Where to live in Los Angeles area?

We are relocating from Northern California to the LA area. We have no idea what is nice. We were thinking Corona or Ontario because you can live in a good size fairly new house. But I have been hearing a lot of bad things. We will also commuting to the La area alot. Could you give us a time frame on how long it takes. Our budget is about $2500 a month and we are a family of four with frequent out of towners. What are your suggestions?