Moving to L.A.

[earthdragon]

After 8 fun years in London, am being re-located to Los Angeles in December.

Grateful of any web addresses that could be useful in terms of property rental (houses and apartments).

Work is in West Hollywood.

Thanks

 

[matadorpoeta]

westsiderentals.com
craigslist.org

avoid living in west hollywood unless you are gay. feel free to ask about specific neighborhoods. beverly hills is next door, and the apartments south of santa monica blvd are somewhat reasonable.

 

[Renault78law]

You want to live in Miracle Mile.

 

[Stax]

westwood, brentwood, laurel canyon would all work also, although not your cheapest bets.

I also like the los feliz neighborhood and silver lake (although not exactly right next door, they are not unreasonably far either). Even Hollywood has some nice streets, although those streets might be adjacent to not so nice streets.


west hollywood does have a gay contingent, but I certainly would not rule it out on that basis.

 

[mbc]

I lived in LA until college, and am now returning... West Hollywood is a great area for gay and straight alike. I would say don't live there if you are homophobic, but it's a wonderful neighborhood. If you're working in West Hollywood, you could easily look at these other neighborhoods depending on your budget:

Hollywood Hills (esp Beachwood Canyon if you can afford it)
Los Feliz (north of Hollywood Blvd).
Silverlake (north of Sunset Blvd)
Parts of Mid-Wilshire (Miracle Mile, Hancock Park, Carthay are all nice)
Beverly Hills
Pico/Robertson

I'd stay out of Koreatown, Echo Park, Downtown LA, etc. Some more good resources are:

http://www.lapdcrimemaps.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_neighborhoods

Note that none of these neighborhoods are especially cheap. If you want cheap housing south of the SF Valley, you have to live in a somewhat questionable neighborhood, settle for someplace tiny, or get really lucky. Craigslist is a great resource for market research, and is composed largely of small property management companies and individual landlords. If you're more the large apartment community type, http://www.apartments.com and others like that list most of the corporate apartment complexes.

 

[Ambulance Chaser]

Avoid any neighborhood that requires you to commute via freeway, e.g., Pasadena. Unless you enjoy sitting in your car for hours on end, of course.

When I was in L.A. on business several years ago, I lived in West L.A. off Robertson, a few blocks from the Beverly Center. I thought that was the ideal location -- half an hour to the office in downtown L.A. and half an hour to Santa Monica.

 

[LA Guy]

Originally Posted by Ambulance Chaser

When I was in L.A. on business several years ago, I lived in West L.A. off Robertson, a few blocks from the Beverly Center. I thought that was the ideal location -- half an hour to the office in downtown L.A. and half an hour to Santa Monica.

I lived in Pasadena, but yeah, if you work downtown, avoid living there. Ambulance did have pretty much a perfect spot.

 

[earthdragon]

For all the really useful tips.

Not especially concerned about 'Gay' area's, nor is my wife.

 

[whodini]

When I lived in Los Feliz I could get to work in the mornings in West Hollywood within 20 mins driving.

Great thing I loved about living there, aside from the culture, was being between two major freeways. Getting to the 10 from West Hollywood can be a slow, painful journey.

 

[ysb]

resurrecting this thread.

I'm thinking of making the move this year from the east coast. I lived in LA for 3 years and just couldnt stand east coast winters anymore.

anyone have recommendations for moving companies? I think we would probably pack everything ourselves, but don't want to drive a U-haul across the country

thanks in advance

 

[aizan]

http://www.padmapper.com/

 

[earthdragon]

We used 'Allied' Shipping and they were great.

 

[ConcernedParent]

Originally Posted by earthdragon

We used 'Allied' Shipping and they were great.

What neighborhood did you end up in?