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i responded to your other post, but i'll take a stab here as well. venice is very cool, although a bit sketchy. funny thing, i live right on the border of venice and worked for a couple of months at fairfax/wilshire. i also commute 100% of the time on a vespa, except when it is raining too hard (which isn't all that often). anyways, it's a 20-30 minute commute on the vespa (venice blvd east to fairfax north). the one time i was forced to bus, it was closer to an hour. having a vespa really speeds up your commute times here because it is legal to lane split.
your biggest issue will be finding an apartment in your price range that isn't a complete dump. your options would be much greater if you could stretch your budget up to $1500 or would be willing to find a roomie. the other good thing about venice is that on weekends when you want to just hang out in your neighborhood, you can ride a bike to a ton of nearby places. there isn't a whole lot to in venice off the boardwalk, but marina del rey has a lot more dining options and santa monica is just a couple of miles north.
as for public transportation, there are a bunch of bus lines in venice that either go up to santa monica or head east towards downtown. your commute to work would require a transfer. busses really aren't that efficient though because LA is so spread out and traffic can be so bad. you'll want to use your scooter most of the time. you can get around the whole city without using the freeways, which is nice. downtown is less than 45 minutes away. hollywood is about the same. these estimate are assuming normal traffic, the times could be even less if the roads are clear. one other thing to point out is that taxis here are stupid expensive.
anyways, i'll happily answer any other questions you may have about scooting in LA. i've been doing it for over 2 years now and have no plans on going back to a car any time soon. feel free to PM if you want.
Is your reason for moving to LA totally based on what you can get for $1200? Or are you interested in LA for other reasons?
:-)
My reason for moving to LA would be this particular job, not LA itself. I'm sort of uniquely qualified for the position, as it involves web development and urban planning, and I have degrees in both. Its a great opportunity. But therein lies the rub: Being a planner I'm conscious of good planning, design, and transport, and quite aware that LA is behind the curve on both. I'd be going from a city with the 2nd best mass transit in the country to the car capital of the country (to be fair, Atlanta probably has taken the crown by now). I don't even own a car...I use Metro, scooter, bike, and Zipcar. I never want do deal with the burden of car ownership again. In my eyes car culture unsustainable, something cities like Portland, SF, NY and DC have woken up to.
From my point of view, the thing that LA really has going for it is the geography. When I was out there last March I spent 80% of my time at the beaches and in the hills. The beauty of both can't be denied. I love the outdoors. I keep picturing myself zipping through the hills on my Vespa...that alone might be enough to convince me to move out there
Still, when I cruise these forums I keep seeing the same complaints from East Coasters who move out there. Lack of community. Hard to make friends. Traffic. Pollution. Laziness. I visited LA for a total of 4 days so not in a position to judge, but I can't deny that hearing these things mentioned so many times is giving me pause.
Anyway, back to the thread topic, Echo Park and Silver Lake kinda cool. I would LOVE to live in a hilly neighborhood, and arsty, hipstery neighborhoods are a +
i responded to your other post, but i'll take a stab here as well. venice is very cool, although a bit sketchy. funny thing, i live right on the border of venice and worked for a couple of months at fairfax/wilshire. i also commute 100% of the time on a vespa, except when it is raining too hard (which isn't all that often). anyways, it's a 20-30 minute commute on the vespa (venice blvd east to fairfax north). the one time i was forced to bus, it was closer to an hour. having a vespa really speeds up your commute times here because it is legal to lane split.
20-30 min is not bad at all. My commute from Logan Circle, DC to Reston, VA right now is an hour by metro + bus (25 miles).
Quote:
Originally Posted by BRinSM
your biggest issue will be finding an apartment in your price range that isn't a complete dump. your options would be much greater if you could stretch your budget up to $1500 or would be willing to find a roomie. the other good thing about venice is that on weekends when you want to just hang out in your neighborhood, you can ride a bike to a ton of nearby places. there isn't a whole lot to in venice off the boardwalk, but marina del rey has a lot more dining options and santa monica is just a couple of miles north.
So $1200 is a pretty meager budget for LA then? I mean I could do more, but I have student loans and would like to own a home before I'm 50. MAYBE I could do a roommate...its been so nice not to have one for the past few years though. :P
I'm not an urban planner, but I'm taken my share of urban studies college classes as well as done a fair share of reading. My siblings all have urban planning degrees, so it's sort of a family thing. I only say that to make the argument that rather than LA being of little interest to urban planners with ain interest in transportation, good design, livability, etc., LA is probably one of the most exciting places to be. There's so much going on right now, and a lot of people share your interests. I participated in a pretty interesting walking evaluation of Hollywood a few years ago, and similar endeavors have taken place around the area.
I'm not a car owner, by the way, and am a huge supporter of walking, biking, and public transportation. I also loved LA. As far as car ownership goes, I think you can put LA in the category of places that have realized that car culture is unsustainable. Many of my neighbors in Hollywood didn't own cars, several of my colleagues at work in Pasadena didn't own cars, and currently several relatives living in various neighborhoods in LA don't own cars. Despite all stereotypes to the contrary, it's not even that odd. Zipcar could use some improvements, certainly, but there are a few locations by USC and UCLA.
To each his own, of course, but I found LA to have a great sense of community (not as a whole, but each separate area), was the easiest place I've ever lived when it came to making friends. Not sure about the laziness thing (ha, wish I'd had the luxury of laziness, sometimes...), traffic is bad, and pollution isn't great, but it's as bad as you might be thinking.
I've met my share of East Coast transplants who have complained about LA, and while some of them did live and work in urban neighborhoods, I have noticed that a large share of the loudest complainers are the ones who moved to a neighborhood that was completely opposite of what they said they missed. If you want a walkable, urban neighborhood with good public transportation then you move to a neighborhood that offers that. You don't move to a quiet, residential-only neighborhood somewhere inconvenient and then complain about how "everyone" drives. That's like moving to parts of Staten Island and then complaining that there's no subway to connect you with the Lower East Side. It's not like there's not a huge selection of exciting urban neighborhoods with decent transit options to choose from in LA, especially if you don't have kids and don't need to worry about schools or playgrounds. And while my individual circumstances were kind of a fluke, for me, personally, it ended up being that LA's public transportation worked better for my commute than did DC's. That's probably not the norm, but the bigger point is that while LA's options aren't up to to NYC quality, it's not as bad as people make it out to be, either. (and not to go off on a tangent, but when I see some people on these boards, not in this thread, I dont' think, but in other threads, say that "no one" rides public transportation they mean no white middle class people ride public transit, although of course that's completely wrong, too, as yes, white middle class and even some white wealthy people ride the trains and the buses, too)
For an interesting armchair reading view of LA (including some of the neighborhoods you're interested in) check out the book "Faces of Sunset Boulevard;" it's a great book, fabulous photos, and gives a nice sense of the diversity of the city.
This was rather a long and rambling post, but really, I think from the perspective of wanting to be where the action is from an urban planning standpoint LA is the place to be. LA doesn't have a choice: things HAVE to change, and they have, and will continue to do so. You might love it, you might hate it, but I think it would be hard not to find it fascinating.
I only say that to make the argument that rather than LA being of little interest to urban planners with ain interest in transportation, good design, livability, etc., LA is probably one of the most exciting places to be.
I totally agree with that sentiment. A have a planner friend that just moved to New Orleans for similar reasons.
Quote:
Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist
I've met my share of East Coast transplants who have complained about LA, and while some of them did live and work in urban neighborhoods, I have noticed that a large share of the loudest complainers are the ones who moved to a neighborhood that was completely opposite of what they said they missed. If you want a walkable, urban neighborhood with good public transportation then you move to a neighborhood that offers that.
Any neighborhoods with good transit links that are hilly? Maybe its because I've lived in flat cities my whole life, but I'm fascinated by the idea of living somewhere with some elevation and views. I visit the National Cathedral in DC at least once a month because the observation deck is one of the only spots in town with a real view.
Quote:
Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist
For an interesting armchair reading view of LA (including some of the neighborhoods you're interested in) check out the book "Faces of Sunset Boulevard;" it's a great book, fabulous photos, and gives a nice sense of the diversity of the city.
I'll check it out!
Quote:
Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist
This was rather a long and rambling post, but really, I think from the perspective of wanting to be where the action is from an urban planning standpoint LA is the place to be. LA doesn't have a choice: things HAVE to change, and they have, and will continue to do so. You might love it, you might hate it, but I think it would be hard not to find it fascinating.
It wasn't rambling at all. Thank you for the info...its nice to hear a perspective from someone also interested in planning.
I'm not sure which hilly neighborhoods have the best views. I've been up in some of the hill neighborhoods, but they've usually involved a walk up from the bus or train station on the edge of the neighborhood and/or at the base of the hill. The hills often form very physical barriers between neighborhoods, with the wealthy living in expensive homes at the top, with sometimes very poor neighborhoods (or sometimes just middle class) at the base.
Neighborhoods like Mt. Washington in NE LA have hills close to the Gold Line station, but that neighborhood seems pretty quiet and residential. It's an artsy neighborhood, though.
There are some fairly tall apartment buildings around, too; if the hill neighborhood doesn't work out you could get lucky and score a view from a high floor.
When we lived in Hollywood we lived in the so-called "flatlands," but we could see the hills from our windows. While I liked the views from up in the hills (and would have had plenty of daily exercise trekking up the ultra-steep hill on Whitley!) it was far, far cheaper as well as more convenient to live in the flat part.
I worked in Pasadena, and while Pasadena isn't in the hills, it has beautiful views of the mountains. It's too far to be a convenient commute to your work, but if you do end up moving to LA you should take some time to explore that area sometime. And closer to places like Silverlake, Griffith Park has amazing views. In other words, even if you're not lucky enough to get much elevation of your own, you'll still have plenty of opportunities to enjoy both looking at the hills and mountains, as well as from them.
There are some fairly tall apartment buildings around, too; if the hill neighborhood doesn't work out you could get lucky and score a view from a high floor.
This is true. I'm In my current apt I'm only on the 4th floor, but even that's enough to have kind of a cool view:
Your DC view sure beat mine; we looked out at a parking lot and a dumpster with monster-sized rats. Ah, well, our Hollywood view made up for it; we could see the hills, the top of the Capitol Records tower, and, from the roof, amazing views of the skyline and the LA basin.
Yeah, Hollywood, Koreatown, and downtown all have some fairly tall buildings. We lived in an older building, but some of the new tall buildings also have amenities like pools on the roof, or at least rooftop decks. Still, the historic buildings usually come with huge windows (although not necessarily air conditioning), and might not bother to lock the door to get out onto the unofficial roof "deck".
I worked in Pasadena, and while Pasadena isn't in the hills, it has beautiful views of the mountains. It's too far to be a convenient commute to your work, but if you do end up moving to LA you should take some time to explore that area sometime.
I agree with everything that uptown_urbanist has written. I'd just like to add that a northwestern chunk of Pasadena (overlooking the Rose Bowl) is in the hills and is gorgeous. I'm sure that the home prices are frightening. A little bit lower in the arroyo is still hilly with beautiful neighborhoods and tons of people jogging and walking their dogs. It looks very quiet but is a stone's throw from the very busy, gritty and Latino-flavored Figueroa Boulevard. Very cool, very L.A.
I'm not recommending this area for you to reside since it is too far to the westside; it's just an FYI to explore in case you do move here.
Been checking Craigslist for apartment rentals and was pleased to see that LA is a bit cheaper than DC. Looks like you can rent a NICE loft downtown for $1300-$1500. The same lofts in DC would be around $2000.
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