Long Beach, Santa Monica, Newport Beach (Los Angeles, Belmont: apartment, for rent, how much)

[Winny.]

Hey guys, I'm from London, England. As you could most probs expect the weather isn't amazing here, yet London is my home, and I love the diversity, fashion, fast paced life of the city, and the summer usually brings its gorgeous sunny days, rare to be seen without a tad of rain though.

Anyway, after university, which I'm studying at, at the mo, I would love to move to california for a while, and start my career here, near to Los angeles, as that could be my main area of work.
What would you say my temprement, attitude and style needs to to be to thrive in Los Angeles. Thick-skinned I'm thinking?
Is it hard to meet new people, find housemates
How much would an apartment be in the following places: Long Beach, Santa Monica & Newport Beach
Could you give me an outline of each of the 3 places, pos and negs?
I'll be around 21/22 when I'll be coming over to LA, if need be I'll work from New York once my career gets going.
Thankyou,
Replies much appreciated

[dreamerman]

Long Beach.

[Winny.]

Thanks
Is it hard to meet new people, find housemates ...
How much would an apartment be in the Long Beach area?

Gracias!!

[dreamerman]

Originally Posted by Winny.

Thanks
Is it hard to meet new people, find housemates ...
How much would an apartment be in the Long Beach area?

Gracias!!

I don't live in an apartment or do I check the prices on them, so I wouldn't know.

[BRinSM]

your biggest issue will be finding a job since the unemployment rate in our country has nearly doubled in the last year. once you find a job then you can determine where you'll live. long beach is about halfway between LA and newport beach, which are roughly 50 miles apart. you won't want to move to LA then find a job in orange county, that commute would be brutal.

[Winny.]

Okay then, no worries.
Just wanted an estimate, I'll do some research me thinks!
Any reason for long beach over NB and SM though?

[Winny.]

Originally Posted by BRinSM

your biggest issue will be finding a job since the unemployment rate in our country has nearly doubled in the last year. once you find a job then you can determine where you'll live. long beach is about halfway between LA and newport beach, which are roughly 50 miles apart. you won't want to move to LA then find a job in orange county, that commute would be brutal.

Yeah, hopefully the financial situation will have brightened up in a couple of years, though!! I'm thinking of renting/buying an apartment with a couple of housemates(if I can find people to live with that is, not knowing anyone in California) and then going on a mad vigerous job search for the next few months after that.
True! How long is the distance between the two? A few hours?

[dreamerman]

Originally Posted by Winny.

Okay then, no worries.
Just wanted an estimate, I'll do some research me thinks!
Any reason for long beach over NB and SM though?

Long Beach is expensive, but not as expensive as Santa Monica and Newport Beach. Newport is overwhelmingly white, a little conservative. Santa Monica is predominantly with a fair share of diversity. It's expensive because it's by the ocean.

[Lord Lionheart]

Originally Posted by Winny.

Hey guys, I'm from London, England. As you could most probs expect the weather isn't amazing here, yet London is my home, and I love the diversity, fashion, fast paced life of the city, and the summer usually brings its gorgeous sunny days, rare to be seen without a tad of rain though.

Anyway, after university, which I'm studying at, at the mo, I would love to move to california for a while, and start my career here, near to Los angeles, as that could be my main area of work.
What would you say my temprement, attitude and style needs to to be to thrive in Los Angeles. Thick-skinned I'm thinking?
Is it hard to meet new people, find housemates
How much would an apartment be in the following places: Long Beach, Santa Monica & Newport Beach
Could you give me an outline of each of the 3 places, pos and negs?
I'll be around 21/22 when I'll be coming over to LA, if need be I'll work from New York once my career gets going.
Thankyou,
Replies much appreciated

Santa Monica has a lot of British expats, I'm one myself. It's nice but has become too yuppified over the past 10 years or so. SM is expensive but I've seen lot's of 'FOR RENT' signs spring up lately due to the economy.
Parts of Long Beach are really bad, Belmont Shore is nice, LB is a much larger city than Santa Monica. I can't speak for Newport Beach

[Lord Lionheart]

Originally Posted by Winny.

Hey guys, I'm from London, England. As you could most probs expect the weather isn't amazing here, yet London is my home, and I love the diversity, fashion, fast paced life of the city, and the summer usually brings its gorgeous sunny days, rare to be seen without a tad of rain though.

Anyway, after university, which I'm studying at, at the mo, I would love to move to california for a while, and start my career here, near to Los angeles, as that could be my main area of work.
What would you say my temprement, attitude and style needs to to be to thrive in Los Angeles. Thick-skinned I'm thinking?
Is it hard to meet new people, find housemates
How much would an apartment be in the following places: Long Beach, Santa Monica & Newport Beach
Could you give me an outline of each of the 3 places, pos and negs?
I'll be around 21/22 when I'll be coming over to LA, if need be I'll work from New York once my career gets going.
Thankyou,
Replies much appreciated

BTW you'll need a visa, you can't just land in LA and look for work. Getting a work visa is very involved and limited to spouses of US citizens, company transfers etc.