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I want to be in an area with a younger hip crowd, and the possibility to surf.
You're going to want at least the potential to drive yourself. You have just got to understand this. Santa Monica and West Hollywood are far apart, although they look really close on the map. No train connects them, so you're going to be using buses.
Public transportation is great, very good goal to use it as much as possible, but getting a car and a driver's license is REALLY sound advice that you would do well to consider.
Maybe I was misunderstood. Im not a film industry guy. I am mostly in with new media and music. Im almost sure that unless I was going to work with Disney, Burbank or anywhere in The Valley isnt as much of an option. Of course keeping in mind that as I hear it, Burbank is quite a distace from West Hollywood, not to mention Santa Monica. Im looking at logical possibilities. There might be more possibilities in West Hollywood and Santa Monica, rather than stranding myself from those areas in Burbank. Car or no car, I dont think anyone enjoys spending most of their day in traffic.
MTV I know has Santa Monica ofices, Epic Records is in Santa Monica, Vrigin Records is in Santa Monica, TMZ is in West Holywood, Im looking at maybe doing a bit of club promoting (SBE is in West Hollywood, and so are all the nightclubs that I would need to network at). But this is also a personal move. I want to be in an area with a younger hip crowd, and the possibility to surf.
Trust me .. you dont want me driving.... lol
Warner's Record Division is in Burbank and they have several labels. Hollywood Records is in Burbank. Universal Music Group is in Universal City.
More importantly you are missing the bigger point, the music industry is fairly spread out in LA, the economy isn't doing very well and you don't know where you will be working. These entry level positions are very competitive to get. The longer you can afford to stay in LA looking for work, and the more interviews you can manage to show up for, the more likely you will get a job. If you don't have a car, that will really limit where you can work or even if you will get hired. In a lot of these entry level positions you are going to be expected to run errands for someone.
As far as surfing without a car, forget it. Its not going to happen. You aren't going to take the bus to go surfing. Not having a car will limit where you can go and who you can meet. The Hollywood Hills aren't well served by bus lines. So you probably won't be going to parties there. If you don't have a car in LA, you are going to have problems getting to and from clubs. Not having a car is more of detriment to your social life in LA than living in the valley. Without a car, you aren't going to be hanging around some younger hipper crowd. Its not going to happen.
You need a car. You are going to need to learn how to drive. With out a car people are going to assume you aren't serious about your career. Los Angeles isn't Chicago.
Who needs to know if I drive or not? Seriously .. telling BS in LA is a standard. What people dont know doesnt hurt them. I can hitch with friends, take buses, cabs, walking is good exercise, etc. Honestly, I need to find a job before I am going to go spend thousands of dollars on a car, insurance, gas, and possible repairs (because in my situation I would be an idiot to buy new). Im sure Im wrong, but as they say .. where theres a will, theres a way. Only problem I see with it is the surfing, because you cant take a board and such on a bus. Which is one plus in living in Santa Monica over West Hollywood.
I appreciate the advice. But honestly, I wish the world would stop ****ting on my LA life before it even starts. Maybe since driving is such a big deal, someone that lives in these areas can provide me ways to get around it. Afterall, I doubt Ill be the only entertainment industry person without a car (most in fact can barely afford an apartment). And I also doubt that driving in traffic is that much faster than taking the bus in traffic. Either way you're screwed.
Or should I just not bother, and resort to a pathetic management job at Burger King?
I read this forum and saw so many people saying how dispite its flaws, LA is a great place to live. Yet I start a thread and everyone is popping in to tell me that Im doomed because of one simple factor.
you are welcome to move here and see how it works out for you, there's a chance it just might. however, considering your circumstances and future plans, life will be difficult without a car. this is coming from someone who doesn't own a car. in fact, i rode the bus to work this morning due to the rain. normally i'm on a vespa. the difference is that i have a job and know where i'll be working for the foreseeable future. i'm also married and have a wife who has a car in case i need one. i'm not trying to $hit on your dream, just trying to help you be realistic with all these grand plans that you have.
the economy sucks here right now, skilled people are having a hard time finding jobs due to increased demand. public transit in LA is slow and late a lot. LA is also a huge city making bus trips across town arduous at best. in entertainment, image is king, which is why people lease fancy cars and pay huge amounts of their income on nice apartments even though they can barely afford to feed themselves.
be realistic about your move here. either you'll need to find a desk job (if you can find one) that you can commute to by bus or you'll need a car. also don't forget, busses don't run at all hours here in many parts of the city and taxis are stupid expensive when compared to chicago and NY, mainly because everything here is much more spread out. good luck though, hopefully things work out for you.
I am not intending to rain on your parade. Instead I am trying to help you turn your dreams into something of a workable plan with attainable goals, so you have your best chance of actually making something of them.
In the entertainment industry, people do brown nose a lot and are known to flatter people's egos. But you are still expected to be able to do your job. You won't have enough pull in the firm to get away with being incompetent at work.
In an entry level position in the entertainment industry, its going to fall on you to run a lot of errands for the company. If your boss tells you at lunch that someone needs to be picked up at LAX that afternoon, its your job to go do it. If a contract needs to be personally delivered to the law firm before the close of day, its your job to do it. Maybe they will let you rent a car, maybe they will have a company car to run these errands with, maybe they will just reimburse you for your expenses in using your own car. But its part of your job to complete these types of tasks even with very short or no notice. When you can't do the these tasks, that is when the poop is going to hit the fan.
If you are lucky you might successfully lie about your ability to drive in order to get the job. But when you can't successfully do your job, then they will fire you, either for lying on your resume or for just not being able to do your job. People have been fired for much less.
Your intial problem is going to be able to even get an interview. Why moving to Burbank, to North Hollywood or Studio City is a good idea is that is the place where other people in your position live. It the person you meet in the hot tub of your apartment complex or while you are doing laundry who might know someone who can arrange for you to get an interview.
As you have more success then you can move over the hill.
Anyone who has spent some time in LA has met someone with ambitions to join the entertainment industry who failed and had to move home because their plans were not realistic.
When you don't have a job, find a cheap place to live, so you can give yourself the longest possible opportunity to find a job. Once you have a job and an income, then move to somewhere more glamourous. But otherwise there is a good chance you are going to burn through your cash on rent even before you ever get a job here. You may also have to moonlight doing something else here while you are trying to get a job in the entertainment industry.
What matters most is sticking around long enough so you have an opportunity to get hired doing the type of work you want to do here. There are few openings, lots of people applying and few good means of screening out the applicants. Essentially, its a lottery to get these positions and what matters most is how long you have an opportunity to play and whether you have met anyone who can help you get your foot in the door.
Your best chance of that happening is going to occur in the Valley.
I'm in "the business" and I've never met a single person, from a temp/PA all the way up to a showrunner, who doesn't have a car. I've seen plenty of low people on the totem pole get s***-canned for not having a car. Or for simply having the misfortune of their car being in the shop on a day when they're needed to run errands.
Also, don't live in Santa Monica if you're in the business, unless you're raking it in and can affford a more leisurely work schedule, or you have a desk job. You're going to be splitting your time between BH and Burbank.
Living in WeHo, Hwood, or the Valley makes that commute/grind an order of magnitude easier.
For sh-z and giggles, I just googled "L.A. roommate" and went to the first link ("Roommates4you"). I scrolled down the page and found two/three people that could possible be in the range of what you're looking for.
One girl titled her post "Moving from Chicago!" so she's the type of person you could meet before you relocated (if I'm correct in recalling that you're from the Chicago burbs). She says she'd live with "anybody other than a straight male lol," but I also think I remember you saying in a previous post something about being bi, so maybe she'd be open if she just met you.
There was another from a young lady downtown who already has two roommates but has an open room. One of those roommates was a guy, so I doubt they'd have a problem with you joining them. It is downtown, which isn't where you're looking, but if you actually go to the L.A. Public Transit website and use the trip planner function (most mass transit system websites have them, I haven't actually checked), there may be some way to make that work.
Either way, those are two possibilities (maybe) that I garnered in two minutes ... and then spent five minutes telling you about. So I'd try the roommate finder websites again.
I have to give you props, because you atleast tried when most wouldnt. While I will take a look at that site again, Im not sure that any of those two situations would work. It takes long enough to get from Santa Monica to West Hollywood, what do you think it would take each way to get from those locations to Downtown? I know from people that live in LA, that from The Valley to those areas, you are looking at an hour and a half each way. So downtown Im sure is more. Not to mention of course the fact that a lot of downtown is sketchy. And what if I go out at night? There is nothing in downtown for a young Hollywood type.
The other one, I see where you are coming from. I honestly dont feel the need to meet someone before we move in. Actually, I think I prefer someone already in LA, so that they can maybe show me the ins and outs. Part of my wanting to be with a younger roommate is because I have had awful roommate situations in the past, and that I am a specific type of personality. As you said, I might put a lot of people off. But really, my hard nose personality is just who I am. And actually, thats who you need to be if you are a mainstream personality. Its eat or be eaten, and I need to be in a situation with someone that understands the highs and lows of that, as well as the lifestyle. An average girl from Chicago wont understand that. The mindset here is completely different. I just figured that I would easily be able to find someone because those two areas are heavily populated, and is where the mainstream work and play.
Closing this thread as well, since the OP's questions have been addressed in another thread.
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