Thinking of moving from DC -> LA. Does walkable urbanism exist there?

[matt345]

Originally Posted by Lumerian Feast

You're in DC. Imagine that you've got your walkable Adams Morgan/DuPont Circle area; great. Now for other purposes you need to get to Rockville. Then you need to get to Columbia. Sometimes you need to get to Baltimore. You can use the Metro or MARC for some of this, but it has its practical limits. Well, that's pretty much LA. (BTW, this comes from a Baltimore native who's navigated the various '95s for most of his life.)

That's an excellent way of putting things in perspective (I also used to live in the Baltimore/DC area). The thing people have to understand is that LA cannot be thought of as just being one city the way someone thinks of DC or Philadelphia. Los Angeles (at least what makes up modern day Los Angeles) never really was just one city. Santa Monica, Pasadena, Long Beach, Culver City, etc. were originally completely separate entities from Los Angeles (and many still are) with their own downtowns/business districts. Like you said, places like Los Feliz and Silver Lake are quite walkable by themselves, but really how many residents actually work there and spend the majority of their lives in just those neighborhoods? You have these pockets of pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods that developed during the streetcar era, with car-centric suburban neighborhoods filling in the spaces in between.

[katenik]

Walking to the neighborhood market and restaurant/bar is quite a different animal from walking to work. The latter is impossible for MOST of us.

[Lumerian Feast]

Originally Posted by matt345

The thing people have to understand is that LA cannot be thought of as just being one city the way someone thinks of DC or Philadelphia. Los Angeles (at least what makes up modern day Los Angeles) never really was just one city. Santa Monica, Pasadena, Long Beach, Culver City, etc. were originally completely separate entities from Los Angeles (and many still are) with their own downtowns/business districts.

Exactly. It's totally decentralized. It's more like a network of numerous smaller cities.

[normie]

Any of the beach cities are walkable. Which is a good thing, because in the summer it can be hard to find parking--so the locals just walk to the store or wherever they're going. The beach cities aren't urban (possible exception: Santa Monica/Venice) but they're definitely self-contained units with everything you might need within a few mile radius. They have plenty of stores, restaurants, galleries, govt. buildings, libraries, etc. You'll find a number of people who never leave the beach.

In Redondo, a fair number of people actually do walk to work (especially if they work in one of the aerospace corporations that are right there). I used to get a kick out of seeing all those young engineers in their business-casual outfits and adidas walking down the sidestreets that lead to the Northrop Grumman campus in the morning.

[DJJohns]

Los Angeles is definitely a lot more spread out than D.C. and just larger in general. That is not to say there aren't walkable areas though. I currently live in Marina del Rey and would definitely recommend the area to someone who prefers the sidewalk over the freeway.

Within a 20 minute walk I have access to 5 different grocery stores (2 Ralphs, Pavilions, Gelson's, Albertson's) as well as a Costco and an organic/natural food store called Rainbow Acres.

Numerous restaurants can be accessed on foot, if you want the chains those are accessible but there also is a lot of variety nearby: Indian, Mediterranean, Korean BBQ, Italian, Seafood. Abbott Kinney Boulevard in adjacent Venice is easily walkable from Marina del Rey and offers a lot of unique restaurants, shops, bars (No chains except for Pinkberry). The first Friday of each month Abbott Kinney hosts an Art walk that is very popular. Musicians perform and galleries/shops serve wine, beer, and finger food.

Overall, coming from Minnesota I have to say that I walk a lot more out here than I ever expected. I would definitely recommend Marina del Rey for easy walkable access to grocery, restaurants, shops......plus the beach is a very short walk or bike ride away. The only thing that probably won't be walkable from Marina del Rey is a job or workplace. I think this is the case for most of LA, while there are definitely areas that are walkable for leisure things...companies are spreadout throughout the vast LA metro area. Unfortunately, the Metro Subway still doesn't reach a good amount of the city, especially anywhere on the Westside. My recommendations for walkability would be Marina del Rey, Venice, or Santa Monica though I am quite partial to the Westside. Walkscore.com is a good site to check out if you have any areas in mind and want to see what their walkscore is.

[mattinsac]

This map should give you a general idea of what areas to look for in LA. You can also look up specific addresses in the search engine at the top of the linked page.

Los Angeles's Most Walkable Neighborhoods - Walk Score Neighborhood Rankings

But I also agree with the people who say figure out where you are going to work before you find a place. Traffic is much worse in LA than you are probably used to. Once you figure out where you are going to work, then you can figure out what is the best neighborhood to live.

You might also find this site useful for getting a general layout of various neighborhoods and communities in LA

LA Life - Find Your Place in Los Angeles

[drshang]

Originally Posted by mattinsac

But I also agree with the people who say figure out where you are going to work before you find a place. Traffic is much worse in LA than you are probably used to. Once you figure out where you are going to work, then you can figure out what is the best neighborhood to live.

This is the key point. You can find a walkable neighborhood with the lifestyle you want, but it's essential to figure out where you're working first. I mean you can live in the most walkable neighborhood in the area but if you work 30 miles away it doesn't do you a whole lot of good.

[goodbyehollywood]

As everybody has mentioned, there are walkable areas in L.A., though most are for weekend walking. Walking to work isn't feasible for most people and where you work will definitely narrow down where you want to live. I moved to L.A. from Old Town Alexandria (and lived in Georgetown) before that, so finding a walkable neighborhood was important to me. But it all depends on where you work.

The beach cities-- Santa Monica, Venice, MDR-- are great, but they are pretty far from most people's job, so if you're not cut out to be a commuter, that might not work out for you. Ditto the Palisades, which is very walkable around the Village. Living around Melrose or the Helms Bakery District or downtown Culver City are options that are closer in, and Silverlake, Los Feliz and Pasadena are fun, if you work around those areas. West Hollywood is very cool, too. Of course, all of these areas tend to be the pricier parts of L.A. But they're close to shops, restaurants and bars, so you can definitely park and walk at night and on the weekends.

I found L.A. and D.C. to have many similarities. They're both industry towns, with lots to do and see, and it's easy to make friends, because the population tends to be more transient. Housing is expensive and traffic is bad in both places, but L.A. has much nicer weather. No Metro, though, and L.A.'s White House is called Sony. Good luck to you!

[bhcompy]

Originally Posted by mattinsac

This map should give you a general idea of what areas to look for in LA. You can also look up specific addresses in the search engine at the top of the linked page.

Los Angeles's Most Walkable Neighborhoods - Walk Score Neighborhood Rankings

But I also agree with the people who say figure out where you are going to work before you find a place. Traffic is much worse in LA than you are probably used to. Once you figure out where you are going to work, then you can figure out what is the best neighborhood to live.

You might also find this site useful for getting a general layout of various neighborhoods and communities in LA

LA Life - Find Your Place in Los Angeles

That walkable website is only showing la city by default though.. there are many more neighborhoods outside of it that area walkable to some degree or another

[UB50]

Glendale is very walkable and has a Glendale Beeline bus that goes straight to JPL (if you happen to work at JPL)! Truthfully, if you had a job in Glendale, you wouldn't need a car in Glendale because almost everything is within walking distance or you can reach it via the Glendale Beeline bus system.