Advice about moving to Los Angeles please

[syd]

dh's job is taking us to LA for 2 years - in fact he's already gone. He'll come home for xmas and then we'll all go out in the New Year. He's working in El Segundo and is currently staying in Marina Del Rey, but I don't know anything much at all about LA - just what I glean from guidebooksand the web - and I'm off on a recce in a couple of weeks to look at schools. I hear the schooling's quite mixed and we need to live in the best area we can afford to get the best school.

I've looked at Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Topanga Canyon and someone said Culver City. Anyone any advice please or experience - I have a 7 year old (year 3) who has suffered bullying but has totally overcome it but is the reason we're now at a small village school of 60 kids to make her feel more secure, and a 4 year old who has just started school although he'd be at Kindergarten in the US.

Thanks much - feeling a bit at sea and DH so busy in office or shopping that I'm not getting much help from his end!

Try to CAT SofiaAmes. She's just recently returned to Los Angeles from London, and may be able to offer some valuable advice. Good luck.

Advice? Take me with you!

Hi syd, I am in the same boat as you so to speak. We are moving to LA in a couple of weeks with dh's job. Ds is also 7 dd is 4. We went for a recce in July, get your dh to book some time with a friendly estate agent, they will have the inside info on best schools and areas. Get a look inside some of the rental properties. Look at all the parks in your areas and find a nice one or two within walking distance to a school. And hopefully you will drive around and find the perfect house. Good website is called Geat Schools you can use it to compare schools. www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/cs_where/CA

I can't help you with places to live because we only recced the area local to DH's work. Dh works in Torrance (bit further south to El Segundo). We have decided to stay nearby in the first instance, as he doesn't want a long commute in to work til we are settled. We found, in July, inland was too hot and the beaches were nice and breezy. This will really depend on your preference, as I am a pasty northener who thinks italy in june is way too hot.

When you go for a recce go to Hermosa Beach for a beer and to watch the kids playing volleyball - if they still do that in winter. We also hired bikes to ride up the seafront. Go to Santa Monica the precinct feels quite familiar, though I am not sure why.

Good luck with your move - sorry my message is rambling. I think I am just excited that another mumsnetter might be able to share thoughts on the relocation.

It's kind of a relief to hear of someone else who's in the same boat! Are you going on a fixed term contract? DH was going down to Torrance on Sunday for a recce as someone in the office - he's part of the launch of Tescos into the states and works for the company who are doing the packaging for the rebranding - it's going to be called 'Fresh and Easy' - yep, slightly suspect name... Haven't heard what he thinks yet as he's not great on the commnication front and there's been other stuff to talk about in our short chats since then.

That website is great although all the schools looked huge - have you found something nice for your 2?

Mmm - Fresh and Easy rhymes with cheesy. Hip Hip Hooray Tesco in LA. (Sorry I have been reading room on the broom) how long before I will have to abandon Trader Joe (Trader Joe is the best supermarket apparently).

We are on a fixed term contract, 2-4 years at Honda. Torrance is quite industrial but the schools look OK especially in the South West where we're looking at Riviera and Walteria. And it is only a short hop to the local beaches.

Dh has just got back and says the weather was lovely and warm not all rainy and miserable as it is oop north.

The kids are looking forward to easy access to Disney and Legoland. Have to go, hope to catch you online sometime.

I forgot to say that I thought the same about the schools, they are huge but with class sizes of 20 it must be better than here. Unless of course you are at a lovely village school. I don't think there are any small schools.

Don't know where this week is going between work and half term. Tescos is due to launch in July and is having lots of meetings with suppliers and trying to get them to realise they have to list all the ingredients of their products and stuff like that. DH says Trader Joes is the best place too - actually can get food that's not GM nor pumped full of hormones or something -not that I'm a rabid organic type person!

Did find one school in Santa Monica that's only got 193 kids in it - apparently doesn't have much money but nice atmosphere. Unfotunately it'll be a shock to us whatever as we're at a village school of 60 at the mo and moved there from a town centre school of 350 cos teachers felt it would suit DD better. Anyway, hopefully will hit the phones next week and make some appts to visit when I go on a recce in mid Nov. You'll probably be in situ by then.

Need to chase DD into bed - she's trying to distract me by discussing how many days it is till NOvember which isn't going to wash.

Hope everything's going okay your end - how long til you fly?

Forgot to ask - where's your north? We're good decent Northerners by proxy - live in Harrogate where's it's nice and windy today!

I'm originally from a mining village near Pontefract, now after many moves I am in Manchester. I've never been to Harrogate but it counted as a posh place when I was little.

We will hopefully be flying out mid November. DS is a quiet and pensive person, I also worry about the change in schools. We researched private schools but they seem to have larger class sizes so we gave up on that.

Are you worried about driving in LA? I am dreading it - really dreading it. I am also dreading taking my driving test again.

Good luck with the recce, are you renting when you first arrive or buying? Also did you see the forest fires on TV.

Can't believe the hassle about driving - DH is investigating whether, if you have an international driving licence you can get insurance - he's found one company that seem to suggest that would be okay. A friend whose husband lived in Florida said he had to take a new driving test there - what a nightmare - I hated taking it here never mind there in the land of 6 line highways and DH says they drive like lunatics which is why you have to have some monster sized vehicle!

I haven't found out yet - you'll know - do I have to approach their equivalent of the Local Educ Authority about registering for school? Need to get on the case this week once they're back at school - DS starts full time on Tuesday which I'm dreading.

Do you view it all as a big adventure - I think that's what I'm telling myself!

Were the private schools expensive - there's a Montessori school in S Mon which is small and DS really liked his Montessori nursery.

DH is in a rented apt in Marina Del Ray at the moment and then we'll have a rented apt the company organises for all of us for a couple of months whilst we find somewhere to rent ourselves. Frankly the finding somewhere to live is well down on my list at the moment - have to get some shipping sorted too which I haven't even looked at yet!

You don't need to contact the unified school district I don't think. We have been told to contact the school, and present vaccination information, rental documents, utility bills and report cards (Ha!). At which point you will be given a place in your local school. You need to get a map of the school boundaries for when you are looking at properties. You must go to the school in the catchment area you live in! Ger the boundary map of the unified area you are looking at.

Gotta go if I can think of anything else I'll add it later.

Got GREAT news DH has found a couple of insurance companies that will accept UK driving licences which means we won't have to take CA driving tests! He told me to still apply for an international licence from the DVLA but when he asked also about the difference in costs between a CA licence and UK there isn't one as you'd be starting out on a CA licence with no history. Sounds good to me!

Sorry to hijack, but YAY!! that Tesco is launching in the US (-even if the new name is dodgy!). We are only here for 2-3 years (NY) so we probably won't ever see one but we soooo need one! The supermarkets here are terrible compared to the UK. They never check use-by dates so you have to as loads of the food is out of date. The fruit and veges are often rotten, mouldy, etc. There is often no logic to how they stack shelves so things are hard to find. All of this has really surprised/ shocked me as I thought the US was this consumber society who demanded quality, etc. I have two pre-schoolers and really need to do all of my shopping in one place but most people get their fruit and veges from small grocers because the quality is better. As long as Tesco keep to their UK quality and standards I think they will be a HUGE success!

They're starting on the West Coast first cos they reckon they're more open to new ideas! They've got huge huge expansion plans - Terry Leahy's taken over large parts of the UK so this is the next phase of taking over the world! Don't know how quickly they'll roll out though. When I was in New York I was horrified about how bad teh food shopping was - we went out to Connecticut to stay with a London friend's family and they took us to a hypermarket as part of our tour of the 'fall' cos 'you don't have these back home'! We nearly choked but hey, when their daughter lived in London she only went as far as Europa and never made it to Sainsburys!

I lived in Los Angeles for about 3 years in the 90s so my info may be a little out of date and I didn't have children then, but I knew the city well (lived in various areas) and loved living there. You mentioned Pacific Palisades - this is a great area and v good for families. It's not far from the beach but it is a long eway from downtown - LA is huge, far bigger than any of our cities so if you live on one side and work on the other that's a pita for commuting. I can;t remember where El Segundo is - SE of the city, I think, but I'm prob completely wrong. I'm surprised Torrance is being recommended to you as it used to be a bit unpleasant, although perhaps that has changed in the 10 yrs since I have been there. I loved for a while in Los Feliz/Silverlake and that is a great, funky area, good for getting around the city, close to lovely big park and the LA observatory, but much further from the beach. Topanga Canyon is wonderful too - all the canyons are, stunning views (when you see movies with people in glass houses looking out over LA, they are in the Canyons) and if you can afford them, that is def where I would go as they are sort of half way from everywhere you might like to be. As I say, I didn't have children so know nothing about schools, but if you can live in the city, rather than out in the burbs, it will be a wonderful experience for your family. Yes, there are rough bits but most of the city is surprisingly safe and pleasant. Re driving - you prob will have to take a test, if only to get your licence which acts as ID for almost everything (inc a cheque card - it's weird). Also, car insurance is incredibly expensive, is you dh's company picking up any of these bills? I'm sure they will offer you health care which is vital - a bout of tonsillitis while I was in LA and had no health coverage cost me $700. If any of you have a complicated medical history you will have to jump through a lot of hoops to get ther cover so make sure you read all the small print.

Syd, please could you share the names of those insurers as I may get a reprieve from taking my driving test.

Oh Wilbur, you've got me worried now. Torrance does have a extremely dodgy side but beggars can't be choosers as they say. I think in that first year I will need dh to be around and friends say the commute in LA is horrendous. Have we made a real error here, is Torrance that bad!! I think I might be hyperventilating - we want to live in a house with a garden, not a flat, with parks and beaches close by. Are we kidding ourselves?

OK I've stopped panicking I live in Salford now in a tree lined suburb, and there is only a small part of Salford that is a no go area. I'm hoping Torrance is going to be the same.

When we went for our recce in July, we also thought the supermarkets were dire and we were surprised at how expensive everything was. I am starting to wonder why I agreed to this move, am rapidly losing sense of adventure.

Wilbur - how far out is Malibu - couple of nice sounding schools there but don't want to be too far for DH - El Segundo is near Manhattan Beach somewhere. What did you think to Culver City - he has a couple of strong recommendations for there but I really want to be in striking distance of the sea.

LATyke - I'll email him just now - and he's managed to get a bank account with Bank of America without even having his social security number yet. I'll post the details when I have them.

The rents look sooooo expensive - I keep on trying to convince myself that living in an aprt wouldn't be too bad but how is a 4 year old super charged boy going to tolerate that without me throttling him?!

I think surely anywhere sounds scary particularly the nearer it comes. DH thinks Redondo beach is his favourite area so far with lots of eclectic shops etc - well you've been so you'd know - and that's near to Torrance isn't it?

I was really surprised at how expensive it allis - definitely more than here and that's saying something isn't it. Thinking about the car insurance and what Wilbur said, he's driving a Ford Focus equivalent at the moment - we're having to pay car hire now - and the insurance on that was about $180 a month or $900 per annum if you paid it up front - and that was the same for Brit or CA driving licence.

Who have you used for shipping - haven't done anything about that yet - burying my head in teh sand partic as DS starts full time at school tomorrow and ...

Good Luck for tomorrow syd. I cried buckets when I saw dd in uniform and waved bye bye. I am filling up now as the house seems empty after half term. I was just talking to the shippers this morning. We are using John Mason Intl. They have been super so far though they have been organised by dh's employers. it takes about 6weeks for everything to be shipped and go through customs.

Rents are huge, it almost put a stop on us moving , so company are helping out. Will Tesco help out too. We are also looking at properties in Redondo around Alta Vista School as well as south west torrance, (areas have nice sounding names like hollywood riviera and walteria). Can I recommend Hermosa and Manhatten are nicer beaches to visit with the kids than redondo. Though the pier at redondo is brilliant your kids will love all the live seafood crawling around in the tanks. We had a nice meal in a seafood place called Kincaid's if I remember rightly.

I must stop calling apartments, flats. I realise that American families do live in apartments or condos whatever they are. But we are looking at town houses and detached properties and hoping for the best. My kids would go stir crazy if I couldn't put them out in the garden sometimes. Or maybe I would go crazy. We also wanted to live within walking distance of the school. Do you think it is better to live in an apartment in a great area or a house in a not so bad one. Is it really location location location. I suppose you will have this dilema soon. I will continue posting when I get to LA and tell you if torrance/redondo is to be avoided at all costs. I can't see the point of moving to LA if we are not near the ocean though.

Yes, sorry to agree but it is really expensive over here. We has this ridiculous idea that we could save lots of money whilst we were over here and buy a bigger house when we got back to the UK! We find food shopping the most ridiculous - we are spending around $250 a week and not really buying that much (-hence having to shop every week). DH's work are helping a lot but we still aren't really saving anything. We used Michael Gerson for shipping who were great, by the way!

Thanks for all that - need to go and do hair washes so must dash but insurance companies are AAA and PROGRESSIVE. Apparently it depends who you get on the phone with AAA but DH has a direct line for Gary who helped him.

On the supermarket front in LA he reckons Ralphs is good as is Farmers Market. Trader Joes doesn't have everything and, of course, as he keeps on reminding me, Fresh and Easy in July!

Must dash - DS causing chaos!

Thanks for that insurance info but hubby reckons I still have to pass the test cos I'll probably need a licence for photo ID. I am now worried again about reverse parking. On a happier note we have just found out that dd will just make it into Kinde as she is 5 before December 21 st. She would have been cross if she couldn't go to school, this is also a relief as preschool costs a small fortune.
I hope I can find Ralphs and Farmers Market. Make sure Fresh and Easy opens in South Bay first!

On the banking front we were able to open an account with HSBC in the US using UK banking details. not sure if the other UK banks offer this service.

sorry I couldn't find details of the costs for private education, but the schools are pretty open and all have email addresses.

There is a great thread started by the aussie expats listing things to do before you go. it is under living overseas:Leaving UK & Living Abroad...what you need to know. I am new to Mumsnet and I haven't a clue how to link to another thread.

syd - Manhattan Beach is fabulous (I used to go there to watch beach volleyball) as is redondo beach. As you say, there are dodgy bits everywhere and LA is particularly full of nice areas that are right next to less nice areas (ie Santa MOnica which is wonderful and pretty safe is v close to Venice which ios funky and a great place to hang out but can be very dodgy. Malibu however is a long way north of Manhattan and Redondo(the coast sort of juts out into the ocean where malibu is so it's even further) and it would be quite a commute for your dh. Certainly, if you like the beach life, it would be a shame to live in LA and not have a beachside experience, but do remember the beaches are quite a way from the main bit of LA, places like Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Hollywood, Downtown (which has been regenerated, I think - no one used to go there when I lived there but it's quite different now). Do you have a good map of the city? They have an equivalent of our London A-Z which is called The Thomas Guide - it's huge and not for putting in your handbag, but you will rely on it a lot when you first get there. It might be worth looking on US amazon and having one sent over before you go.

Hi Wilbur, sorry to hijack, are there things to do in Downtown LA even if you're not particulary interested in the film industry or is it pretty much just geared up for this kind of tourism. also what kind of things should we do and see while we're in and around LA. Is it worth driving to san fransico or should we fly. we haven't researched this too much but we would like to see as much of CA as we can so an insider's view would be appreciated.