I've been in LA for two weeks. My initial reactions... (San Diego: to buy, to live in)

[wecaredalot]

Originally Posted by UB50

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.)

No, I know what you mean. Interesting! I'm black, and while I knew this, I've been lazy about going to neighborhood ethnic stores and would usually just pop into a Trader Joes when I was living up in the Bay. TJs isn't outrageously expensive, but I'll have to find some Korean grocery stores near me now so I can go there more regularly.

More LA tips, please! lol

[goldenglory18]

Yeah, sorry for the confusion...I'm a native SoAZ kid, but I've spent A LOT of time in NY (my family is on Long Island and I've spent a ton of time in Manhattan and Queens.)

Originally Posted by ASensiblePerson

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.

We are relocating our cat, so all the quotes I've gotten are for the two dogs. Hell, I had one landlord quote me an extra $100 FOR MY WIFE. That's right. The posted price was "single" occupancy. Da fuq??? I think that spot was in the South Bay somewhere, but I'm not certain. I think I actually laughed at her over the phone. Absolutely stupid.

It's been an interesting experience for sure. Fact: I've lived two blocks from the ocean in MDR for the last 2+ weeks in this temp housing place and I've yet to go to the beach. Work has been THAT busy. My wife comes in this Saturday with the moving truck and we will be in WeHo after that. Hopefully she can help me finally settle in a little more. I don't do well alone and I miss my boo.

The food I'm referencing is both smaller locally owned spots and chains. I bought a burrito the other night and it was the smallest little thing I've ever seen and it was over $10 for it and a fountain drink. That would be $6 max in AZ and it would be HUGE. I've been to Ralphs a few times (the one in MDR and the one at Olympic and Barrington) and noticed the same thing. $8 for trash bags, $5 for a box of cereal, etc. Everything is more. I guess it just is what it is.

[thelopez2]

I was surprised to hear food as being more expensive.

Try the 99 Cent only store on Washington, but it too has a small parking lot for the amount of Traffic to save money you can a larger place so you can shop at Costco.

Your story about the $10 meal must be why Tito's tacos has long lines, their burritos are only $6.00

[tjasse]

Restaurant food in LA is a bit more expensive than AZ but groceries are about the same. IMO Ralph's is the worst place to buy stuff like trash bags. Way cheaper at Target. It's not an inexpensive grocery store, either. Sprouts, Trader Joes, and even the house brand at Whole Foods is cheaper than Ralph's.

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by goldenglory18

Yeah, sorry for the confusion...I'm a native SoAZ kid, but I've spent A LOT of time in NY (my family is on Long Island and I've spent a ton of time in Manhattan and Queens.)



We are relocating our cat, so all the quotes I've gotten are for the two dogs. Hell, I had one landlord quote me an extra $100 FOR MY WIFE. That's right. The posted price was "single" occupancy. Da fuq??? I think that spot was in the South Bay somewhere, but I'm not certain. I think I actually laughed at her over the phone. Absolutely stupid.

It's been an interesting experience for sure. Fact: I've lived two blocks from the ocean in MDR for the last 2+ weeks in this temp housing place and I've yet to go to the beach. Work has been THAT busy. My wife comes in this Saturday with the moving truck and we will be in WeHo after that. Hopefully she can help me finally settle in a little more. I don't do well alone and I miss my boo.

The food I'm referencing is both smaller locally owned spots and chains. I bought a burrito the other night and it was the smallest little thing I've ever seen and it was over $10 for it and a fountain drink. That would be $6 max in AZ and it would be HUGE. I've been to Ralphs a few times (the one in MDR and the one at Olympic and Barrington) and noticed the same thing. $8 for trash bags, $5 for a box of cereal, etc. Everything is more. I guess it just is what it is.

Yeah you went to the wrong burrito place... Lots of places that give you unfinishingly big burritos for 5-10 bucks, sometimes even less.

Can't comment on groceries because I've only ever lived in expensive metros, those prices seem normal to me.

[MordinSolus]

I've never seen a tiny burrito in Los Angeles. Every food truck that sells burritos sell massive ones and every Mexican restaurant I've been to sells really big ones. I got a burrito the size of a football a few weeks ago for $8.

[EdJS]

Originally Posted by wecaredalot

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.

For the first two weeks I pretty much confined myself to home, school and work. Everything else was unknown territory. It took months to gradually expand my horizons so that I could, say, go to downtown L.A. for a concert, or Koreatown for a meal, or the Fairfax district for Canter's deli, without feeling like an outsider.

In a sense, this reflects what I've always said about L.A.: It's a terrible city for tourists, but a great city for residents. The tourist sites (with few exceptions, such as the Getty Museum) are not very interesting. But there's tons of stuff for residents to do.

[wecaredalot]

Originally Posted by EdJS

For the first two weeks I pretty much confined myself to home, school and work. Everything else was unknown territory. It took months to gradually expand my horizons so that I could, say, go to downtown L.A. for a concert, or Koreatown for a meal, or the Fairfax district for Canter's deli, without feeling like an outsider.

In a sense, this reflects what I've always said about L.A.: It's a terrible city for tourists, but a great city for residents. The tourist sites (with few exceptions, such as the Getty Museum) are not very interesting. But there's tons of stuff for residents to do.

Thanks for this And I know exactly what you mean. I'm on my second week here, and I notice myself falling into the same rut of home, work, home, work, home, maybe gym, home, etc. I've been out to a few restaurants but nearly all of them are near my house (I'm lazy). I'm forcing myself to explore this weekend--taking a trip to San Diego (not really exploring LA, lol, but something I've wanted to do for a while) and am going to hit up some restaurants in DTLA and an artist workshop in North Hollywood.

[John_marts]

Hey OP. How is the traffic? I mean, I know its terrible, but you can deal with on a daily basis ok?

[Voyageuse]

Originally Posted by UB50

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.)

Ethnic markets are the best; but be sure to stick to shopping the perimeter: produce, meat and deli items are really good quality and a bargain. As far as everything else goes (packaged foods, sundries, cleaning supplies...) stick to Target or Costco. My favorite ethic market is Super King (Armenian/Hispanic?), so much so, that I can't bring myself to shop elsewhere.