Moving to LA
Accepted a new role in LA, and figuring out where to live, but have been reading some reviews of buildings and seems like a lot of 1 star reviews in the "luxury" buildings I am finding (and 5 stars I now assume are planted). The office is in Sawtelle/Century City area. I don't want a crazy commute but I will likely be in the office before morning rush hour and leaving before it gets really bad in the afternoons, so would like less than 30 minute commute at worse. For context, Mid-20s white male, like doing pretty typical stuff.
Any area's/buildings I should look into?
My LA experiences are limited to visiting a few times, but Santa Monica is very nice and so is Venice if you like hippie vibes and don't mind the grunginess of the area. Both within (I think) reasonable distance to the area you are describing. Westwood is also supposed to be very nice and would be even closer, if you don't mind being further from the beach + lots of college peeps around you.
Venice is a fucking shithole filled with homeless people harassing everyone.
Been a few years since I visited Venice, it had a lot of homeless people back then but I was never harassed by anyone, maybe it's changed.
Santa Monica. Recommend calling someone local — check out therentalgirl.com. Give the Westside agent a ring.
Watch out for the homeless camps
Just come to peace with the traffic now, you'll save yourself anger. Santa monica used to be great, but has been overrun by homeless as well as vennice. The best bang for your buck IMO is one of either Manhattan, Redondo, or Hermosa (personal fave) beaches. You could check out torrence, but it's a bit worse than those 3. DTLA sucks, just don't even. Obviously there are super nice areas, but unless you're a millionaire, it won't work. Have fun, LA is awesome, and once they clean up the homeless problem, it will be my favorite city!
In the times I visited I also loved the South Bay, but think its ~30-40 minute drive excluding traffic which could easily be an hour each way. How are Marina Del Rey/Playa Vista area's, as well as a little more inland from Santa Monica ("mid-city"?). Definitely know not to look in DTLA
South Bay is too far given your preference to avoid a commute
+1 for Hermosa Beach and Marina Del Rey
Delete
Live in West Hollywood or West LA. Santa Monica is literally the Times Square of LA. Bunch of Midwestern transplants. Weho would be fun but the drive could suck if you’re doing banking hours
3rd St Promenade and Downtown is the Times Square of LA, I can guarantee you every East Coaster who talks about Santa Monica has never been on Main south of the 10.
I don’t know a whole lot about the area as I lived south of LA for a year, but generally would prefer Venice Beach or Manhattan Beach. I’m super grunge though and appreciate that stoner vibe.
I just did the move to LA from NYC so I will share some thoughts.
Let me know if you have any other questions or wanna grab a drink sometime - it can be tough to meet people here
Really helpful detail, any thoughts/opinions on the Marina Del Rey/Playa Vista area's?
Not much help in that department - still very new so haven’t been down that way
Marina / Playa Vista / Culver City are all nice places to live with much less commute. You don't have to be walking distance to the beach when working in finance with a daily commute. Just be close enough for it to be a <10 min drive.
In my opinion, if you’re moving here and don’t already have an embedded social network, and you’re in your 20s, don’t start out in MDR or PDR
It’s hard for me to describe, but I’ve been here for 6 years, living in West LA, South Bay and Santa Monica, and those areas are a sort of no mans land between South Bay and West LA for someone entirely new to the area. Yes there are places you can go in those areas, but proximity does not award any real benefit in that person's case.
Santa Monica (closer to downtown SM) is by far the favorite place I’ve lived. Now, it isn’t the urban star (which is more likely the east side) but you have your choice of a solid hike in 30 minutes if you leave appropriately, beach in a 10 minute walk, solid restaurants, solid bars (again beat out by east side breadth and depth but there are plenty of fun spots, both nicer and also more laid back), and yes homeless (which will be everywhere in LA except for areas you cannot afford) but really just avoid the north side of the promenade after dark bc it got wrecked by covid and there’s no life there. If you moved from NYC it shouldn’t really phase you though.
Brentwood is a good area with young professionals to look into. I’d check out Craigslist and Hotpads which regularly list 1brs part of a roommate situation. You can probably find shorter terms stays that way at a reasonable price as you get your feet under you. Won’t be a social crutch either, lots of roommate situations here. Also I avoid towers in LA. Best setup is a townhouse if you can find it
You mind PMing me? Making the move to LA from NYC myself and could use some advice.
Just ask questions here - it’s more helpful for people reading this in the future
Agreed lol.
Brentwood, WeHo, Santa Monica, Venice are the natural habitats of white guys in their mid-20s.
Thoughts on living in Century City? In the same boat as OP
Don't know it well enough. Personally, I'd rather live slightly east, north in Westwood, west in West LA or Brentwood, or south in Culver City.
Century City itself is small and nearly a third of is a combination of mall, office or studio space, hopefully someone else more knowledgeable about the stock can comment. There are immediately adjacent areas that are fine if you're really wanting to be in or near Century City for whatever reason.
Don't, it's an office park. Either go east to WeHo/Beverly Grove/Mid Wilshire or west to SM or Brentwood/Mar Vista/Culver.
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