You can be 5 miles away yet it be a 2 hour drive heheh. I was walking distance from the LA Zoo, 8 miles from downtown LA, less than 15 minutes from Universal Studios, 2 minutes from one of the biggest malls in the world (Glendale Galleria), 20 minutes from Hollywood, 20 minutes from Pomona, and less than 30 minutes from Magic Mountain and Disney. Then I could drive 20-25 minutes North and be in the LA Nat Forest, go camping and not see another person the whole time. BUT Stillen and most beaches were about 45 minutes away. That is..... on that 1 day a year somehow traffic allowed most of these drives without a 30 car pile up wreck in front of me.