Living downtown L.A. (Los Angeles, Long Beach: loft, home, transfer)

[Chicagogirl2]

I'm currently live in the city of Chicago and am moving to L.A. in the spring. I am interested in getting a loft downtown for a work/live space.

I hear so many "skid row" stories but I've also found that there seems to be a sense of community with all of the new loft conversions that have taken place in the past couple of years.

How safe is it? Is there anyone who lives downtown or knows someone who lives downtown who can give me a realistic description of the neighborhood? Also, how bad is the drive to Santa Monica/Beverly Hills, etc?

Thanks.

[timelesschild]

The drive from downtown to Santa Monica would NOT be a picnic.

[KnoxTown]

Originally Posted by timelesschild

The drive from downtown to Santa Monica would NOT be a picnic.

I second that. Had to do it the other day... no good.

[SurekRZA]

Downtown is a cool place to live. The FIDM School of Design is located in South Park so many students live around that area. Some will give negative comments about downtown, due to skid row; but downtown has been going through major revitalization in the past couple of years. Fortunately, the red, purple, gold, yellow, and blue metro lines connect to downtown giving you the ability to head to old town Pasadena, hollywood, the SFV, Long Beach, or Korea town etc. A drive to Santa Monica is 15-20mins away without traffic(mornings/evenings) and Beverly Hills is not far either but traffic can delay your trip. Regarding safety, there are several police officers and security around downtown so a walk at night wouldnt be very dangerous. From my experience, I frequently see many people walking around downtown at night with their dogs or friends to be safe. Personally, downtown is where I would want to live since L.A. live is about one year from being completed and Broadway is being revitalized. The Grand Avenue project is scheduled to begin in the next year or two which will give new life to the eastern portion of downtown. Little Tokyo and China town are always cool to visit at night or day because of all the neat shops and restaurants they offer. That was my description of Downtown Los Angeles for you.

[AlmightyZeus]

Originally Posted by SurekRZA

Downtown is a cool place to live. The FIDM School of Design is located in South Park so many students live around that area. Some will give negative comments about downtown, due to skid row; but downtown has been going through major revitalization in the past couple of years. Fortunately, the red, purple, gold, yellow, and blue metro lines connect to downtown giving you the ability to head to old town Pasadena, hollywood, the SFV, Long Beach, or Korea town etc. A drive to Santa Monica is 15-20mins away without traffic(mornings/evenings) and Beverly Hills is not far either but traffic can delay your trip. Regarding safety, there are several police officers and security around downtown so a walk at night wouldnt be very dangerous. From my experience, I frequently see many people walking around downtown at night with their dogs or friends to be safe. Personally, downtown is where I would want to live since L.A. live is about one year from being completed and Broadway is being revitalized. The Grand Avenue project is scheduled to begin in the next year or two which will give new life to the eastern portion of downtown. Little Tokyo and China town are always cool to visit at night or day because of all the neat shops and restaurants they offer. That was my description of Downtown Los Angeles for you.

I completely agree. DTLA is going to be "the place" in L.A. to live in sometime during the next decade, as there are many multi billion dollar projects that are revitalizing all of DTLA (Broadway Revitalization, L.A. Live, Grand Ave. Project and L.A. River Revitalization project)

Also to add to Surek's post, there are currently studies underway to extend the Purple line to Santa Monica, so once again within the next decade there WILL be subway access through Beverly Hills, West L.A., and Santa Monica. Good stuff.

[matt345]

How great will it be when Downtown LA finally becomes a true destination. We will wonder how we ever did without it. I see things improving exponentially once LA Live is completed. And given the rapid transit access to other happening destinations like Pasadena and Hollywood, and DTLA is poised to surpass every other revival this city has seen. If only that subway to Santa Monica were already completed!

And to those people who still doubt Downtown's return to prominence, they used to express the same doubts about Hollywood and now look at it.

[Chicagogirl2]

Thank you so much for your replys. I work from home so there wouldn't be a daily rush hour commute anywhere. I was just hoping traffic wasn't bad during non-rush hour times 'cause I would love to go to the beach often or shop/eat/hang-out in the Beverly Hills area.

I was going back and forth about DTLA but your responses somewhat confirmed what I was hoping for. So, DTLA it is!

Thanks again

[CESpeed]

The only peopel who think DLA is a good or cool place to live are people who are not from LA. There are parts of DLA they are trying to clean up in a desparate attempt to convince people that DLA is a safe, wonderful place. The truth is that exists for two blocks. If you go past the finanical district, you see the real DLA: dirty, smelly and full of homeless people. In Pershing Square, drug deals happen out in the open. I've said it once I'll say it again: the only way I'd ever think about, acting like, I'm even considering pretending to think about living in DLA is if they give me a place, rent-free, tax-free, utility-free forever and transferable to my heirs.

[BRinSM]

i'm from LA, not the city but close enough, and I like downtown. although it is certainly a work in progress with some issues that need to ironed out, i really enjoy being around all of those skyscrapers and old buildings. if my job was downtown, i would seriously consider living there.

[bhcompy]

until they get rid of skid row and ship out all the lowend vendors(both street and in the run down storefronts), downtown will never be a destination because it simply does not feel like a savory place to be after dark and even the people that live there will tell you not to go out alone at night

there are places that are nice on the inside to live, but its behind armed guards and secured doors. sounds like prison to me