23 year old thinking of moving to Southern California

[BadBad Browns]

Lol ideally I'd want to live within 20 minutes of some combination of; a rink, the ocean, a university and/or community college, a restaurant where I can make money, and not get shot walking from my driveway to my place.

I'd check out Culver City or the neighborhood Palms just north of Venice Blvd. by the 10 and 405. Both those areas are nice and accessible to everything you're looking for: Culver City ice rink & Roller hockey at outdoor park, Venice beach & south bay, UCLA & LACC, countless restaurants on venice blvd and downtown culver city, safe, walkable, and culturally diverse.

I lived in Palms for 6 years. It's the neighborhood that really made LA feel like my home for the first time. Also, it's not a hipster dbag area.

Edit: Also, if you're curious about what's safe and what's not, LA Times has a really good resource for checking neighborhood demographics for things like crime (very helpful when moving to LA) as well as diversity, density, and income levels if you want to break it down that far. http://crime.latimes.com/

 

[ElKingsFan92]

I'm soaking up every word of this boys. Really, you're being extremely friendly and helpful with this

Dude, we should stay in contact while you're thinking about moving. Lakewood is not out of the equation. A lot (maybe all) of my roommates are leaving the house we rent in at the end of this semester. I'd be more than happy to share the house with 4 rooms with you and your friends.

 

[fyrescorp]

Lol ideally I'd want to live within 20 minutes of some combination of; a rink, the ocean, a university and/or community college, a restaurant where I can make money, and not get shot walking from my driveway to my place.

Ventura County is not too bad if that's what you want. We've got

Pacific Ocean within minutes, depending on where you live

Simi valley ice rink to the east, Oxnard ice rink to the west

Cal State Channel Islands and 3 JC's locally

Lots and lots of restaraunts everywhere, especially if you are experienced.

Now if you could handle the streets rolling up some places before midnight you'll be fine

Oh yeah, no crime here outside of Oxnard. But the rink is in a good part.

Good luck!

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

I don't think the HB would be cheaper than Lakewood.

Yeah, that's probably accurate; about a year and a half-ago, when we were looking at houses, HB was slightly (and I mean, very slightly) cheaper than Lakewood...rental-wise, you're probably right.

Costa Mesa is an interesting place. It can be cheap if you want to speak Spanish or crazy expensive if you want to live on the nice side of town

True that; but, if he's splitting the rent, he can probably afford to live in the Plaza-area (I'm assuming)...?

 

[x Tame Impala]

Just met with my buddies last night. Talked about a lot of things.

Friend 1: Roofer, not going to school. Location isn't important at all too him.

Friend 2: sells cell phones (sprint/AT&T not sure) and is an amateur boxer. He takes boxing really seriously. It's actually the reason behind this entire move. Location is pretty important to him. We don't have to be next door to a gym but he'll want to be pretty close (like 30 min)

Friend 3: Has a good railroad job in Chicago and would only move if he can get a job with California Rail. He said it shouldn't be a problem though. His job in Chicago is pretty high up apparently and transfers well. But like friend 2, we have to be relatively close to either LA or San Bernardino which I guess is 60 min east of LA.

Here's a little wrench in my plans though. They put the rent maximum between the 4 of us at $1600 a month ($400 each). I don't really understand it since they'll all be making more than me and I was ready to pay atleast twice that a month.

I don't want to be snobby but I'm not living in some **** hole apartment. It's cheaper but there's a different set of problems that go with that. That's true everywhere, not just in Los Angeles. But if they're hellbent on going cheap, I hope we can find a place I can feel safe in that still meets MY needs (close to school, hockey, beach etc)

 

[RonSwanson*]

Just met with my buddies last night. Talked about a lot of things.

Friend 1: Roofer, not going to school. Location isn't important at all too him.

Friend 2: sells cell phones (sprint/AT&T not sure) and is an amateur boxer. He takes boxing really seriously. It's actually the reason behind this entire move. Location is pretty important to him. We don't have to be next door to a gym but he'll want to be pretty close (like 30 min)

Friend 3: Has a good railroad job in Chicago and would only move if he can get a job with California Rail. He said it shouldn't be a problem though. His job in Chicago is pretty high up apparently and transfers well. But like friend 2, we have to be relatively close to either LA or San Bernardino which I guess is 60 min east of LA.

Here's a little wrench in my plans though. They put the rent maximum between the 4 of us at $1600 a month ($400 each). I don't really understand it since they'll all be making more than me and I was ready to pay atleast twice that a month.

I don't want to be snobby but I'm not living in some **** hole apartment. It's cheaper but there's a different set of problems that go with that. That's true everywhere, not just in Los Angeles. But if they're hellbent on going cheap, I hope we can find a place I can feel safe in that still meets MY needs (close to school, hockey, beach etc)

You can always put up the extra $ and claim the master bedroom for yourself. F those cheapskate friends.

As far as #2 is concerned, there's boxing all over L.A. Shouldn't be an issue, especially if he's willing to drive up to a half hour to get to a gym.

 

[Buddy The Elf]

There are freight trains all over so Cal with the port being in Long Beach/San Pedro. For $400 a month, your friends might have to consider sharing a bedroom for two people. You should be able to find a three bed for $1600 but 4 bed is unlikely unless you move out to the boondocks.

 

[Buddy The Elf]

Here is the local LB paper classifieds which is where I've found both of my rentals. It is lb specific though. It will give you an idea of prices in this area. North of 7th st, stay east of redondo. South of 7th street is best east of alamitos. There is a map function on there and prices fluctuate quite a bit. You can use CL for other cities and westsiderentals.com is good but they charge $.

http://www.gazettes.com/classifieds/

 

[Captain Mittens*]

Here's a little wrench in my plans though. They put the rent maximum between the 4 of us at $1600 a month ($400 each). I don't really understand it since they'll all be making more than me and I was ready to pay atleast twice that a month.

$400 a month a piece is a little unrealistic. I paid that for rent once in like 1995

 

[Bondoao1]

Here is my .02 on moving out to LA. Since it is my home away from home i think i have an outsiders input that can be helpful.

Find someone that can take you on the ultimate LA area tour and take a week's vacation out here. I'm not talkin about a see where the stars live tour, i'm talking about really going over options of where to live, and the environment. You may find that some places are not what you had in mind, where other places are better than you thought.
Also, you should take that vacation durring the summer so you can make sure you can deal with the heat. When I stayed in Eagle Rock, I had friends from my home town visit durring July and they did nothing but ***** about the heat....

 

[x Tame Impala]

Here is my .02 on moving out to LA. Since it is my home away from home i think i have an outsiders input that can be helpful.

Find someone that can take you on the ultimate LA area tour and take a week's vacation out here. I'm not talkin about a see where the stars live tour, i'm talking about really going over options of where to live, and the environment. You may find that some places are not what you had in mind, where other places are better than you thought.
Also, you should take that vacation durring the summer so you can make sure you can deal with the heat. When I stayed in Eagle Rock, I had friends from my home town visit durring July and they did nothing but ***** about the heat....

I live in Illinois man, it's usually 90 degrees from July to August. Ill be fine on that front.

We are taking a little vacation though. Planning on going May 23rd through the 26th (Thursday through Sunday). We'll be taking a look at places to live, some boxing gyms, LA train jobs, and some fun things too.

I'm actually looking for hotel ideas too. I saw a hotel for $80 a night and I was all excited. Then I saw it was a mile from LAX...no thank you

 

[TonySCV]

Here's a little wrench in my plans though. They put the rent maximum between the 4 of us at $1600 a month ($400 each). I don't really understand it since they'll all be making more than me and I was ready to pay atleast twice that a month.

Four people in a space that $1600 a month will buy you in LA = uncomfortable. If you're lucky you'll find a decent 2 bedroom for that price in a crappy area. You could get bunk beds or twin beds and share bedrooms but 1. you're not 9 years old and 2. anyone you date will see that living arrangement and be horrified.

 

[BigKing]

Echoing Buddy's comments...Long Beach would be a good move.

There is an ice rink in Westminster so you'd be good to go in under 20 minutes, plus there is an outdoor roller rink right here across from the beach.

You'd obviously be close to the beach and you can't walk around Long Beach without tripping over a restaurant. You also have Cal State Long Beach and Long Beach City College.

You might want to ditch your friends if they are hoping for $400 each...only way you get that is if you get a house from someone who thinks you are only having 2 people live there and then you cram the other two in unbeknownst. I lived in Newport Beach 30 seconds from the sand for like $800 a month because we had a guy who lived in the garage for $400.

I don't know where prices are right now, but I saw a nice studio here in Belmont Shore for $875 last year. I think prices go down as you move closer to downtown. Regardless, Long Beach is a great mix of a "big" city, the beach and one of California's greatest treasures: college aged girls.

 

[Malakian#13]

California has enough people why I had to move! 1600 with 4 people probably is not going to cut it.. for a 4 bedroom 500-600 a piece would be a lot more realistic.

 

[RonSwanson*]

Four people in a space that $1600 a month will buy you in LA = uncomfortable. If you're lucky you'll find a decent 2 bedroom for that price in a crappy area. You could get bunk beds or twin beds and share bedrooms but 1. you're not 9 years old and 2. anyone you date will see that living arrangement and be horrified.

 

[Captain Mittens*]

Re: The Heat. Eagle Rock is right by Pasadena. The beach breezes don't reach that area and it's the hottest part of LA.

 

[Bondoao1]

Re: The Heat. Eagle Rock is right by Pasadena. The beach breezes don't reach that area and it's the hottest part of LA.

Tell me about it, we had our shop in Glendale and some days was just too hot to work on cars... I took my daughter to the LA Zoo in August, it was 109* in the shade... LOL next time we will go when it cools down...

 

[Captain Mittens*]

Tell me about it, we had our shop in Glendale and some days was just too hot to work on cars... I took my daughter to the LA Zoo in August, it was 109* in the shade... LOL next time we will go when it cools down...

That is why I am a coastal dingo

 

[Dominator13]

From somebody who's living near Montreal Canada, if 1 day I can afford a house in Brea California, I'm outta here. Such a peacefull town with a lot of fun places to go right on main street.