Hacker News Reader

Comment by spraak | Hacker News Reader

I'll be moving to LA soon for work.. Are there any areas anyone can recommend that have a lot of trees/plant life/parks? I also appreciate farmers markets and a health food store. I'd like to not be too far from e.g. Santa Monica or Northridge

View on HN

Live close to work, your sanity will thank you OR live near a metro line.

Live as close to work as possible. Seriously. Santa Monica and Brentwood are a blast, and most of the tech jobs are in Santa Monica anyway.

I appreciate your reply! I'll mostly be working in Santa Monica so that sounds well

If you don't mind commuting a little more, I would suggest Simi Valley. It's right over the hill from San Fernando/Northridge and has much less traffic.

Simi is also more family-oriented if that is the type of city you are looking for.

I appreciate your helpful reply :) I will look there!

Simi Valley is a great option, as are the other communities in Ventura County, depending on how far out you want to commute from.

I would, but you named one place in the valley and then Santa Monica, so I have no clue where you'd actually be working => can't recommend an area.

Doh, need to get more familiar with the area.. I will mostly be working in Santa Monica

Venice, Marina Del Rey, Culver city areas are all not bad. Santa Monica is one of the most expensive areas in the country, though, so just be aware of that. Venice cheaper, but since it's LA, that's still gonna be up there in terms of rent/housing.

I can't give any more info, since I personally stick to downtown, hollywood, silver lake, and north hollywood (in other words, far away from the west side).

It's a miserable 20-odd miles between Santa Monica and Northridge through the Sepulveda Pass, which makes that a tricky thing to optimize for.

The real questions are the usual: where are you going to work? what do you consider a reasonable commute? and finally, how much can you afford?

I appreciate your reply! I'll mostly be working in Santa Monica but perhaps at times on Northridge.. I'd like to pay <= 1800 for my own house-ish dwelling (i.e. prefer not an apartment)

It's possible to get something around that price that's close to Northridge, but you are looking at an hour commute each way to Santa Monica—the 405 is bumper-to-bumper all the way.

I would suggest looking for an apartment in West LA or Mar Vista instead, but that's going to be a 1-bedroom apartment.

Good luck! My email is in my profile if you have any more questions.

Porter Ranch and most of the area in the northwest area of the valley is pretty green.

It's pricey, but Playa Vista would probably match what you're looking for.

Santa monica or venice. Not northridge.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com