Moving? maybe...

Chad Sanborn · Jul 29, 2008

I have been contemplating a move recently to either Vegas or LA.
I am leaning toward LA, but don't know much about it. I have never even been there. But I am planning a vacation to see the area later this year.
Can anyone give me ideas on good places to live? Places to visit on my vacation?

Chad

Nighthawk · Jul 29, 2008

Be sure to check out Pink's, its been in operation since 1939. Its also one of the best places to spot a celebrity.

http://www.pinkshollywood.com/

Paisley · Jul 29, 2008

We've had a few threads on this topic. A Google search should turn them up.

Big Man · Jul 29, 2008

Chad Sanborn said:
I have been contemplating a move recently to either Vegas or LA.
I am leaning toward LA, but don't know much about it. I have never even been there. But I am planning a vacation to see the area later this year.
Can anyone give me ideas on good places to live? Places to visit on my vacation?

Chad

You know, of course, that you are leaving the garden spot of the world. [huh]

Caroline · Jul 29, 2008

Once my kids are grown and I hit the lottery I'll probably move to LA...lol

Of course, I don't know if it's fiscally possible or even wise to live in there, but I loved the old downtown LA, with the Bunker Hill area and also El Pueblo de Los Angeles (although the food I had was nasty). You have to visit Union Station & City Hall of course, and that's all right near the LA Art Museum. If you're a Noir freak like most of us here, shag a copy of "Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles" to start constructing you own walking tour. Oh! And if you have the Noir DVD Box Set with the film "Crime Wave (1954)" it has a lot of LA set dropping, as in "that gas station still exists in Skid Row" and the like, in the James Ellroy & co. audio commentary.

Also you should get yourself out to the Getty Museum, which is far far away but they allegedly constructed a special transportation system to get folks there (I know when it opened there was a childrens' book published called "Getting to the Getty" or something like that).

Nuts. Now I'm excited. When do we leave?lol

pigeon toe · Jul 30, 2008

Caroline said:
Also you should get yourself out to the Getty Museum, which is far far away but they allegedly constructed a special transportation system to get folks there (I know when it opened there was a childrens' book published called "Getting to the Getty" or something like that).

That's funny, because with LA, "far, far away" can mean many different things to many different people! I'm extremely close to the Getty, but still live in LA. My boyfriend is 30 minutes (with no traffic) from the Getty, and still in what's considered LA. The place is HUGE. And you'll have to learn to be patient!

I don't know what your price range is, but since the area is so gigantic, I'd suggest looking at a few different neighborhoods in different parts of LA. West LA and the South Bay, and the beach towns around there, all have good neighborhoods (though not all of them are fantastic in the South Bay). There's also downtown and Korea town, among many other places. I'd suggest checking out Craigslist to see what kind of neighborhoods might work for you.

Honestly, the best part about LA is living here, not visiting. The first time I visited I was like, "That's it?". Hollywood sucks, the Sunset Strip sucks unless you're going to a show, Rodeo Drive sucks, traffic sucks, etc. But, when you're living here, it's fantastic. It's hard to explain, but it's a totally different experience.

StraightEight · Jul 30, 2008

Apologies to any residents of Vegas, but I find the place utterly disturbing.

Key to happiness in Los Angeles: live close to your job. It doesn't matter where the job is, there is a nice neighborhood within a 20 minute drive. Find it, own it.
The local traffic has a Balkanizing effect on LA. Friends in the north stay in the north. Friends behind the Orange Curtain stay...etc.

As much as possible you live your life in your neighborhood, so pick a good one. Otherwise, you will tax your sanity on the roadways and retreat from LA with a belly full of its worst attributes and utterly starved of its best.

Foofoogal · Jul 30, 2008

Try http://www.city-data.com.
I love this site. It has great forums to get the lowdown on a place also.

Chad Sanborn · Jul 30, 2008

to the local LAers..

Do any of you live near each other? If you could move to another part of LA, where would it be? Or would you stay where your at and why?

Chad

ShooShooBaby · Jul 30, 2008

StraightEight said:
Friends in the north stay in the north. Friends behind the Orange Curtain stay...etc.

i grew up in Anaheim and later lived in Long Beach, and i didn't find this to be the case at all. i always thought how interesting it was that most of my close friends lived about 45 minutes from me... and all of us in opposite directions! for the most part though, i've always tended to be involved in somewhat-small subcultures, so that's probably why this was the case for me.

in portland, though, i whine if i have to ride my bike over 4 miles to get where i'm going

Tomasso · Jul 30, 2008

StraightEight said:
Key to happiness in Los Angeles: live close to your job. It doesn't matter where the job is, there is a nice neighborhood within a 20 minute drive. Find it, own it.

That's exactly what my RE broker told me over twenty five years ago when I was looking for office space for my company's LA outpost. I then picked a space on Rodeo Drive in BH which allowed me to walk to work almost every day.

Mind you, most everyone that we hired had a very long commute

Mike in Seattle · Jul 30, 2008

Think long and hard, and then do it all over again...do you really want to move into either area, which have a glut of entertainers and a high cost of living...or stay where you're at and already have some notoriety? And then remember, in the words of the late, great Erma Bombeck, that the grass is always greener over the septic tank...

Brinybay · Jul 30, 2008

If you like taxes, then come to Seattle, you'll LUV it! We have a brand new one, 20 cents per bag. Watch out for the bike riders though.

59Lark · Jul 31, 2008

brave arent we.

Call me a negativist but the last place that I would move is a large urban center sure go visit and enjoy. The mind that i have keep thinking that within the next ten years living in a large city, will not be a good idea. Now dont label me a zealot or a nut. Though I might be ok with a little crazy , but when run out of oil, like king hubbel predicted , large places wont be pretty and hopefully I will be back on a farm and somewhat prepared but who knows, growing up on a farm and being very self sufficent city life makes me ill and feeling weak and undefended.

But its not for everyone but i for one am tired of crazy drivers and crack heads and dope houses, and I hardly have seen any but one is too many for me. I have seen some of the houses that people here live in, pictures and they have bars on your windows, and adt signs, i dont have bars and dont have a alarm but i do have a shistsu, all eleven pounds and her name is princess imagine me yelling princess kill. I leave my door unlocked all day and i dont have a lock on fence, and my only gun is my 38 year old czec made pellet rifle for pelting off squirells. The tin of bulldog pellets is still the same tin bought with the rifle that long ago. Find a quiet place and enjoy your life , execitement is costly, 59Lark.

StraightEight · Jul 31, 2008

Okay, you're a negativist.

Shockingly to those who haven't actually lived here, most of LA's 12 million people have other things on their minds besides gang wars, petty robberies, and dope. Indeed, the last time I was out in the farm lands of the Central Valley, the local police chief was telling me about the methadone labs that largely inhabit rural America. Dope, it seems, is pure country.

Really, if there's an oil collapse, I'll take LA city living over the Ontario steppe six days a week and twice on Sunday. If the natural gas and electricity run out, no worries. Here at the beach it never gets colder than 50 degrees or warmer than 90. The sun shines almost every day on a growing number of solar panels. I can quite easily get to 70 percent of my regular destinations on a bicycle.

When the fuel runs out, how are you planning to heat the house when the oil truck no longer comes? And how will you draw water from the well when the pump doesn't work? And where are you planning to bicycle to from your farm in the hinterlands? And what exactly is it that you grow there that will sustain you through the long, dreary winters? Soy beans? I'll trade you for the oranges, avocados, lemons, and tomatoes that grow in my backyard year around.

A pellet gun, Shitzu, and unlocked gate isn't going to protect you from your expected apocalypse. A few automatic rifles, German shepherds, and about six tons of canned food.should be in your next UPS delivery.

Mike in Seattle · Jul 31, 2008

Brinybay said:
If you like taxes, then come to Seattle, you'll LUV it! We have a brand new one, 20 cents per bag. Watch out for the bike riders though.

But that's just in the city limits of Seattle...the city council's pretty wacky at times. That one's going to be overturned pretty quick - grocery bags get taxed at 20 cents each...but not the same bags at a drug store or hardware store. So if the purpose of the tax is to reduce the number of bags that go into the landfill (which is what the city council claims)...why doesn't it apply to any bag, anywhere. Hardware store bags? Exempt. Fast food bags? Exempt. State liquor store bags? Exempt. So - buy wine at the state liquor store - no tax. Buy it in the drug store - no tax. I buy it at Target - no tax. But buy it in a market - taxed! Just one of the reasons I live here up on the hill outside Renton.

But on the other hand, we have no state income tax, our sales tax is about the same as California and car licensing's cheaper as well.

Mike in Seattle · Jul 31, 2008

Brinybay said:
If you like taxes, then come to Seattle, you'll LUV it! We have a brand new one, 20 cents per bag. Watch out for the bike riders though.

But that's just in the city limits of Seattle...the city council's pretty wacky at times. That one's going to be overturned pretty quick - grocery bags get taxed at 20 cents each...but not the same bags at a drug store or hardware store. So if the purpose of the tax is to reduce the number of bags that go into the landfill (which is what the city council claims)...why doesn't it apply to any bag, anywhere. Hardware store bags? Exempt. Fast food bags? Exempt. State liquor store bags? Exempt. So - buy wine at the state liquor store - no tax. Buy it in the drug store - no tax. I buy it at Target - no tax. But buy it in a market - taxed! Just one of the reasons I live here up on the hill outside Renton.

But on the other hand, we have no state income tax, our sales tax is about the same as California and car licensing's cheaper as well.

dhermann1 · Jul 31, 2008

59Lark said:
Call me a negativist but the last place that I would move is a large urban center sure go visit and enjoy. The mind that i have keep thinking that within the next ten years living in a large city, will not be a good idea. Now dont label me a zealot or a nut. Though I might be ok with a little crazy , but when run out of oil, like king hubbel predicted , large places wont be pretty and hopefully I will be back on a farm and somewhat prepared but who knows, growing up on a farm and being very self sufficent city life makes me ill and feeling weak and undefended.

But its not for everyone but i for one am tired of crazy drivers and crack heads and dope houses, and I hardly have seen any but one is too many for me. I have seen some of the houses that people here live in, pictures and they have bars on your windows, and adt signs, i dont have bars and dont have a alarm but i do have a shistsu, all eleven pounds and her name is princess imagine me yelling princess kill. I leave my door unlocked all day and i dont have a lock on fence, and my only gun is my 38 year old czec made pellet rifle for pelting off squirells. The tin of bulldog pellets is still the same tin bought with the rifle that long ago. Find a quiet place and enjoy your life , execitement is costly, 59Lark.

I think you're stuck in the 1970's. Most large urban centers are more pleasant to live in than ever before nowadays. The crime rate in New York, for example, has plummeted. And in fact overall crime rates for cities, suburbs and rural areas has pretty much evened out. Crack is not gone, but unless you walk into the very worst neighborhoods, it's not an issue.
Mass public transportation has its frustrations, but you'll stll spend less time and less money commuting to work on a train or subway than in your car.
Small town life can be wonderful if it's a thriving dynamic place, but it can be miserable in a declining area.
If you're happy where you are, that's great. But the image you're describing is about 90% fantasy.

Feraud · Jul 31, 2008

59Lark said:
Call me a negativist but the last place that I would move is a large urban center sure go visit and enjoy. The mind that i have keep thinking that within the next ten years living in a large city, will not be a good idea. Now dont label me a zealot or a nut. Though I might be ok with a little crazy , but when run out of oil, like king hubbel predicted , large places wont be pretty and hopefully I will be back on a farm and somewhat prepared but who knows, growing up on a farm and being very self sufficent city life makes me ill and feeling weak and undefended.

But its not for everyone but i for one am tired of crazy drivers and crack heads and dope houses, and I hardly have seen any but one is too many for me. I have seen some of the houses that people here live in, pictures and they have bars on your windows, and adt signs, i dont have bars and dont have a alarm but i do have a shistsu, all eleven pounds and her name is princess imagine me yelling princess kill. I leave my door unlocked all day and i dont have a lock on fence, and my only gun is my 38 year old czec made pellet rifle for pelting off squirells. The tin of bulldog pellets is still the same tin bought with the rifle that long ago. Find a quiet place and enjoy your life , execitement is costly, 59Lark.

You have no idea what living in a city is like.

Miss Neecerie · Jul 31, 2008

Let me say this..

I would -adore- living somewhere less city....but guess what....the city is where my -job- is...and where my type of job will always be.

Sure, its cheaper to live out in the country...but cheaper does not equal the -free- it would have to be, for me to move there as an unemployed person with no income.

Reality is that not -all- of us can make a living remotely and thus we must live where our income is.

People make a huge deal about LA being the 3rd pit of hell...Sorry...its just like -any- place...it is what you -make- of it. There is good and bad everywhere.....

Moving? maybe...

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