Lakewood Real Estate News

(12/6/08, by Dave Emerson) Today I’m writing not as a Realtor but primarily as a native Southern Californian who’s lived here all of my 58 years, most of them in Lakewood, starting at age 1.

Every now and then it hits me what a very special place I’m privileged to live in. Today’s one of those days. There are many things to love about Southern California in general and Lakewood in particular. Here are a few that hit me today:

1. The weather: December 6th, 2008. Forecast high in Lakewood in the mid 70s. Low in the fifties. Crystal clear, warm, sunny day. I took my shirt off when I went outside to jog a couple miles on the one mile course at Lakewood’s Rynerson Park, right next to the San Gabriel River bikeway and equestrian trail.   Last night I went with Blair’s family to a local Christmas parade in shirt sleeves.
2. The sunshine: Every year I tally in my journal the number of days I don’t see the sun. It averages about five. Somehow, it seems like we get most of the little rain we get at night. And almost never on the Rose Parade. I tell my friends that was the deal the Rose Association made with God about a hundred years ago. No Rose Parade on Sundays, so people can get to chuirch, and no rain on their parade! Maybe the NFL should try that one!
3. The geography: Lakewood’s about ten miles from the nearest beach.  Full of very nice parks. An hour from the San Gabriel Mountains, which include a peak over 10,000 feet high and two major ski resorts. To the east, the San Bernardino Mountains include a peak over 12,000 feet high, several alpine lakes, and three more major ski areas. I could see both mountain ranges clearly this morning, as well as Mt. San Jacinto, just South of Palm Springs. (Did I mention the deserts?) It’s not all that hard to snowboard (or ski) and surf (or boogie board) on the same day, but I would recommend a wet suit for the Pacific in winter.
4. The rivalry: Right now, I’m taking a break from the USC - UCLA game, where my Westwood alma mater is doing better than expected. . . so far. USC-UCLA is the only true cross-town rivalry among NCAA Division 1 schools in the country! Both schools are within the Los Angeles city limits, only about 12 miles apart.   USC’s less than a half hour from Lakewood when traffic’s light.  UCLA takes another 10 - 15 minutes.  Many USC students live in Westwood, by UCLA. When I went to UCLA, it wasn’t uncommon for athletes from the rival schools to room together. My best friend at Lakewood High School went to USC while I went to UCLA.

Rival banners are flying throughout my neighborhood. Three of the sixteen families on my cul-de-sac have UCLA alum, but we have SC season seat holders & alum anchoring the start of the street. My mother and I both graduated from UCLA, my son’s girlfriend hopes to go there. My boss is a USC alumn. Both are great schools with great traditions. And a great, but generally friendly rivalry. As a tribute to the Trojans, let me share the words to USC’s famous Fight Song, at least the way I learned them at UCLA (with apologies to my friends from “Figueroa Tech”):

Fight on! for USC.

You pay a fee; you get a degree!

You’ll be smarter than me, because I went to USC!

I went to USC! I went to USC!

Just kidding. I think they’re both great schools, one public, one private, two of several dozen outstanding colleges and Universities ranging from Cal Tech to the University of San Diego.

I could go on and on. Diversity. Opportunity. Culture. Great churches. Great museums. Great beaches. Great mountain biking. Over 100 languages spoken in local schools. Forward thinking.

Sure, we’ve got a lot of people, but locals figure out ways to deal with and even enjoy it.

For me. So Cal is a wonderful place to live year round, and Lakewood’s an affordable family-oriented communit right in the middle of it all.   If you live someplace else and want to move here, I just happen to know a couple good Lakewood Realtors.   Actually, Blair and I also cover West Orange County and Greater Long Beach,  but we seem to sell more homes in Lakewood every year than anywhere else.

Happy Holidays from Lakewood, California!