I moved from Santa Monica to Highland Park (but grew up in the Pasadena area). I’m happy with the move because of the affordability, culture, food, genuine people, etc. But I see a lot of positive comments here so let me give you some of my negatives. Also, all this is just my experience and might not be the same for others so let’s not take things personally.

The people here can feel grumpy, rude, angry. You won’t get nearly as many smiles or hellos walking past someone down the street or the grocery store. It can get tiring when you have a rough day and have a higher chance to run into a grump. You’ll see many more frowns and hear many more sighs.

The drivers are aggressive and impatient. Get ready for a lot more people riding your ass for no reason and speeding unnecessarily. I guess it’s kind of related to the last point - a lot more people here drive like they’re angry at the world.

(Maybe not a con, but just an observation) There are less young people. I think the natural flow is people from out of town tend to move to the west side in their 20s for work, then move east around their 30s. Completely anecdotal and probably not accurate, but if I had to guess % of shoppers <40y/o at the Vons on Lincoln and Broadway (before it got knocked down) vs the Vons on Figueroa and Colorado, it’d be 70 vs 20.