West Hollywood (Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Nice: apartments, rent, neighborhoods)

[jball1129]

I am engaged and will be married when I move to Los Angeles. I was thinking West Hollywood. I know it is a big gay community but it does not bother me. What else can you tell me about the city.

[ElleBebe]

It's expensive, lots of restaurants, very walkable. Santa Monica Blvd takes forever to drive. Lots of pets.

[ToadB]

It's a hip area, with features you'd expect from such place. Lots of restaurants, bars, stores, fairly central. Also expensive, lots of traffic, noise, high percentages of wannabies, phonies.

[the one]

west hollywood is a gay area, but its a very "industry" area. show biz. lots of glam. people forget that the sunset strip is in West Ho. thats a vortex of heterosexuality.

its gay, but its also russian in certain areas. its also snobby in others.

but otherwise it has some of the best ammenities this town can offer (albeit expensively)

[BRinSM]

it's not as gay as it used to be. santa monica blvd between doheny and la cienega is the main "boy's town" area, otherwise it is a very dense area with plenty of walkable neighborhoods.

[AnUnidentifiedMale]

I find it to be more Russian than gay. To me, there's not an obvious gay presence if I drive down Santa Monica Boulevard in the middle of the day.

Lots of crappy, cheaply-built apartment buildings, especially on the east side of the city.

Street parking on residential streets often requires permits.

For L.A. County, though, it's generally nice.

[KnoxTown]

For the money it would cost to live in West Hollywood, I'd rather live in Santa Monica.

[mike8290]

Originally Posted by jball1129

I am engaged and will be married when I move to Los Angeles. I was thinking West Hollywood. I know it is a big gay community but it does not bother me. What else can you tell me about the city.

Yes, I'd say the city is half gay and half Russian.
Housing is not cheap, unless your lucky enough to find a rent controlled apartment that someone gave up. A friend of mine just got a 2bdr apartment there for $2000/month. It's an OK area, averaged sized, not nice but not too bad. She got lucky because most apartments like that cost a bit more.
Lot's of buses, but they tend to be crowded and traffic is bad so they are slow. But you can around town in them fine though.

[1200RT]

Where will you be working? Many people don't realize how bad traffic is until they're here. How close is West Hollywood from your job?

[alaplex]

Nice area but beware of the congestion. That whole area from Weho east to Hollywood and Hancock Park is a true traffic nightmare if you are commuting to and from work. There are plenty of alternate routes to get from Point A to Point B but you'll never find one that works. It's just a tough area to commute in. But if you are working local it's a breeze. You may not even need your car most of the time.