Young family want to move from London to LA - Advise needed

[EDMauger]

Hi there - we are looking into moving to SoCal. I am American and my husband is from London. We are a family of 5 (7yr old boy, 5 yr old girl, 3 yr old boy) and live in North London (on the borders of zone 3/4 on the tube map)so used to being close to the buzz of a city but with lots of green space.

How do you choose what area of LA?

My husband is an interior architect - where does that industry lie in LA?

I am an executive assistant at a large international advertising agency - again what part of LA has these types of companies?

In London if you work in the media/creative industry most of the companies are in Shoreditch/West End. Does LA have the same centres or is it varied?

Re housing
We are looking for a safe neighborhood, drive to a beach ideal (15 min or a tad more) close to where the work would be and most importantly - has good public schools (I am guessing charted - NOT LA unified school district). Having lived in London since I was 21 I know the "neighbourhoods" but haven't a clue with a LA.

We would also like an area where other Brits are - I want my children/husband settle in as best as they can.

What are everyone's thoughts on Manhattan Beach, Culver City (Santa Monica too expensive for us) - or any other ideas?

Any advice/tips would be great. smile

[bellakem]

Hello,
For all you ask, Santa Monica would be your ideal location, but yes..it's pricey. Culver City would be a good compromise, as would West L.A. You would be close to the beach still, and media/advertising companies near. A good place and a bit cheaper to live would be Burbank or Toluca Lake, expats from everywhere as well as actors in the industry. Itwould put you smack in the middle of all the entertainment companies ..Warner, Universal,Disney, NBC etc.... But it would put you away from the beach..at least a 45 minute drive. I don't have kids, so can't help you there. Manhattan Beach is nice , but in my opinion, maybe too far out.

[EDMauger]

Thank you for your reply - more food for thought.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by EDMauger

Hi there - we are looking into moving to SoCal. I am American and my husband is from London. We are a family of 5 (7yr old boy, 5 yr old girl, 3 yr old boy) and live in North London (on the borders of zone 3/4 on the tube map)so used to being close to the buzz of a city but with lots of green space.

How do you choose what area of LA?

My husband is an interior architect - where does that industry lie in LA?

I am an executive assistant at a large international advertising agency - again what part of LA has these types of companies?

In London if you work in the media/creative industry most of the companies are in Shoreditch/West End. Does LA have the same centres or is it varied?

Re housing
We are looking for a safe neighborhood, drive to a beach ideal (15 min or a tad more) close to where the work would be and most importantly - has good public schools (I am guessing charted - NOT LA unified school district). Having lived in London since I was 21 I know the "neighbourhoods" but haven't a clue with a LA.

We would also like an area where other Brits are - I want my children/husband settle in as best as they can.

What are everyone's thoughts on Manhattan Beach, Culver City (Santa Monica too expensive for us) - or any other ideas?

Any advice/tips would be great. smile

What visa do you have for the move?

[EDMauger]

Originally Posted by Crawford

What visa do you have for the move?

Hi there
I am sorting out my husband's visa via the US embassy. I am American and all my children (albeit having been born in the UK) are considered Americans (and have passports, SSN etc). Thankfully that side of things is fine.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by EDMauger

Hi there
I am sorting out my husband's visa via the US embassy. I am American and all my children (albeit having been born in the UK) are considered Americans (and have passports, SSN etc). Thankfully that side of things is fine.

So you are sponsoring him for a spouse visa?

[EDMauger]

yes

[Davis1]

Filing I-130/I-360 | Embassy of the United States

[JohnSoCal]

I live in Southern California about and hour from Los Angeles and am very familiar with the area. Our daughter lives in Lakewood next to Long Beach and works in El Segundo. Unlike most cities, Los Angeles is very spread out and doesn't have a concentration of industry in any one area. Where you live will be dictated by where you work. Commute traffic is horrendous and there is not a good public transportation system.

Manhattan Beach is a great area but anywhere close to the beach will be expensive but probably cheaper than London. You can also live in Orange County which has many nice areas and good school districts. Irvine California in Orange county is rated the the 6th best city in the US for living by Money Magazine. It is all part of the huge metro Los Angeles area. However, your first priority is to determine where you will be working and then look for an area to live in that is not too far away. There are many nice areas all around Los Angeles and some areas that are not nice. As I said, you could be working anywhere in the metro area including Orange County or elsewhere. Los Angeles does not have much of a downtown and most people avoid it.

El Segundo where our daughter works, is a pretty nice area and right next to the beach. There is a lot of varied industry there. El Segundo is close to LAX.