West Covina

Located 23 miles east of Los Angeles, South San Jose Hills is a laidback community that offers residents easy access to the San Gabriel Valley and the rest of LA. Perched between the San Gabriel and Pomona valleys, South San Jose Hills is full of places for locals to eat, shop and relax. “This part of West Covina is pretty quiet, but also has many stores and restaurants on the main streets within walking distance or a short drive,” says James Torres, Realtor with Keller Williams, who has been selling homes in the area for 11 years. “It’s a pretty typical LA suburb but stands out for being more laidback and secluded. What I’ve noticed about this area is that a lot of people like to stay there for a long time.” Newcomers to South San Jose Hills will find homes that fit nearly any budget. Single-family homes range from midcentury-era 1,000-square-foot fixer-uppers for $250,000 to 2,600-square-foot new builds for $965,000. Home styles include Minimal Traditional, ranch-style and Spanish-style with stucco facades in neutral colors. Front doorways are recessed, helping to keep interiors cool, and large front windows let the sunshine in. Short driveways lead to two-car garages, and small front porches provide enough space to sit and visit with friends. Lot sizes are a bit small, but they still offer enough room for low, wrought-iron fences and front yards landscaped with flowers. “At any given time there are a couple houses for sale,” Torres says. “They sell pretty quickly. If they’re priced well, you get offers within a few weeks.” South San Jose Hills is part of the Rowland Unified School District, and kids in the neighborhood are assigned to several different elementary schools based on their home addresses. Schools include Northam Elementary School, which earns an overall grade of C-plus from Niche; Giano Intermediate School, which earns a B-minus; and Nogales High School, which earns a B-plus. Nogales High serves approximately 1,900 students and hosts programs like "Coffee with the Counselors" and "Coffee with the Principal," where parents have dedicated time to learning about their children's studies. Residents looking for fresh air and exercise often head to Sunshine Park, located off Deepmead Avenue. This park, which is almost exclusively surrounded by residential streets, has basketball courts and baseball fields. Kids will love the large playground full of colorful equipment where they can climb, swing and slide. In the heat of summer, kids can cool off in the splash pad. For authentic Indian food, locals head to neighborhood-favorite Manohar’s Delhi Palace, located off Azusa Way. The locally-owned restaurant has served the community since 1990 and is a popular dinner destination for residents and out-of-town foodies alike. A little further up Azusa Avenue are a handful of familiar chain restaurants that include McDonald’s, Jack in the Box, Jollibee and Del Taco. South San Jose Hills is framed by two main thoroughfares packed with shopping centers. Residents can pick up groceries at Seafood City Supermarket and daily essentials at large retailers like Target or the dozens of smaller retailers in the vicinity. Walgreens is conveniently located nearby for prescriptions. Most locals in this area commute by car, but the main thoroughfares are also lined with bus stops that are within walking distance from the neighborhood’s residences. Thanks to its proximity to the CA-60 freeway, South San Jose Hills residents have a straight shot to downtown Los Angeles to the west, Riverside County to the east and Orange County to the south, making this neighborhood a centrally located spot in LA County.

About 20 miles from downtown Los Angeles, the West Covina suburb of South Hills sits in the eastern San Gabriel Valley, rolling across the San Jose Hills of the Sierra Mountains and bordered north by the 10 freeway. “Here you'll find West Covina’s most expensive, exclusive homes, with fantastic mountain views,” says San Gabriel Valley Realtor and West Covina resident Mary Anglin of Fathom Realty, “and prices that make them especially attractive. They'd be at least tripled or quadrupled closer to Pasadena and LA.” These exclusive South Hills homes are four- to six-bedroom Spanish-style estates built between the 1990s and mid-2000s on half-acre lots, ranging from $1.9 million to $3.5 million. With tall windows, soaring ceilings and clay-tiled roofs, these mansions line sidewalk-free streets that climb high in the hills, with fluffy palm trees in immaculate front yards and garage space for at least three cars. Closer to sea level, a midcentury ranch-style home with up to four bedrooms and three baths on a grassy quarter-acre lot averages $790,000; you'll likely have a mature tree in your front yard and a mailbox at the curb. Town house condos with two to four bedrooms range from $480,000 to $900,000 (plus monthly HOA fees of $260 to $500). For golf and local society, you could join the private South Hills Country Club, with an 18-hole course that hosts PGA and USGA events, an elegant Santa Barbara Mission-style clubhouse and a 3,500-bottle wine cellar. Or free of charge, you could enjoy the 42-acre Galster Wilderness Park, where paved hiking trails trace hillsides of coastal scrub, shaded by native black walnut trees. At Cortez Park, you can take your favorite kids to the modern playground or join your neighbors to cheer on a Little League game; at the park’s community center, seniors can watch a free movie, join a monthly excursion or take classes like Tai Chi. South Hills Plaza is the neighborhood’s shopping center, where you can stock up on everything from groceries to homewares at bright and shiny Tokyo Central. Start the day with coffee and a cruller at Rainbow Donuts; fuel up on Chinese noodle dishes at Lan Noodle or yakitori and hot pot at Cheers Cafe; and sweeten the evening with mochi and popping pearls at Japanese dessert shop Lucky Sakura. Other area shopping centers include the West Covina Center, with Filipino and Thai eateries and a Seafood City Supermarket; and the Eastland Center, which includes Sprouts and Target, as well as Thumbling for Taiwanese dumplings. If you have school-age kids in South Hills, you can choose public options from both the Covina-Valley Unified and West Covina Unified districts. Within the latter, local kids might attend Vine Elementary and Hollencrest Middle, both rated 6/10 by GreatSchools for their students’ test scores, and continue to Mt. SAC Early College Academy, which offers dual enrollment in high school and local Mt. St. Antonio College. If you’d prefer a religious private school, Christ Lutheran serves prekindergarten through Grade 8. For a Southern California bargain on a luxury home with stunning mountain views and suburban convenience, venture out the 10 freeway to West Covina’s South Hills.