Bradbury

For those not familiar with LA County, there is a very good chance you haven’t heard of Bradbury. Yet it is one of the most affluent zip codes you will find in the U.S. In fact, if you have an extra $78 million, you can buy an enormous luxury mansion right here! Wait a minute. I think someone beat you to it.

Bradbury is a small city, just over two square miles with 1,000 residents that sits right in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and boarded by Monrovia and Duarte. In fact, Bradbury belongs to the Duarte Unified School District.

Homes here, as you can imagine, are incredible. Obviously you must have deep pocketbooks to be able to afford the prices that these mansions command as they go into the millions. You won’t find a little starter home here.

What is impressive about Bradbury is that unlike other ritzy LA suburbs, like Beverly Hills or Bel Air, here you can enjoy a very rural atmosphere, as much of the city is zoned for agriculture. If you desire a horse farm, you will have plenty of choices, as this is an equestrian community. But if you are in the market for a home in a gated community, then Bradbury Estates offers amazing properties as well on gorgeous tree lined streets. Simply beautiful.

If you are looking for shopping, then you won’t find it here, but Duarte is three minutes away as well as Monrovia where there is shopping galore.

Commuting is manageable as downtown LA is approximately 25 miles however, you will suffer from the expected traffic. And you may want to consider that it’s almost an hour to travel to the Westwood section of LA (UCLA) and that’s without traffic.

Yes, the schools are not the most highly regarded in Los Angeles, but for most Bradbury residents of school aged children, that’s not a concern as they all go to private schools any way.

Great little city if you can afford it.

This is among the top ten safest neighborhoods/cities in the greater LA area. East of Monrovia and north of Duarte, on the far inland reaches of the greater LA area, Bradbury is among the top ten safest cities in all of LA—certainly in terms of violent crime. (Curious what the other nine are? Here they are: West San Dimas, Val Verde, San Pasqual, Rolling Hills, Ramona, Leona Valley, Hidden Hills, Hasley Canyon, and Green Valley).

How safe is it in Bradbury? Well there has not been a murder here in at least five years, possible longer. And in the last six months, there has not been a violent crime reported of any kind: no assaults, no robberies, no rapes. What about property crime? It barely registers. Just a handful of thefts and auto break ins. Basically, this is as safe as it gets.

But what is Bradbury like otherwise? HOT! This is one of those inland areas where you no longer get the cooling influence from the Pacific—so you might as well be in Arizona. Summers are pretty unbearable here.

People here however can definitely afford to blast their air conditioners to cool their mammoth dwellings. Bradbury is among LA’s most affluent communities, with the average household earning well into the six-figures. It really is about on the same level as Bel-Air but without the cooling ocean breezes and the prestige.

The homes here are not Ranch homes—they are actual ranches. Well sort of, anyway. These are basically mansions set up on a ranch model. Think giant horse choral with immaculate white fencing and beautiful greens and you get the idea. Of course, you will also find perfectly sculpted French gardens, tennis courts and long entry ways meant to make you feel like you are approaching Versailles. (So Cal ranch versions of Versailles.)

Given what I’ve told you, you might expect the local schools to be outstanding, but this is not exactly the case. The local high school, Duarte High is below average by objective standards. It actually missed 4 No Child Left Behind Standards last year. SAT scores are about a hundred points below the state average, and its API is only about average. The really big deficit seems to be in Math where, on the STAR test only about 1 in 5 students manage to pass—pretty dismal given the local resources.

I guess the poor schools should not come as a total surprise. The average age of Bradbury residents is 46. Only about 250 of Duartes’ 1500 residents are under the age of 18. So this is really more your grandparents community, than a young family community. Besides which, with the amount of money the average Bradbury resident brings in, they can afford to have their children tutored by Nobel laureates if they would like. (I only slightly exaggerate.)

That said, it’s a bit too hot for me or my pocket book, but if you are in the whole Ronald Reagan Hollywood cowboy lifestyle—this is the place for you.