Where are the interesting areas of LA? (Los Angeles, Glendale: apartments, amusement parks)

[nwdude]

I'm a 26 year old single male now living in seattle. I've been in seattle for 8 years, and the northwest my entire life and now looking for a change. I'm flying down to LA next weekend for an interview, and spending the weekend there to drive around and check out the various neighboorhoods. I'd be working out of an office in the downdown central district (on Grand Ave). My highest priority for the weekend is to figure out what area's I would want to live in so if i do get an offer I can start looking for apartments before flying down to the area again.

I'm primarly focusing on everything between the ocean and downtown (santa monica, venice, hollywood, wilshire, etc..), and then possibly areas to the north such as North Hollywood, Van Nys, Glendale, Burbank etc...

I'd rather not spend a whole lot more then say $1400/month or so for a 1 BR, but I could probably afford more if needed.

So my biggest question now are where are the interesting areas of LA? From what I've heard from other people it is extemly spread out and there are just miles and miles of houses and strip malls in some areas, which I'd like to avoid if possible. What areas do all the sucessful, single, 20 somethings hang out? It looks like most of the clubs/bars are located in hollywood. What other area's have a good nightlife scene?

Also it would help if I could get a more realistic idea of what my commute would be like from various areas to the middle of downtown. maps.google.com says it could take up to 1 hour 20 min to go from santa monica to downtown in traffic. Is this realistic? What about from the northern areas like Van Nys, North Hollywood, Glendale, Sherman Oaks etc..

[Huckleberry3911948]

i love old spanish town.
also the old market
(close to each other)

[EscapeCalifornia]

Huntington Park is very interesting, especially after a futbol game.

[SurekRZA]

I really couldn't tell you where to start. There's lots off interesting areas in Los Angeles. You should try West Hollywood and West L.A. first then hit Santa Monica. Wherever you go youre gonna finds shopping: centers, malls, or boulevards but they are also filled with bars, clubs, and restaurants. A weekend in Los Angeles is certainly not enough to experience even half of what L.A. has to offer but it's better than nothing. If youre into amusement parks, Universal Studios is 10 minutes north of downtown.

[nwdude]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

Huntington Park is very interesting, especially after a futbol game.

Yeah but wouldn't the commute to and from downtown be a pain?

Eric

[JesusisLord]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

Huntington Park is very interesting, especially after a futbol game.

Huntington Park is not hot property.

[UB50]

There are lots of interesting areas in LA. If you are going to be working downtown, you might want to live downtown or somewhere where your commute would be under 30 minutes (which is pretty easy to find).

You want to live north of the I-10 freeway, as far west as West Hollywood, as far north as Burbank/Studio City, as far east as Pasadena. That would be the limits if you want a short commute (unless you plan to take Metrolink to work). There are LOADS of places within those boundaries that are interesting and have lots of things to do -- Pasadena, Los Feliz, Silverlake, Downtown, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Hancock Park, Glendale, Burbank -- nothing is really far away if you live in that circle. (Santa Monica and the beach areas are nice to live in, but you're looking at an hour commute in the mornings. It's better to live close to work and go party in those places on weekends.)

Everything is very spread out. If you want to look at the nightlife, look at Pasadena's Old Town, Burbank's Media Center, Los Feliz and Silverlake have walkable "night" areas as well. Pretty much every part of LA has some sort of nightlife within 10 miles or so.

The club scene here might end up being very different from what it is in Seattle. Where I grew up, we thought nothing of travelling 70 miles to go see a local band, pay a cover charge, etc. Here, I found more Happy Hours and less people wanting to drive even 20 miles -- if they wanted to hear a band, they went to a concert. You will really have to search out the people who share whatever it is you are passionate about. There are a whole range of "passions" here, from art to Salsa dancing to punk rock to goth to rappers.

One other thing -- all the areas in the "circle" I gave you above (Pasadena/Burbank/West Hollywood) are parts of the older areas in LA. There aren't that many traditional strip malls though many of them have local shopping areas. This isn't like Phoenix Arizona where you have to drive to a certain central place to buy groceries. This is the CITY!!

P.S. If you get the job, pick a place to live that is close to where you work. It will greatly enhance your life here. If there is one thing everyone hates, it has to be COMMUTING!! It can take up to three hours to drive 12 miles, so beware of the commute time!