Need neighborhood recommendations (work in Santa Monica and trying to go carless) (Vista: apartment)

[TheYO]

Thinking about moving out to LA next month. I don't know too much about the city, but from what I've read on here, you can live without a car, although it's not the easiest thing in the world.

Here are my guidelines. Can anyone recommend me a neighborhood that would be feasible for me to live in and hopefully not have to buy a car?

Working in Santa Monica (office in The Water Garden [Colorado Ave/Cloverfield Blvd)
Rent: Hopefully under $1200/mo plus utilities
Apartment: 1 bedroom, no studios
Neighborhood: safe, young, grocery store nearby, some bars/restaurants would be nice

It looks like there's a bus station on Colorado & Cloverfield (#5). Are there any neighborhoods that fit my requirements that are also near that bus route?

Thanks.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by TheYO

Thinking about moving out to LA next month. I don't know too much about the city, but from what I've read on here, you can live without a car, although it's not the easiest thing in the world.

Here are my guidelines. Can anyone recommend me a neighborhood that would be feasible for me to live in and hopefully not have to buy a car?

Working in Santa Monica (office in The Water Garden [Colorado Ave/Cloverfield Blvd)
Rent: Hopefully under $1200/mo plus utilities
Apartment: 1 bedroom, no studios
Neighborhood: safe, young, grocery store nearby, some bars/restaurants would be nice

It looks like there's a bus station on Colorado & Cloverfield (#5). Are there any neighborhoods that fit my requirements that are also near that bus route?

Thanks.

You won't find something in that price range in Santa Monica. Your best bet is probably Mar Vista.

The Santa Monica Big Blue Bus #5 goes down Olympic into Beverly Hills then goes down Pico until Rimpau in Mid City.

At Bundy it connects with #6 and #14 which go into Mar Vista.

Palms and Del Rey are the cheapest and least affluent parts of the west side, and while both have bad streets they also have good streets, decent streets, and in between streets. #14 goes into MV and Del Rey and #6 goes into MV and Palms (#6 gets close to Culver City at its eastern end). In both of those areas it varies a lot from street to street.

The same is true of Mid City except the worst is worse than in either of those two westside areas. South Robertson might also be a possibility (it's along the #5 ; the #6 touches on the very southern end of South Robertson by Hami High but I would not recommend that area).

The Metro Bus 4 and 704 go down Santa Monica Boulevard which is near Colorado, and those go down Santa Monica Boulevard to its end at Sunset Junction in Silver Lake and then go down Sunset to downtown. That opens up more possibilities.

[1200RT]

Originally Posted by majoun

You won't find something in that price range in Santa Monica. Your best bet is probably Mar Vista.

The Santa Monica Big Blue Bus #5 goes down Olympic into Beverly Hills then goes down Pico until Rimpau in Mid City.

At Bundy it connects with #6 and #14 which go into Mar Vista.

Palms and Del Rey are the cheapest and least affluent parts of the west side, and while both have bad streets they also have good streets, decent streets, and in between streets. #14 goes into MV and Del Rey and #6 goes into MV and Palms (#6 gets close to Culver City at its eastern end). In both of those areas it varies a lot from street to street.

The same is true of Mid City except the worst is worse than in either of those two westside areas. South Robertson might also be a possibility (it's along the #5 ; the #6 touches on the very southern end of South Robertson by Hami High but I would not recommend that area).

The Metro Bus 4 and 704 go down Santa Monica Boulevard which is near Colorado, and those go down Santa Monica Boulevard to its end at Sunset Junction in Silver Lake and then go down Sunset to downtown. That opens up more possibilities.

Thats not entirely true - $1200 is the very low end of 1 bedrooms in SM. If you can bump that budget up to $1400 you'll have quite a few more options - but I wouldn't say $1200 is impossible.