Work in West LA...need nice suburb

[Narfcake]

For that price, you can get an apartment on the Westside in a reasonable area, but there are no true suburbs to speak of until one is about a 2 hour commute out (for your work schedule). You will have to lower your expectations of "a short drive". One can live 20 miles from the beach, and still take over an hour to get there. Heck, I've been stuck in traffic in which it took 30 minutes just to get 3 miles!

Forgo the need for nearby big box stores ... you will manage fine without them.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by Narfcake

One can live 20 miles from the beach, and still take over an hour to get there. Heck, I've been stuck in traffic in which it took 30 minutes just to get 3 miles!

On a Sunday night with no accidents in clear weather. Yep.

[motoman]

I live in West LA. Not too long ago there was an accident on the 10 freeway at 5 am or something and they shut down the freeway. Going well out of my way to get around the gridlock, I got downtown in a little over an hour. A guy I work with lives in Santa Monica. They got stuck in the gridlock. It took him over 4 hours to get downtown.

[vegaspilgrim]

Ok, varr0008, now you're starting to sound more reasonable. There are places where you can indeed accomplish those criteria listed. Except for one thing-- you will almost certainly have to forgo finding a place with a pool. Apartments in LA stink... to put it mildly. Also you may be a little shocked at what is considered "nice," especially at a 1200-1400 price range. You can definitely find a place to live in West LA (and nearby) for that price range, but you're definitely looking at entry level-- places that in other cities would be considered a dump but totally normal for LA. In Phoenix central air conditioning and swimming pools, as well as workout rooms, laundry rooms (and often even in-unit washer and dryer!), kitchens fully stocked with appliances, covered parking spots (and for no additional charge) are all considered standard procedure-- in LA you don't get any of those. In fact you're lucky if you can get even a wall A/C unit that works. It's gonna be a major culture shock at first.

Where in West LA is this? That's a huge place in itself. At 1200-1400, places where you might want to consider looking (depending on where you're commuting): Palms, Mar Vista, South Robertson, Culver City (there's a Target there), Westchester, West Los Angeles/ Sawtelle. None of these are particularly suburban. Some of these range from pleasant to okay to flat out ghetto depending on what you're used to. Here are some of my pictures that illustrate what Palms/ Culver City look like:

Culver City and Palms photo tour, part 1
Culver City and Palms photo tour, part 2
Culver City and Palms photo tour, part 3

I like southwest Torrance/ Redondo Beach a lot-- it's more suburban than West LA (but still not a true "suburbia" suburb), it's pretty close to the beach, maybe a tad less expensive for what you get. However you're looking at a 45 min- 1:30 commute depending on exactly where in West LA you're going. I have a photo album of this area if you want to see what it looks like:

Torrance/ Redondo Beach 1
Torrance/ Redondo Beach 2

[uptown_urbanist]

Just FYI, there's a Target in West Hollywood, in case you end up towards that direction. I can't imagine that you would want to live any more west than that, traffic-wise, but I agree with the others that you should first check out Culver City or just the areas in West LA itself.

Also, as someone who was surprised by this when I moved to LA, be aware that not all apartments in LA come with refrigerators; some do, some do unofficially (the previous tenant leaves it, but if it breaks the landlord won't replace it), and some don't at all. Just something to ask about.

I, too, grew up in Minnesota (Minneapolis), and I LOVE L.A. We moved there sight-unseen for a job, and stayed for three years (moved on recently due to a job transfer - otherwise I'd still be happily living there!). Also, fun fact, they used to have huge Minnesota picnics in Long Beach - tons of Minnesotans living in the LA area would meet up to talk to others from the old state. I always thought it would be a fun tradition to start back up. (if you're a U of MN graduate you should look up the alumni chapter, though - they seem to have lots of social events in Santa Monica, which shouldn't be too far from wherever you end up living)

[nori_garsi]

Culver City and Palms are both great places. I used to rent a 1b on the Palms/Culver City border and it didn't have a pool but it was a really great apt. and I paid 1100 and it was close to everything.

Westchester is also a nice area where you may be able to find 1b/1ba apartments in that range. It is not that far from the Target in Culver City but they are building a Target at the Fox Hills Mall which will be much closer.

[cowman809]

Target in Fox Hills Mall?!?

There is one not even a mile down the street.

[nori_garsi]

Originally Posted by cowman809

Target in Fox Hills Mall?!?

There is one not even a mile down the street.

Yes I know but they are adding one to the mall as well as a Best Buy as part of their remodel...Target is scheduled to open in Oct. The Culver City Target is always ridiculously crowded though so maybe that's why...I think it's strange to build one so close to the other though.