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Old 03-23-2015, 10:31 PM
 
Location: ATL & LA
986 posts, read 1,854,652 times
Reputation: 1597

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Quote:
Originally Posted by goldenglory18 View Post
Ok, now that I've been here for a full two weeks, I have some initial opinions and reactions of Los Angeles.

1) The cost of living. Gas is more (and I use more of it,) food is more (but it's better,) and alcohol is more (but the service and eye candy are top-of-the-line.) So yes, it's expensive, but there is an exponential amount of things to do/see and everything is of high quality. Definitely get what you pay for.
2) Landlords are dickbags. I had three ****ty experiences trying to lease places I was perfectly qualified for before I leased my 1 bed with parking in WeHo, and even this LL wasn't exactly "nice." Oh, and the LL's will ask for an arm and a leg if they can. I had one quote me $150 extra per dog per month, and a $1500 nonrefundable pet deposit. Hahaha, ok dude, GTFO. Do yourself a favor and know the law before you get taken by a greedy owner.
3) Parking sucks. Especially if you have an older suv that's steering and suspension is crapping out. I have to two and three point turn just about every time I park, and a lot of places I don't even try (I cant park this vehicle in my rentals designated spot.) Oh yeah, downtown parking lots are EXPENSIVE...
4) Always keep cash on you. Three times I've gone to places and their card reading system was out of order. Super frustrating when you are one that almost never has cash.
5) The day to day pace of the area is very similar to NYC. It's keep up or move over. I like it, but I'm not sure how my wife will over time (she is still in AZ.)
6) I work A LOT (10-12 hour days and at least one day on the weekend) so I haven't had a chance to see much of the sights yet, but the city is very accessible via vehicle after 2 am. I do a lot of my driving around and exploring in the wee hours of the AM (Beverly Hills is especially beautiful at night.) This week I plan on driving the whole sunset strip and possibly exploring downtown. That should be fun.
Interesting. I too moved here from NYC (about 3 months ago) and have had some vastly different experiences from you.

1. Yes, gas is more expensive here right now than in NY, that's true. But it should be expected that you're going to pay more for gas in general since you probably use your car more here than in NYC? But I'm guessing you are also spending little to nothing on public transport out here, where as in NYC you probably had a MetroCard? This is my experience at least. I spend less in gas every month in LA than the cost of a monthly unlimited MetroCard in NYC. Food seems to cost the same to me out here, if not less, because you can get some great quality meals for cheap (street tacos, anyone?). Groceries seem to cost about the same to me as they did in NYC, but here there is the convenience of shopping at many farmers markets which usually have better prices than Trader Joe's produce. Alcohol prices are the same for me as well. I think maybe you just haven't found the cheaper/more affordable places to go yet since you just got here?

3. Where are you trying to park that it sucks? I've had better luck here than in NYC parking on residential streets, and when I do have to pay, it's cheaper than NYC. I almost never pay for parking in LA. Wherever I'm going out, I'll usually just drive a couple of streets over into a residential area and find free street parking. And a lot of shopping centers have designated parking. Even some of the fancier shopping centers have free parking for the first hour or 90 mins.

6. Yes, I agree. I love driving around this city after dark!
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Old 03-23-2015, 11:20 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles
192 posts, read 248,041 times
Reputation: 256
Funny that I came upon this post right after driving down Sunset. I went out to get some food and didn't feel like going back home right away so I just drove through West Hollywood and Hollywood for a bit. It's definitely nice to drive through the city when there's no traffic.

Parking does suck, but I moved here last week from SF, and I don't find it to be much different. You have better luck on residential streets, have to read signs, street cleaning is annoying, etc. Luckily, I haven't had trouble finding parking around my apartment yet.
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Old 03-24-2015, 01:02 PM
 
152 posts, read 211,048 times
Reputation: 120
Quote:
2) Landlords are dickbags. I had three ****ty experiences trying to lease places I was perfectly qualified for before I leased my 1 bed with parking in WeHo, and even this LL wasn't exactly "nice." Oh, and the LL's will ask for an arm and a leg if they can. I had one quote me $150 extra per dog per month, and a $1500 nonrefundable pet deposit. Hahaha, ok dude, GTFO. Do yourself a favor and know the law before you get taken by a greedy owner.
You had three pets, though, right? (can't remember the combo of dog and cat). Although I agree that 1500 is an unfair pet deposit, I can understand a landlord being hesitant about that many pets unless it's a house with a backyard.

Quote:
Originally Posted by IM90046 View Post
Interesting initial insight from a non native. Thanks for sharing.
Sounds like getting a new car will help your #1 and #3
Agree, good insight. Hopefully your wife will find things to like, too.
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Old 03-24-2015, 02:34 PM
 
Location: Pasadena, CA
10,084 posts, read 15,788,198 times
Reputation: 4049
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheKiwi View Post
Interesting. I too moved here from NYC (about 3 months ago) and have had some vastly different experiences from you.

1. Yes, gas is more expensive here right now than in NY, that's true. But it should be expected that you're going to pay more for gas in general since you probably use your car more here than in NYC? But I'm guessing you are also spending little to nothing on public transport out here, where as in NYC you probably had a MetroCard? This is my experience at least. I spend less in gas every month in LA than the cost of a monthly unlimited MetroCard in NYC. Food seems to cost the same to me out here, if not less, because you can get some great quality meals for cheap (street tacos, anyone?). Groceries seem to cost about the same to me as they did in NYC, but here there is the convenience of shopping at many farmers markets which usually have better prices than Trader Joe's produce. Alcohol prices are the same for me as well. I think maybe you just haven't found the cheaper/more affordable places to go yet since you just got here?

3. Where are you trying to park that it sucks? I've had better luck here than in NYC parking on residential streets, and when I do have to pay, it's cheaper than NYC. I almost never pay for parking in LA. Wherever I'm going out, I'll usually just drive a couple of streets over into a residential area and find free street parking. And a lot of shopping centers have designated parking. Even some of the fancier shopping centers have free parking for the first hour or 90 mins.

6. Yes, I agree. I love driving around this city after dark!
The OP is from Arizona, not NYC (maybe he lived there at one time though) so that explains why the experiences are so different from yours.
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Old 03-24-2015, 02:42 PM
 
943 posts, read 1,316,935 times
Reputation: 900
I don't think you can figure out L.A. in two weeks. I had to live there a year before I could even begin to understand it.
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Old 03-24-2015, 04:15 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles
192 posts, read 248,041 times
Reputation: 256
Quote:
Originally Posted by EdJS View Post
I don't think you can figure out L.A. in two weeks. I had to live there a year before I could even begin to understand it.
What do you mean? What about the city started to click after a year?

Just curious! I'm going into my second week in the city.
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Old 03-24-2015, 04:57 PM
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11,395 posts, read 13,353,993 times
Reputation: 6707
Quote:
Originally Posted by wecaredalot View Post
What do you mean? What about the city started to click after a year?

Just curious! I'm going into my second week in the city.
LA has a pretty different routine as far as big cities go.
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Old 03-24-2015, 07:24 PM
 
9,725 posts, read 15,125,021 times
Reputation: 3346
Quote:
Originally Posted by wecaredalot View Post
What do you mean? What about the city started to click after a year?

Just curious! I'm going into my second week in the city.
Just a "for instance"....

White Americans move to LA and do their grocery shopping at Ralphs, Vons, Gelsons, Whole Foods, or one of those type stores and say "OMG! The prices are so high!" They never stop in the "ethnic" grocery stores because they aren't like the stores at home and they don't feel like they fit in or will find what they want. They don't realize that those are the places with the best deals on produce, meat, and other things like that. They also don't realize that lots of white Americans (those of us that are left in LA) shop in those stores too -- because what American grocery store sells calamari to go like my Korean market up the street? Until you shop in those stores, you won't realize that the Asian market near work sells tomatoes for $.89 while Whole Foods is asking $7.95 for exactly the same tomatoes in the exact same box.

So, it's a learning process. (I don't mean to sound racist saying "white Americans" but they are usually the ones who move here from places with less ethnic variety.)
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Old 03-24-2015, 08:03 PM
 
Location: Coastal L.A.
513 posts, read 908,195 times
Reputation: 357
I wouldn't trade L.A for any other place in the continental US.
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Old 03-24-2015, 08:18 PM
 
Location: Dayton OH
5,692 posts, read 11,242,793 times
Reputation: 13273
Too bad you can't take advantage of some of the public transportation LA offers. It would reduce some of the frustration of driving in traffic, burning a lot of gas and wearing out a vehicle.

Although I live and work 50 miles south of LA (in OC), I occasionally go downtown, like I did today. Took the Metrolink train on a 1 hour relaxing trip to Union Station, then hopped on the red line metro subway to 7th Street and walked down to the convention center for an event. It is such an easy and inexpensive way to get around. I didn't wait more than a couple of minutes for the red line metro. If I worked downtown, I would find a place to live that was close to one of the Metro light rail stops and buy a monthly ticket, and avoid all the hassle of heavy LA traffic.

Any new city as big as LA area takes some time to settle in. I'm originally from San Francisco bay area. The first few years I lived in Southern Cal, I felt out of place and like I didn't quite fit in. Now whenever I go back to visit the bay area, I still like the place and of course know my way around, but find I am more comfortable when I am at home in southern cal.
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