The Most Accessible Suburbs of Los Angeles

After years of living amidst the constant buzz found in the heart of Los Angeles, even the hardiest residents will want to move to the suburbs over time. As such, many Angelenos choose to trade in their small apartment with easy access to the office in favor of more yard space and welcomed square footage in the home. 

If you are looking for a neighborhood within an hour or so from Downtown LA and including a strong sense of community, our team compiled a list of the most searched and most accessible suburbs that Los Angeles has to offer.

Most accessible suburbs of LA

• Altadena 
• Burbank
• Calabasas 
• Culver City 
• Diamond Bar 
• Inglewood
• Monrovia 
• Gardena 
• Pasadena 
• Porter Ranch 
• Sherman Oaks 
• Westchester  

Altadena 

Sitting at the foothills of Mount Wilson is the enclave of Altadena. This quaint town is about 14 miles away from Downtown Los Angeles if commuters take the 110 south. And homeowners can easily escape to the hiking trails of the San Gabriel mountains to the north. 

Altadena is a premier destination for homebuyers looking for spacious properties tucked away from the bustling heart of Los Angeles. Known for historic mansions and spectacular mountain vistas, homebuyers scouring listings in Altadena can find whimsical storybook-style houses featuring steeply-gabled roofs and quaint single-story ranches. Visitors coming to Altadena can spend the day hiking at Eaton Canyon Falls or view rabbits and quirky bunny memorabilia at the eccentric Bunny Museum.

Burbank

Famous for the Warner Brothers, Walt Disney, and Universal Film Studio lots, Burbank, California, is a premier destination for many Californians looking for easy access to the Los Angeles region. Prospective homeowners will find Burbank at the southeastern corner of San Fernando Valley, and residents are only 14 miles away from Downtown LA. 

The city is home to many art-deco and Spanish Mission-style municipal buildings, but the homes range from classic one-story Tudors to eccentric Craftsman-style homes like the famous Rock House on East Olive Avenue. 

Aspiring homeowners checking out listings in Burbank can spend many days exploring the studio lots, but explorers looking for a quick trip into history should grab a bite at the famous Bob’s Big Boy restaurant, known for its Googie exterior and tasty burgers. 

Calabasas

Off the beaten track from the bustling center of Los Angeles, Calabasas is an exclusive suburb located 30 miles away from downtown. This Santa Monica Mountain retreat is just 15 minutes away from the Topanga State Park, and drivers can take Mulholland to see stunning views of the peaks and valleys of the range. 

Despite the new construction lining the hillsides, Calabasas dates back to the founding of Los Angeles. As such, residents can find examples of historic structures like the Leonis Adobe scattered throughout Calabasas. 

Calabasas means "squash" in Spanish, and luxury home buyers thinking of upgrading their lodgings will find plenty of wild squash and pumpkin growing in the underbrush of this mountainside town. Gourds are so famous in this town there is a yearly Pumpkin Festival in October, where residents can see live music, see giant pumpkins, and play carnival games. 

Many Calabasas homes reside within gated communities, featuring terracotta-clad mansions with large yards and in-ground pools, which are perfect for buyers seeking an escape from the noise and congestion in Central LA.

Culver City 

Another movie magic town, Culver City, is located about 10 miles from Downtown LA and is right in the heart of the budding Los Angeles technology scene. Originally known as an entertainment town, Culver City is home to the Metro Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. 

Now, giants like Sony Pictures Entertainment and the NFL Network call Culver City home. Technology workers and engineers find the location to be super convenient, as many aerospace companies like SpaceX and tech companies like Facebook have offices minutes away from Culver City. Amazon Music is building a campus in Culver City, making this neighborhood ideal for tech workers seeking short commutes. 

Sepulveda Boulevard runs through the district, providing commuters with access to various restaurants and shopping boutiques, and an easy off-the-beaten-track route to the South Bay cities. There is a cluster of neighborhoods for buyers to explore in Culver City. Homebuyers can expect to find single-story craftsman homes, revival homes with stucco siding, and two-story post-modern homes scaled down for suburban streets. 

Diamond Bar

Aptly named, this affluent neighborhood is home to many famous musicians, actors, and wealthy homeowners looking for a retreat hidden away from the gilded Santa Monica mountain enclaves and busy streets of central Los Angeles. 

Mainly a residential neighborhood, the town is named after the "Diamond over the Bar" ranch that existed on this swath of land currently located between the Orange and Panoma Freeways. Located on the northern side of Chino Hills State Park, Diamond Bar is perfect for commuters, as it is about 30 miles away from the towering Beaux-Arts buildings of Downtown LA. 

Known as a luxurious, residential suburb, homebuyers examining properties in Diamond Bar can find many types of mansions in the area. Buyers considering a move to Diamond Bar will hobnob with the elite of Los Angeles and may even have a chance to see the OG of Los Angeles, Snoop Dogg, who has a mansion in the area. 

But buyers seeking palatial homes must scour listings in the exclusive Diamond Bar Country Estates. Golf is a major attraction in the area, but outdoors-minded residents can find hiking opportunities at the Steep Canyon Trail and Summitridge Park.

Monrovia 

Perfect for home buyers that want to be close to nature, Monrovia is a picturesque town tucked into the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. Most of the Monrovia region was once an orange grove in the 1800s until the Santa Fe Railroad laid tracks through the area. Developers built new homes along the line, and the population quickly grew, and city planners incorporated the town in the 1880s.

Today, homebuyers can find classic craftsman homes and new construction condos dotting the picturesque landscape of Monrovia. There is a small-town feel in Monrovia, which is why nearby movie studios use the town for shooting scenes, and buyers might stumble upon the filming of new blockbusters as they are exploring open houses. 

Monrovia is about 25 miles from Downtown LA and is famously quiet. Upton Sinclair, the famous investigative journalist, moved into a two-story Mediterranean home in the 1940s to find peace in the hills overlooking Los Angeles.

Gardena

Like many LA neighborhoods and surrounding cities, Gardena began as a ranch in the late 1800s, and developers transformed the pastoral landscape into a suburban retreat from the urban sprawl of central Los Angeles. 

Gardena residents can now easily spend a day in Manhattan Beach to the west or explore the Hawthorne tech hubs to the northwest. Despite the suburban vibe of Strawberry Park and Hermosillo neighborhoods, there are bustling shopping centers on West Redondo Beach Boulevard and South Western Avenue. 

Aspiring buyers scouring Gardena listings will commonly find single-story ranches with low-angled roofs, although Hermosillo does have condo options available as well. Neighborhood explorers have an almost endless list of restaurants, bakeries, and tea shops to enjoy if they move to this neighborhood near the ocean. 

Pasadena

Just south of Altadena, LA residents will find the bustling city of Pasadena. Featuring old colonial-style buildings mixed with new construction suburban homes, Pasadena is about 11 miles north of Downtown LA, providing homeowners with access to the towns and cities of the San Fernando Valley. 

While some consider Pasadena a suburb of Los Angeles, this sprawling city nestled in the San Gabriel Valley is an urban center for the region. Pasadena was a pop resort town for most of the early 1900s. But many vacationers were wooed by the spectacular views, and developers began building masses of craftsman-style homes to match the beauty of the land. 

The Ultimate Bungalow and the Gamble House are two pristine examples of the housing style that homebuyers can tour today to experience the rugged frontier feeling these homes evoke. 

Outdoor enthusiasts will love Pasadena, as the city is home to the expansive Arroyo Park encompassing the North and South Arroyo neighborhoods. Golfers will love Pasadena as there are several country clubs within the city limits. Students and teachers will also appreciate the benefits of moving to Pasadena, as the illustrious California Institute of Technology has a campus in the city. 

Porter Ranch 

In the northwestern hills of the San Fernando Valley, Angelenos will find Porter Ranch. The town originally was a far-flung community that few knew of, but the proximity of the neighborhood to the Greater Los Angeles area made it attractive to commuters. 

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, developers subdivided the land and created modernized takes on historic Spanish Colonial, Storybook, and Craftsman-style homes. These properties sit below the scrub-covered foothills of the Santa Susana Mountains, which separate the San Fernando Valley from the Santa Clarita Valley. 

Porter Ranch sits about 20 miles from Burbank and 30 miles from Downtown LA, and because of the elevation of the suburb, some residents claim that the air quality is better in the area. As such, Porter Ranch is a premier destination for homebuyers in love with the great outdoors and taking the trail less trodden. 

Sherman Oaks

Located on the northern side of the Santa Monica Mountains, Sherman Oaks brings a small-town vibe to the big city of Los Angeles. Located just next to Burbank and Studio City, Sherman Oaks was founded back in the 1920s as a suburban escape from sprawling Central LA, and today is known for its quaint hillside neighborhoods and high-end shopping centers. 

Ventura Boulevard is the commercial throughway, where residents can find high dining positioned next to familiar retail chains. Sherman Oaks is nestled between the 405 and 101 freeways, making drives to the north, south, east, and west an easy endeavor for drivers. 

Shoppers can take the day exploring one of the three malls located in Sherman Oaks, one being the open-air Galleria Mall. When homebuyers explore Sherman Oaks listings, they will find a split between post-modern compounds in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains and single-story developments in the San Fernando Valley below. 

Westchester

Home to Loyola Marymount University and the Otis College of Art and Design, Westchester is a college town primely situated near the technology hubs of Los Angeles. Located just to the north of LAX, Westchester is perfect for frequently flyer residents working in Marina Del Rey, Playa Vista, or Hawthorne. 

Demand for housing in Westchester is high, which is why many homeowners and developers have remodeled the existing ranch-style homes into two-story offerings. Sepulveda Boulevard is the main commercial strip in Westchester, like most South Bay cities, where homeowners can explore big-box retailers and chain restaurants. 

Lovers of coffee and architecture can have a cup of joe at Pann’s restaurant, one of the most well-known examples of Googie architecture in Los Angeles, located at the intersection of La Cienega and La Tijera boulevards. But one of the most spectacular showings of Googie construction is The Theme Building at LAX, which looks like an alien ship is preparing to take off for space. 

Interested in buying your dream home? Browse listings in your favorite Los Angeles suburbs and see how much you can save with Prevu’s commission rebate.

Prevu Real Estate, Inc. is a licensed real estate broker in California, license number 02134758.