Please help, moving to LA, Westlake safe? I'm petite pretty female, nervous (Los Angeles: low income, apartments)

[briannak]

Hi there! Thank you in advance to all advice, help!!! I currently live in Bellflower in a safe suburban neighborhood. I work in LA (all over) so definitely need to finally move back to LA and cut down on driving considerably. Two very cheap places (in my price range) I found are in Westlake,

• 501 S. Spring St. Los Angeles CA 90013
• 532 s coronado st, la

Does anyone know anything about these areas? I am extremely concerned, being small and despite strong, no match for a taller guy or an armed man. I have read some strong words about this area increasing my concern. Please let me know anything information that you think might help. It means SO much to me.

[jbunniii]

Originally Posted by briannak

Hi there! Thank you in advance to all advice, help!!! I currently live in Bellflower in a safe suburban neighborhood. I work in LA (all over) so definitely need to finally move back to LA and cut down on driving considerably. Two very cheap places (in my price range) I found are in Westlake,

• 501 S. Spring St. Los Angeles CA 90013
• 532 s coronado st, la

Does anyone know anything about these areas? I am extremely concerned, being small and despite strong, no match for a taller guy or an armed man. I have read some strong words about this area increasing my concern. Please let me know anything information that you think might help. It means SO much to me.

501 S. Spring Street is in downtown LA, not Westlake. I know this because I lived for a year in a loft apartment not far from there in 2002.

It's also right on the corner with 5th Street. If you are not familiar with 5th Street, there's not a lot I can say that would prepare you for it. You pretty much have to see it for yourself to believe it. I believe it's the biggest homeless encampment in America.

532 S. Coronado Street is only a couple of blocks from Macarthur Park. From what I hear, this park is somewhat cleaned up now versus how it was in the 1990s and early 2000s when I lived in LA, but at that time it was full of drug dealers and gangbangers despite the presence of an LAPD substation right IN the park. I don't know how much it has changed, but I will be fairly amazed if it is a safe neighborhood nowadays.

[readymade]

You also might think about not posting online the addresses of where you might live

[Island_OnThe_Land]

Originally Posted by jbunniii

501 S. Spring Street is in downtown LA, not Westlake. I know this because I lived for a year in a loft apartment not far from there in 2002.

It's also right on the corner with 5th Street. If you are not familiar with 5th Street, there's not a lot I can say that would prepare you for it. You pretty much have to see it for yourself to believe it. I believe it's the biggest homeless encampment in America.

532 S. Coronado Street is only a couple of blocks from Macarthur Park. From what I hear, this park is somewhat cleaned up now versus how it was in the 1990s and early 2000s when I lived in LA, but at that time it was full of drug dealers and gangbangers despite the presence of an LAPD substation right IN the park. I don't know how much it has changed, but I will be fairly amazed if it is a safe neighborhood nowadays.

Spring Street in downtown LA is SAFE and there are PLENTY of SINGLE FEMALES living in that area. I know b/c I lived there from 2005 to 2008. Crime statistics back this up. This is not to suggest there are no problems downtown. But there area has CHANGED A LOT since 2002.

[LASam]

I would prefer living on Spring St downtown to the MacArthur Park area. Your life could be just like the movie 500 Day of Summer

That being said, I would exercise heavier than usual street smarts in both areas. One nice thing about Spring will be enjoying the Thursday evening Gallery Hops. You'll also be close to nice places like the Lost Souls Cafe, Rocket Pizza, Petes Cafe, Coles, and the Nickel Diner.

[jbunniii]

Originally Posted by Island_OnThe_Land

Spring Street in downtown LA is SAFE and there are PLENTY of SINGLE FEMALES living in that area. I know b/c I lived there from 2005 to 2008. Crime statistics back this up. This is not to suggest there are no problems downtown. But there area has CHANGED A LOT since 2002.

Amazing, and good to hear. What happened, did security/cops force the homeless encampment boundary a couple of blocks east? It was still pretty dodgy as far west as Broadway in 2002 when I lived there, although there were visible signs of gentrification on both Spring and Main north of 5th Street. Not that the homeless population caused all that much trouble for residents in the area (I never had any problems at all) but I would think that a "nervous" single female might find it pretty intimidating. Skid Row is a pretty astonishing sight for anyone who hasn't seen it before.

[uptown_urbanist]

I would much prefer the Spring St. location, too, but it's a good point that the nightime/early morning tent cities can come as a shock. I remember seeing a sign for one of those loft buildings right on the edge of skid row that said something like "unique urban location" and thought yeah, that's for sure. (I never lived downtown, but spent a lot of time during the daytime by myself; I don't know how comfortable I would have felt walking around late at night by myself, but had no problems during my many visits there)

[JohnG72]

5th and Spring(and 5th and Main) USED to be THE 24 hour drug market in LA. There are still problem people hanging around, but LAPD really made a strong push to clean it up. This has occured over the past 8 years and the area has been reasonably cleared of that sort of thing for about 3 years.

Its now an upscale sort of trendy downtown area. I highly recommend going to visit first. Bring a male friend along. Drive around the area on a weeknight around 8pm, and then around 1am. The reason for the late night is because I can't imagine you'd move down there and not take advantage of the bars and clubs.

I just looked and this building is The Alexandria. Its cheap for a few reasons. Understand this place used to be entirely homeless people on general relief. But its been renovated and it supposed to be nice. Rooms are tiny.

A couple things to be aware of.....your parking situation. A lot of the buildings down there don't have parking and you will have to pay a monthly fee to park in a nearby lot. I imagine thats the case here. Another thing to be aware of is the people that are living there. I don't know who is living there currently, but that could be an issue.

The Alexandria - Renovated Hotel Provides Low Income Apartments in Los Angeles - Home

I would not even consider the Coronado address place.

Feel free to pm if you have any other questions. I work in the area at night so I see quite a bit of what goes on there.

[Island_OnThe_Land]

Originally Posted by JohnG72

5th and Spring(and 5th and Main) USED to be THE 24 hour drug market in LA. There are still problem people hanging around, but LAPD really made a strong push to clean it up. This has occured over the past 8 years and the area has been reasonably cleared of that sort of thing for about 3 years.

Its now an upscale sort of trendy downtown area. I highly recommend going to visit first. Bring a male friend along. Drive around the area on a weeknight around 8pm, and then around 1am. The reason for the late night is because I can't imagine you'd move down there and not take advantage of the bars and clubs.

I just looked and this building is The Alexandria. Its cheap for a few reasons. Understand this place used to be entirely homeless people on general relief. But its been renovated and it supposed to be nice. Rooms are tiny.

A couple things to be aware of.....your parking situation. A lot of the buildings down there don't have parking and you will have to pay a monthly fee to park in a nearby lot. I imagine thats the case here. Another thing to be aware of is the people that are living there. I don't know who is living there currently, but that could be an issue.

The Alexandria - Renovated Hotel Provides Low Income Apartments in Los Angeles - Home

I would not even consider the Coronado address place.

Feel free to pm if you have any other questions. I work in the area at night so I see quite a bit of what goes on there.

As a former downtown resident I agree 100% with JOHNG72's comments above. All very good.

[briannak]

Please explain why you wouldn't even consider the Coronado place, thank you guys! I don't have any guy to take with me, but maybe I should just steer clear of downtown all together....