Moving to L.A. area later this year - Good neighborhoods/towns to live in?

[pure_mercury]

Pretty self-explanatory title. I was just wondering if any of you SoCal natives, emigrants, or expats had some advice as to where I should be looking for a place. Based on work, I'd need to be within 45 minutes of Burbank/Universal and Beverly Hills/West Hollywood. I will be rather poor when I first get out there, I can afford about $600 a month before utilities. Any help? On Craigslist, I find a few listings for North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Valley Village, and some things closer to downtown or toward the eastern end of Echo Park. Thanks in advance.

[CaptainChick]

Bah!!!!

Don't do it!!!!!

Noho is pretty cool though, i.e. North Hollywood

Oh, and be prepared to don a perpetually plastic face stuck on either the 405, 101, 110, or 10 freeways.

[pure_mercury]

Originally Posted by ChapStick

Bah!!!!

Don't do it!!!!!

Noho is pretty cool though, i.e. North Hollywood

Oh, and be prepared to don a perpetually plastic face stuck on either the 405, 101, 110, or 10 freeways.

I have a Thomas Guide and am soon getting an automotive navigation system. And I know enough to use surface roads as often as possible. The 101 down to Hollywood was brutal, but Cahuenga/Highland was just as bad in the morning. I started taking Barham to Cahuenga and then Mulholland all the way to Laurel Canyon. Leo's production company is in West Hollywood, right before you get to the border with Beverly Hills. Usually about a 35-minute commute from the Oakwoods.

[skip]

Er... could you save some more money before you head out? The problem with renting almost anywhere in the greater L.A. and valley areas is that money = safety. You're asking for trouble at $600/mo before utilities. I assume that's for a room in someone else's home and you're not looking for an apartment at that rate?

Also, when you say "45 minutes from" are you aware that distance is completely different depending on what time of day and day of the week you're talking about? Are you getting a job with flex hours so you're not, for example, slogging your way through the 10 at 8AM every weekday morning?

[pure_mercury]

Originally Posted by skip

Er... could you save some more money before you head out? The problem with renting almost anywhere in the greater L.A. and valley areas is that money = safety. You're asking for trouble at $600/mo before utilities. I assume that's for a room in someone else's home and you're not looking for an apartment at that rate?

Also, when you say "45 minutes from" are you aware that distance is completely different depending on what time of day and day of the week you're talking about? Are you getting a job with flex hours so you're not, for example, slogging your way through the 10 at 8AM every weekday morning?

I would be an assistant, so I would have to be the first person there, most likely. But as an average. And $600+ a month would be including my saving money right now. I would take that as a sublet or whatever. I may have someone else coming out with me, and there seems to be some small-but-decent places for $1200-1250 a month, 2 BR/1 BA.

[Beat]

No offense but, WORST. PLACE. TO. MOVE. TO.

Screw LA. Go up to San Francisco.

[pure_mercury]

Originally Posted by GloriaEstefan

No offense but, WORST. PLACE. TO. MOVE. TO.

Screw LA. Go up to San Francisco.

For $600 a month in SF, I can be one of the friendliest homeless people you'll ever meet.

[skip]

If you have to be the first person there maybe you could get off the freeways by 7AM and work a lunchless 7AM-3PM?

The problem with your rent range is you're competing with the usual college kids and older low-income people you find in most large cities plus all the I-wanna-be-an-actor/singer/writer types working for minimum wage and an enormous low-income/illegal population. L.A. is not the place to try to exist on a budget.

Don't forget the further you go inland the worse the air gets. Don't underestimate the valleys in the summer.

[Edahn]

Studio City would be a great choice. Other than that, maybe Los Feliz or Pasadena.

[Beat]

Originally Posted by pure_moods

For $600 a month in SF, I can be one of the friendliest homeless people you'll ever meet.

You have a point there but in that case I'd just throw the idea of Cali out the window all together. What is the appeal to L.A.? Perhaps the same as the 11,000,000 residents already there, I suppose? hah.

My sister lives in OC. Some people dig the LA area but it's just not for me personally.