French Lost in LA (Los Angeles, San Diego: for sale, apartments, rentals)

[sofiane]

Hello,
I'm moving to LA next year to work at USC. I'm a 22 year old French female and I've never been to California. Plus, I don't have a car and I don't know how to drive (yeah I know!). I don't really know in which neighborhood to look for an apartment since a friend told me public transportation in LA really sucks! Apparently it's pretty safe around Silver Lake and Los Feliz and not too far from USC, but I looked on Google Map and there are no buses going there! So I guess I might look around Franklin Avenue, I know the Red Line is not too far, but I don't know if it's safe there. I don't really want to live around campus since my friend told me it's a depressing area and not super safe… Where can I find a safe place near public transportation? My budget is 850$ and I love walking!
Thank you!

[CESpeed]

You are trying to have your cake and eat it, too. You need a car. Period. You are going to be bombarded by the bus happy people that what you want is realistic and possible. If you read the numerous threads about public transportation you will find your friends correct. YEs you can live in a safe neighborhood (koreatown) near the red line but it won't take you to USC. You'll end up on an unreliable bus (Vermont Ave 754?) to get there. There are no rails that service USC. You are right parts of Silverlake are safe and Los Feliz is a nice and safe area, great for walking enthusiasts and depending on where you are, close to the red line. Again, you end up on the unreliable bus (Vermont) to get to class.

For apartment hunting, craigslist: los angeles classifieds for jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events or if you don't mind paying for a list ($60) Apartment Rentals in Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego. Good Luck.

[SandyCo]

$850 means you'll be getting a roommate. I don't even know of any singles (studio apartments) that are so inexpensive, unless it's in some roach-infested building in a gang filled area.

Maybe you can find a roommate that either goes to school or works at USC; then you could ride with them and pay for part of their gas and car expenses. This would be a short term solution, because in my opinion, you really do need to learn how to drive and get your own car.

You could try Craigslist, but beware of scams. craigslist classifieds: jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, events, forums

los angeles rooms & shares classifieds - craigslist

[Lovehound]

Learn to drive. Get a car. Driving is a useful skill even if you don't get a car. You can get a reasonable car for perhaps $5,000 used.

Yes, you heard right. The area around USC is not one of the better areas in LA, and I'm being polite when I say that. You would not want to be walking around that area unescorted at night. Even I (a male) would not want to walk around that area alone at night.

Also, $850 per month residential budget will not cover living alone. With that budget the best you can hope is to share an apartment among 2-3 people.

Your plan sounds ill thought out to me. I hope you will get a jolt of reality before you commit yourself. Perhaps a different plan might work.

[vegaspilgrim]

Here's what I found in my apartment hunting in the USC area over the last few weeks:

studios-- start at $1100/month and goes up from there if you want to be close to USC. You can find a studio in a really bad neighborhood west of Vermont and north of Adams for $850/month, but when I drove out there to look at the neighborhood I knew instantly I would not feel comfortable living there. $1500-1800 is what a really nice studio costs.

1 bedrooms-- $1400 a month and up

2 bedrooms-- $1500 a month and up

The standard around USC is for 2 people to share a room (double occupancy), so in a 2 bedroom apartment, they'll have 4 people, 6 people in a 3 bedroom, etc. They'll even pack 2 people in a 1-bedroom. Kind of gross if you ask me, but unless if you're able to afford having your own bedroom (even if you're still living in a 2 bedroom apartment with another roommate or two), that's the reality of life there.

[sofiane]

Alright guys I heard you, I think I'll increase my budget around 1000 but can't do much more. I'm fine with having roommates, I guess; let's just hope they don't hate French girls.
OK, I'll learn how to drive and about that, I know that to pass it I have to go to DMV but to learn how to drive I don't know where I could go… and how much it costs just to learn.
Thanks for your help.

[Lovehound]

I think $1,000 and a roommate would work.

We have plenty of immigrants in Los Angeles and many of them don't know how to drive, so there are huge numbers of driving schools for you to choose between. Probably plenty of them are economical too since you don't need huge intellect to teach driving and the compact cars they use are not very expensive. (Many of the instructors are immigrants themselves.) Trust me you'll have no problem learning to drive and no problem finding an economical driving school. If you're properly trained you'll have no problem passing the driving test.

I don't think you'll find anybody who hates French girls. I'm sure you're a girl first and French second, and we guys always love pretty girls. I'd volunteer to entertain you myself except you're young enough to be my daughter!

[CESpeed]

Originally Posted by Lovehound

Learn to drive. Get a car. Driving is a useful skill even if you don't get a car. You can get a reasonable car for perhaps $5,000 used.

I was able to find a very reliable used car for $1500. Please believe, you'll be happy to make the investment.

[katenik]

as others have said, you're going to need to spend more on rent to live in a decent area. if you're coming here for a job that doesn't pay enough to prevent you from having to live in squalor, or live with another person, you might want to reconsider the position. i'm not a big believer in "independent" adults with full-time employment having roommates, as it's a prime indicator that they can't afford the place where they're living.

ditto on learning to drive.

[laysayfair]

Originally Posted by sofiane

Alright guys I heard you, I think I'll increase my budget around 1000 but can't do much more. I'm fine with having roommates, I guess; let's just hope they don't hate French girls.
OK, I'll learn how to drive and about that, I know that to pass it I have to go to DMV but to learn how to drive I don't know where I could go… and how much it costs just to learn.
Thanks for your help.

Why can't you learn how to drive now, in France? That would be the easiest and make the most sense.