relocating to the LA metro area from cincy,Oh.good areas?? (Los Angeles: apartments, leasing)

[boostin4drcivic]

well im seriously contemplating a move from my home town of cincy ohio to the la area. ive been wanting to move to cali since i was an early teen. then i finally made my way out to LA in '04. i stayed with my gf's dad in palmdale and commuted back and fourth to LA everyday. i personally drove after the first day after her dad took us down there to hang out.i paid attention and got us back down there all the other days. i believe we were taking the I-5 south if i remember right down to the 405 and we got off near beverly hills and all.well at any rate, after getting exposed to all the traffic on the highways and surface streets, i feel u guys' pain.i have to admit that i was drained at the end of each day.however, i wouldnt be going all the way to palmdale everyday from la.

basically, im 26, black professional, degreed accountant.i graduated from UC (univ of cincy). i have 5yrs of exp and i'd be looking for an accounting job in the la and surrounding areas.i doubt i'd be having any trouble finding work.my gf is 28 and works as a collector. basically from looking around on job sites and such, i think together we can pull down a combined salary realistically in the range of $75-$90k. of course we'd be renting as ive been in close tune with the crappy housing market in cali overall. i have a nice house here in the suburbs already and have owned it for 4yrs.3bd 2.5bath 2.5car garage 1700sq ft in a very nice area for $140k when i bought it.now its worth around $160k. i hate walking away, but i cant take this city anymore.its backwards as hell in terms of how people are and their beliefs here.its so conservative and racist here.its very uncomfortable to be a person of color here.theres very deep rooted racial probs here and its driving me nuts.theres no diversity here.white people here look at people of color as if we have some sort of disease and im tired of it.its a shame that me and my friends, who are asian(cambodian) have to switch where we go sometimes due to the fact that we dont feel like being stared at and given weird looks all night while we eat dinner.im ready for a change.which is why im looking at cali. theres a ton of diversity there and i feel we'll be more accepted and less penalized for being black, or anything other than white for that matter. i could go into detail all day about the stuff i encounter here in this craphole of a city, but ill save that for the cincy threads if the need arises.

basically me and my gf are looking for safe,clean,liveable, and affordable areas in the la metro and surrounding areas.we would also like to be within a decent drive time to the beach on the weekends(1.5hr drive or less,traffic permitting).we have no kids and no plans of them for a few more years.with renting i believe we should be able to find somewhere where we wont get shot or my gf raped coming home from a hard day at work.we're very practical and sensible people.we dont have to live extravagant or waste a ton of dough to be satisfied.our entertainment consist of dinners and movie dates and the likes on the weekends.with a combined salary of $75-$90k, can we make this work? we want to stay in the la area so we wont have trouble finding jobs. can you guys recommend some good areas to live in? from what ive been researching and reading on here, some good places are culver city,silverlake,sherman oaks,old pasadena,west la, and torrance. am i right on those? will $1500-$1800 get us a 2bd apt in a good place to live in those areas? let me know.look forward to hearing from u guys

[fastfilm]

hey boostin4drcivic (you've already got the car culture thing down for here), I think your move will be a successful one if you can find the right place to live as well as the job. If you have to trade off safety versus commuting distance, my own suggestion would be to side with safety. Congestion drives one nuts, but safety is paramount. Therefore, my suggestion would be to see if you can find a large one-bedroom apartment at your price (which could seem the size of a 2-bd, this isn't NYC) somewhere between downtown and the west side beaches, hopefully in Culver City or the outskirts of West L.A. These would leave both the business centers and the beaches available to you at tolerable drives. A good compromise.

Your preliminary research is accurate, the other areas you mentioned are nice, but they would work better with other qualifications. Torrance is a beach community, but unless you work in its nearby industrial/business areas, your commute elsewhere would be pretty bad and intolerable even for here. Sherman Oaks is one of the best affordable parts of the Valley, but there's a foothill range that divides it from the rest of L.A. that clogs all access, freeway or canyon routes, daily. Silverlake is nice and very L.A., you'd have to cross town to get to the beaches, and I hope some residents there can post to guide you to its better areas.

You'll never have to worry about the social issues that bother you here at least, and as you spelled it out so plainly, I'm glad that you'll have a better environment for your mental health ahead of you here. You can exhale! There's always trade-offs, mind you. I share your desire to leave my longtime home here for factors that won't change as well, albeit different. For instance, last night, a working week night, neighbors from another country started up their DJ party with mega-woofers at 11:30 p.m. for many hours. Police here don't come for noise complaints, and the neighbors wouldn't have understood any English anyway.

[WINNIEK]

1500-1800$ for a two bedroom will get you in a nice area.West LA/Culver City/Torrance/Pasadena are all overall nice areas for your price range.What will be a deciding factor is where you will be working. If you it will be downtown area Torrance is most likely out of the question.Pasadena might be a good option.West La/Culver City will get you a little closer but it can still be quite a distance with LA traffic.For 20 somethings I prefer the westside.West LA\Culver City areas are nice safe areas relatively close to a lot of LA's nightlife.

[boostin4drcivic]

well its good to see im on the right track as far as nice areas to live in.its kinda scary when you come on here and read that it can vary block by block in certain areas.we dont have that here in cincy.we have good neighborhoods and bad neighborhoods.they either one way or the other, no block by block variances....haha!! theres alot of bad neighborhoods in the city of cincy, thats why i moved to the burbs north of the city.i was tired of the bad city life.did that all my life.plus it only made sense as my job moved to the burbs anyway.

well i know its gonna be a change as far as population, but i wanna find myself living in a good area thats a little slower than LA. i want to be close, but not exactly in the city of LA.basically i wana find a good suburb of LA thats right on the outskirts of the main hustle and bustle.that way, if i dont wana go into the actual city of LA, i dont have to.but if we wana do something outside of our burb, me and my gf will be close enough to hop in the car and get there or get to the beach in under 1.5hrs (traffic permitting).i hope such a place exist cuz i really wanna come out there and try to make it work.i just get kinda paranoid when i read these threads that such a place that im looking for doesnt exist. the LA people seem to paint a very grim picture. i know alot of it is true, but i doubt outta all the people who live there that theyre all as miserable as people who post here. like i told my gf tho, if it doesnt work out then theres always home or we can find another place.

im planning a trip in the spring to come back out to the sunny state to visit my friend from here who just moved to san diego back in the summer.im also gona be doing a scouting trip when i head back up to LA to view these areas that ive been researching in person.look at some of the rental properties and get better pricing ideas and see what my money can physically rent. any other suggestions, or helpful sites, or things i should do on my scouting trip? any other good areas i havent looked into? also does anyone have the site or sites that give you the live traffic feeds from the traffic cameras? i found one yesterday, but i know there was a better one. thanks in advance

[Jonah K]

Originally Posted by boostin4drcivic

well i know its gonna be a change as far as population, but i wanna find myself living in a good area thats a little slower than LA. i want to be close, but not exactly in the city of LA.basically i wana find a good suburb of LA thats right on the outskirts of the main hustle and bustle.that way, if i dont wana go into the actual city of LA, i dont have to.but if we wana do something outside of our burb, me and my gf will be close enough to hop in the car and get there or get to the beach in under 1.5hrs (traffic permitting).i hope such a place exist cuz i really wanna come out there and try to make it work.i just get kinda paranoid when i read these threads that such a place that im looking for doesnt exist. the LA people seem to paint a very grim picture. i know alot of it is true, but i doubt outta all the people who live there that theyre all as miserable as people who post here. like i told my gf tho, if it doesnt work out then theres always home or we can find another place.

im planning a trip in the spring to come back out to the sunny state to visit my friend from here who just moved to san diego back in the summer.im also gona be doing a scouting trip when i head back up to LA to view these areas that ive been researching in person.look at some of the rental properties and get better pricing ideas and see what my money can physically rent. any other suggestions, or helpful sites, or things i should do on my scouting trip? any other good areas i havent looked into? also does anyone have the site or sites that give you the live traffic feeds from the traffic cameras? i found one yesterday, but i know there was a better one. thanks in advance

As an African American professional, Culver City (especially the Fox Hills area) and Inglewood (especially the Morningside Park area) are probably your best bets. Both areas are fairly close to the beach and just outside of L.A. city limits. However, I also recommend the L.A. neighborhoods of Ladera Heights, Baldwin Hills, Westchester and Playa Del Rey.

Here are a couple of links to L.A. traffic cameras and/or reports...
http://video.dot.ca.gov/
http://www.sigalert.com/map.asp?Regi...er+Los+Angeles

Hope this helps,

Jonah K

[TheRealAngelion]

Hi, boostin4drcivic. First of all, there are many nice areas within LA city limit and in surrounding communiteis outside of the city limit for you to live. With the price range you have in mind, you and your gf should be able to find a nice two bedroom apartment easily. The challenge for you will be where to live because LA is so vast and spread out. You literally will have many, many options to choose from, especially in the $1500-$1800-$2000 price range. I suggest that you decide on which area to live in after you find a job. The lower your commute time, the better your quality of life will be. I cannot emphasize this enough. You will have a much happier and enjoyable experience living in the LA area if you live within 45 minutes or less of where you work. If you choose to move to LA before securing a job, then it's a gamble. For example, you might choose to move to Torrance but after doing so, you land a job in Pasadena. That wouldn't be good. If you come here before getting a job, you should definitely opt for a short term lease (6 to 12 mos) or rent month-to-month until you know where your job will be.

Here are my suggestions of places in LA and outside of LA to consider:

LA (city): Brentwood, Pacific Palisades, Westwood, Playa Vista, Century City, Park La Brea. Also, if you are willing to consider Silverlake, then you should take a look at Hollywood too. Hollywood and the surrounding areas have far more amenities (i.e. restaurants, shopping, entertainment) to offer than does Silverlake.

LA (valley): Studio City, Toluca Lake, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Tarzana, Woodland Hills

Smaller cities/communites:
Santa Monica, Marina del Rey, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Palos Verdes, Long Beach (downtown), Culver City, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Burbank, Pasadena, Calabasas

Here are some Web sites you can use to search for apartments:
http://www.forrent.com/
http://www.apartments.com/
http://www.westsiderentals.com/
http://www.parklabrea.com/
http://www.playavista.com/homes/ (see "Now Leasing" list)

Good luck!

[boostin4drcivic]

thanx guys....very nice info!! jonah...i thought inglewood was a bad area infested with gangs and closer to south central (compton)??am i wrong about that? i havent looked at the map in awhile, but i thought it was close. if thats the case, id rather be as far away from that gangbangin thug stuff as much as possible. i know its the cali way and the gangs are so spread out, but i dont wanna be living 5 mins away from drive-bys and the likes, or have to travel these areas to get home and whatnot. i have to think about the gf and her travels and the possibility of her car breaking down or something in a real "shady" area.

thats my main reason for wanting to live in a burb kinda away from main city of la, and be in a smaller subcity thats close to la if i need or want to go there for its amenities and entertainment from time to time. at any rate, are there any things i should be looking for when i come out to scout that i havent thought about?

and yea, i will most likely come out there without a job. i think it would be easier to land a job if i can be out there for the interviews and whatnot.there are some staffing agencies that im hooked up to here in cincy for accounting and finance that are also out there as well, which should help also.i think we'll prolly get a short term (3mos or 6) somewhere and decide from there where to live after we get our permanent jobs. prolly put most of our belongings in storage and live on the necessities until we're actually ready to find an apartment we're gonna stay in for awhile.i have a house now with plenty of stuff. we're gonna load up and uhaul it to la and dont wanna move it all into our temp apt only to move it again in a few months.

at any rate, im tryin to get started on my plans to come out there. i think i got it set for march. man i cant wait!! ive been missing la since i came in '04.thatll give me plenty more time to research and get ready to scout. thanx again guys and girls

[WINNIEK]

Originally Posted by boostin4drcivic

thanx guys....very nice info!! jonah...i thought inglewood was a bad area infested with gangs and closer to south central (compton)??am i wrong about that? i havent looked at the map in awhile, but i thought it was close. if thats the case, id rather be as far away from that gangbangin thug stuff as much as possible. i know its the cali way and the gangs are so spread out, but i dont wanna be living 5 mins away from drive-bys and the likes, or have to travel these areas to get home and whatnot. i have to think about the gf and her travels and the possibility of her car breaking down or something in a real "shady" area.

thats my main reason for wanting to live in a burb kinda away from main city of la, and be in a smaller subcity thats close to la if i need or want to go there for its amenities and entertainment from time to time. at any rate, are there any things i should be looking for when i come out to scout that i havent thought about?

and yea, i will most likely come out there without a job. i think it would be easier to land a job if i can be out there for the interviews and whatnot.there are some staffing agencies that im hooked up to here in cincy for accounting and finance that are also out there as well, which should help also.i think we'll prolly get a short term (3mos or 6) somewhere and decide from there where to live after we get our permanent jobs. prolly put most of our belongings in storage and live on the necessities until we're actually ready to find an apartment we're gonna stay in for awhile.i have a house now with plenty of stuff. we're gonna load up and uhaul it to la and dont wanna move it all into our temp apt only to move it again in a few months.

at any rate, im tryin to get started on my plans to come out there. i think i got it set for march. man i cant wait!! ive been missing la since i came in '04.thatll give me plenty more time to research and get ready to scout. thanx again guys and girls

There are some nice parts of Inglewood as well as not so nice areas of Inglewood that I would not recommend for an out of towner.So I think you will be better off avoiding that city all together. Since you will be moving then looking for a job something centrally located will be your best bet.Just to clear things up a bit there are good areas and bad areas in most of LA County including Culver City/Torrance/Pasadena but you should be able to tell by driving through the areas at day and night which areas will be unsafe.Overall the above cities as a whole are pretty nice but their are still certain areas to avoid.

[Jonah K]

Originally Posted by WINNIEK

There are some nice parts of Inglewood as well as not so nice areas of Inglewood that I would not recommend for an out of towner.So I think you will be better off avoiding that city all together. Since you will be moving then looking for a job something centrally located will be your best bet.Just to clear things up a bit there are good areas and bad areas in most of LA County including Culver City/Torrance/Pasadena but you should be able to tell by driving through the areas at day and night which areas will be unsafe.Overall the above cities as a whole are pretty nice but their are still certain areas to avoid.

I've already mentioned one of the nice parts of Inglewood (ie. Morningside Park) so that he doesn't have to write off the entire city.

No matter where one resides in L.A. County, they are usually about 5 minutes away from a "drive-by and the like," since many gangbangers have vehicles and often reside in the suburbs as well; however, in upscale neighborhoods the gangbangers are called "racketeers." Here's a link to a story about one of them in today's L.A. Times...
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-waknine29dec29,1,4050799,full.story (broken link)

When searching for housing in the Los Angeles area be sure to take note of the amount of security company signs, gates/fences, security doors/window bars that are present as it's often an indicator of how safe the residents of a particular area feel.

[boostin4drcivic]

jonah - note taken....that does make sense to look around and look at how the neighborhood looks security wise, and what steps it looks like theyre taking to be safe (bars,gates,etc).

i will def keep my eyes open when i come out there. thanks again