Live in downtown LA, drive to Pasadena for work? (Los Angeles: 2013, neighborhoods)

[ccm123]

These are not the best neighborhoods in LA.

Originally Posted by jdawson1237

Awesome thanks! So DT is defintely not joggable? What do you think of Echo Park and Elysian Park? I read yelp reviews and some were good, others were very scary.

[buzzkillb]

We lived in South Park and I would go jogging nearly every day, all times of the day. The best times were around 2am. I would either go towards the Sports Arena down Figueroa or up to the Library/US Bank building. Its really not bad once you find the streets where you can time the lights to your run.

[acp0]

Originally Posted by jdawson1237

So my wife and I (no kids no pets) are moving to LA and I'll be working in Pas. Would it be a huge no no to live close to / in downtown and drive to Pas every day for work? Any good safe recommendations for downtown living? Love to stay under 2500/mt and be able to go out the front door for a jog safely.. Am I dreaming here?

It's not a huge no no, but it's a why why? I think people should get it out of their minds that Downtown LA is some kind of urban center; it's not. Living there doesn't give you an "LA experience". The LA experience is getting in your car and driving 1 hr to go to work 15 miles away.

Pasadena is plenty fine for jogging and dog walking. If you have $2500/month to blow, live on Colorado itself in a nice apartment close to Old Town Pasadena.

[jemyr]

I just updated an old Old Town post of mine, and I'm copying it here. If I were you I'd much rather live in Old Town Pasadena than in central LA. Pasadena has Caltech and JPL, it has distinguished speaker series, the Huntington, and the Rose Bowl. The Gold line will take you right downtown anytime you like. It has hiking trails to the north, it has bikers that go through it's foothills and joggers that jog down to the Rose Bowl. It has an aquatic center and more. If you are a dog lover, then Sierra Madre to the east is a Norman Rockwell village with lots of joggers and dog lovers.

Here's my Old Town overview:

Personally, if it was me, I would either rent a house on the east side of Arroyo Blvd, west of Orange Grove , south of Colorado, north of California (you can walk to Old Town from there, but it will be a bit of a hike). Or I would find the apartment complex with the most amenities (will either be the new apartments at Westgate, Holly Street Village Apartments or Archstone Del Mar Station). Or I would rent a residential condominium unit. The prestige buildings (owned by individuals and SOMETIMES rented) are 50 W Dayton, 250 S DeLacey, and also (with caveats) The Montana and Terra Bella.

It depends on what you are looking for. (There are places with city and mountain views, stunning ones).

Here are the things to think about:

Do you want to walk two blocks to a restaurant, movie, bar (have a drink), and then walk back home? (apartment, condo in Old Town) Would you mind walking 20 blocks instead, to have more privacy? Would you be fine with driving and parking in Old Town? (house in the Arroyo) Do you want exercise equipment, restaurants and a pool on site? (some apartments, some condos) Would you rather join Equinox (the fanciest gym here) instead? (condo) Do you mind the thin wall issue? (make sure you get a top floor apartment, or do a condo)

Apartments: Holly vs Del Mar vs Westgate: Holly has noise issues from Memorial Park when they do music at night, ask for a top floor unit that doesn't face the park, unless you like the ambiance of the music, which many people do. They shut down no later than 10. Del Mar Station has noise issues from the train, and is surrounded by heavily trafficked streets. Get a top floor apartment, or a townhouse, ask them which are the quietest. Both of these places have instant access to the train, Del Mar is a bit fancier with a bit fancier amenities, and it has restaurants ON SITE. Westgate is the fanciest of all, but you have to walk to the train, although the walk to Old Town is much nicer. After the construction is done at Westgate, it will probably be your best bet to find a quieter unit as the streets between Del Mar and Colorado are quiet streets.

I would not consider any other apartments than those three choices, you won't find better amenities, or a better location. The only thing you might find is something quieter, (both from street noise and from your neighbors) and if you are concerned about that, then you should go ahead and upgrade to a condominium rental (as opposed to a cheap apartment).

Condos: These pop up from time to time. They are privately owned residence that the owners sometimes rent out: The full list:

Condos in pre 1950 buildings with parking, electrical and laundry issues (I seperate them because they are their own class): Castle Green and the Maryland hotel at 80 N Euclid. Both generally have problematic parking, requiring you to cross the street to go home. Castle Green's units generally don't have central A.C. and heat, and they blow fuses when you use too much electricity. If you don't have in-unit laundry, then doing laundry gets old. Elevator issues as well.

High End and Private: Terra Bella, 250 S Delacey, 50 West Dayton, and the Montana (I dislike the Montana's location, but it is the super swankiest). These are the premiere properties because they either have very few units and so are very private, they are unusually large with views, they are located on quieter streets that are still within 2-3 blocks of Old Town proper, and/or are built to look fancy. 50 West Dayton has no amenities but has the fewest units and the most open space and the best walking location to Old Town, Terra Bella has no pool and a very baroque look and is closest to the train, DeLacey has a glass bottom pool which is neat though the location feels a bit no-man's landish and it has the most units, and Montana is as swanky as you can get with lots of staff that cater to you, but for some reason they decided being across from the mall was better than being in Old Town near Tiffanys. I prefer Dayton because the location is the closest to the action, and I like the New York loft style.

Mid-line: 80 N Raymond, 111 S De Lacey, 125 N Raymond, 35 N Raymond, 238 South Arroyo. This is either because of how they were constructed, the fact that they have a lot of units, or the loudness of the street. 80 n raymond is most private with least amount of units, the ones that don't face Raymond are very quiet. 111 S Delacey is much quieter since Twin Palms left (though there is construction on the south now, so I'd avoid the south facing units) and they generally feel apartmenty and dark and there's a lot of them. 125 N Raymond, I hear, has some beautiful swanky units (in the theater building), but there are a lot of them, and construction can feel apartmenty in many. 35 N Raymond was built so everyone's unit faces the other, they are oddly laid out. 238 South has the most amenities, and I'm less familair with it, though it looks a whole lot like Archstone apartments and Archstone has more amenities. Of these, I like the idea of one of the unusual theater apartments on Raymond, or a unit in 80 n Raymond on the east side because of it's quietness and privacy.

Low-line: Condos on Walnut and North of it, On Marengo and East of it, on Del Mar and South of it, and on Pasadena and West of it. These roads are fast and loud. People generally don't cross them to get into Old Town. Also many of the buildings built on them were originally apartments. So you might as well rent an apartment. Note: 217 S Marengo, and 159 west Green are recently built, and feel very much like apartments.

Lastly, the addition of Whole Foods on South Arroyo Parkway, and the opening of the Art Center on South Arroyo Parkway has added a wrinkle to location desirability. If you like walking to either of those places, then you may prefer to be nearer to South Arroyo instead of Old Town. In general, however, the closer you are to One Colorado, the more "in the mix" you feel.


Look at the website walkscore.com, and you will see all the different things you can do based on the address you put in.

One last thought: If you are interested in a particular building, it often works to mail everyone in the building if they are interested in renting.

[woodsart]

DTLA has some great loft and apt buildings, but the walking and jogging is not ideal. Do you really need to jog outdoors? Most of the nice complexes have a gym. What about just using the treadmill?

I considered DTLA but ended up in South Pasadena, which I love. I can easily take the gold line into DTLA or Old Town Pasadena. Old town has better shopping and restaurant selection IMO.

[saybanana]

Depends where in DTLA you want to live. The morning commute to Pasadena on the 110 parkway is good. Not many cars and if you take Hill street through Chinatown then it would reduce your commute time vs getting on the 110 or 101. The afternoon commute will be difficult through Pasadena but the freeway isnt bad until you get near the 110/5 interchange but you have the options to take side streets like Broadway or Hill just exit the freeway early.

I would be torn. Old Town Pasadena and the areas around are great places to live around with nice shops, places to eat, drink, etc. So is the area around south Lake Ave and to the extend around Hastings Ranch. All are safe to walk around.

DTLA is still in transition. It is a good transition and whether it is a new building popping up or a new store or restaurant, bar, sports or convention event many blogs or news sites often cover these changes. It is easy to get to other parts of LA as well. You can go jogging and evening or weekends, going through the financial district towards the civic center is great because there are not many people walking or cars around. You can jog towards chinatown and around the Cornfields. Going around the arts district is great because there are not many lights and not many cars.

[JohnSoCal]

I don't know why anybody would rather live in downtown LA than downtown Pasadena. but it takes all kinds to make a world. Downtown Pasadena is very nice and walkable.

[jdawson1237]

This is really awesome info.. Thanks so much. JohnSoCal, why do I want to live in DTLA? Because I think it's closer to fun weekend things to do in hollywood, beaches, etc... I could be very wrong. Plus, I love skylines and would like to be able to see that if possible. Not a must, just thought it would be cool.

[jemyr]

The only reason you would do Downtown LA is because you are younger and you want edgier with more aggressive nightlife and more clubs. (Staples Center, Clubs, though the "in" clubs are going to be in Hollywood, West Hollywood, Silverlake, where the film fancies are): Downtown Los Angeles Nightlife Clubs and Bars Guide - LANightLife.com

I would not choose Downtown to be closer to other things to do in LA. It is hard to get out of downtown, the traffic is congested, and it's always difficult to navigate. It has a heavy homeless population and because there's lots of services for the mentally ill clustered down there, you get that problem as well (as well as in Venice) I find it and Santa Monica miserable in terms of exiting your garage and being trapped immediately in aggressive traffic.

The skylines are nice, but you can get beautiful skylines from the top of any tall building in LA. Twinkly city lights spreading as far as the sprawl can see. Getting a place in the foothills of Sierra Madre would give you spectacular sweeping city light views. And again, the gold line goes right into Downtown.

However, again, if I was a young man, looking to feel part of the nightlife scene, with money to go to basketball games and clubs, then I could see the draw. But if I was that type and working in Pasadena, I'd live in Silverlake. This is a good thread for nightlife comparisons: //www.city-data.com/forum/los-a...htlife-la.html

[HarryKerryJr]

Living in Pasadena with Gold Line is still close to "fun weekend things" to do. You do realize that Old Pasadena IS the "fun weekend" thing and place to go for countless local residents, and south OC along the coast a big draw, all in the opposite direction you're thinking of. Oh well.