+1 for San Diego Mission Bay Area. Look at Bay Park/Bay Ho neighborhoods just across I-5 from Pacific Beach. Can still find ocean views and only a short drive to Downtown, beaches, shopping areas. Public transportation access now too with the new trolly line running through the neighborhood. We’ve had our house there for 8 years and the neighborhood is definitely trending younger with more families moving in.
I’m curious if anyone from the group makes the commute to LAX from further north in the Santa Barbara/central coast area. I was just stationed up there at Vandenberg SFB before moving back to San Diego for my last tour in the Navy. Wife and I are debating on staying in SD or moving back north to the Santa Ynez/Solvang/Buellton area just over the mountains from Santa Barbara. Love our San Diego neighborhood, just debating if we want more of the small town country life for the kids to grow up in with the amenities of coastal California still available.
I’ve timed both drives for LAX and it seems to be 2:15 to 2:30 from the area up north and 1:45-2:00 from the house in San Diego with minimal to moderate traffic. Heavy traffic would add probably 1-1.5 hours to each I’m guessing. House in SD has bonus of being 10 minutes from the SAN airport.