ABQ Transplant looking for the right area of LA

[TheRealAngelion]

Originally Posted by nichole.hopkins

So I decided to move to L.A in February

I'm looking for an area that has "culture".....i know L.A is no San Fran or New York,

Hunh? What "culture" can be found in SF and NYC that's not in LA?

[DowntownVentura]

Don't forget downtown Ventura

Walk Score - Ventura

Welcome to ventura Arts Online!

Ventura Arts & Culture - Ventura Visitors & Conventions Bureau

PLACE - Projects Linking Art, Community & Environment (http://www.placeonline.us/projects/overview.html - broken link)


Or Santa Barbara although Santa Barbara is a little more difficult without a car and more expensive. But is a very nice city for artists.

[readymade]

I need to pipe in here in regards to Ventura. My husband & I lived there for 4 years. My husband is an artist and we are both in a band.

We hated it.

The "art" seemed more geared (to us) to making interesting things with sea shells. Nothing really cutting edge. It was a HORRIBLE place for young people. When we first moved there and met anyone in their 20s or early 30s who lived/grew up there, they would say "Why on EARTH would you want to move HERE?!"

We thought they were being cynical. They weren't. There isn't a whole lot to do, in my (and their) opinion. Not a lot open at night. If you want to get lunch at around 2 or 3 pm, there isn't much open. Stores tended to be open or closed based on the whim of the store owner. If you're hungry after 9/9:30pm, you might be eating in a restaurant with no one else there and the waitstaff vacuuming around you trying to clean up for the night. The last 2 years we were there, we found ourselves doing the 1 - 2.5 hour drive down to LA more and more.

If you're super into the beach life and surf & garden & do stuff like that, Ventura might be the place for you. If you like good restaurants, going out at night, seeing bands, independant film, cutting edge art... then not so much.

[DowntownVentura]

Originally Posted by readymade

I need to pipe in here in regards to Ventura. My husband & I lived there for 4 years. My husband is an artist and we are both in a band.

We hated it.

The "art" seemed more geared (to us) to making interesting things with sea shells. Nothing really cutting edge. It was a HORRIBLE place for young people. When we first moved there and met anyone in their 20s or early 30s who lived/grew up there, they would say "Why on EARTH would you want to move HERE?!"

We thought they were being cynical. They weren't. There isn't a whole lot to do, in my (and their) opinion. Not a lot open at night. If you want to get lunch at around 2 or 3 pm, there isn't much open. Stores tended to be open or closed based on the whim of the store owner. If you're hungry after 9/9:30pm, you might be eating in a restaurant with no one else there and the waitstaff vacuuming around you trying to clean up for the night. The last 2 years we were there, we found ourselves doing the 1 - 2.5 hour drive down to LA more and more.

If you're super into the beach life and surf & garden & do stuff like that, Ventura might be the place for you. If you like good restaurants, going out at night, seeing bands, independant film, cutting edge art... then not so much.

That seems odd to me. Were you in the Pierpont area by chance?

[uptown_urbanist]

I bit my tongue/sat on my fingers earlier, too, but the "no culture in LA" is one huge big myth. So is the "you have to have a car" and "no one walks" thing. Living without a car doesn't work for everyone, of course, but if you don't have to have a car for your work and if you live in a walkable neighborhood with decent public transportation then it's not bad. It's the same thing in SF; I've lived as a non-driver in both cities, and discovered that my own preconceived notions had led me to hold unrealistically high expectations for SF and unrealistically low expectations for LA. If you want to live in LA and don't want to drive it's certainly possible, so no need to write the city off on that reason alone.

[readymade]

Originally Posted by DowntownVentura

That seems odd to me. Were you in the Pierpont area by chance?

I lived right near the downtown area for a year (almost on the corner of Kalorama & Main) and then about a mile south of the "new" waterpark for 3 years. Both very nice neighborhoods.

Ventura had a LOT of great things about it, the weather being the main one (for me)... but I would hesitate on sending a young artist there to live. All of the younger people I met were pretty bitter about living there. This surprised the hell out of me at first ("But... you live in paradise!"), but I came to understand it after 3 years or so.

I also had a very VERY bad experience at Ventura Community Hospital and would hesitate advising anyone to move there based on that. Anyone that wanted to live, anyway. Maybe the other hospital is better... I don't know. I do know I'll never live anywhere again without a good choice of top-notch hospitals.

[WSMC]

We spend quite a bit of time in Ventura. My sis-in-law lives there. I wouldn't advise a young artist to move there. A young family, maybe.

Silverlake is good advice. So are Eagle Rock (a little more "industrial"), Atwater Village and Echo Park. Downtown LA is happening right now. Artsy and gritty yet safe as long as you stay off Skid Row. Also affordable and fairly easy to navigate, even without a car.

Hollywood could be an option, but I wouldn't describe it as artsy. Koreatown is cheap and close to downtown but you could find yourself caught in a turf war between the MS and 18th Street gangs. I hear they've cleaned up the area since I lived there 10 years ago.

There is Venice for the hippie in you, but it's becoming increasingly gentrified and will most likely be out of your price range. In reference to the person who recommended Pasadena: I really like Pasadena but I don't see a young, starving artist surviving there. South Pasadena, maybe. But then she may as well go for the gold and live in Silverlake.

LA can be great if you give it a chance.

Best of luck,

-R.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by nichole.hopkins

I was also considering moving to San Francisco........all things considered maybe it would be a better fit... My car doesnt work well and a new one isnt in my budget just yet, i know SF has wonderful public transit. And probably a much more "walkable" place.

Yes, San Francisco does have a wonderful transportation system, but keep in mind rents are very high as well. Do you have a housing budget? what are you thinking about when it comes to rent?