summer in l.a (Los Angeles, San Diego: rental car, extended stay, rental)

[hipbones]

Hi there.

basically, myself and 3 other girls plan to travel to America this summer. We are going to be staying either in or around L.A. We are from nothern ireland, and are all 20. To be honest none of us have been to America before although we have travelled to other places (Italy, Croatia and other European countries), so where to live is a big question mark hanging over our heads.
Our main hope was to live outside L.A, towards Venice beach or thereabouts - or between the city and the coast (as i assure you sun isnt a regular occurance in N.Ireland...so i need a tan) no seriously tho, its basically that we want a safe place to stay really. we havn't really got a huge budget either - altho we plan to work whilst there (we've applied for working visa's).
I'd really appreciate if someone would give me an idea of where it would be moderately safe for us to stay.

I've got alot of info from this site and others, and we are pretty streetwise girls - but America is a different story to Northern ireland so any heads up that you could give us would be appreciated. no go areas etc, without sounding too silly, I just worry about ringing somewhere and ending up in a neighbour hood where we could cause tension etc or could face trouble.

thanks!

[Jakehorror]

Not silly at all

We always stayed in the LAX area. You can find some decent priced Hotels and it's close to the 405 which takes you many places. It's also not too far from the beach, assuming you will have a rental car.
A hotel called "The Hacienda" has always served us well. Great price, but not fancy at all, cheapest we ever found.
Also depending on how long your staying you may find a hostel to be more convenient. There's some near Venice beach too, just remember ANYTHING on Venice Beach is going to be double the price (or more) of most other stays.
A few areas to avoid (not that it's ALL bad, but common knowledge):
Compton
All of East L.A.
North Hollywood
Parts of Ingelwood

Heres a few decent areas:
Westwood
Silver Lake
Burbank

This is just my own outsider observations, a true native could give you better advice. GOOD LUCK and HAVE FUN!!!!!!

[hipbones]

hey thanks for your reply!
we may be staying up to about 6-8 weeks, so we were thinking possibly a small appartment. which i know is going to be hard to find, i suggested a hostel as i know a friend that stayed in one on venice beach, however some of the others that im travelling with dont trust anyone but our group if im honest. i had lookd at some of those above areas - thanks for confirming some of them!

any one else have any other ideas/recommendations?

[Charles]

Originally Posted by hipbones

I'd really appreciate if someone would give me an idea of where it would be moderately safe for us to stay.

What budget do you have? That is, how much money do you have for rent for those six to eight weeks? Are you going to rent a car? Travel around California? Has any in your party ever been to California?

[hipbones]

we all have driving licences, so im going to check how that will work out over there if we decide to rent a car. none of us have been to america as i said in the first post and we plan to travel about...and seeing as we arnt leaving until mid July, budgets aren't entirely clear - we js want something simple and affordable. we were looking at some places that were around $1000 a week give or take. hmmm.

[motoman]

You should look into an extended stay hotel. You can rent them week-by-week pretty much as long as you'd like and as long as you keep paying. They will cost you just a tad more than renting a place, but they are furnished, typically in safe areas, you get maid service, etc. You also don't have to worry about dealing with a landlord, signing any type of rental agreement, and things of that nature. And with 4 of you it would not cost that much per person.

Google something like "extended stay hotels los angeles" and see what you get.

I think you'll have a lot of fun anywhere along the beach. Check out a map to see the different beach cities. Since you aren't here very long, you'll want something like that because you don't want to spend half of your time driving to the places you want to go.

But if, for example, you want to spend a lot of time in Hollywood, I would suggest looking to stay in that area. Getting in an out of Hollywood can be a royal pain in the a$$, particularly on the weekends.

What do you like to do when you go out? I am assuming the typical things for women your age. You want to go out, have fun, meet guys, etc.? Just let us know and we can better guide you.

[hipbones]

sorry i suppose i should have been more specific in what we actually wanted to do while we were visiting! lol

i never thought of checking for extended hotel stays, thanks for that!
basically we will be the typical tourist by day, go to disney, 6 flags etc, go to the beach <i love the beach lol> shop, we want to see the walkway with the stars in it, see the hollywood sign etc all those sorts of thing - o and to see a baseball game. lol. baseball is not popular at all here, and thts one thing we all want to go see. prob sounds trivial lol bt its something like that dont have at home! there is talk of us going to yosemite and to las vegas etc but how wud we even go about that?

and by night we are typical party people...and we will all have turned 21 by then so we will be the legal drinking age. lol.

[motoman]

Originally Posted by hipbones

sorry i suppose i should have been more specific in what we actually wanted to do while we were visiting! lol

i never thought of checking for extended hotel stays, thanks for that!
basically we will be the typical tourist by day, go to disney, 6 flags etc, go to the beach <i love the beach lol> shop, we want to see the walkway with the stars in it, see the hollywood sign etc all those sorts of thing - o and to see a baseball game. lol. baseball is not popular at all here, and thts one thing we all want to go see. prob sounds trivial lol bt its something like that dont have at home! there is talk of us going to yosemite and to las vegas etc but how wud we even go about that?

and by night we are typical party people...and we will all have turned 21 by then so we will be the legal drinking age. lol.

As far as the traveling and such, you can do that from anywhere in LA, so it doesn't matter where you stay for those things. Getting to Vegas is a short, cheap, 1 hour flight on Southwest Airlines. Don't drive it. It's not worth the hassle. The other things you can easily drive to. Just avoid rush hours. You don't want to spend half of your day stuck in a car.

You can go out just about anywhere. LA is freakin' huge. As big as Ireland I think. Just kidding. So since you like the beach, I would recommend something closer to the beaches. It will be fun, easy to get to the beaches, there are bars and clubs and restaurants, and hot guys (or girls), etc.

One thing to remember about going out is that public transport blows donkey butts in LA, so you will definitely need a car. Taxis are very expensive and you will want to take them as infrequently as possible. For example, if you lived around Manhattan Beach, a taxi to Hollywood, 25-30 miles away, would probably cost you $50+ (EUR34+) each way. It could be more. And always have a designated driver. The last thing you want is to be incarcerated for driving drunk. That would be a terrible way to spend your stay.

With your lovely accent you will have no problem meeting guys. In fact, I'll take you out if you'll just let me listen to you talk. Ha!

You'll have a great time here. There is so much to do you would have to make an effort to be bored.

Good luck to you.

PS: Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions. Also, my girlfriend and I would be happy to meet up with you when you're here to show you around. Even though we live here there are still a lot of things we've yet to do.

[hipbones]

its hard for us to comprehend js how huge l.a is compared to belfast or dublin we live in the north so we still work in £'s....at the min its $2 to the £1...which is damn good from our side of the pond. lol.
alot of people have said you do need a car for travelling about, but how much wud it cost us to rent out a car? and im aware that traffic is a nightmare lol...but is is a complicated place to drive though...i mean are things well signposted to find (bearing in mind we call the freeway a moterway for a start ) etc?
and...o yeah another question - say if we were to stay on the beach...how long would it take us to get into l.a, like to find the places that we want to see?

and our accents are great but at times can be hard to understand!

[sponger42]

If you want to stay on the beach without a car, you might want to consider Long Beach. The subway has a terminus right near the water. The Subway will get you everywhere you want to go.

If you're not working full time and you have time, you can use the city's extensive public transportation system for $5/day. The subway is fast and effective, but it doesn't go everywhere. Busses are slow and you will probably have some uncomfortable moments on them if you're not used to very colorful characters, but they will get you where you want to go, eventually. However, they do go pretty much everywhere, but transfers between bus lines are real time killers.

Also, you can use the Amtrak and Coaster to get to all areas between LA and San Diego without a car. You can even go up north to Santa Barbera or even Grover Beach if you want to escape the socal cityscape madness.

I would highly recommend visiting a thrift store and picking up a secondhand bike to make getting around easier as bus/subway/rail lines don't always connect directly to where you want to go. Bikes are especially useful for getting around in the beach towns with limited bus service.

Good places for your stay:

Venice/Santa Monica:
+Colorful, fun, beach, some nightlife.
- Expensive, no subway or rail access (only bus)

Long Beach:
+ Beach, transit hub (subway, Catalina Ferry), some local color
- Far from everything else (long subway ride). Expensive.

Hollywood:
+Nightlife, fun, central, transit hub, colorful.
- Expensive, crime.

North Hollywood:
+ Transit Hub, Cheap(er).
- Must travel to everything.

There's other areas, but I don't know them as well. Check the public transportation website to get an idea of the options available to you.

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