SOMA-ish Town in Los Angeles or San Diego Area?

As much as we like living in Burbank, I wouldn't call it diverse. It's full of white union guys who work for the studios. It's very square and small-town in a 1950s way. The demographics are similar to SOMa but with Hispanic people instead of AA. We know plenty of mixed race families but not so many same sex parents. Although, one of the couples who won in the Supreme Courts CA equal marriage case is from Burbank!

We've had great luck at the schools and even though the class sizes are huge, my kids are far better served by the schools here than in SOMa. The recreation department is well funded and has lots of arts opportunities to make up for the lack of them in the schools.

If I had my druthers, I'd live closer to the beach. But since we work in Burbank and it means our commutes are less than ten minutes, it's a great middle ground. We can be in the mountains without any sight of civilization within a five minute drive and five minute hike. We can be in downtown LA, Hollywood, or Pasadena in 20 minutes. And we can make the beach in 30 minutes as long as we leave early enough!