I love living in San Marino. It’s a great, family oriented community with its own Police Department, high ranking San Marino School District, Fire Department, a newly rebuilt Crowell Library and a beautiful City Hall.

We have several banks and real estate companies within the city boundaries. San Marino has its own Starbucks that avoided the recent Starbucks closures, a Chinese Restaurant, a Japanese Restaurant, a pharmacy and a Seafood place.

So why is it that in this well educated, wealthy community, we still have “the wrong side of the tracks” mentality. Here’s how I hear the locals refer to San Marino at times:

1. There’s living North of Huntington Drive San Marino – Homes North of Huntington Drive are much more stately in many cases than South of Huntington Drive. These San Marino luxury homes have larger lots and we have seen much higher sales prices attached to them. This is where the famous Huntington Library and Lacy Park sit.
2. There’s South of Huntington Drive San Marino – Homes tend to be on 10,000 to 12,000 sq. ft. lots and average 4 bedroom and 3 baths.
3. There’s Valentine Elementary School San Marino – preferred by some over Carver Elementary school.
4. There’s what some locals refer lovingly as “Sub Marino” – an area of unincorporated Los Angeles, East of San Gabriel Blvd where some homes have access to San Marino schools without the San Marino address.
5. And, there’s what some refer to as “Baja Marino” – a newer tract of homes off of Muscatel that have a San Gabriel address, but option to go to San Marino schools.

Both of my kids had an opportunity to attend both Valentine Elementary and Carver Elementary and both schools are terrific. The scores for both elementary schools are very similar. Kids from both South and North of Huntington drive play together and form long-standing friendships.

So is it simply the size of the homes North of Huntington that make it such a desirable area of San Marino for some? Do we really need these dividing lines? I’m curious about your opinion. If you live in San Marino, let me know what you think.