Whats your Thoughts on Brentwood, L.A.??? (Beverly Hills, Woodside: transplants, houses)

[katenik]

wrong thread.

[Lindy_TT]

Well, everyone, I planned my trip. I am going to be in LA from April 29th until May 6th. I have been looking for a decent hotel at an affordable price. It doesn't necessarily have to be IN Brentwood, but I would like to stay within a reasonable driving range and in a nice, safe area. I was hoping to get a hotel for under $100 a night, since this is only the last leg of my trip, and I would like to save some money for activities. Can anyone recommend a safe, decent area/hotel in the LA area? I am pretty much clueless in this department and very open to suggestions.

Thanks!

[greggd]

Originally Posted by rodrobinson

My wife is being transfered to Brentwood as a teacher. I am a small contractor with a lot of expertise in general construction and specialties in custom concrete, masonary and tile. Can anyone try to give me an idea what kind of demand that I might expect for these services. Would there be room for one more? Would I be competing against illegal workers?
Thanks,
Rory

Brentwood/West Los Angeles is on a big tear down rebuild and remodel mode. There is a lot of work but the quality has to be A to A+. 5-7mill new home projects need contractors that are experienced & have very high standards, acheiving perfection. The biggest problem I see is finding the Contractors and the Contractors finding employees who comprehend and are familiar with what high quality, high end, and perfection actually is, and how to acheive it at all phases of construction.

You may want to start working for a general contractor or advertise yourself and build your own business. Also consider a professional job placement Co. to put you into contact with growing contractors who need someone they can rely on. Reliability and a knowledge of what quality workmanship looks like is what is so lacking in the industry.

I just had a small section of patio bricked. The bricklayer I have used in the past was busy, so he recommended his brother, who unfortunately can lay block but is not skilled in brick. Took him twice as long and the grout is not acceptable. In the end, he gave me a bill which was much less than his brother, but I will most likely remove it at some point and redo.

If you are good, have experience, and pride of workmanship, you would be a welcome relief in more affluent areas.

[greggd]

Originally Posted by Lindy_TT

Well, everyone, I planned my trip. I am going to be in LA from April 29th until May 6th. I have been looking for a decent hotel at an affordable price. It doesn't necessarily have to be IN Brentwood, but I would like to stay within a reasonable driving range and in a nice, safe area. I was hoping to get a hotel for under $100 a night, since this is only the last leg of my trip, and I would like to save some money for activities. Can anyone recommend a safe, decent area/hotel in the LA area? I am pretty much clueless in this department and very open to suggestions.

Thanks!

There are two hotels in Westwood Village, which is between brentwood & bev. hills. They are very reasonable and located close to a variety of activities:

The Claremont in Westwood.
and
Royal Palace Westwood Hotel.

Very convenient and safe area


Both about 500 feet from Denny's, Palamino Restaurant, chinese rest, pizza place, sushi place, 4 movie theatres within walking distance, walk to wilshire blvd to catch bus to beverly hills/rodeo drive, or santa monica promenade etc. short cab ride to Century City Shopping Mall, Convenient to Hollywood night clubs via cab.

[VTP]

Tough choice -- Brentwood or MDR. I have to go with the Brentwood group. Perhaps a desire for great tranquility comes with age, but I just love the very serene neighborhood feel I get there. Of course, traffic gets busy by the downtown area, but I find it's very easy to pull away from that quickly as you move into the side streets. The Marina just seems too "busy," although some may be looking for that. Also, to me, the proximity to Venice (with MDR) is not a draw. In any case, the OP is from Florida, right? Orlando? Not to speak ill of Orlando, but I think you will be very, very pleased at the transformation, not to mention the weather. Pleasantly warm but not overbearingly hot.

[CESpeed]

Try Cheap Flights, Hotels, and Rental Cars -- Discount Airfare | Priceline.com. They always have great bargains.

[Lindy_TT]

Originally Posted by VTP

Tough choice -- Brentwood or MDR. I have to go with the Brentwood group. Perhaps a desire for great tranquility comes with age, but I just love the very serene neighborhood feel I get there. Of course, traffic gets busy by the downtown area, but I find it's very easy to pull away from that quickly as you move into the side streets. The Marina just seems too "busy," although some may be looking for that. Also, to me, the proximity to Venice (with MDR) is not a draw. In any case, the OP is from Florida, right? Orlando? Not to speak ill of Orlando, but I think you will be very, very pleased at the transformation, not to mention the weather. Pleasantly warm but not overbearingly hot.

From everything I have read and heard, this place sounds like where I want to live. I love warm, sunny weather, but during summer months the humidity (in FL) makes it hard to bare. Its funny because I was just reading a thread about people in LA having bad attitudes. I was from a smaller town before moving to Orlando and since I have lived here, I think I have become a more rude person, too. I think it just happens are a result from being around rude, bitter people. For the most part, people here aren't that friendly. Either way, I am looking forward to the change (in every aspect). I am SOOO excited about my trip out there. I will definetly check out the hotels recommended!

[LASam]

Here's my big recommendation for you Brentwood visit... eat at Barney's on San Vicente. Their burgers and fries are to die for.

[jessemh431]

Originally Posted by Lindy_TT

From everything I have read and heard, this place sounds like where I want to live. I love warm, sunny weather, but during summer months the humidity (in FL) makes it hard to bare. Its funny because I was just reading a thread about people in LA having bad attitudes. I was from a smaller town before moving to Orlando and since I have lived here, I think I have become a more rude person, too. I think it just happens are a result from being around rude, bitter people. For the most part, people here aren't that friendly. Either way, I am looking forward to the change (in every aspect). I am SOOO excited about my trip out there. I will definetly check out the hotels recommended!

I don't know why people think Californians are rude, specifically Angelenos. It's all the NYers and other people from New England that come here to start a new life or try something new and bring that same rude, bitter, know-it-all, snobby attitude to SoCal. They've driven all the CA natives out of CA because it is nothing like it was even 10 years ago. As a matter of fact, you were looked down upon for living at the beach because only people that couldn't afford to live downtown or the ones that were considered trashy for spending all their days at the beach lived there. The rich people lived inland near downtown, in Hollywood, and in Pasadena and would either travel to the beach when they wanted to, or had a beach house that they would spend weekends in. Only recently did the beach cities become so sought after. I'm not sure when, but maybe the 60's or so. Maybe even later, IDK. I know my parents moved to an LAX neighborhood because they couldn't afford Pasadena, Hollywood, or Westwood. The only desirable beach area was Santa Monica at the time, but that was too much. They then bought a house in the same neighborhood for 300k in 1995 and it's now worth 1.2 million.

[JeannieC]

Hey everyone... Well, I've wanted to move to CA for a long time, mainly because of my health, I'm not very resistent to the weather conditions here anymore (Netherlands), because of an immune disease... I could live to be a hundred, but I'm often in pain and bed ridden because of the weather overhere. So I decided to surf the net and see what living in CA (Brentwood is my favorite) should cost. I was amazed to find out that a lot of houses in Brentwood are much, much cheaper than they are overhere in Holland! I was completely amazed to find some very nice houses, which are twice or three times as big as what we (my family and me) live in at the moment, for about the same price or even cheaper! It was kind of a shock... Considering the financial crisis at the time or not, it looked good... My husband is an accountant, I am a secretary who has been a SAHM for the last 8 years, we live in the East of Holland. I speak Dutch (evidently, lol), English, German, French and some Spanish. We have two children, aged 6 and 7. If anyone has some good tips, please reply to my post, it would be very much appreciated! Convincing my hubby we should really move, will be a task on itself, lol....I'm very much looking forward to tips and ideas. TY in advance!