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Old 05-06-2011, 05:08 PM
 
3 posts, read 13,572 times
Reputation: 10

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Hi Everyone,
This is my first post- I'm excited to have found this site. Anyways, my girlfriend and I live right by Main Street in Santa Monica and love it. My job is located by the 3rd street promenade and the commute is great to say the least. It turns out that my girlfriend is most likely going to graduate school in Pomona, which means that we probably have to relocate. We are hoping to find a good location that has an even commute for both of us (it sounds like she will be going against traffic while everyone and their mother is trying to go West).

We were originally thinking of the Pasadena area, but after monitoring the commute times with traffic for the past few weeks, it looks like it would take well over an hour to reach Santa Monica in the morning. Do you guys have any good ideas of places to live? Some friends have thrown around the downtown LA area (apparently a great bang for your buck), but after doing some reading on these forums, it sounds like it might not be the safest area. If you think some locations of Downtown LA are ok, where do you suggest looking?

Some things that would be nice but are not musts:
Size-it would be nice to get some more room
Walkability- we loved this most about living by main street. There are always so many different places to walk to (farmers markets, boutique restaurants, shopping, etc.)
Price- Looking to spend around $1600-$2000 a month

Any suggestions would be very appreciated. Thanks in advance!

-Steve

Last edited by cyberstven; 05-06-2011 at 05:30 PM..
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Old 05-06-2011, 05:22 PM
 
Location: Pomona
1,955 posts, read 10,982,832 times
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Where in Pomona? Cal Poly?

If so, is public transit a viable option? Santa Monica #10 to downtown, then Foothill Transit Silver Streak, then the campus shuttle.
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Old 05-06-2011, 05:25 PM
 
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Hey, thanks for the reply. Pomona is about 45 minutes north-east of downtown LA.

[url]http://maps.google.com/maps?rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS401US401&q=pomona,+ca&um=1&ie =UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Pomona,+CA&gl=us&ei=yoLETfWnCZD1gAevnM DLBA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved= 0CCQQ8gEwAA[/url]
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Old 05-06-2011, 05:40 PM
 
4,213 posts, read 8,307,390 times
Reputation: 2680
tell your girlfriend not to go to graduate school in pomona. or break up with her. or do it long distance. seriously. you have the perfect commute right now and you live in the perfect area. you're gonna give that up to live in a much hotter, inland boring area and have an hour commute easily each way (and if it's truly half way, your gf isn't going to have a fun comute either, you're both screwed). the number rule we give about where you live is to be close to work. with gas prices going up, that's even more relevant.

Alright most likely you want to do this, so downtown isn't a bad option for you. it's still going to be a tough commute, but the area is nice and fits your needs.
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Old 05-06-2011, 05:55 PM
 
3 posts, read 13,572 times
Reputation: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by disgruntled la native View Post
tell your girlfriend not to go to graduate school in pomona. or break up with her. or do it long distance. seriously. you have the perfect commute right now and you live in the perfect area. you're gonna give that up to live in a much hotter, inland boring area and have an hour commute easily each way (and if it's truly half way, your gf isn't going to have a fun comute either, you're both screwed). the number rule we give about where you live is to be close to work. with gas prices going up, that's even more relevant.

Alright most likely you want to do this, so downtown isn't a bad option for you. it's still going to be a tough commute, but the area is nice and fits your needs.

Hahaha, thanks for the advice. It was looking like she was going to have to go to school out of state, so I'm relieved that she is staying relatively close. I used to drive for 45-1 hour when I lived in the valley, so I can deal with it for a couple of years. Do you have any recommendations of good areas within the Downtown LA area?
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Old 05-06-2011, 11:02 PM
 
Location: Pomona
1,955 posts, read 10,982,832 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cyberstven View Post
Hey, thanks for the reply. Pomona is about 45 minutes north-east of downtown LA.
That didn't answer my question, still.

Again, what school?

Driving in SoCal is aggravating - you know it, I know it. So if there's a public transit option, then it's worth looking into.

If you are still looking to split the commute instead of her having to sit on the bus for longer, Downtown LA is a happy medium. In such a case, you can take the SMBBB #10 to get to work instead.
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Old 05-06-2011, 11:27 PM
 
4,213 posts, read 8,307,390 times
Reputation: 2680
Quote:
Originally Posted by cyberstven View Post
Hahaha, thanks for the advice. It was looking like she was going to have to go to school out of state, so I'm relieved that she is staying relatively close. I used to drive for 45-1 hour when I lived in the valley, so I can deal with it for a couple of years. Do you have any recommendations of good areas within the Downtown LA area?
Downtown is completely fine and completely terrible. Even if you stay at the nicest complexes that are charging rents that rival Santa Monica, you'll have the ghetto a block away. Obviously, stay away from the southern part of downtown where Metropolitan court and la tech are.

As for specifics, someone else should fill you in better
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Old 05-07-2011, 01:43 AM
 
4,538 posts, read 10,629,904 times
Reputation: 4073
Quote:
Originally Posted by cyberstven View Post
Some things that would be nice but are not musts:
Size-it would be nice to get some more room
Walkability- we loved this most about living by main street. There are always so many different places to walk to (farmers markets, boutique restaurants, shopping, etc.)
Price- Looking to spend around $1600-$2000 a month

Any suggestions would be very appreciated. Thanks in advance!

-Steve
First off, downtown is not largely unsafe...at least in the residential areas.

Where you will live is entirely dependant on what you want out of where you live.

Your price is fine, size will depend, and much is walkable.

In general, you can get larger less expensive lofts in the Shybarry owned buildings. Those are on Spring and Main between 3rd and 8th. I think those buildings are ok, and the neighborhood is a bit gritty, but I would live there. The downside is usually going to be parking, the upside is that you get a large place. Another thing that I would ignore, but you may not, is that apparently a lot of people have issues with the owner, Barry Shy. Really this should not affect you as a renter, but who knows. I'd also be a bit careful as they all allow any size pet and I've read reviews indicating that the animals do as they please where they please. I'll also note that there are number of very similiar properties along Spring and Main. I'll also note that parking isn't included in many of these places, so you may want to factor that in. In particular, I think this building is pretty cool and this place looked nice to me:

GLORIOUS 2 STORY PENTHOUSE LOFT - PATIO AND JACUZZI (http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/apa/2365986080.html - broken link)


The area around Staples Center, LA Live, and up into the financial district is probably the safest area in downtown and is still pretty nice. Some of these places offer parking, some don't. There is also a Ralphs nearby on 8th between Flower and Hope, a Golds Gym at Fig/7th(also soon a Target), and a Macys at 7th and Flower also. You actually might like this area best.

There are a smattering of independant buildings around as well...I liked the Blackstone at Broadway/8th quite a bit and Lamar Odom lives at the Roosevelt thats on 7th

And finally theres some older less trendy places that are cheaper. One, the Metropolitan(not the lofts) has two bedroom units in your price range and is near LA Live and the Ralphs. The others are in Bunker Hill and near Fig and second called the Promenade towers. Older, but livable and two beds are in your range.

I did not discuss Little Toyko because in my experience the larger units are out of your price range and also did not discuss the outlying new build places because IMO they are not very walkable.

As a start, if I were you, id check out craigslist ads. The buildings I liked most when I was searching were The Pegasus, Milano Lofts, Blackstone, Historic Gas Lofts.

Also sent you a pm.
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Old 05-07-2011, 07:58 AM
 
Location: So Ca
26,731 posts, read 26,812,827 times
Reputation: 24795
Quote:
Originally Posted by Narfcake View Post
Again, what school?
Right re: "grad school in Pomona" - big difference between the location of Cal Poly Pomona and Pomona College (the latter of which is in Claremont but many confuse with Pomona).
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Old 05-07-2011, 11:54 AM
 
Location: Santa Monica, CA
1,626 posts, read 4,014,679 times
Reputation: 742
Maybe Echo Park, Los Feliz, or Silver Lake if you don't want to live downtown? I imagine you could get a really nice place in those areas for $1500-2000 a month. Your girlfriend will still probably have a shorter commute than you
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