Living in LA suburb as means to get to LA

[moonsparkle]

Studio City is very expensive...up there with most of west LA.

NoHo, I really like by the arts district, but that part of town is expensive. The rest of NoHo is supposed to be really ghetto.

[Drey649]

Hi all, I'm planning to move to LA after New Years. Can any one recommend where one can find cheapest rent in LA, like west LA or NW LA regions..

From what I'm gathering, cant help to think. If employment so rough, and unemployment so high, how do people manage to live in like expensive apartments.? or even like mid range apartments.

It seems most common jobs are around $10/hr.. and average rent is like $600-700 per month..

I really wana live in LA, and i'm educated adult. but any one I ask and any time I poke at it, its seems often, its like "Where do you get jobs in LA??"

Thank you.

[Spikett]

If you have a car and need parking, bear in mind that areas such as Koreatown many of the apartment buildings don't offer parking. And street parking can be (and usually is) a nightmare (i.e., nearest spot several blocks away, street cleaning and other parking restrictions, etc).

[Ceece]

Get roommates. A couple of them. Do what you want and go home when you run out of $.

[Carlite]

Which LA experience do you want? Do you want the twentysomething in city vibe? Then you're better off going to Mid-Wilshire. Do you want to live in modern Asian suburbia? Then head out to Alhambra, Rosemead, or somewhere else in the San Gabriel Valley. I don't know that there's a ton of nightlife out there (there's some in Pasadena) but the restaurants are really off the charts outstanding. You can drive from there into central city neighborhoods but it's often very congested and parking isn't necessarily cheap or easy.

One question is the extent to which you want to be able to use transit and/or bike. That will work a lot better in more central neighborhoods (I've been on trains and buses at midnight that were fine). But if that's not important, there's more of an argument for heading further out, where dealing with a car is easier.

[pwright1]

Originally Posted by trancedout

Do normal people actually take the subway at night to Hollywood or downtown to go out (besides regular work hours)? Then back home?

I would feel sort of strange telling a date, let's take the subway back home after 2am.

You would be surprised! People do it all the time. I met up with a few friends at their Koreatown apt one night and caught the redline train to Hollywood. Went to the movies and the Roosevelt. Had a great night and it was nice not having to worry about parking and the subway was packed at 2am.

[moonsparkle]

That's interesting, wouldn't expect that. In Chicago, people always wanted to avoid it after a certain time.

[moonsparkle]

Originally Posted by Carlite

Which LA experience do you want? Do you want the twentysomething in city vibe? Then you're better off going to Mid-Wilshire. Do you want to live in modern Asian suburbia? Then head out to Alhambra, Rosemead, or somewhere else in the San Gabriel Valley. I don't know that there's a ton of nightlife out there (there's some in Pasadena) but the restaurants are really off the charts outstanding. You can drive from there into central city neighborhoods but it's often very congested and parking isn't necessarily cheap or easy.

One question is the extent to which you want to be able to use transit and/or bike. That will work a lot better in more central neighborhoods (I've been on trains and buses at midnight that were fine). But if that's not important, there's more of an argument for heading further out, where dealing with a car is easier.

The suburbs might be easier at first, cheaper rents out there. I'd rather be in LA city though.

I do like how the suburbs have everything conveniently located. I like having target/walmart/bestbuy/trader joe's easy to get to and being able to find parking.