Possibly working in Hawthorne area - Advice on apartments? (Torrance: rentals, price)

[Moop43]

Hi everybody,

I'm heading out for an interview in the Hawthorne area soonish. I'll have about a day and a half to spare while I'm out there, so I wanted to take a look at apartments while I'm there and hopefully have something decided on for if I get the job.

In terms of what I'm looking for - The biggest thing is I'd like to be able to bike to work in no more than 40 minutes. I don't care about being close to the beach, although being able to bike there in about half an hour would be nice. I'd like to be somewhere not sketchy and keep rent under $1500/month with a 1 bedroom place. Is this reasonable? I'm somewhat considering just renting a room initially, although I'd prefer to get a place to myself.

I've been looking on Hotpads, Padmapper and Craig's List in the North Redondo Beach/NW Torrance area, since it looked like it made the most sense. I haven't been finding a whole heck of a lot, I found maybe 3 or so apartments that looked worth checking out(A lot more 2+ bedroom places though).

Are there any other websites I should check out? I had a look at SouthBayRentals, but there were only one or two places that fit my price target so I didn't really want to spend $60 for that.

Am I going to have significantly more luck looking on foot? I was just hoping that I'd be able to find a longer list to check out while I was there.

I was also wondering about other areas. I read lots about Manhattan and Hermosa Beach in other posts, but it looks like they're a lot more expensive than I want to pay. I couldn't find too much information about Lawndale and Inglewood though - how are they? I did read that Hawthorne itself is pretty sketchy.

Also, off hand question, is it normal out here for apartments to not come with a fridge? A lot of the places I've seen don't come with a fridge

[yby1]

For that rental price, look at Lawndale, Hawthorne and NW Torrance. You *can* find decent places in Hawthorne, but you have to visit the place to get a feel for it. Hawthorne is very street by street. Lawndale and NW Torrance are street by street as well, but some of it borders North Redondo and is considered more desirable.

By NW Torrance, I mean the area around Crenshaw and Artesia Blvd.

Check El Segundo as well. You may luck out and find something in your price range in one of the older apartments buildings there.

[BeatAngMoh]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPIhxXYfScw

The opening featuring the 70's folks was filed at what looks like Fox Hills Mall in Culver City. That's the mall Shaq used to hang out at when he played in El A.