leave it--so renting makes me feel better at least for now! Since the plan is to keep our house in Bethesda, we would be renting out in LA. Our max rent would be $5,000/month which I know (sadly) doesn't go very far out there. However, we are fine with a smaller space and our girls can share a room--so we could do a 2 bedroom, although 3 would be ideal. My husband's office would be in the Fox Hills area of Culver City.

Trulia has what appears to be a good "commute" feature. I have looked at places in Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach that could work. Manhattan Beach seems to have excellent public schools and would be such a change of scenery coming from Bethesda. Some other online forums suggest going as far south as Palos Verdes.

Another option could be Westchester, but I worry about being so close to LAX.

THANKS SO MUCH!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here! Thank you so much! If we do decide to do this, we are planning on renting out our house in Bethesda. We just finished renovating it about a year ago and it will be painful to leave it--so renting makes me feel better at least for now! Since the plan is to keep our house in Bethesda, we would be renting out in LA. Our max rent would be $5,000/month which I know (sadly) doesn't go very far out there. However, we are fine with a smaller space and our girls can share a room--so we could do a 2 bedroom, although 3 would be ideal. My husband's office would be in the Fox Hills area of Culver City.

Trulia has what appears to be a good "commute" feature. I have looked at places in Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach that could work. Manhattan Beach seems to have excellent public schools and would be such a change of scenery coming from Bethesda. Some other online forums suggest going as far south as Palos Verdes.

Another option could be Westchester, but I worry about being so close to LAX.

THANKS SO MUCH!!!

16:19 "Bethesda Transplant" here. My hair stylist (also from Bethesda) moved to Manhattan Beach as a single mom with her two DD's about 8 years ago, and has never looked back.

With y

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here! Thank you so much! If we do decide to do this, we are planning on renting out our house in Bethesda. We just finished renovating it about a year ago and it will be painful to leave it--so renting makes me feel better at least for now! Since the plan is to keep our house in Bethesda, we would be renting out in LA. Our max rent would be $5,000/month which I know (sadly) doesn't go very far out there. However, we are fine with a smaller space and our girls can share a room--so we could do a 2 bedroom, although 3 would be ideal. My husband's office would be in the Fox Hills area of Culver City.

Trulia has what appears to be a good "commute" feature. I have looked at places in Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach that could work. Manhattan Beach seems to have excellent public schools and would be such a change of scenery coming from Bethesda. Some other online forums suggest going as far south as Palos Verdes.

Another option could be Westchester, but I worry about being so close to LAX.

THANKS SO MUCH!!!

16:19 "Bethesda Transplant" here. My hair stylist (also from Bethesda) moved to Manhattan Beach as a single mom with her two DD's about 8 years ago, and has never looked back.

With y

accidentally hit submit too soon. With your budget of $5K, you can get a great 2 bedroom apartment in Playa Vista - with full gym, pools and some other nice amenities. Check out Runway.

[Anonymous]

OP here! Thank you, 16:19!!!! Playa Vista looks awesome! I normally shy away from planned communities, but for this move, it might be just what we need!

[Anonymous]

Living in Culver City itself is pretty great. Also check out Ladera Heights, Fox Hills, and Playa Vista. Marina Del Rey is amazing too, but need to up your budget.

But yeah, minimize the commute as much as possible. Seriously, the traffic is no joke. Also, you’ll likely need to go private. Just accept the reality now. The good part is that privates are significantly cheaper in SoCal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Living in Culver City itself is pretty great. Also check out Ladera Heights, Fox Hills, and Playa Vista. Marina Del Rey is amazing too, but need to up your budget.

But yeah, minimize the commute as much as possible. Seriously, the traffic is no joke. Also, you’ll likely need to go private. Just accept the reality now. The good part is that privates are significantly cheaper in SoCal.

I was so surprised by this when we first moved to SoCal from Bethesda. The most "prestigious" private in our area is less than $20K per year.

[Anonymous]

You can get great schools and 2-3 bedrooms and all the charm you can handle in Manhattan or Hermosa Beach. When we relocated from DC we picked our rental based on the elementary schools and neighborhood we liked best. Lots of choices in that price range.

[Anonymous]

Rancho Park, Cheviot Hills, Westwood, are all good places close to Culver City. You do not want to commute from Manhattan Beach that will be a two hour journey, each way.

With small children you need to be able to get home quickly at the end of the day.

[Anonymous]

OP google maps in Los Angeles is not a reliable source for drive time.

You need to double it.

We lived in the Century City area and it could take 15 mins to get to the beach, or it could take 45.