LA Creatives (Orange, Santa Monica, West Hollywood: city hall, college, living in)

[SpaceMonkyPunks]

Originally Posted by NomadicOne

I appreciate the bluntness. A lot of "startup" scenes do tend to attract posers. I was planning on renting out some space here and living in Venice:
Coworking Office Space in Los Angeles | WeWork Santa Monica

Any recommendations of other neighborhoods I should check out? I've been to SM/Venice, Silver Lake, downtown, and Hollywood.

It's hard to say where, I don't feel like there's a common/core area of the creatives/artists in this city. We/they all seem to be fairly spread out. If anything, most are hiding away in the SFV in nondescript apartments/old houses, because it's close to the film studios and production companies, and what kind of artist doesn't like cheaper rent? But SFV is boring as hell.

I guess I could possibly recommend DTLA, if you like a more urban setting. A lot to see and do and conveniently located, close to just about everywhere you'd want/need to go. But if the beach is really what you want, then I guess I can understand, haha.

[wecaredalot]

Wow, I love this thread. I moved here from the Bay last year, and I've had people give me advice on both sides--"stay where you are and make something because LA jobs don't pay well and the city is expensive" and "as long as you can comfortably support yourself, it doesn't matter where you are." I guess both pieces of advice have the same underlying principle--it's going to be difficult to fight for ANY career in the arts if you don't have a job that will support you in the city you're living in. The whole starving artist trope is not realistic In my case, I actually make almost 50% more in LA than I did when I was in the Bay Area---and LA is much more affordable than the Bay. As with most things, I guess it comes down to money and time.

[NomadicOne]

This thread is about the social aspects of the area, not jobs.

So far, I keep coming back to the Santa Monica area. Any time I explore somewhere else I end up regretting it.

It seems that I make a good impression and fit in around here. The guys are easy going and easy to get along with, There's a little bit of that class warfare attitude because it seems like the residents are getting squeezed from both ends by the rich and the poor. But still, I felt welcomed into the community.

The women seem sort of eager to please and responsive. I haven't met one rude girl. I did talk to one girl with a bad attitude who was saying something like "this is LA, everybody lies".

Overall people have been very very nice to me, and I didn't feel ignored at all.

My (female) friend who lived here for years is warning me not to trust people when everything seems perfect. I'm not sure what to make of it right now. It's hard to judge how you will feel living somewhere based on first impressions.

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkyPunks

It's hard to say where, I don't feel like there's a common/core area of the creatives/artists in this city. We/they all seem to be fairly spread out. If anything, most are hiding away in the SFV in nondescript apartments/old houses, because it's close to the film studios and production companies, and what kind of artist doesn't like cheaper rent? But SFV is boring as hell.

I guess I could possibly recommend DTLA, if you like a more urban setting. A lot to see and do and conveniently located, close to just about everywhere you'd want/need to go. But if the beach is really what you want, then I guess I can understand, haha.

All of the SFV is boring as hell??
Sure I can see some parts, but there are parts of the westside that are more boring than a lot of the SFV..
Tons of restaurants and places in Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Toluca Lake, Burbank, NoHo arts,etc.

Also lots of nondescript apartments/old houses in parts of the L.A that aren't the SFV.

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by NomadicOne

This thread is about the social aspects of the area, not jobs.

So far, I keep coming back to the Santa Monica area. Any time I explore somewhere else I end up regretting it.

It seems that I make a good impression and fit in around here. The guys are easy going and easy to get along with, There's a little bit of that class warfare attitude because it seems like the residents are getting squeezed from both ends by the rich and the poor. But still, I felt welcomed into the community.

The women seem sort of eager to please and responsive. I haven't met one rude girl. I did talk to one girl with a bad attitude who was saying something like "this is LA, everybody lies".

Overall people have been very very nice to me, and I didn't feel ignored at all.

My (female) friend who lived here for years is warning me not to trust people when everything seems perfect. I'm not sure what to make of it right now. It's hard to judge how you will feel living somewhere based on first impressions.

She sounds like someone that barely moved to L.A and has a lot of misconceptions of how "L.A people are".
Unfortunately this leads to more bad behavior.
People moving here with all these thoughts in their head that "L.A people are XYZ" so they have to act a certain way.

[NomadicOne]

Yeah, I've had an incredibly good experience. Everyone has been extremely considerate and very easy to communicate with, and I fit in very well. It is a huge contrast to the bay area.

[John_marts]

Originally Posted by NomadicOne

Yeah, I've had an incredibly good experience. Everyone has been extremely considerate and very easy to communicate with, and I fit in very well. It is a huge contrast to the bay area.

Same here. The few people I know here have been completely open to hanging out and giving out advice about living here. I have found the natives here are much more outgoing and down to be your friend than most people in NJ where I am from. I have only been here for a month though.

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by John_marts

Same here. The few people I know here have been completely open to hanging out and giving out advice about living here. I have found the natives here are much more outgoing and down to be your friend than most people in NJ where I am from. I have only been here for a month though.

I remember you had been thinking of moving , which neighborhood did you move to ?

[team_arts]

I've lived in LA 13 yrs (originally a southerner), and have seem many come and go and change or come to embrace it... I think if you have these gut feelings that you expressed, that you ultimately will be disappointed here. Perhaps consider Austin instead of Dallas if possible for creative types? Undoubtedly LA is a mecca of creative types (for better and worse) but it takes YEARS if you don't already have people here that you are close to. Really, until you and your friends start families here, I don't know if you can ever be sure any of them will stay. Most of the people I knew who moved here when I did were gone within 2 yrs, and about every 2 yrs another wave of them left until about 10 yrs in it seems to have settled.

If you do come here, I found the best way to make long term friends efficiently is to work on relationships with people who are from here/grew up here, or who are settled with families here...everything else is preeeetty transient. If I can be frank, a lot of people who visit have the impression that it is friendly in a similar way to southern hospitality, but it's actually just a part of the culture here that's like "Yeah, let's hang, I'll stop by..." and they don't. The longer you're here, the less you even "hear" someone say they'll call you because you know they won't, and it's not offensive, it just is...like a Facebook Like. A semi-appreciated semi-meaningless gesture. No offense intended for the lack of follow-through. You know if your party starts at 8, to expect the first arrivals not before 9, and that 50% of the people you invite will be busy (doing any of the other many things there are to do, or just bailing due to traffic or work)...it's just the way it is, we don't take it personally. Kind of like learning to rush the pedestrian crosswalk in NYC probably looks like changing behavior, but it's the natural adaptation to go with the flow. People are generally friendly on first meeting here, and they still are...if they stay in town, and if you forgive them being late and rescheduling on a regular basis. To go back to the southern hospitality sense of friendliness...it's more classically genuine in the sense that people actually show up when they say they will, and remember to ask you questions about yourself, it's a slower pace with a lot less competition for time and relationships... that may be more like what you're looking for?

[slackercruster]

OP...if you got the money you should test things out. Don't just write about it...do it! I think you will be disappointed if you think people will adore your creative abilities in a city like L.A. unless you got something that really stands out.