I live in West Hollywood and work in Santa Monica.
And yes, the commute from SM to WeHo is a reverse commute, but not by much. The problem with Weho is that if you look at the street layout, all east-west traffic has to squeeze through on 2 streets because of the Hollywood hills: Sunset Blvd. and Santa Monica Blvd. One broken down bus or one traffic accident and you have gridlock for miles. Now I can't complain because I ride a motorcycle, so na-na na-na-na to all of you suckers stuck in your cars
But gridlock in the neighborhood can get bad.
My wife and I are both in our early 30s and we absolutely love WeHo. Because it is centrally located and exciting and vibrant enough to feel like you live in a big city, and still quiet and safe enough to feel like a suburban neighborhood. Someone said how he just drives to “the scene” and is ok with it, but why drive and deal with parking traffic and cops, when you can walk or pay a $5 cab to any hotspot, bar, or restaurant? Yes, we walk to the sunset strip (but you only do that once or twice before you find much better places, i can start a whole other thread about that). And on a weekend night you actually have pedestrians in Weho, as compared to SM where not a single person walking on the street is to be found (drive through Santa Monica at 9pm on a Tuesday. Ghost town) We definitely don’t party much anymore but you cant beat being able to walk to any bar or lounge on Saturday night for a drink without even thinking about car keys.
My neighbor is a surfing fanatic, and it takes him about 20-30 minutes to get to the water (but not in Santa Monica!). Going to the beach on a Saturday afternoon can take up to an hour, but surfers usually go to surf in the early morning when conditions are best.
I would say bicycling is better in SM than Weho, mostly because of less congested street traffic and the lack of hills. My wife huffs and puffs on her fixed gear beach cruiser through our neighborhood while i'm changing gears on my mountain bike. Even going north from Beverly Blvd up to Sunset looks flat but is in fact about 100ft in elevation gain. But we did spend all of last Saturday on our bicycles starting with a sidewalk coffee shop and ending at the hardware store checking out plants.
Runyon Canyon Park is my wife’s favorite place in LA, because of the fact that there are sometimes more dogs than people enjoying the park. WeHo has many happy poochies running around.
We live on a very quiet block between Santa Monica blvd and Fountain Ave, and even with the occasional LAPD chopper overhead we still go to sleep with the sound of crickets. But then again we are lucky because we rent a 2br duplex with a yard in WeHo.
I’m sorry for sounding like an advertisement but I’m just saying why I love where I live. My wife and I moved here from NYC 3 years ago and we couldn't be happier...Weho is also more centrally located. Your friends in Silverlake might as well live in another state if you live in Santa Monica.
In my opinion, the only thing SM has over Weho is the beach. And it's one of the worst beaches in LA. Seriously. No real surfer surfs there, and dont mention that horrendous tourist trap they call a pier.
Good luck with your decision making, no matter where you choose you will be happy, it's Southern California!!
oh and plus 1 to urbanist. There's nothing more valuable in life in LA than a short commute time!