Venice Beach vs. Santa Monica (Marina, Westwood: apartments, rent, loans)

[stolpioni]

I'm attending Santa Monica Community College this summer and was wondering where I should live.
I've been to both places before, although it was just a very short visit.

I'm looking for:

- "Cheap"/Low Rent
- Things to do
- Nice restaurants
- Young, liberal people as neighbours
- Not too far away from the school
- "City life" (or as close as you can get if you're in LA)
- Don't mind crime

If there are any other areas I should look into feel free to let me know.

Cheers!

[BRinSM]

if you're looking for cheap then neither will be a good option.

[californio sur]

Agree with BRinSM. Anywhere near the ocean is going to be expensive. Maybe you should contact the college housing dept [if a junior college has one].

[ladoll]

Look on Craigslist and Roommates.com. It might be possible in a roommate situation, but I don't know what "cheap" is to you, either.

[Ghostgecko]

Although I've been here less than a year, I ended up settling just about 2 miles down on Santa Monica Blvd from the ocean. It's very expensive, and I have to already re-evaluate that, with a pretty good income and the VA paying my living expenses through the GI BIll. Basically though, I live in Santa Monica, I'm in LA by about three blocks...

SMC Area...

Rooms from around $650+
Studios from around $1000+
1 Bedrooms from around $1250+

However, as you travel past the 405, it gets cheaper. Basic city rule, the closer to the ocean, the more you're going to pay, as one person already put. That's not just here, thats everywhere, from Key West to Oahu...trust me! Palms has cheaper studios down there, I looked at some around the National area for around $850+, but I can tell you the quality shoots way down. It's all up to what you're looking for. I landed a great deal in my area, but I haven't found one that cheap around here since. So I may not leave! But then again, I can barely afford it with a decent monthly income.

Venice Area...
NOT MUCH cheaper from my experiences...
Rooms about the same from $650
Studios around the same as well $1000
Apartments usually around $1100+

That's why I chose my area, I work in Santa Monica, and saw the difference between Venice and Santa Monica, and chose SM because of the proximity to work and school, and also because I liked the community a bit more. Venice is great too, just not my bag, as I've already lived in Key West, so I wanted something a little less crazy around me!

Good luck to you...and I hope that helps...
From what I've been told the East of the 405, and South of the 10, life gets cheaper...to be honest, I've not noticed much until you get way further in the city! Be prepared to prove you make 3-4x your rent out here too...that was a surprise for me, as it was only 2x in Denver!

As with any expensive city, have a good deposit ready...unless the place is more to the point, most require a whole month's rent deposit! Again, good luck!

[stolpioni]

Thanks for your inputs everyone!

I just gotta add, I know about the rents and I'm going to share a 2br with a friend.
We can pay up to $1600/month for it, and I've been looking at craigslist and found apartments in that pricerange in both Santa Monica and Venice, although it seems a little bit cheaper in Venice.
So if we would exclude the rent, where would you live?

We're both getting about $1500 each every month in loans and contributions from the state.
Can't live too far away from campus either as we have to pay for gas, and a long commute is not what we want.

Again thanks, hope this helped you to help me a little more :P

[californio sur]

Originally Posted by stolpioni

Thanks for your inputs everyone!

I just gotta add, I know about the rents and I'm going to share a 2br with a friend.
We can pay up to $1600/month for it, and I've been looking at craigslist and found apartments in that pricerange in both Santa Monica and Venice, although it seems a little bit cheaper in Venice.
So if we would exclude the rent, where would you live?

We're both getting about $1500 each every month in loans and contributions from the state.
Can't live too far away from campus either as we have to pay for gas, and a long commute is not what we want.

Again thanks, hope this helped you to help me a little more :P

Considering all the points of what you are looking for it is really a toss-up between Venice Beach & Santa Monica. As others have mentioned, Venice is more gritty & less affluent than Santa Monica. Many prefer the beach in Venice because it offers a variety of sports activities [aside from water sports there are basketball\ handball\ tennis\ racquetball courts & also an outdoor weight gym]. Both beaches have bike trails and gymnastic equipment. Santa Monica is more high-end restaurants & there is the promenade. It is a little closer to Westwood\ UCLA and places like the Getty whereas Venice is closer to Marina Del Rey for boating but we are only talking about a few miles closer. I think you will be happy in both Venice & Santa Monica.

[DowntownVentura]

stolpioni, I am not well tuned in the rent prices in those neighborhoods so I can't help much but I did write something about craigslist's ads. Most of the ads are legitimate but there are scams and they tend to be the lower priced ones to lure people in. So be cautious on getting price information using craigslist, the prices may not be real. //www.city-data.com/forum/14059348-post3.html

Good luck to you