Welcome back everyone!
A lot of people dream of moving to California, spending days at the beach, and becoming famous- but what about the people who just, you know… live here? I am one of those people; I live about an hour from downtown LA, but only a half hour from Malibu. My parents were both raised in this area and chose to stay/raise their kids here as well. It’s a beautiful place with nice weather year-round, but it’s definitely not as glamorous as you might think- it’s VERY expensive for even a condo or small house, and we just live in the suburbs. I’m going to talk a bit more about living here, so keep reading if you’re interested!
First of all, there’s obviously the proximity to so many cool things. The city, the beach, Santa Monica Pier, Disneyland, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Knott’s Berry Farm, Universal Studios, Mammoth; the list goes on. Surprisingly, most of the people in my town actually don’t go to Los Angeles that often. Melrose is probably the most popular place because of all the restaurants and the trading post on Sundays, but I probably only go to LA a few times a year.
Obviously if you’re older and can drive or if you go to events/concerts a lot, you would venture out there more, but for me there’s not many reasons to. Personally, I prefer Third Street Promenade (Santa Monica) to Melrose because you can go to the Santa Monica Pier or the beach there, but both places are fun. Malibu beaches are a lot closer to where I live and everyone loves the beach anyways, so that’s the most popular weekend hangout spot if anyone’s driving anywhere.
Another thing is the general availability of tons of restaurants, things to do, shopping, etc. Even without driving to the city, there’s lots to do in the suburb I live in. It’s a pretty wealthy area for the most part (not everyone is wealthy, but a lot of people are- especially people who work in the city but live here), and there’s a lot of malls, food options, and shopping centers. There will always be a Starbucks in a 2 or 3-mile radius wherever you are in my town and the neighboring towns, and there’s a combination of pretty much every chain store (affordable and luxury) and little boutiques in the shopping centers/malls. New restaurants open up often, but there’s also quite a few places that have been here since my parents were young.
California is known for the nice weather and lack of cold- there’s lots of things to do outside and there’s beautifully maintained parks everywhere. I love taking walks with my friends through their neighborhood parks/my neighborhood park. It lightly rains a decent amount of days in the winter, but that’s the only time you’ll really need a jacket besides chilly nights. Days in the winter/spring months will often start out chilly in the morning, until the sun comes out in the early afternoon and heats the temperatures up.
As I mentioned before, everything is REALLY expensive- food, housing, going out, etc. My parents both work “normal” jobs, and we would have a way more luxurious lifestyle in cheaper states than we do here; that’s just the cost of living in this nice of an area. We don’t take vacations very often (I wanted to give a disclaimer about my Europe trip: that was actually paid for in part by my dad’s Rotary club, we ended up taking that trip due to his required presence at an international Rotary convention for club presidents, and there was plenty of time to save for it since it was planned over a year in advance), our house is in a pretty nice neighborhood but a bit farther from the school I attend, my parents both have modest cars, and we overall just have to be conscious of spending. I guess if you don’t have kids/a family it’s easier to manage, but it’s still kind of insane.
The public schools are very good in my area- this might just be because it’s in the suburbs and not the actual city, but I still thought I would mention it. I go to a fairly well-ranked public high school and there are tons of sports/activities/other programs, and I think our statistics as far as average SAT and such are higher than the state or country average. Lots of graduates from my school go on to attend prestigious universities like the UC schools and Ivy Leagues. That’s another thing- living in California, the UCs are amazing public universities that we get in-state tuition to! I know lots of people from out of state dream of going to these colleges, but it can be very expensive; being in-state is still expensive because college just is, but it’s nice to know that these great schools are slightly more affordable for us residents.
Lastly, I just wanted to mention the importance of driving and having a car. If you’re in the city there’s public transportation and Uber, but where I live having a car is definitely still essential. I guess that’s kind of obvious because I live in the suburbs, but still; everything is sprawling (even in LA!) and there’s tons of traffic. I spend so much time in the car- the traffic in my area has gotten worse as more people have moved here for work. In my county, there’s not a real central location. Most people end up driving from town to town for work, to see friends, to shop, etc., and because of traffic, all the towns are about 15-20 minutes away from each other!
I hope this gave you some more insight on what it’s like to live in Southern California, near all the LA hustle and bustle. I honestly don’t take advantage of the amazing location as much as I should, but that’s just what happens when you grow up here. I’m always here to answer questions and take requests for future content- stay on the lookout for new posts coming soon!
-Brooke
adventures of a typical high school student 