Moving to LA (Los Angeles: apartments, rent , work)

[briggart]

Hi all. I'm moving to LA to start working at USC.
I'm male, aged 32 and I am moving alone (my girlfriend will come to visit at times).
I was looking for a single or 1bdr. I understand that the area south of USC is not very safe.
I saw a few interesting offers around mid-wilshire, e.g.

745 South Normandie Avenue
530 S. Kenmore Avenue 334 Los Angeles, CA 90020
334 S. Hobart Blvd. Los Angeles, CA. 90020
701 S Gramercy Pl Los Angeles, CA 90005

They should be all within 4-5 miles of USC. My idea was to ride a bike to campus.
What's the area like? Is is sensible to move around by bike there?
Thanks

[JinLA]

I wouldn't want to ride a bike around there ---at night especially...

[TheRealAngelion]

This is a very densely populated, urban area. Very diverse ethically with lots of Koreans, Latinos and everthing in between. You will definitely be living mostly among new immigrants, legal and illlegal. The area can be very hit or miss. Some buildings/streets are better than others. It's block by block in terms of what one might consider acceptable vs. unacceptable for living.

[briggart]

Thanks!
If biking is not an option I'll try looking for other area of LA, too.

[TrojanDLA]

With the way traffic is in that area (NOT bike friendly) I'd consider alternatives to bike riding - seriously. We're talking narrow streets and aggressive drivers who hate bicycles and pedestrians alike.

Downtown has lots of new studio/1 bedroom lofts for rent entering the market over the next 3 months. There's a bus going straight down Flower to SC from 1st. A little bit further north is the Orsini apartments, pretty nice and the bike ride south along Flower to SC is not so bad because traffic along flower is not as congested as other streets.