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

pure_mercury

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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.
 

SillySapienne

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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. :yes:
 

pure_mercury

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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. :yes:

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

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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

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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.
 

swordpath

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

Screw LA. Go up to San Francisco.
 

skip

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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.
 

ThatsWhatHeSaid

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

swordpath

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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.
 

pure_mercury

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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.

I was a Film and Media Arts major, and I've interned there twice. I am getting into the industry.
 

pure_mercury

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Die hipsters die!!!!

Los feliz sucks elephant testicles, don't do it.

Studio city rocks, as does Sherman Oaks, aka my hood!!! :D

I like Studio City. My friends Scott and Brooke live in Sherman Oaks, but they have a house already (screenwriter and Bravo producer, respectively).
 

SillySapienne

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I was a Film and Media Arts major, and I've interned there twice. I am getting into the industry.
Both of my sisters are in the dreaded sindustry!!!

One is a stylist, the other is a production manager... *shudders*
 

skip

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I am getting into the industry.

Ah. That explains the slave wage. Okay. The most livable places in L.A. aren't advertised, they go by word of mouth. Have you tried asking around at work if someone knows of/has a room you can rent? See if there's a message board at your gym, too. Church/temple/synagogues and housing offices at community colleges are another place to check (try PCC).
 

swordpath

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I was a Film and Media Arts major, and I've interned there twice. I am getting into the industry.
I see. Well, if you're getting into the industry that's the place to do it I guess. I didn't know that you had plans, was just assuming it might be a random move for a "new start" or one of those type deals. My aunt works in the industry as an ADR editor. Awesome lady.

Here's her page:
Kimberly Harris (I)
 

pure_mercury

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Ah. That explains the slave wage. Okay. The most livable places in L.A. aren't advertised, they go by word of mouth. Have you tried asking around at work if someone knows of/has a room you can rent? See if there's a message board at your gym, too. Church/temple/synagogues and housing offices at community colleges are another place to check (try PCC).

No way near there yet. I am moving at the end of September. I will make some calls to people I know from Temple's Film program who are out there now, though.
 

Wolf

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

Screw LA. Go up to San Francisco.
Screw San Francisco. That place has traffic that puts Los Angeles to shame and costs many times more. I once considered a job there, but couldn't accept the amount a company that has been running for a couple years at a loss would have to pay me to live there. I told them to call me when they were profitable, because it was too much of a gamble for me...

Los Angeles is crazy (congestion/traffic/people/etc), which is why I opted for San Diego when I considered moving back to California. The weather is better here, anyhow.

Have you also factored in driving costs? Gas is expensive and you must drive so much that cars need to be replaced fairly regularly. Don't think surface streets will save you from traffic, either.

For $600 a month in SF, I can be one of the friendliest homeless people you'll ever meet.
Los Angeles isn't much better at $600 a month. I couldn't fathom living anywhere in the greater Los Angeles area on less than 90-100k, unless I had a completely free place to live.

Other than that, maybe Los Feliz or Pasadena.
For $600 a month? :huh: Is this a joke?

Studio city rocks, as does Sherman Oaks, aka my hood!!! :D
Yeah, but they're also pretty pricey. I don't think many places in either area would be within his range.

Ah. That explains the slave wage. Okay. The most livable places in L.A. aren't advertised, they go by word of mouth. Have you tried asking around at work if someone knows of/has a room you can rent?
This is true of the vast majority of California. Down here the nicest places with the best rent invariably find new tenants by word-of-mouth and are never advertised. Anything good (price/quality/location) that is advertised is rented within a very brief period of time, often within hours.
 

swordpath

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San Francisco, worser traffic than L.A.? You kidding me? SF is up there, it's horrible but nothing like the horror of LA.
 

Wolf

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San Francisco, worser traffic than L.A.? You kidding me? SF is up there, it's horrible but nothing like the horror of LA.
Maybe across the bay, but not in town. Let's not forget tolls, either...

I suppose the upshot is that the BART system is very usable, unlike the RTD. You can't really get anywhere on mass transit in Los Angeles because it's so spread out.
 
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