I can't speak to the kids/school aspect at all, however I'm not sure that subscribe to the "LA isn't a nuclear city at al" idea. It's not that LA isn't a nucle

I can't speak to the kids/school aspect at all, however I'm not sure that subscribe to the "LA isn't a nuclear city at al" idea. It's not that LA isn't a nuclear city, it's just that LA is 5 nuclear cities all within a (traffic free) 30 minute drive of one another. So the problem is when people want to live in one city and work in another. There are more than enough (schools, companies,etc) within any one 'LA' to restrict your search to that and not be missing out on a golden opportunity. As far as the friends thing, that's true too, but like another commenter pointed out, they start to become long distance friends, so you make it a point to go hang out with them, and you just end up socializing more with friends in your neighborhood, which is natural because when you go out, you meet people who live near you, more often than not.