Mar Vista

Mar Vista has become a great family neighborhood, essentially because families that could not afford great Westside areas (West LA, Santa Monica, etc...) have moved in to the area. Also, there are a lot of good schools around. The prices are getting higher and higher however, with multi- million dollar home prices having already been reached.

Mar Vista is located near Culver City and Santa Monica. it's Elementary schools are in the top of the state, and the middle and highschools are excellent as well. Mar Vista does have quite the price tag on it, it is worth every penny.
I think this is a great place to be single, live as a couple, or even as a family. There is not one particular dominate age group in this area. It's a very diverse area, with plenty to do.
Enjoy the highly reviewed and rated stable for lessons for your kids or yourself, enjoy the shops and stores for anything you can think of or enjoy one of the amazing restaurants. Check out Pitfire Pizza by Washington Boulevard- amazing!

Mar Vista is the neighborhood just inland from Venice. It is a nice middle class community, with a good mix of younger couples and older longtime residents. 3 out of 5 households rent in the area but the houses are generally well kept with nice details like dovecotes along the gables of many of the older prairie style homes.

It is also a very eco-friendly community that recycles and tries to push more environmentally friendly forms of transportation like bike lanes and gardens. There is small town feel to the community with friendly neighbors and good schools. There is also a farmer’s market on Sundays that brings the community out.

This is also an example of one of the communities in LA where diversity does not seem to be a major issue. Half the population is white and a third are Hispanic with a substantial Asian population (largely Japanese). The northern half of Mar Vista is noticeably upper class, filled with nice older homes—the western end tends to have more condos and apartments but turnover is low as many renters are families who have settled in for the long term. The exception is the area south west of Centinela where Mar Vista Gardens—a housing project associated with gang activity (the “sotel gang”) is located. There is also a fairly substantial homeless element as you near Venice, possibly spillover from that area. The combination of these two factors have made some of the local parks a little intimidating for local families. Despite these concerns, the area is relatively safe with only one gang related murder since 2007 at its extreme border with Culver City.

Many residents also like the proximity to beach not only for the recreational purposes but because of the cooling effect of the sea breeze. Mar Vista has a few restaurants and couple of nice bars as far as night life goes but is generally a quieter scene than its snazzy coastal neighbors.