Apartment Buildings K-Town ??? (Gardena, Westwood: apartments, condos, crime)

[goldie805]

I have been looking at a few apartments and they seem odd because you have to enter a large entrance area like a hotel lobby then to get into the apartment its of a hallway with all kinds of door that lead into other apartments no doors from off the street, Why is that? Is it safety, architecture or what please enlighten me. To me it seems like you could be mugged in one of those hallways or worse.

[allenk893]

Originally Posted by goldie805

To me it seems like you could be mugged in one of those hallways or worse. ...

That's only because you could. Koreatown is a gangster's paradise at night. If I were you I would look into another city in LA. There's better and safer cities than K-town. Don't you know that Koreatown is MS-13 territory? It's their playground!

[uptown_urbanist]

It's architecture. I've never lived in an apartment building that had doors directly off the street; to me, that sounds odd. Traditional old apartment buildings do have lobbies. That's normal in most older buildings, and in most other cities (LA has the option to have more apartments with doors off of open hallways, especially in more modern places, because of the weather). You'll see it even in the nicest of nice grand old buildings. Koreatown isn't the safest of neighborhoods now, but that's not the reason for the style of construction. If you look around hard enough you can probably find a different style of building.

[Island_OnThe_Land]

Originally Posted by goldie805

I have been looking at a few apartments and they seem odd because you have to enter a large entrance area like a hotel lobby then to get into the apartment its of a hallway with all kinds of door that lead into other apartments no doors from off the street, Why is that? Is it safety, architecture or what please enlighten me. To me it seems like you could be mugged in one of those hallways or worse.

This is very typical construction for most multifamily dwellings that are 3 or 4 stories or higher. THis goes for both condo or apartments even in the "safe" parts of the city like the wilshrie corridor between Westwood and Bev. Hills where the "idle rich" live in their penthouses.

It is much easier to secure ONE lobby as oppopsed to MULTIPLE dwelling units. Also, many of these buildings do NOT have apartment units on the street level so one "main lobby" entrance is only natural.

There is a new apartment community in Koreatown called "The Gardens on Wilshire" (built in 2008) at Wilshire & Hobart. Very nice, upscale approx. 6 stories high. I'd feel very safe living there....of course, the rents aren't cheap.

I have NOT looked at neighborhood level crime data but my sense is that PARTS of K-Town are QUITE safe....thinking here of the area near Wilshrie and Western. Again, several new, upscale housing developments have been added in recent years including "The Gardenas on Wilshire" (apartments), "Solair" (luxury high-rise condos), and "The Mercury" (condos turned rental) have all added residents to the area. Plus you've got the Wiltern Theatre, Ralph's, 24-hour fitness, and smaller retail shops in the immediate area which keeps the street active day and night.