Moving to Los Angeles? Residents please help!?

I live in Philadelphia and in a year I will be moving to Los Angeles. I don't know anyone who lives there, so I really don't know much about the different neighborhoods. I'm looking for apartments in West Hollywood that are on the cheaper side, yet still in safe neighborhoods. How safe are areas in zip codes 90048, 90028, 90046, 90005, 90024 (those around that area, you get the point right?) Any information you could give me would be awesome!



Here's a map of the zip codes: http://www.zipmap.net/California/Los_Ang…



btw, don't tell me not to move there or any nonsense like that, just actual answers from real residents please. Thank you! (:Moving to Los Angeles? Residents please help!?
You should find an area you like as close to work as possible.

An apartment on the cheaper side is $1200-$1500 a month for a one bedroom.
Well Heather, since you don't want to hear "Don't move here" I guess there's really nothing for me to say, I guess you're one of those who have to find out the hard way why so many California residents tell people not to move here during the current economic climate.





Oh, by the way. You do know that West Hollywood is considered a "gay" section of town, right? Not judging, just saying. Some people don't care, some people do.Moving to Los Angeles? Residents please help!?
Of those you listed, 90024 (Westwood, near the UCLA campus) is your best bet. Next is 90046 %26amp; 90048 (West Hollywood).

Considerable parts of 90028 (Hollywood) can be a little creepy. And even more with 90005 (mid-Wilshire). Avoid them.

Better yet would be 90049 (Brentwood), 90077 (Bel-Air), 90272 (Pacific Palisades) and 90210 (Beverly Hills).

But like all cities, I suppose, the safety level usually matches the economic level. Rich areas are usually safe, while poorer areas can get dangerous. So that means you'll pay higher rents in safe neighborhoods. And you'll be more likely to run into trouble in places where rents are low. (They're usually low for a reason.)

One quick way for you to do some fast checking: use Google StreetView to look at the streets you're considering, up close. And at the nearby streets. Look to see if the blocks look creepy. Look out for things like gang graffiti, bars on doors %26amp; windows, homeless types, etc.

If you don't know what Google StreetView is, THIS is what it is: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=los+angele…

Just move that little orange man icon (to the left) and drop him on the street you want to see.Moving to Los Angeles? Residents please help!?
I love it when people don't want to hear the truth, just what they want to hear.



We see this every day in this forum: Everyone who wants to move here is looking for “cheap/affordable and safe". However, such a place just doesn’t exist; the two terms are mutually exclusive. It's all about supply and demand: If it's in SoCal, then it's not going to be cheap to begin with. If it's a safe area, then it's more expensive.



If you want to live here and enjoy the weather, then you have to pay for it. You put up with the smog and the traffic, enjoy the weather and pay your rent or mortgage. My advice is to start checking out craigslist, rent.com, and apartments.com if you are looking to rent. You’ll quickly see that the minimum rent for a non-ghetto place is about $1,000/$1,200 per month for a studio/1BR. Really nice areas (like the West LA area) easily run $3,000 or more. Want to live near the beach? Expect to pay a premium.



The answer to this really lies in the answer to the question, “Where do you work”? It’s not good at all to live in South Bay if you have a job in Pasadena. It’s stupid, in fact. The one thing that grinds people down more than anything here is the traffic. It’s the worst thing about living here. So rather than worrying about “cheap and safe”, your FIRST order of business should be getting a place close to your job. THEN you can worry about safety and price. But, to reiterate, nothing is cheap here.



One thing that many people just cannot grasp about LA is the sheer immenseness of this area. Around most cities, you have a central city area, some suburbs, and then spaces between cities. Around LA, there is a solid mass of urban, suburban, and commercial property that stretches for about 100 miles in every direction. From the air, you cannot tell where one city ends and another begins. Because of this urban sprawl, there is no line of demarcation where the housing prices drop steeply. 30 years ago, that line was around Corona, southern Orange County, and Simi Valley. Now it’s past Riverside, Palmdale, and western Santa Barbara county.



"LA" is such a big place, there are so many neighborhoods/cities where you can live. Of course, even within a city or neighborhood, there are safer sections and less-safe sections.

In Los Angeles, some nice sections are West LA, Brentwood, Westwood, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey, Los Feliz, Silverlake, and Eagle Rock. Palms and Mar Vista are pretty good, too. In the Valley(part of LA), you have Encino, Tarzana, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Granada Hills, Woodland Hills, Sherman Oaks, West Hills, and Chatsworth. Glendale and Burbank are good places, and are incorporated cities of their own.



To the east: South Pasadena, parts of Pasadena, Altadena, Arcadia, Monrovia, Glendora, San Dimas, Laverne, Azusa, Rancho Cucamonga.



Along the beach: Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Torrance, Palos Verdes, Rancho PV.



In Orange County aka "The OC": Seal Beach , Huntington Beach , Newport Beach , Corona Del Mar , Laguna Beach , Dana Point , Capistrano Beach , San Clemente , Brea, Yorba Linda, Orange, Tustin, Irvine, Laguna Hills, Rancho Santa Margarita, Lake Forest



To the west: Agoura, Calabasas, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Simi Valley, Moorpark.



This is not an all-inclusive list, but it's a start. If you want to see the safety and price factors, go to www.lalife.com. Also, the LA Times did a nice job of outlining all 277 neighborhoods in LA County: http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/n… Time to get researching!