Moving near los angeles. need advice! (San Diego, Huntington Beach: affordable apartments, rent, how much)

[chrisnolan16]

My original plan was to go to beauty school here, then move to Los Angeles and get a job. But I just found out that you can't do that, you have to go to school in the state you work in. So I have to move to California and go to school. Plan is to save up good amount of money, drive there, get a cheap apartment and go to school. I don't want to live in Los Angeles until I have my license with beauty school, so I want to move somewhere near Los Angeles that has a good school and affordable apartments. I was thinking Palmdale, they have Marinello beauty school, I think thats good, and it seems cheap. Any suggestions?

[Charles]

Why are you moving to near Los Angeles?

How much money are you planning on saving up?
Will you be working while you are in school?
What do you expect your housing budget to be?

[chrisnolan16]

I am moving near Los Angeles because I want to work in the cosmetology field and I know that is the best place for me to be with the type of work I want to do

I am planning on saving up 5-10k

Yes I will be working while in school. Would like to get a job where I can work straight after school

And my housing budget, I would love to be able to pay 700 and under. I would like to live somewhere that's no more than 60 miles away from Los Angeles. I just want to know about all the places near LA.. Burbank, north hollywood, etc. Are they cheap? safe? hip? etc.

[Charles]

HousingMaps

[timelesschild]

Originally Posted by chrisnolan16

And my housing budget, I would love to be able to pay 700 and under. I would like to live somewhere that's no more than 60 miles away from Los Angeles. I just want to know about all the places near LA.. Burbank, north hollywood, etc. Are they cheap? safe? hip? etc.

Your housing budget sounds unrealistic for Burbank or North Hollywood. Where are the beauty schools you are considering? That is the first piece of your puzzle.

[chrisnolan16]

Marinello has schools in Burbank, north hollywood, palmdale.. im really considering palmdale. how far away is it from los angeles?

where I live now I have to drive an hour to go to the mall, or a club every weekend, and im so used to it so. haha

[uptown_urbanist]

The first step when looking at LA is to stop thinking in terms of miles - think in terms of time. 60 miles does not necessarily mean an hour of driving time. Also, LA itself is a huge place. When figuring out a place you have to think in terms of specifics (like Burbank, North Hollywood, etc.) and not something as broad as "Los Angeles."

I've never spent any time in Palmdale, but it's a desert city on the other side of the mountains from LA. Palmdale may or may not be the right place for you, but don't move there under the impression that Palmdale is particulary hip or convenient to LA. If you're primarily looking for an in-state school with cheap rent and will move to a more LA-convenient location after getting your license than it may be a good option, as it is a lot cheaper out there.

[RSpio]

Palmdale is REEEEALLY far away.... lots of people like it out there, it's affordable and it's like it's own city, but if you want to be close to Los Angeles, Palmdale is probably too far... I like the San Gabriel Valley myself... Monrovia is very nice and I think it's still affordable... ?

[chrisnolan16]

I want a city that is near Los Angeles to move to so I can get my state license in cosmetology, without actually living in LA due to bad traffic, safety, no parking, expensive to live and all that. I want to go to school, get a job and then move to Los Angeles or West Hollywood after I can get a real job in the beauty industry.

So which of these cities would be the cheapest to live, closest to Los Angeles? Would not want to pay more than 700 a month for an apartment, don't care how small it is. I just need a place to stay, in California while I go to school, but would love to be as close to LA as possible. I would love to just live in LA and go to school and work there, but I just don't think it's affordable.

Bell
Burbank
Cathedral City
City of Industry
El Cajon
Hemet
Huntington Beach
Inglewood
Lake Forest
Lomita
Moreno Valley
North Hollywood
Ontario
Palmdale
Paramount
Reseda
San Bernardino
San Diego
West Covina
Whittier
Costa Mesa
Pleasant Hill
Santa Monica
Santa Barbara

also, is Marinello a good school? haha

[uptown_urbanist]

The problem is that you can't think that a city that technically is not in LA city limits is not essentially "LA." Many of the places on your list are essentially the same thing for all purposes. LA itself also has a huge array of neighborhoods - some are very safe and nice and have parking, although those aren't going to be affordable. Start by looking at a map, seeing where they are located, then do some initial searches for each place to get a sense of where they are. The cities out in the desert - as with Palmdale - are going to be cheaper than most parts (certainly the safe parts) of LA, Orange County, San Diego, or Santa Barbara. Check out craiglist for a general idea of what apartment prices will be.