Moving to Los Angeles (San Diego, Orange: extended stay, affordable apartment, rentals)

[VJTravel]

I have just been offered a job in Los Angeles. I will be working at UCLA as a library assistant. Im going to be moving there in about a month. Im really excited but im also alittle nervous. Im from a small town in Indiana. (Ft Wayne) Ive lived there my whole life. I even went to college there. Im 25 now and have just graduated from college. I have alot of questions.
1. How is public transportation in the city?
I take the local buss in my hometown. I have a license but have never owned a car because my hometown is not that big.

2. Whats the best strategy for finding an apartment.
im going to be living in a furnished apartment untill i can find some place.

3. How can a person avoid crime.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by VJTravel

I have just been offered a job in Los Angeles. I will be working at UCLA as a library assistant. Im going to be moving there in about a month. Im really excited but im also alittle nervous. Im from a small town in Indiana. (Ft Wayne) Ive lived there my whole life. I even went to college there. Im 25 now and have just graduated from college. I have alot of questions.
1. How is public transportation in the city?
I take the local buss in my hometown. I have a license but have never owned a car because my hometown is not that big.

2. Whats the best strategy for finding an apartment.
im going to be living in a furnished apartment untill i can find some place.

3. How can a person avoid crime.

In that area (western side of the LA metro) the public transportation is probably better than it is in most places in Southern California. It's a pretty dense area.

Strategy:
Identify your budget
Identify public transportation options
Use an online tools such as HousingMaps, MapsKrieg - CraigsList Apartment Listings Mashed With Google Maps, or Los Angeles Apartments, Orange County Apartments, and San Diego Apartments to find potential housing. Furnished will obviously be more expensive and drive the need to use other online tools like LA Furnished Apartments: Corporate Housing & Short-Term Rentals in Los Angeles.

To avoid crime, search for online crime maps, or other tools that indicate where crime is. Find a few candidate apartments and post those neighborhoods so the forum can comment on them.

[24hr7]

1. Public transportation is alright. It really depends what area you are going to settle in. You WILL need a car eventually unless you never get sick, see places, have many friends.

2. A couple of good web sites to look for aparmment maybe westsiderentals.com move.com apartmentguide.com. Check out www.lapdcrimemaps.org so you don't end up in the wrong neighborhood

3. You can't really avoid crime because it can happen to anyone anytime. You can avoid whiskey tango bars, and areas that are known for exchange or drugs and prostitution. lol
Better of by protecting your self by carrying pepper spray, stun gun, or take a self defense class.

[ladysovereign]

Originally Posted by 24hr7

You can avoid whiskey tango bars,

Is that like something in "Roadhouse"?

[thao]

even in Santa Monica or downtown you WILL need a car.

I realize zillow.com is mostly for buying, not renting, but it's still useful to find out the value of homes near where you're looking to see if you're getting a good deal or now.

crime is unavoidable... I mean, it can happen anywhere like everyone else said.
But for safety lalife.com has good stats.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by thao

But for safety lalife.com has good stats.

That HAS to be a joke.

Lalife.com is as completely inaccurate when it comes to safety as you can get.

According to Lalife.com, Westlake, Pacoima, and Boyle Heights are safer than Laurel Canyon, the Fairfax District, Beachwood Canyon, Los Feliz, and the Miracle Mile.

According to Lalife.com, Van Nuys and Panorama City are safer than Studio City, Valley Village, Porter Ranch, or West Hollywood.

According to Lalife.com, El Monte is safer than Santa Monica, Encino, Woodland Hills, or West L.A.

You're better off trusting the Onion as a reliable source.

[uptown_urbanist]

Don't rush out and buy a car. Lots of people don't drive, and they get by fine. Charles offers good advice: figure out your budget, check the bus routes (since UCLA doesn't yet have rail transit), and work from there. I'd stick with living somewhere near campus. There are lots of apartments there, you could perhaps get a roommate situation, and would be convenient. Bus transportation to UCLA is very good, and a lot of people live around there without owning a car.

I believe there are Zipcar locations by UCLA, which might also be something to look into (their website will show specific locations). That's the car sharing program where if you do decide that you want a car for some uses (late night visits to distant friends' homes, shopping trips to IKEA, etc.), you can get one for just the night or even a couple of hours, rather than having to deal with a full day rental, or with the costs and hassles of owning a car that you might only use on weekends or on some evenings. Down the road you may or may not decide that you want a car of your own, but I wouldn't be in any rush to get one, especially since most beginning librarians or library assistants don't enjoy huge salaries.

I wouldn't bother with the furnished apartment. LA apartments seem to be ready for move-in very quickly; you could probably just stay at an extended stay hotel for a week or so while you look at places and put in your application and deposit.

[GreenPenguin]

If you're part of the UCLA system log onto UCLA housing forum where there's lots of postings geared toward students, faculty, and staff. I would strongly start there as those advertised places are geared specifically for the UCLA community like you.

You're moving in low season, the school year just ended so a lot of places are emptying out (so many U-hauls this week), I've seen several places offering 1 month free deals, so definitely rental prices are good now on the West Side.

I know of several folks working/attending UCLA that use the Big Blue Bus system (Welcome to the Big Blue Bus) .

My friends live west of 405 and just slightly south of santa monica (technically west los angeles) and there's tons of for rent signs everywhere in a wide price range.

In general south of santa monica has been cheaper cause of older complexes, but recently there's been some brand new development that are pretty nice (eleven950 - Westide LA Luxury Apartments) pricey but brand new, of course across the street are places 20 years old and half the cost (so depends what you want). As you go more north from santa monica blvd you get into brentwood area where's it's much more expensive. So what you can do is narrow it down to an area you like and just walk around and look at what's for rent.

The area is pretty safe, and walked around that area late at night with no issues.... it does have more character cause you do have the "taco trucks" that are near by if you get hungry

In general LA is a big city and you don't want to be the "low hanging fruit" so always be aware of your surroundings and don't leave stuff out in the open and unattended. In general if you pay attention, you should be okay.

Hang off on getting a car and look into ZipCar as mentioned before, there's a couple stations around UCLA. Driving is a terrible out here and gas prices are way higher than in the midwest plus you'll save on needing to buy a parking pass at UCLA (yes they make the staff pay for parking too!).

Also for those occasions when you need to go to LAX, FlyAway bus has a stop in UCLA which is cheap and convenient.

Congrats and best of luck on the move and the job!

[allenk893]

Originally Posted by VJTravel

I have just been offered a job in Los Angeles. I will be working at UCLA as a library assistant. Im going to be moving there in about a month. Im really excited but im also alittle nervous. Im from a small town in Indiana. (Ft Wayne) Ive lived there my whole life. I even went to college there. Im 25 now and have just graduated from college. I have alot of questions.
1. How is public transportation in the city?
I take the local buss in my hometown. I have a license but have never owned a car because my hometown is not that big.

2. Whats the best strategy for finding an apartment.
im going to be living in a furnished apartment untill i can find some place.

3. How can a person avoid crime.

Well I can automatically tell you which places you want to avoid. East LA, Watts, South Central, Compton, and Hawthorne. I'm sure there's more but I don't remember.

The areas you want to live in are North LA, West LA, and South Bay.

The place you want to look for apartments (cheap, decent, & shared ones) is Craigslist.

Craigslist - Los Angeles Shared Room Rentals

Why do you want to look there you say? Because accepting shared rooms saves you time, money, and energy trying to get an affordable apartment in LA being a single 20-something. It's next to impossible if you don't have months of rent money saved up or a friend. Most of the posters are 20-somethings like yourself that live in LA and can't afford to pay the condo/apartment/house by themselves so they need other 20-somethings to rent from. The rents are reasonable at $400-700 for a room and bed. You just need to communicate with the poster via phone, email, facebook, etc. I would do all three. Get to know who your renting from. But the check is not over yet. Make sure you do a background check on the place your renting from if you can't make a weekend trip to LA to actually see it.

Google Maps
ApartmentRatings (if your renting an apartment)

[nighthouse66]

Los angeles has been depicted in the media as being all palm trees, gangbangers and graffiti. when it isn't being depicted as plastic blonde hollywood hellhole-ish, that is.
don't worry. all that stuff is true, and then none of it is.
if i were you i would be excited. i never thought i would like LA and then when i came here i just never wanted to leave. its tough, but if you are willing to work (and you already have a job) you are gonna be great. seriously. be excited. don't be scared. i am from georgia and i am more scared in atlanta than i ever have been in LA. anyplace in the planet can be dangerous. most of the stuff that goes down here is domestic or gangrelated and you can easily stay out of the line of fire. you are already golden with a job. the real problem is LA is having TOO much fun. losing perspective. gettin' all hippy-dippy-dropout. its easy to do here. people are flakes- im warning ya. they will make promises they can't keep and will blow smoke up your heinie a little more than they do in other places. but people are surprisingly nice and its the most vibrant city in my opinion. its the big leagues. if you can hack it here you can hack it anywhere. if you see bad stuff or get bad vibes just know it passes. there is always some other neighborhood or place to explore. if you want rural you can move to topanga and be near the beach and near the mall. if you want beach you got it out the whazoo. if you want crazy urban you can have that too. whatever you want you can find it here. good luck to you!