Moving to Palms/Culver City Area. Where to avoid? (Vista: apartment, to rent)

[janderson88]

Hello,

I am looking to rent a 1 bedroom apartment in the Palms/Culver City area.

I have read recently that the area is up and coming and lots of young professionals have been moving to the area.

Was hoping if anyone has any suggestions on which areas to avoid, which areas are the most sought after?

Also if anyone has any other suggestions for different areas would be great. My girlfriend will be going to UCLA and will be using the Big Blue Bus for commuting. Would like to stay somewhat close to UCLA but not looking to spend a fortune to live in Westwood.

Thank you for the help.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by janderson88

Hello,

I am looking to rent a 1 bedroom apartment in the Palms/Culver City area.

I have read recently that the area is up and coming and lots of young professionals have been moving to the area.

Was hoping if anyone has any suggestions on which areas to avoid, which areas are the most sought after?

Also if anyone has any other suggestions for different areas would be great. My girlfriend will be going to UCLA and will be using the Big Blue Bus for commuting. Would like to stay somewhat close to UCLA but not looking to spend a fortune to live in Westwood.

Thank you for the help.

Culver City is much safer and more desirable than Palms, as it has its own police department, school district, and city services. However it is also more expensive - in fact Culver's probably just as pricey as Westwood these days, or only barely less.

Being in Palms puts you in the city of LA with the sketchiness and dysfunction that entails. That said - Motor is the divide between "good Palms" (to the west) and "bad Palms" (to the east). Although occasionally there is violence west of Motor - a couple days ago there was a murder right on the border of Palms with West LA and Mar Vista, an area that is normally very safe. (Conventional wisdom however suggests it was not random violence and was very deliberately targeted.) Homelessness is horrible all over L.A. but Palms has one of the most severe problems with homelessness on the westside - only Venice has worse homeless problems than Palms. Even Santa Monica and West LA aren't as bad. There is occasional gang violence in east Palms. As the LAPD are the police force there, don't count on your calls being answered. That's part of living in L.A. City territory, as much as having potholed streets and crappy schools are.

That said I used to live in Palms and there are much worse places to live. It is conveniently located and has real diversity.

[Taiko]

If you can afford to go north of the 3600 block, when west of Robertson then the better off you are. The further from Venice the better. East of Robertson and around Hamilton High school brings its own set of problems to the apartment dwellers

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by Taiko

If you can afford to go north of the 3600 block, when west of Robertson then the better off you are. The further from Venice the better. East of Robertson and around Hamilton High school brings its own set of problems to the apartment dwellers

That area (near Kaiser) is becoming more desirable and expensive now too. I think it's completely safe to live there. Anywhere in Palms too. I know lots of young single women who live in those neighborhoods. But anything east of that I'd still be nervous about.

There was a homicide in Palms last weekend but it sounds like - so far - gang related.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Taiko

If you can afford to go north of the 3600 block, when west of Robertson then the better off you are. The further from Venice the better. East of Robertson and around Hamilton High school brings its own set of problems to the apartment dwellers

Obviously referring to the homeless problems on Venice Blvd.? Yes, they are awful.

However I'd rather be west of Motor and close to Venice Blvd. than east of Motor in, let's say, the 3300 or 3400 blocks of Vinton or even Jasmine. Woodbine Park and vicinity has as bad of a homeless problem as Venice Blvd. and also has a history of violent crime.

Agreed about east of Robertson - which is really more Mid-City than Palms - and around Hami.

[victorhernandez]

Not trying to hijack the thread or anything, just a question: would you guys recommend Hollywood or East Hollywood over Palms? Are those areas safer?

[majoun]

Originally Posted by victorhernandez

Not trying to hijack the thread or anything, just a question: would you guys recommend Hollywood or East Hollywood over Palms? Are those areas safer?

Palms is safer than those. A lot safer than East Hollywood.

Palms is about average for safety in L.A. Because it is on the westside and surrounded by safer areas (except for Mid City) it is often made to seem worse than it is. Especially as it is the westside's least monied neighborhood, as well as its most diverse with more nonwhite immigrants on the lower end of the economic scale than the rest of the westside (this is also true of Del Rey). If Palms were in the Valley it would not be thought of as unsafe. (Crime levels are comparable to Woodland Hills and Tarzana, both considered among the safer parts of the Valley, and nowhere near as bad as Panorama City, the Valley's worst neighborhood, or Van Nuys.) Violent crime is heavily concentrated east of Motor, and even there it's not that high. Property crime is much, much more of an issue than violent crime. Which is true for most of L.A. including the "nice" areas.

[victorhernandez]

Originally Posted by majoun

Palms is safer than those. A lot safer than East Hollywood.

Palms is about average for safety in L.A. Because it is on the westside and surrounded by safer areas (except for Mid City) it is often made to seem worse than it is. Especially as it is the westside's least monied neighborhood, as well as its most diverse with more nonwhite immigrants on the lower end of the economic scale than the rest of the westside (this is also true of Del Rey). If Palms were in the Valley it would not be thought of as unsafe. (Crime levels are comparable to Woodland Hills and Tarzana, both considered among the safer parts of the Valley, and nowhere near as bad as Panorama City, the Valley's worst neighborhood, or Van Nuys.) Violent crime is heavily concentrated east of Motor, and even there it's not that high. Property crime is much, much more of an issue than violent crime. Which is true for most of L.A. including the "nice" areas.

Thanks for your insight! Your answers have always been very helpful to me, I feel like pointing that out

Do you think Palms could potentially begin to be perceived as a dangerous or less desired neighborhood because of the recent incident?

[majoun]

Originally Posted by victorhernandez

Thanks for your insight! Your answers have always been very helpful to me, I feel like pointing that out

Do you think Palms could potentially begin to be perceived as a dangerous or less desired neighborhood because of the recent incident?

Said recent incident was not in the "bad" part of Palms and in fact was in the nice part of Palms - a lot of people would consider that to be West LA not Palms. It's right on the border of Palms, West LA, and Mar Vista. An area that usually has low violent crime.
It was not a random incident and appears a deliberate act targeting a specific person known to the shooter. A hit of some kind or some kind of drug related ripoff. Homicides like that happen in Beverly Hills, too.

That said - the CVS/Vons parking lot where that shooting happened is infested with homeless, and, while most seem harmless, there is increasingly a prison element among the homeless who congregate there.

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by victorhernandez

Thanks for your insight! Your answers have always been very helpful to me, I feel like pointing that out

Do you think Palms could potentially begin to be perceived as a dangerous or less desired neighborhood because of the recent incident?

I still think Palms is safe... and certainly less sketchy than Hollywood or East Hollywood.

But there was one very strange, disturbing incident a couple years ago in Palms. A quiet innocent man was walking in broad daylight in a nice, residential street and was shot in the back completely randomly. They never found out who did it.