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[Kevtones]

Subscribed. I'm talking with companies in Santa Monica, Culver City, Marina Del Rey area. I have friends that live there, but sounds totally random what you can find and for what price.

It's pretty hard to get a 'steal', particularly when you've got a time frame to move. There are a couple of pockets in West that you can get on the cheap though.


If you're looking West I think Torrance and borderline Inglewood can be okay. I know the latter is being slowly coming up but YMMV.

 

[Septimus Prime]

Naw, the best alternative to Little Tokyo is Japantown (Sawtelle Blvd. in west LA). I actually kind of like it better. Good sushi place there called Hide Sushi that's cash only, but great value and quality for the price. Also lots of vegetarian options. Most of the shops are located on Sawtelle so you can grab a bite and walk around. Good date spot.

Sawtelle has that suck-ass traffic problem, though. But yeah, just an example.

Bro. Let me help you. I've got friends that live on the Westside and in the Valley. They all want places to live, but everybody wants the 'luxury' of the Westside. I recommend Torrance and Redondo Beach all day, but I'm usually ignored by them. So, I give my sage advice to you. I'm walking distance from the South Bay Galleria. I live in a very spacious 2BR/2BA apt. I pay about 200.00 less than you. No crime. No grime. I can be at the beach in 10 minutes driving. You get the best of the beachside communities, and the best of yuppie living with commerce all around you and families (it's a family area) to keep you grounded. Diverse people. Access to everything. I even made a promo video about the apartments in my area. Just move away from the beach. Trust me, you'll be really glad that you did.

Also, regarding the utilities and appliances: yes, you'll often need to have your own fridge, but regarding AC, you really don't need it in the South Bay. Sure it gets hot, but the breeze and a good fan will get you through most of the dog days of summer here. I lived in North Hollywood and during the summer, I thought I would actually die w/o AC. I don't mean that in exaggeration. Utility bills in other parts of Los Angeles will make you cry. The south bay, ie, Redondo/Manhattan Beach/Torrance/Hawthorne/Inglewood/Carson....are great.

Yeah, that's a great area for sure. I lived in Torrance for about five years, and I loved it. I'm in Arcadia now, though. It's good, but the vibe is completely different.

 

[Korey]

Wait, thinking we're better than everyone else means we're "shallow and vapid" now?

 

[Stumpokapow]

Wait, thinking we're better than everyone else means we're "shallow and vapid" now?

drinking cold pressed juice is definitely shallow and vapid tbqh

 

[Kelsdesu]

First, Great thread OP. I'm originally from DC and hated LA until I moved to the South Bay after living in The Valley for 10 years.



Bro. Let me help you. I've got friends that live on the Westside and in the Valley. They all want places to live, but everybody wants the 'luxury' of the Westside. I recommend Torrance and Redondo Beach all day, but I'm usually ignored by them. So, I give my sage advice to you. I'm walking distance from the South Bay Galleria. I live in a very spacious 2BR/2BA apt. I pay about 200.00 less than you. No crime. No grime. I can be at the beach in 10 minutes driving. You get the best of the beachside communities, and the best of yuppie living with commerce all around you and families (it's a family area) to keep you grounded. Diverse people. Access to everything. I even made a promo video about the apartments in my area. Just move away from the beach. Trust me, you'll be really glad that you did.

Also, regarding the utilities and appliances: yes, you'll often need to have your own fridge, but regarding AC, you really don't need it in the South Bay. Sure it gets hot, but the breeze and a good fan will get you through most of the dog days of summer here. I lived in North Hollywood and during the summer, I thought I would actually die w/o AC. I don't mean that in exaggeration. Utility bills in other parts of Los Angeles will make you cry. The south bay, ie, Redondo/Manhattan Beach/Torrance/Hawthorne/Inglewood/Carson....are great.




learn to love your side streets and your alternate routes. I worked in Santa Monica for years. Coming from the valley, my commute in the morning was an hour and a half. Going home? Sometimes 2 hours easy. In the South Bay? There are so many ways to get home regardless of how the 405 South moves, that traffic is rarely a problem. I used to grovel to the traffic gods, too. Now it takes me about an hour to get to work in HEAVY traffic if i choose to stay on the 405N. Sepulveda is your friend. You'll often wave to the people sitting still on the highway as you roll right past. Get comfortable with alts and definitely learn the times of day to best move. If you work at 9am, there are golden times to leave that will save you sitting in traffic for no good reason. Where (geographically) is your work?



Wanted to leave this entire chunk intact because it's funny. And true.
I'm a family man now, and an old guy, so I'm no fun. That said, my advice is to avoid making friends with 'industry people'. Absurd, I know, considering where you are. Also, that's a pretty broad rule, which is easily full of holes. However, because you're in South Bay where the jobs of working people are a little more removed from entertainment, you'll find that it's easier to meet people to talk about stuff that isn't based on "what can you do for me" networking.




Wanted to leave this chunk intact, too. I hated this place for years, but once I went back home to visit, I realized that that deep down, I kinda love it. Everything that you listed is AWESOME, and so many people don't take advantage of. You're no more than 3 hours away in every direction from a diversity of climates and things to do. You can go skiing and to the beach in the same day if you plan it right. It's pretty damned amazing.

Before I got married and became a family man, I totally enjoyed many of the places that you named. I encourage you to get out of your car and strike up random conversations with strangers doing things that you already love to do. You'll find that making new friends through genuine experiences can make a real difference.

Best of luck, man. Glad to have read your post.

EDIT: One more thing. The new Metro to the beach? Use it. Outside of just being incredibly convenient, the Metro takes you outside of your personal rolling box, and forces you to see the world around you with fresh eyes. When I used to be into street photography, one of my greatest joys was just walking about 'being' in the world around me. Talk to everybody. Walk on Hollywood and Highland and actually talk to somebody. Everybody's got a story. It's not quite as sexy as New York, but Los Angeles is really quite beautiful. Warts and all.

Holy shit. I saw your video by chance before you posted it here. I was looking for apartments near the same area. It is definitely a small world.


How much do the one bedrooms go for?

 

[OrangeGrayBlue]

I'm in the North Hollywood area and really love it. Its one of the more walkable parts of LA and there's a nice convergence of all sorts of different people here. Mostly entertainment industry, but also plenty of regular working class people and a smattering of white collar types too. It's also one of the few areas that doesn't fall in the poor & hispanic or rich & white category like the vast majority of LA. In a lot of the city you'd think LA operates on some caste system with how desolately impoverished the hispanic areas are and how laughably glitzy the white areas are.

Also, I don't have a car out here and haven't had one for two years. I have to work all over the city: Santa Monica, downtown, Culver City, Pasadena, the valley, Long Beach, etc. I can get everywhere with public transportation so don't let anyone tell you that you have to have a car in LA. Especially when Uber's always available in a pinch.

 

[hateradio]

LA GAF is asking for another meetup isn't it?

 

[beat]

I'm moving back to LA in a few weeks. (I'd previously lived there for almost two years, so not a lot of time the previous time either.)

Housing

Rent is indeed very high now. I found a place that's smaller than I would like, but it does have central AC and in-unit W/D, so that's nice.

Get a used fridge. It's state law that landlords don't have to provide fridges, but this makes for a robust used market. I got a very nice fridge for $250; it would probably list at $1400 or so when new. Only six month warranty, but I've had it now for well over a year, no problems yet.

AC is incredibly important if you can't deal with the heat. A place that doesn't have it, you may be able to get a window or portable unit. Watch out for your electric bill.

Traffic

LA is very large. But you don't have to go end to end. Some special things are only located in one place, but with most things, I think you can find a reasonably local substitute. Shorten your radius.

Transit can work. Especially if you're taking a line that's underground or elevated for the part you need. At-grade light rail and buses are probably going to hit traffic.

People

Find people who like what you like. I don't know if this works for everyone, but it worked for me, because what I like is improv and the improv community is pretty great. Though it is almost by definition full of people who want to make it in show business.

The TV and film industry has expanded beyond LA in recent years. LA will always be "the top" but you don't have to live there to have a career. Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, New York, Austin, some other places I can't think of are all options and IMO any of them would be better than LA.

My loose understanding is that if you want to work in crew positions, you can do that in Vancouver/Atlanta/etc.

If you want to act, write, direct, produce, you're best off where they make the shows, which is LA and (distant second) New York.

 

[BlackBanditSho]

Holy shit. I saw your video by chance before you posted it here. I was looking for apartments near the same area. It is definitely a small world.


How much do the one bedrooms go for?

Here's a link to the Marbry Management company that owns this apartment. The closer you get to the beach, the smaller and more expensive the apartment will be. It's a pretty good management company. They're good about keeping things well maintained and clean. The closer you get to Torrance, Hawthorne, or Inglewood, the less expensive apartments will be. That said, choose the area carefully because crime goes up in certain areas. Check out the area first by driving through. For example, there are places in Hawthorne or Inglewood that I would have no problem living in when I was single because i grew up around rougher areas. With family? Nope.

Also, here's a tip I found when searching for an apartment: don't go by Craigslist or use some expensive apartment finder like Rent.com or Westside rentals. Often times, the best apartments are UNLISTED. Go to a building that you like (I would suggest anywhere on Apartment row in Torrance - an entire street of apartments off Amie or 182nd and prarie), find out the name of the management company, then go to THAT site. On their site, they'll often list all of the available units in their umbrella, sorted by area and price range.

You're essentially doing what the third parties do. Also, if you really like an apartment, call up the property manager directly. If there's no vacancy when you call, ask when there will be one upcoming. They're often ready to tell you when something is coming up and want to fill the vacancy asap.

Best of luck! My apartment is fantastic. I'll ask the landlord how much 1BR apts are going for although I'm not sure there are any available currently.

 

[BlackBanditSho]

I'm in the North Hollywood area and really love it. Its one of the more walkable parts of LA and there's a nice convergence of all sorts of different people here. Mostly entertainment industry, but also plenty of regular working class people and a smattering of white collar types too. It's also one of the few areas that doesn't fall in the poor & hispanic or rich & white category like the vast majority of LA. In a lot of the city you'd think LA operates on some caste system with how desolately impoverished the hispanic areas are and how laughably glitzy the white areas are.

Also, I don't have a car out here and haven't had one for two years. I have to work all over the city: Santa Monica, downtown, Culver City, Pasadena, the valley, Long Beach, etc. I can get everywhere with public transportation so don't let anyone tell you that you have to have a car in LA. Especially when Uber's always available in a pinch.

OrangeGrayBlue is dead on. If i had to live anywhere in the SFV, it would be that NoHo arts district near the train station. It's VASTLY improved from when I lived there. I lived maybe a mile up the road from there and it was horrible. Giant cockroaches around the complex. The smell of beer and piss at all times. When its hot, it felt like you were literally being cooked due to the lack of trees anywhere. The best thing about it was that my Studio apartment was HUGE, and the rent was great.

But I wanted to get the hell out of there sooooooo badly. Yeah, the NoHo you're talking about? Awesome.

 

[CosmicQueso]

Yup, Orange County is definitely a different beast. You can actually see the county line on the freeways, as the pavement goes from Baghdad to brand new, and the lanes go from 4 to 7+. Especially drastic on the 405 as you hit the 605 offramp. It's not all sunshine and roses, but we definitely spend money on our infrastructure down here.

This is all true. In addition, the rate of pickup trucks, Del Tacos and dudes wearing black, flat-brimmed hats of skate and shoe companies all spike by at least 3000%

People in threads like this always shit on the Westside. I've been here for three years now (one near Sawtelle, two in Santa Monica) and I'm a big fan. Sure, if you go out to the trendy nightclubs you're going to run into some douchebags, but there are so many other places to go. Most of the people I meet are as nice and kind as they would be anywhere, and I'm within walking distance of the beach.

Living 10 blocks from work is a pretty sweet gig, too.

There are far worse places than Santa Monica.

#NeverEastofthe405

But, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim?

lolololololol

What year is it, 2005?

 

[Calamari41]

For the record, the OC is not LA. Only people from the OC pretends it to be

Not many people in OC want to pretend its LA... they live in OC to not be in LA. There's a reason people flood down to OC from LA on the weekends and not the other way around.

 

[Gully State]

Are you seriously doubting it's a tourist spot? 3rd St Promenade might as well be fucking Ellis Island.

I'm a native Los Angelean and I'm convinced that most of the "everyone wants something from you" shit is aaaaaaall about transplants who have come to LA to make it in movies, music, whatever and behave that way because they're so desperate and hanging from a thread that they feel like they can't afford to be friends with anyone who can't give them something. I don't run with that crowd and I've hardly ever met anyone who "wanted something" or whatever.

Yeah I get this impression as well. I don't work in showbiz but I've had the opportunity to attend some parties in the entertainment industry. Even in a small scale houseparty, you see people treating it like a job interview. I've had conversations with people at these things go from 100 to 0 once they figured out I didn't work in the field. Crazy..

There are tons of normal low key people even on the West side and generally they're very friendly and don't come with that ulterior motives bullshit.

 

[MonkeyKing]

Yes, the fake people are mostly the midwestern transplants who come to LA trying to turn dreams to gold, but they make up a large bit of the people in LA at any one time. Or at least their outsized attack-mode attitudes can dominate the atmosphere.
.

To be fair, I've had a number of friends that have moved out here to pursue their dreams. I can't fault them for that... You never find out if you don't try. They soon discover that they aren't as special as they believed; that it's going to take a lot of hard work, time, patience and networking. On top of that, it requires almost a lottery level amount of luck.

To me, the real problem is the semi professional class of wannabe shot callers, wheeler and dealer's, and full-time parasites that prey on hopes and dreams. They sell the illusion that if you kiss their ass enough, and if you're lucky, they will hook you up for your big time shot. It is that class of douche bag that gives the Hollywood industry such a bad name.