I need an LA / Orange County drive time estimate

[david c.]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to the area. For a little while, I'm going to have to commute from South Orange County (Dana Point) up to Santa Monica on a daily basis. I know, I know...

I've done the trip in 45 minutes at night, at open freeway speeds.

What time do I have to leave in the morning to approximate an hour trip?

How late should I leave Santa Monica (best route) to get home without sitting for three hours in traffic (happened once already).

I'd just like some local wisdom. Any surface roads to use instead of the freeway?

Thanks in advance.

Dave

[mikester]

This is a bad idea. Anyone you can carpool with?

The 405 in that direction at rush hour times is not very reasonable at all. Once you get to LAX you can switch to surface streets but they can be just as bad trying to get into Santa Monica from there...

Seriously - this is a bad idea and I think you really can expect to sit in traffic for three hours on the way home on a regular basis. That is - unless your work can afford to have you offshifted a bit where you come in around 9-10am and leave between 7:30-8:30pm.

[david c.]

Thanks guys for the info.

I'm not sure about shifting the hours. I think I'm going to have to leave early to get there and leave late to get home. I know it's a bad idea, but I'm temporarily without a choice.

I'm down in Dana Point now and until I find a place to rent up there, this is where I'm staying. My other option to to take the train but it doesn't have a stop near Santa Monica.

If you had to work in Santa Monica (and you're from out of state and don't know the LA beach areas at all) where would you look for a decent commute to the Santa Monica/Beverly Hills area? I'd like to rent near the beach somewhere.

[mikester]

Manhattan beach, Redondo Beach or Hermosa Beach aren't bad but on surface streets you can expect at least a 45 minute commute during the peak hours. Also - closer there is the Marina (del rey) and venice if you don't mind the homeless... Of course there are lots of rentals in Santa Monica itself and that city has excellent renter's rights to boot - it's why we sold our condo there instead of renting it out. ;-) Culver City isn't bad and Beverly Hills itself isn't a bad choice as around La Cienega north of the 10 there are lots of rentals - but that is a bit farther from the beach. Santa Monica isn't a bad choice at all and as far as rent prices it should compare well to Dana Point.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

That is probably one of the worst commutes I can possibly envision - I used to commute from Long Beach to Santa Monica every day for about 9 months. If I'd not had a motorcycle, I'd have quite possibly committed suicide over it. As a general rule, it is best to do anything possible to avoid the 405. I'd recommend going the 605 or 710 north to the 91 or 105 east. If you go the 105 east, you can bypass the 405 altogether and go Sepulveda Boulevard past LAX to Lincoln Boulevard to Santa Monica. I found this to be still bad, but infinitely preferable to the 405. Good luck.

[concentric]

Actually, once you hit OC, most of the 405 traffic will be going in opposite directions. It's heavy southbound from Huntington on in the morning and heavy northbound from Costa Mesa on in the evening.

If you really want to know, drive it a couple times and see for yourself.

Beer, beer, beer.
Call me.

Jason

[Porsche-O-Phile]

SC you got that right! When I got the chance to take a job the hell out of Santa Monica, I jumped all over that without a second thought. I don't miss the west side ONE BIT!!!

[speeder]

Bottom line is that you need to either change your work location or your living location. There is no amount of $$ that could have me spending 4+ hours of my life everyday on a freeway. Do the math on how many hours per week/month/year that is, it's just out of the question for me. If the job is good enough to hang onto, (and you want it), then it must pay well enough to live close to it.

I have lived in L.A. for 20+ years w/o any bad commutes, that 405 situation would bump my quality of life rating from excellent to right off the bottom of the chart.

[david c.]

That's all just making me want to barf. It's a great job opportunity and I'll only have to deal with it for a few weeks until I find a place.

Is Venice that bad? I was looking at places to rent online in Venice and Santa Monica.

So, if I leave at 6 am am I really still looking at a two hour drive into work?

[Laura]

I live in Dana Point and love it here in South OC. Commuting from here to there would be horrible. Living in and around Santa Monica is very different from here. I have a tech that commutes from LA to our shop in Lake Forest and he hates it, but likes his job here. I switched him to 4 10's to help ease the situation till he can move down here.

[SteveStromberg]

you need to be on the 405 at the Toll road by 6am.
you need to leave SM by 3.
Get a Toll Roads pass.

If the 405 sucks coming home take the 110 south and go over the Vinny St Tomas Bridge , thenhe Long Beach bridge keep going south when the road forks.
The left will be to go thru belmont shore to the right goes by the beach take the right. there will be two stop signs you want to turn two streets before the 2nd stop sign, take that up to the main road then turn right take that street over the bridge turn at the 1st right then go down to stop sign make a left, go to next street thats PCH make a right.
Pch to jamboree, left take Jamobree up to the toll road. you will be in dana point in 20 min. If you go thru Laguna it will take about 40 min +.

[SteveStromberg]

Venice = death wish.

Really LA Basin is not where you want to live.
Homeless, Gangs, Traffic, Over half of the population is Illegal Aleins.

[mikester]

Venice is an aquired taste but it is being over run by more and more gentrification (which the crazies hate by the way). Venice is an ultra liberal place where people fight tooth and nail for the homeless right to piss anywhere they like. Santa Monica is a few steps down but they do fight pretty hard for the rights of the homeless - It is much more to my taste and if you can afford north of wilshire you'll be sitting very pretty. If you're single there are tons of hot chicks too - My wife's from there and she's hotter than a brick $h1thouse on a hot day in the desert.

[SteveStromberg]

You forgot all the CrackDealers and Crackheads that come out at ni'sght in Venice.
It also home to Two of the worst gangs that like to shoot at each other . They usually miss an hit some person a block or two away killing or crippling them.

[david c.]

Geezus.

On a given day, what's more dangerous? The four hour commute or living in Venice/Santa Monica?

This ain't Kansas (but I'm from Pennsylvania...)

[Porsche-O-Phile]

So, if I leave at 6 am am I really still looking at a two hour drive into work?

Yes.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I wouldn't live in Santa Monica if they paid me. Between the pretentious yuppie *********s, the addicts, the inability to walk down a street (regardless of location or time of day) without getting bummed for change at least twice, the parking nazis and the communist city council, I'd avoid it. Put it this way - the City of Santa Monica (right before I left there) was cracking down on storefront signage. Yes, this is a priority apparently. A few businesses were fined upwards of $1,000 because their signs displayed in the windows of their own businesses on their own property exceeded the mandated size, in some cases by an inch or two. That's Santa Monica in a nutshell - control, control, control. They don't call it the "People's Republic of Santa Monica" for nothing. . .

[david c.]

OK.

how about like Manhattan Beach, or a little further south? Is that better? I just want a laid back beach community within an hour to work in SM.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

MB is better overall, but equally unaffordable.

[SteveStromberg]

Traffic also is really bad trying to get from MB to anywhere during rush hours.
The problem is way too many people.
The valley to SM will be more than an hour also.
Malibu HaHa Ha.
I would be surfing topanga and you could tell when it was 9:30am without a watch becuase the traffic would start to move.

I do know there are guys that fly up to SMO from SNA daily that would be the only way to do it.

You really do not want to live anywhere up there once you have live down here.