I'm moving to Los Angeles in 2 weeks for a new job. I'm going to rent. Which neighbourhood is good?

Question

I'm going to work in Westwood area near UCLA. I prefer to live in a safe neighbourhood. Hopefully the rent is not too $$$. I don't mind driving to work or taking public transportation.

Answer 1

Hi Allan - I work at UCLA so I know the area quite well. Westwood itself is a nice area to live in but it's very busy and very expensive. The neighborhoods to the north are Beverly Glen, Brentwood, Bel Air etc and you would have to be a multi-millionaire to live there. More affordable would be West Hollywood (lots of gay guys so that would have to not bother you), Mid-Wilshire area (but not Korea Town), the west side is an okay place to live as well like Santa Monica, the Palisades, Venice all very expensive. It's hard to help you out when I don't know your budget constraints but I believe as long as you have about $2,000 a month for rent (one bedroom) you will be fine.

Please keep in mind that LA does not have much in terms of public transportation so you'd likely be driving. Even a few miles will take a long time in a car. If you are really set on public transportation then the transportation system in Westwood is probably the best since it has a lot of UCLA college students rather than the usual transients and crazy people. Street driving in LA is awful regardless of what time of day you are doing it.

No areas of the inner city are really "safe" unless you want to pay big bucks to live in Bel Air or some patrolled area like that. If you want more of a commute there ARE safe areas outside of LA but you'd be looking at about an hour commute.

If you want more information from LA locals on a relocation message board check out www.city-data.com and their forums:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/los-angeles/
On the website (it's free by the way) you can get all the local info and basics like weather, population demographics and then on the forum you can ask the locals about commuting time, neighborhoods, safety, schools, jobs etc. "Fastfilm" on the Los Angeles forum is the resident expert.

Please make sure that before coming to Los Angeles that your job will be paying enough for you to live a comfortable life in LA otherwise you will likely be miserable with the overpopulation, traffic and polluted air. By comfortably, I mean you would need a yearly income of about $110,000 preferably more than that especially if you want to live in a safe area. Good luck!

Answer 2

Westwood would be a great area to live. It's pretty safe, easy to get around, and you'll be able to find reasonable rent. You could also check the Mid-Wilshire area as well as the westside (Palms, Mar Vista, and West LA are cheaper than Venice or Santa Monica)

You can probably find a good deal if you have time to look - when I first moved to LA I found a 2 month sublet and searched for a more permanent place during that time (I think it takes at least a month). Craigslist is probably the best place to find good deals.

It would be a bit cheaper to live in the San Fernando Valley, but the commute could get real old and it may not save you a lot to make it worth it. There's more bad pockets in the Valley than the Westside, so you definitely want to look before you rent in SFV.

Answer 3

Here was my answer to another question about moving to Los Angeles:

I live here, but I'm going to tell you only about the horrible side so NONE of you move here any more.

The city is sprawling - we are so spread out that there is no decent way to move around the city. Public transportation sucks. On weekdays, there is bumper to bumper traffic just about from 7 AM until 9 PM on all freeways and major streets. There is traffic on weekends, too, because of all the morons going to Las Vegas. Repairs on freeways are done at midnight on weekends, when you expect to be flying on the freeway, but surprise - there's a major jam, and it takes you an hour to get home.

The 'beautiful people' are incredibly annoying and fake.

Rent is ridiculous, but as ridiculous as it is, buying property is even more absurd - regardless of the neighborhood, any decent sized house is at least a half million dollars.

People are constantly moving here from other states and complaining how their original state was better - I TELL THEM TO MOVE BACK- WE DON'T NEED MORE PEOPLE MAKING TRAFFIC!!!!!!!!

So, L.A. is absolutely horrible- don't move here.

My advice if you're still coming - avoid the 405 like the plague!!!!

Answer 4

Valley Village near north Hollywood

Answer 5

"iI don't mind driving to work or taking public transportation."

You're obviously not from around here!