From Dallas to Los Angeles. What's the best area to live in LA? (Orange: job market, university)

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by disgruntled la native

Your friend's a fool! It's a huge difference. The city services, police, parking, fines, voting, benefits, etc etc vary greatly between City of WeHo and city of LA.

On Sunset Blvd WeHo begins at Doheny Rd and ends at Crescent Heights.

On Santa Monica its from Doheny to La Brea, the longest stretch

On Melrose it ends by La Cienega. Beverly is confusing but also short.

I guess... He's just a renter.

[mrsltd]

Going back to the MB/Compton divide....

Compton is actually more like TEN miles away from Manhattan Beach but Hawthorne, which has some issues of its own, is next to Manhattan Beach.

It needs to be remembered that maps are representations of reality projected onto a smaller (at least on a website) flat surface. These things have something called SCALE. That needs to be taken into consideration as well, especially if they're cheaply done internet maps. It's the opposite of what your driver's side mirror would say: Objects are FARTHER away from each other than they appear, in this case.

But seriously, a young white female is probably statistically the person LEAST likely to get shot or bothered in the Greater L.A. area.

Pay a visit. No matter WHAT place you decide to settle on as a place to live, you will be taking a chance. Please don't allow popular culture (represented by TV shows, regional news media's selective reporting) sway you. You must see for yourself. I have been stuck or visiting at times in some not-very-good areas and got great help/response from the locals. Just come and see for yourself.

[madrone2k]

A family member of mine moved to the LA area when she was in her early 30s. Like BarcelonaFan, she spent early years in the Memorial area of Houston (a safe, green forested and affluent place, but not exciting). By now, she has spent 3 decades in the Torrance area and has never regretted it. And that's despite having commuted to work in Inglewood for many years, even during the Rodney King affair. I think her only big concern has been whether she can afford to stay there after she retires, not whether she will be a crime victim.

Despite not being in one of the more expensive places mentioned above, and not being quite as close to the beach, she loves the weather and hopes to never leave it. Her experience suggests to me that perhaps someone like you can still find a nice place to live there w/o necessarily having to pay more to live in Manhattan Beach or Santa Monica. Or in the more far-away and hotter places.

[guydude]

I think the OP might be being a little unrealistic with her requirements. I'd say West Hollywood, or Santa Monica for her, but both those places have homeless people. Whatever. She'll figure it out once she takes her surveillance trip to L.A. this winter. I live in Santa Monica just off San Vicente, which is about as high end and safe as you get in L.A., and I still see, every once in a while, homeless people wandering down my street. Moreover, there was a rash of break-ins late last year. L.A. is a real city, and with real cities comes crime, and homeless. It's just something you're going to have to get used to.

[abcnbccbs]

How far is Calabasas from the West Hollywood area. What about traffic from that area and are there any shortcuts?

[mrsltd]

Originally Posted by abcnbccbs

How far is Calabasas from the West Hollywood area. What about traffic from that area and are there any shortcuts?

A good 25 miles or so. The 101 is the most direct route from West Hollywood (any of the arterial northbound strees to the 101 and then "north". Traffic is not good much of the time. No real shortcuts. Scenic drives that will not really save you time but no shortcuts...some roundabouts.

[abcnbccbs]

Originally Posted by mrsltd

A good 25 miles or so. The 101 is the most direct route from West Hollywood (any of the arterial northbound strees to the 101 and then "north". Traffic is not good much of the time. No real shortcuts. Scenic drives that will not really save you time but no shortcuts...some roundabouts.

Is there a lot of bumper to bumper traffic going into the West Hollywood Area? What's the travel time?

[skyway31]

Traveling east/south along the 101 into L.A. BLOWS. And that's what you would be doing coming from Calabasas. And there is absolutely zero social scene for a single person who's just moved from out of state in Calabasas. Oh, and, you're just a few miles from some gang country in the Valley. I mean nothing you should worry about in Calabasas. But, if the other places get culled because they are within 10 miles of a seedy area, like, Calabasas, like, should be culled too. You can find some less than desirable areas if you go 10 miles in the wrong direction from Calabasas. Like, being within 10 miles of a bad area is, like, awful. LMAO.

[abcnbccbs]

Originally Posted by skyway31

Traveling east/south along the 101 into L.A. BLOWS. And that's what you would be doing coming from Calabasas. And there is absolutely zero social scene for a single person who's just moved from out of state in Calabasas. Oh, and, you're just a few miles from some gang country in the Valley. I mean nothing you should worry about in Calabasas. But, if the other places get culled because they are within 10 miles of a seedy area, like, Calabasas, like, should be culled too. You can find some less than desirable areas if you go 10 miles in the wrong direction from Calabasas. Like, being within 10 miles of a bad area is, like, awful. LMAO.

First I'm not understanding the aura of attitude. I've never been to LA, coming from Texas, I only know what I see on Tv and read. I ask alot of questions because this is a big move for me by myself and I just wanted opinions from the locals. Ten miles is a big area. I really won't know until I get there. Some of the post in this thread have kinda scared me away, some have excited me. It is, what it is.....being a single woman I'm just taking precautions. I read every post and will continue to weigh all my options and continue to research and ask a million questions. One thing I do know is that any city in LA beats Dallas hands down. LOL! All I can do is feel the city and I'm sure I'll be fine.

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by abcnbccbs

Is there a lot of bumper to bumper traffic going into the West Hollywood Area? What's the travel time?

Yes bumper to bumper traffic. Before my wife got a job downtown she worked in Calabasas and reverse commuted from Hollywood (that's how much we didn't want to live somewhere as boring and ultra-yuppified as Calabasas). She had about a 45 minute drive to Calabasas - remember this is a reverse commute and from Central Hollywood, which has the 101 running right through it, we were a 2 minute drive from the on-ramp. From Calabasas to WeHo you are probably looking at 45-55 minutes to get over either the Sepulveda or Cahuenga Pass (depends on if you stay on 101 or take the interchange at 405 - really depends on what part of WeHo you are going to). Then tack on about 15-30 minutes of surface road traffic from the freeway into West Hollywood, because there are no freeways running through that part of LA. So I'd say you would be looking at between an hour and an hour and half commute (with the occasional commute that is even longer due to an accident or something).

Right now it is 55 minutes at 10 AM: https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&c...ed=0CAgQ_AUoAg

And be prepared to do some driving to get to any remotely interesting nightlife - the West Valley is not exactly known for that.

Oh one other thing - Calabasas might be one of the hottest parts of the metro area. It was consistently 10 degrees warmer in Calabasas then it was in Hollywood (which is about middle-of-the-road for heat in the LA area - the beaches were usual 5-10 degrees cooler than Hollywood).