Chances for white working class in LA? Need some honesty here (Oxnard: fit in, sales)

[Guitarmaan]

My wife and I are seriously considering moving to LA next year from Phoenix, though originally we lived in London (I'm English and my wife is American). We have visited Southern California enough to know we both like it a lot, and LA is a great city with culture, entertainment, history and coastline. I am white working class, having done unskilled type jobs like warehouse work, electric meter reading and delivery work.

From our research, we could sell our Arizona home and buy a condo in possibly Van Nuys or NoHo. The condo fees would roughly equal the costs of our home. So we'd be downsizing to live in a more interesting area basically. We'd lose the home, pool and large yard. But we'd swap that for all that LA has to offer. I am also hoping wages will be higher in LA than Phoenix.

But in essence my question is "what are our chances?"

I understand the demographic changes that California has gone through since the 70's. What were largely white areas are now Hispanic, with Korean and black mixed in. Diversity doesn't bother me greatly. Back in England we lived in a crime hotspot "ghetto" (entirely Pakistani and black) and while you had to act accordingly and be vigilant, it didn't bother me. But while it's not an issue for me, could it be an issue for resident Hispanics having a white couple move in?

I don't expect to be in danger just by living in an Hispanic area, so don't be offended please. My concern is more about work. I suspect I have lost out on a few jobs here in Arizona (pool work) because my face didn't fit in totally Hispanic companies. And since I'm interested in working class jobs, many of these companies may arguably be Hispanic. Please be open and honest here, whatever race you are. Do you think a white guy can do just as well in LA as a Hispanic or Korean these days? This isn't a race-bait question. I just need to know the real story.

Thanks

[jamills21]

Yes...your looking too much into it.

[jm1982]

I don't think you will face any problems moving into a an area with hispanics . If you are considering Van Nuys or North Hollywood even within those areas demographics can vary.

I'm not sure what price ranges you are looking for but if you are looking at NoHo arts district in North Hollywood most of your neighbors in a condo building might not even be hispanic . Perhaps the same for Van Nuys too. Of course things vary by particular block and buildings.

For jobs , i don't imagine you would suffer too much from reverse discrimination...although depending on the particular area or type of business they might want or need someone that speaks spanish.

My area is mostly hispanic and I think it would be hard if I didn't speak spanish.

There are still tons of jobs though that I'm sure you could get especially if you are looking for a working class job.

Another thing you might want to consider , and something i've even considered although I have a full time job is working for a driver for a service like Uber or Lyft ..they seem to advertise between 20-35 per hour for drivers. There are also 'unskilled gigs' that one can do via TaskRabbit where the per hour pay might significantly higher.

Will your wife be working too? Is she looking to also work a 'working class job'

I imagine you could have many more varied job opportunities in L.A versus Phoenix ,especially in the service industry.

As maybe you could get an 'unskilled' job working for the film studios/entertainment biz? Not too many hispanic immigrants working in that industry.

Maybe also looking to do these types of jobs for colleges or universities ,benefits should be pretty good. You could also get some free classes too and free education for your kids if you have them or are planning to help them later on.

Also for looking up real estate I'd recommend Redfin.com if you haven't already used it , you can see pretty much the same listings as real estate agents. You can also see other data like recent sales comps,etc.

It's much more accurate than Zillow or Trulia.. they are in Phoenix too I believe.

[Chowhound]

Originally Posted by Guitarmaan

My wife and I are seriously considering moving to LA next year from Phoenix, though originally we lived in London (I'm English and my wife is American). We have visited Southern California enough to know we both like it a lot, and LA is a great city with culture, entertainment, history and coastline. I am white working class, having done unskilled type jobs like warehouse work, electric meter reading and delivery work.

From our research, we could sell our Arizona home and buy a condo in possibly Van Nuys or NoHo. The condo fees would roughly equal the costs of our home. So we'd be downsizing to live in a more interesting area basically. We'd lose the home, pool and large yard. But we'd swap that for all that LA has to offer. I am also hoping wages will be higher in LA than Phoenix.

But in essence my question is "what are our chances?"

I understand the demographic changes that California has gone through since the 70's. What were largely white areas are now Hispanic, with Korean and black mixed in. Diversity doesn't bother me greatly. Back in England we lived in a crime hotspot "ghetto" (entirely Pakistani and black) and while you had to act accordingly and be vigilant, it didn't bother me. But while it's not an issue for me, could it be an issue for resident Hispanics having a white couple move in?

I don't expect to be in danger just by living in an Hispanic area, so don't be offended please. My concern is more about work. I suspect I have lost out on a few jobs here in Arizona (pool work) because my face didn't fit in totally Hispanic companies. And since I'm interested in working class jobs, many of these companies may arguably be Hispanic. Please be open and honest here, whatever race you are. Do you think a white guy can do just as well in LA as a Hispanic or Korean these days? This isn't a race-bait question. I just need to know the real story.

Thanks

You'd probably be fine, but like you said a lot of the lower skilled low end jobs are filled with lots and lots of Hispanics..... so if you're fine with that, then you should be OK.

Just a word though, you probably know this already, but you'd probably do better in Phoenix area in terms of lower income. Here in So Cal, you just can't make it on low money, most that do seem to have a couple 3 roommates......

I personally make some pretty decent money, and have no credit debt and no car payments, and should be doing better than I am, so I wonder how well people do that only make 14 or 15 bucks an hour........

Best of luck to you though....

[hjt123]

There's much more unionized labor in LA than in Arizona

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by Chowhound

You'd probably be fine, but like you said a lot of the lower skilled low end jobs are filled with lots and lots of Hispanics..... so if you're fine with that, then you should be OK.

Just a word though, you probably know this already, but you'd probably do better in Phoenix area in terms of lower income. Here in So Cal, you just can't make it on low money, most that do seem to have a couple 3 roommates......

I personally make some pretty decent money, and have no credit debt and no car payments, and should be doing better than I am, so I wonder how well people do that only make 14 or 15 bucks an hour........

Best of luck to you though....

I'd be more worried if he didn't have the property in Arizona that he will pull equity out of though.

In that case I'd say L.A would be a bad place for trying to be working class.

Chowhound.. do you think most of those people working for $14-15 hour are hispanic?

I'm thinking probably not , but could be wrong...at least not relatively recent hispanic immigrants that you think of when you think of working class.

Also I'm willing to bet that most people working for $14 an hour dont consider themselves working class because they aren't working for min wage..although especially in L.A it wouldn't be crazy to call $14 working class wages with high living costs.

[Cheektowaga_Chester]

Originally Posted by Guitarmaan

me and buy a condo in possibly Van Nuys or NoHo.

But in essence my question is "what are our chances?"

What are your chances of finding a job(s) sounds like the question. Sounds like you know what it would cost to live here. Now it's up to you to make it happen.

You could also look into Oxnard, Port Hueneme, San Pedro, and San Juan Capistrano.

[Chowhound]

Originally Posted by jm1982

I'd be more worried if he didn't have the property in Arizona that he will pull equity out of though.

In that case I'd say L.A would be a bad place for trying to be working class.

Chowhound.. do you think most of those people working for $14-15 hour are hispanic?

I'm thinking probably not , but could be wrong...at least not relatively recent hispanic immigrants that you think of when you think of working class.

Also I'm willing to bet that most people working for $14 an hour dont consider themselves working class because they aren't working for min wage..although especially in L.A it wouldn't be crazy to call $14 working class wages with high living costs.

I'm sure that there are plenty of non-Hispanics in the 14-15 dollar an hour range, I just meant sheer demographics are gonna dictate that a certain percentage will be Hispanic.

I don't want to come off as snobby here, but 14 bucks an hour is chickenfeed... I mean that in the sense that it's so expensive to live here... I mean double that to 28 bucks and hour seems to be getting in the range of decent living... you couple up with a spouse and if they are somewhere in the 20 dollar an hour range and you can do decently... but people making 8 buck an hour working at Starbucks or whatever... the OP said low skilled, warehouse type jobs.. I imagine that they only put you in that range we were talking about 12 to 15 bucks an hour.... I mean rent is high.. we're not even talking about making an attempt to own a home here... just scrape out a basic living....

Tough stuff... that's why when I read about someone coming from a less affluent area like Phoenix to LA and expect to do better with less skills and less money... just seems a little naive... not trying to bust on the OP here.... just sayin...

[kttam186290]

I would look into Ventura, Santa Clarita, Simi Valley, Burbank, Woodland Hills or Thousand Oaks, If I were you...there are more white (Anglo) people in those areas

[yby1]

You'll at finding work in the inland empire IMO. Places like Corona, Moreno Valley have more working class whites.