Sorry this is not a ride planning thread but I'm looking for some help.
I'll be re-locating in about a month to the Ventura County area. Working in Woodland Hills and am looking to commute 20-30 minutes max. I checked out Simi Valley when I was there about 4 weeks ago and it looked like a nice place to live. I'm also considering Agoura Hills. Are there some other places I should be looking at as well? Main criteria is affordable rent ($2200 per month or less for 2bd/2ba) and great public schools for my 2 kids (kindergarten and 2nd grade).
I am really looking forward to exploring the canyon roads and meeting up with local riders. :tour:
You outta take a look at Calabasas(can get hot though), Thousand Oaks, and Newbury Park. Those are pretty nice places and probably have decent schools. The important thing is they have great canyon access! By the way, I take a class at Simi Valley, its too hot for me...
20-30 mins to the west valley from VC limits your options to the above mentioned areas (although Agoura is LA county). Moorpark could be an option though your commute time would be longer due to traffic.
SV gets crazy hot. Agoura gets quite hot. I like Thousand Oaks, but I have lived here for quite a while, and yes I'm biased. From what I've heard through the grapevine (and please take these with a grain of salt) that SV has a reputation of having a unreported crime problem, largely because everyone or their brother is a police officer. Therefore, there is a lot that gets swept under the rug. Agoura has an underappreciated designer drug problem, or so I've heard. That can happen when mommy and daddy have lot$$$ of money, and very little to do. Simi and Moorpark schools (k-12) I don't think are as good as those from Newbury Park to Calabasas. If you have any specific questions, let me know. If I were you, I'd try and Thousand Oaks or Westlake Village area.
Really the best part of Ventura County is the 2/3rds of it that's in the Los Padres National Forest. (Just under 2 million acres in all). 30 min from LA really limits your choices to the southeast part (as mentioned above) but check out the north when you can. Its huge. Amazing riding.
Thank you all for the suggestions. Wife and I are heading down there next Friday to look for housing and will check out Thousand Oaks, Newbury, and Westlake Village. We have been looking on realtor.com and there are some nice looking rentals that are in our price range.
I guess we'll pass on Calabasas, SV, and Agoura as we'd prefer a milder climate (and to stay away from crime and drugs).
TO, Newbury, and WLV get pretty toasty too, but so does Woodland Hills for that matter.
Probably quite a bit more than Santa Cruz Mtns. :smile:
You'll have to get used to it. They're all nice communities.
Those parts of Ventu county are more suburban feeling than Woodland Hills.
Close to open mountains. Riding, hiking, bicycling, trails roads. Lots of good stuff.
Traffic on the 101 can be tough. But, if you ride, you can lane split.
Try apartments.com, maybe westsiderentals.com. Hope this helps. :idea3:
Edit, if you insist on cooler weather, go west to Camarillo or beyond.
Going west / north 101 down the mountain from TO to Camarillo, totally changes the weather in a few miles.
Thanks for the links VFRLee. Camarillo is too far of a commute unfortunately. And I'm definitely not considering Woodland Hills for now. When I was there for work it seemed a little too busy for where I want to raise my family. I think we'll be more comfortable in the suburbs.
In the peak of summer, WLV will be about 10ish degrees cooler than Woodland Hills, TO/NP closer to 15. Cam would be the cooler still, but it will be a distance and you'd also have the Conejo grade. Oak Park (north of Agoura) maybe worth a look see.
Just an FYI, Thousand Oaks has been in the top 10 safest cities in the US several years now if that helps at all. Most of the cities posted are really close to the Santa Monica Mountains and the roads through Malibu so plenty of great riding close by. Good luck on your search.
The key to that 30 minute commute goal is to study the morning traffic patterns, and get a house where the direction to work is opposite of the "flow". Life will be less stressful.
I used to work at NAS Point Mugu, and I would NEVER try to commute on the freeway in a north bound direction! Everything jambs up in Van Nuys when you loose the carpool lane, and that begins as early as 0530.
Thanks again for all the advice. We are heading down Friday night and have appointments to view homes in TO, Newbury and Westlake. We are really excited to check out the area.
Thanks again for all the advice. We are heading down Friday night and have appointments to view homes in TO, Newbury and Westlake. We are really excited to check out the area.
Glad I could help a little. All nice areas. Some parts are cookie cutter sort of homes. For apartments or rental condos, that's what you'll mostly find. Commute to Woodland Hills is via 101, should not be too bad usually, but probably not too good either. You'll be going with the main traffic flow, assuming you do normal biz hours. :mellow:
As long as living in a place where everything looks the same doesn't bother you, I'll wager you'll like it. Lots of good outdoors stuff to play in. Good luck with the search. :fing02:
Glad I could help a little. All nice areas. Some parts are cookie cutter sort of homes. For apartments or rental condos, that's what you'll mostly find. Commute to Woodland Hills is via 101, should not be too bad usually, but probably not too good either. You'll be going with the main traffic flow, assuming you do normal biz hours. :mellow:
As long as living in a place where everything looks the same doesn't bother you, I'll wager you'll like it. Lots of good outdoors stuff to play in. Good luck with the search. :fing02:
Cookie cutter doesn't bother us. Been living in the middle of the redwoods for the last 4 years, which has its pro's but I won't miss all the maintenance and looking forward to septic tank free living lol. Lost all our equity with the housing market crash so for now we are just looking for a nice place to rent for a few years until we save enough money to possibly buy again.
I'm hoping to get into a townhouse so we don't have to worry about maintenance, yard work etc. That will allow more time to spend with the family and my "mistress" aka the VFR. :)
On Monday I was driving home from UCLA. My car thermometer read 86 in Calabasas, and 74 in Newbury Park. Farther west = cool ocean air. Back in the day, I used to work off of the Fallbrook exit. The drive to work took about 25 minutes from TO, and about 35 minutes back.
If you have any questions about the local area, shoot me a PM. I've lived hear most the time since '84.
Leaving tomorrow night for TO. If we find a nice place most likely we will put down a deposit right away. Rentals are getting picked up pretty quickly for areas with great schools.
Any good billiard halls in the TO area? Wife and I are making this trip somewhat of a date weekend. It's been a long time since we've gone anywhere without the kids.
Looks like we've decided that TO or Newbury will be our focus moving forward. Simi was hot and not our style. Westlake was nice but not as family friendly as TO or Newbury.
Had limited time to explore but did drive hwy 23 and west mulholland. I can't wait to ride these roads.
Had limited time to explore but did drive hwy 23 and west mulholland. I can't wait to ride these roads.
Hwy 23 becomes Decker Canyon Rd. and takes you all the way to PCH, it's a really fun ride. There are so many roads out there that you'll have fun exploring them all. You'll have to check out 'The Rock Store' and "The Snake" for sure. Sometimes I miss living in the SF Valley, I had quick acces to a lot of riding places, Malibu hills being one of my favorites. What I don't miss is the heat!. Good luck finding a place.
It's a bit late, but there are no true pool halls in this area. There are some bars that have quarter tables, but Simi or Oxnard are your closest full tables. And yes, there are a ton of fun roads around here. Welcome to the neighborhood (soon).
We ran out of time and didn't get to check out East Mulholland. But we did find a rental in Newbury Park next to a great school! Getting all the logistics sorted out now but we'll be down there in just a few weeks.
Looking forward to riding these roads with you guys (and gals).
We are going to be moving on Friday the 13th! My awesome brother will be driving the moving truck down, wife and kids in the van, and lucky me gets to ride down. :tour: I just put a fresh set of PP/PR2 tires on this week.
I'm thinking of taking 101 south, to 166, to 33. Not too much of a detour since I'll need to unload the truck Friday afternoon.
How is 166 and 33? 33 looks nice and twisty on google maps.
The 33 is awesome (can't speak for the 166), but you will add another 1-2 hours to your ride. A fun hour, but I know time may be critical. If it gets tight, you may want to bypass the 166/33 and take the 154. It goes 101 to 101, but it will be faster. If the 101 up the Conejo grade gets bad (or you got 15 minutes to spare), take the 34 Lewis Rd. exit, left at the light, and then your next right. Then take a left at Portrero Rd (about 6? miles), and then that dumps you in Newbury Park at Lynn Rd. and Reino after another fun intermission.
Ironically the last time I rode 166, I was heading to Santa Cruz, that was quite a few years ago. I remember it having long sweeping curves and was very well paved. I found it a fun road to travel, but nothing like the twisty roads in Malibu. There wasn't much on the road so you would have to make sure you had enough of gas to get you through end to end. I think this was in the late 1990's
166 would be a great set of high speed sweepers if it wasn't so heavily patrolled. Still a nice ride, but ride accordingly. CHP loves the low-hanging fruit.
You might be better off to cross over say 58, and take 33 down from there depending on how much time you have. As you know the 101 is also CHP alley.
150 into Santa Paula then South Mountain to Balcom or 23 to get you down to Moorpark. TO is just over the hill from there.
And Mulholland Hwy and the canyons leading down to PCH too. Especially the snake and near the Rock Store. Not just CHP, LA Sheriffs are handing out those expensive and annoying little yellow papers around there too. Go there during the week, or early on a weekend morning to avoid the squids, the copfest, and the insanity. Hopefully the tickets too. 2 tickets in 2 months from 2 agencies in the area a few months ago. I'm avoiding it lately for Little and Big Tujunga. :goofy:
Hwy 33 north out of Ojai is great. Excellent ride through mountains and not that much else. Bring water. Turn right / east on Lockwood Valley Rd, or go north some more and connect to Cerro Noroeste Rd, and go east to Pine Mountain Club. Isle of Man kind of stuff. :491:
Just don't crash or break down, tow trucks and ambulances are quite a ways off and slow. I hear 33 has a CHP infestation lately too. Welcome to Socal. :beer:
Due to a miscommunication with my wife, I ended up riding Hwy 1 all the way down to San Luis Obispo. I was actually pretty miserable during that ride because the road, though scenic, was pretty boring to ride especially with all the traffic. I had to catch up with my family so I took 101 the rest of the way.
The good news is we are now moved in and getting settled in NP. The VFR performed without a hitch and now I'm looking forward to exploring the area and hopefully catch a group ride with some VFRD members soon.
Due to a miscommunication with my wife, I ended up riding Hwy 1 all the way down to San Luis Obispo. I was actually pretty miserable during that ride because the road, though scenic, was pretty boring to ride especially with all the traffic. I had to catch up with my family so I took 101 the rest of the way.
The good news is we are now moved in and getting settled in NP. The VFR performed without a hitch and now I'm looking forward to exploring the area and hopefully catch a group ride with some VFRD members soon.
Awesome stretch of Hwy 1, but yeah traffic can screw it up. If you come on a construction stoppage it can work in your favor. Split lanes to the font, and when they let you go, it's open road baby. :fing02:
The 101 FWY around there is CHP alley, so mind your manners on that road. Mulholland Hwy and PCH around and in Malibu will also be crawling with coppers on the weekend especially. By mid morning on a summer weekend it's squidville, personally I'm staying away from there a while longer. :goofy: