Baltimore Hotel Apartments (501 S Los Angeles St) - Advice (low income, rent)

[Toronto416]

I'm a Canadian citizen (with dual US citizenship - mom is from Duluth, Minn originally) and I want to try my hand at living in the US. I have lived in small, tiny places in Toronto and Vancouver, and so I found this place called the Baltimore Hotel Apartments at 501 S Los Angeles which looks to be near Main Street? I have done months of research but haven't made the trip out there yet (the closest I've been is Phoenix & Tucson about 5 years ago).

These mini-apartments are 200 square feet. I've lived like this before at the Y in Vancouver because as a single guy who has always been able to 'rough it' and get by on very little, that kind of stuff doesn't bother me. At first, in Vancouver I might have been alarmed at the amount of homeless people - but not bothered by it - it was more of a feeling of sadness seeing these people in such despair. In fact, I got to know a lot of the 'regulars' that would hang out across from my building and I kinda got the sense that they looked out for me. When I had the time and a few extra bucks I'd make PB&J sandwiches for them. That was ten years ago. Now there is a much different vibe there since heroin, fentanyl and synthetic drugs that make people act REALLY crazy have arrived. People (in Vancouver) have gotten stabbed over 5 bucks. So I guess my question/statement is...I know I can find work (I'm an exercise physiology/kinesiology major), I want to live downtown (I don't have a car) and I travel light (I don't care about closet space, etc). I just want a nice, small, rat/bedbug free place to lay down at night.

I don't mean to sound crass when I ask this but are the homeless (I know this is in Skid Row; I've read all about it) in downtown mostly harmless or are they aggressive in terms of panhandling, stealing, drugs, starting fights or violence for no reason...that Baltimore Apartment Hotel looks to be right up my alley but when I see the rent as low as it is my first question is 'what's wrong with this place/neighbourhood'.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Your (hopefully) future Los Angelino (is that what you'd call it?)
JL

[JohnG72]

You don't want to live there. It's one of the last holdouts in that area that takes vouchers. Vouchers are issued by LA County along with general relief checks. The voucher are good for 28 days I believe...so homeless people can live in a hotel for 28 days and then usually have to be on the streets for 2 or 3 days.

Also a lot of senior residents who are on social security and/or have a small pensions. Mostly alcoholics, they used to love the location due to the number of low end bars in the area. The King Eddy bar across the street was the last one to convert to a hipster place. There's still some older holdouts at the Baltimore.

My problem living there would be 2 things. First, due to the residents I'd have concerns about cockroaches and bed bugs. Second, the first chance they get, that building will be sold and converted to either higher end units or just simply torn down.

You are far better off forking over the $800 or so a month and staying at the Alexandria or the Huntington.

[jm1982]

Interesting,

It seems people complain of roaches and bedbugs at the Alexandria hotel too. At least on yelp...could be old reviews though one never really knows. Some people exaggerate too.
It seems that it would be interesting to live there especially right not with all that is happening in DTLA , being in the epicenter of things.

[JohnG72]

Originally Posted by jm1982

Interesting,

It seems people complain of roaches and bedbugs at the Alexandria hotel too. At least on yelp...could be old reviews though one never really knows. Some people exaggerate too.
It seems that it would be interesting to live there especially right not with all that is happening in DTLA , being in the epicenter of things.

Alexandria was exactly the same as Baltimore, but Alexandria remodeled about 5 years ago and changed how they rent the units. They no longer accept vouchers and those applying for low income units must have a documented source of income.

The bedbug reviews at Alexandria are all prior to the remodel and from an era when they accepted vouchers