questions about moving to california

[MisterMark]

Originally Posted by woogexx

CESpeed you creep me out when you use slang

I actually find the thug-talk rather amusing. (But it does sound ridiculous.)

[MartyROtten]

I'd say choose San Diego. Los Angeles has nothing! I think San Francisco is probably better if you don't have a car. It's better overall actually, although expensive.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by MartyROtten

Los Angeles has nothing! .

I don't know if Marty is for real or not but he does remind me of the legendary OC CD poster, Sal Monella:

//www.city-data.com/forum/orang...ly-boring.html

martyrotten - Profile (????)

[Lovehound]

Originally Posted by CESpeed

We actually prefer having cars to public transportation. I know it hard to fathom for people who live in place that rely ion public transportation, but the powers that be would have to take extreme measures to get Angelenos to give up their cars.

Actually I think we Angelinos prefer cars because few of us have ever experienced a functional mass transit system, unless you consider buses to be mass transit (not).

I would be willing to consider mass transit if it really served my needs, but at present time it would take 2-3 times more commute time to get to any of the places I want to go vs. driving my car.

Perhaps we'll have a functional mass transit system some day but that day is at least 20 years in the future, probably more. At present all we have is token coverage plus buses to get you to the main lines. At present trains are good only if you live near one and you want to go where the train goes, which is perhaps 15-20 percent of LA, if that.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by Lovehound

Actually I think we Angelinos prefer cars because few of us have ever experienced a functional mass transit system, unless you consider buses to be mass transit (not).

I would be willing to consider mass transit if it really served my needs, but at present time it would take 2-3 times more commute time to get to any of the places I want to go vs. driving my car.

Perhaps we'll have a functional mass transit system some day but that day is at least 20 years in the future, probably more. At present all we have is token coverage plus buses to get you to the main lines. At present trains are good only if you live near one and you want to go where the train goes, which is perhaps 15-20 percent of LA, if that.

That's the big problem with most mass transit here. It gets you sort of close to where you want to be, but not really. The train might take you 30 miles, but drop you off 3 miles from where you're really going. Then what? Wait half and hour for a bus? Walk? 3 miles is quite a rather time consuming walk even for the physically fit. But if its blazing hot, raining or you have any mobility issues like a bad hip, its quite a chore.

[Lovehound]

Anybody can look at the train/subway diagram and see the trains cover the entire city. What people unfamiliar with LA don't see is that the coverage is so thin that most areas are 20-30 miles from the nearest train station, probably more. How the hell do you get to the station and how the hell do you get from the final station to your destination? Bike? Taxi? Bus? For many reasons none of these are good solutions.

My next visit to Little Japan I am considering taking MetroLink. I drive to the Northridge station (15 minute drive or 30 minutes taking bus with 1 transfer), take the train to downtown, then walk 10 minutes to Little Japan. That would work fine. (It takes 25 minutes to downtown via car.) But what if I want to go to Long Beach? Well, take the same train to downtown, then take another train to Long Beach. And that's if where I want to go is near a MetroLink station in Long Beach. But what if it's not?

If we want a viable train/subway system we need 3-4 times the present routes, probably more, and we need them gridded, not starred. Do you want to go downtown every time you want to go somewhere else? Heck, I don't even know if MetroLink goes to Long Beach, but I know for sure it doesn't go very many places I want to go.

[MisterMark]

I hate to say it, but I think we'll all be dead by the time L.A. has a complete and reliable subway/train system.

[sethihomes]

Originally Posted by mugawumpmusic

I'm 19M, and my friend and I are planning to move somewhere in southern california (LA to San Diego) next year. Looking for a cheap place to live (under $1000/m), and a potential job. I'm an aspiring jazz musician and would like to live somewhere with a music scene, and a beach. I also won't have a car, so it's important that I'd be close to stuff going on. So far I've looked online for apartments and whatnot, and I get the fealing its only the tip of the iceburg. I've never rented before, and am looking for suggestions on how to find the right place for me.

I'd like to believe I've got great street smarts, but I've honestly never lived in a city before. Along with suggestions of places to go, I'd also appreciate knowing some places not to go, or what to expect if i did in fact go there.

Your best bet is to live near Hollywood, Los Feliz, Silverlake area. Go to craigslist or subscribe to westsiderentals.com