What's the deal with LA?

[whodini]

Originally Posted by JLibourel

For all the talk about Silver Lake, no one has mentioned that--at least back when I lived that neck of the woods--Silver Lake had the reputation for being gay, gay, gay! People used to call it the "Swish Alps." A Guatemalan woman who worked for my family would refer to Silver Lake Blvd. as the "Calle de las Maricones." I don't know if it is still true since I really haven't been up that way since I moved to Long Beach over 12 years ago.

I wouldn't go as far as to call it "West Hollywood East," but it does have a few places as Matador pointed out. Off the top of my head I can only name one that's exclusively gay, but the community is pretty well mixed with families and young couples.

 

[vaclava krishna]

Originally Posted by lawyerdad

Most likely the Beverly Hills location.
Do you know if the salads, have made improvements (since 1982)?

 

[Bona Drag]

Originally Posted by Stax

Having grown up in DC and having lived in LA for six years and now in the Bay Area for going on six years, I would rank them as follows for bad traffic:

DC
LA
SF

Unsicentific, anecdotal evidence to be sure, but that's the way I see it.

The difference is that in DC you have a sometimes inconvenient but viable option in the Metro; I can't speak from experience, but most of my friends in the Bay Area ***** about the BART - from what I can tell, it's a more limited system attempting to serve a larger, more populous area. And in LA you gots nothin...

 

[Manton]

Originally Posted by Bona Drag

The difference is that in DC you have a sometimes inconvenient but viable option in the Metro; I can't speak from experience, but most of my friends in the Bay Area ***** about the BART - from what I can tell, it's a more limited system attempting to serve a larger, more populous area. And in LA you gots nothin...
BART is indeed far less extensive than METRO, which is far less extensive than the NYC Subway. And LA does not have nothing, but the pickings are thin. There are commuter rails that take you into downtown, but this is so great as it sounds as the "real" downtown LA is the West Side. Still, if you work downtown, it's great for you. And there is a newish subway system, which is not terribly extensive (even less than BART). The buses are horrible and average something like 8 mph over their routes. I can walk faster than that.

 

[drizzt3117]

Originally Posted by Stax

Having grown up in DC and having lived in LA for six years and now in the Bay Area for going on six years, I would rank them as follows for bad traffic:

DC
LA
SF

Unsicentific, anecdotal evidence to be sure, but that's the way I see it.

I've lived more or less everywhere and think that LA has the worst traffic for a number of reasons.

1) It's really unavoidable. You can take some sort of mass transit in either DC or SF but for the most part you HAVE to drive in LA, not only because the LA basin is far more spread out, but also because there are no other options.

2) LA traffic is more unpredictable. Certainly the morning traffic in SF or DC is bad, but have you ever been stuck in a traffic jam on the Beltway at 2 AM? I've run into 1-2 hour long traffic jams on the 5 or 10 at 2-3 in the morning on a number of occasions.

3) Number of cars. Greater LA has the most cars of any metropolitan area in the country. Sure it's over a larger space than NY or DC, and the highways are wider, but there are certain choke points. The lack of east west freeways in both LA and Orange County make traffic on the 210/134, 10, and 60 horrendous during many different periods. Traffic is also much worse on weekends in LA than in other areas IME.

 

[bryce330]

OK LA people, I need some advice. I'm seriously considering relocating to LA for work (although I don't have the job yet, I'm interviewing next week

). I've been to LA many times but I have never actually lived there. I think in many ways it would be a better fit for me than where I live now (DC) - better weather, nicer people, more laid-back atmosphere, better restaurants, better shopping - and I definitely need a change in my life, but I am concerned about the commute, especially since I've gotten used to living five minutes from work. The firm I am interviewing with is on Olympic just off the 405 (basically Olympic and Sepulveda) - would it be feasible to live in Santa Monica? It doesn't look very far on a map but I have no idea what the commute is like. What would be some other nice areas nearby where I could have a reasonable commute (hopefully 30 minutes or less)? Is Century City a good place to live or is it mainly a business district? I will probably be renting for at least the first year or two.

 

[matadorpoeta]

Originally Posted by bryce330

OK LA people, I need some advice.

I'm seriously considering relocating to LA for work (although I don't have the job yet, I'm interviewing next week

). I've been to LA many times but I have never actually lived there.

I think in many ways it would be a better fit for me than where I live now (DC) - better weather, nicer people, more laid-back atmosphere, better restaurants, better shopping - and I definitely need a change in my life, but I am concerned about the commute, especially since I've gotten used to living five minutes from work.

The firm I am interviewing with is on Olympic just off the 405 (basically Olympic and Sepulveda) - would it be feasible to live in Santa Monica? It doesn't look very far on a map but I have no idea what the commute is like.

What would be some other nice areas nearby where I could have a reasonable commute (hopefully 30 minutes or less)? Is Century City a good place to live or is it mainly a business district?

I will probably be renting for at least the first year or two.
there are very few apartments in century city and they are for millionaires. olympic & sepulveda is actually very convenient to a lot of places. during the morning rush hour, most of the traffic heads west, at night, the traffic heads east. so, if you live in santa monica, or anywhere west of sepulveda, your commute should not be much of a headache. if you can stand fighting some traffic, you're pretty convenient to westwood and beverly hills.

if you can afford it, i highly recommend santa monica and brentwood, but you have tons of options here, including venice.

 

[Baron]

I agree, that's a very convenient location. Aside from the neighborhoods Matadorpoeta mentioned, you might also consider Culver City.

 

[LabelKing]

Is Naples in Los Angeles?

 

[Get Smart]

Originally Posted by LabelKing

Is Naples in Los Angeles?


I believe Naples is in Long Beach

 

[bryce330]

Originally Posted by Baron

I agree, that's a very convenient location. Aside from the neighborhoods Matadorpoeta mentioned, you might also consider Culver City.

I was wrong, it is actually Olympic and Sawtelle (not Sepulveda), but it doesn't look like that makes a big difference.

What is Culver City like?

 

[Baron]

Culver City is a new hot spot - lots of great new restauants and a Gallery Row at La Cienega and Venice with some very well regarded galleries. About once a month there are mass openings at all the galleries and these are fun social events and tend to be very well attended. I don't know the residential side of Culver City very well, but it should be more affordable than Santa Monica. I also would like that you're better situated there to go to Hollywood or Silverlake or Downtown - you'll find that most of the L.A. nightlife is in those three areas.

 

[Ambulance Chaser]

IIRC, Olympic is three lanes of traffic in both directions, so it moves very briskly. When I was in L.A. on business for two months, I stayed in West L.A., north of Wilshire and off Robertson, near the Beverly Center. Not the most exciting neighborhood, but close to ones that are.

 

[lawyerdad]

Originally Posted by vaclava krishna

Do you know if the salads, have made improvements (since 1982)?

Unfortunately, no.

 

[lawyerdad]

Originally Posted by matadorpoeta

you don't say? next to taix? see what happens when the gringos move in? there goes the neighborhood.

At least Burrito King is still there.