Need advice on where to live around Downey area... (Los Angeles: for rent, condo)

[dybionr]

Hi all,

This is my first post.

I haven't been in Los Angeles for a long time, and I currently have been living in Torrance. My roommates are moving out and I am looking to rent a place for myself. I work near Miracle Mile, so the commute time I dont really mind too much. I am a tad claustrophobic, so I do not want to live in Hollywood.

The place needs to be in a semi-safe neighborhood, somewhat roomy, washer dryer hookups, and be a decent area for a bachelor such as myself, etc.

Do you guys have any suggestions on any areas? I thought about Cerritos, Downey, Whittier, etc.. but I dont know much about these areas are like in terms of my preferences.

If demographics matters, i'm a mid 20s asian guy who is tired of moving around heh. I've moved 4 times the past 5 years in the South Bay area due to flaky roommates, so now am interested in just looking for a place for myself. I'm really tired of moving around =/

Thanks!

[timelesschild]

Downey and those places are so far from Miracle Mile! What made you think of living there? Budget?

[dybionr]

Mainly because I cant stand LA in general. I grew up in the Simi Valley / Chatsworth area where it's very suburbia. I feel very claustrophobic when I'm near there, and the prices are also too high for me to afford. I would really like to have my own place with garage parking (and hopefully laundry) in a nice semi-suburbia type setting. My ideal environment would be Irvine, but obviously i'm no where near there.

I do like Torrance, but I figured I can try a different change of scenery. My move-out date is in June, so I guess worst case scenario is I just find another place to live in Torrance temporarily.

My budget is about ~$1200 for a 1bd/1ba/studio place with garage (and hopefully w/d).

[bhcompy]

Being asian, do you desire to be in an asian community? Cerritos is a very nice community(stay away from the border with Norwalk, mostly on 166th) with a very high asian population(Koreans mostly).

Downey is mostly nice as well, just check out the neighborhood before you choose it to verify. Lakewood is mostly good(east of 605, west of lakewood blvd. best apts near long beach city college). Whittier has some good places as well, had a friend that lived in the old town whittier(historic whittier?) area and it was a pretty nice area.

Biggest problem you may have is that a lot of the apts are old, and most of them wont have wash/dryer hookups. You may want to search for a condo for rent if you need w/d hookups

[dybionr]

I actually have no desire to be in an asian community. But thanks for your input.. i'll take a look into those

[bhcompy]

If you dont mind adding a few minutes you might like something like the area directly around Cypress College. Suburban area, but plenty of young adults and plenty of things to do. Definitely in your price range

[JohnG72]

West LA and Culver City have apts for rent in that price range. You might be able to find a guest house in El Segundo or Westchester for that price.

I don't think you will be very happy with the drive from Downey/Cerritos area.