If a young person (approx 21 to 25 years of age) moved to Los Angeles, CA, what would be the best area to move?

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Curious_Yank_in_South_Korea

It definitely depends on your income, what you have in your bank now and what you forecast to make. It also matters what you intend to do. Of course, Beverly Hills is nice if you can afford it, but just stay out of the "hood" and run down areas. There are beautiful areas in LA, unfortunately, some neighboring areas are crime ridden, drive by dives. If your only income is waitressing, stay in Ohio. It is not like the 1940s and 50s anymore.

Norma

Everything sounded good until I read your last line. There are no inexpensive areas that meet your requirements.

Peedlepup

The first thing you must consider is that the recession has hit the Los Angeles area harder than most other parts of the country. Jobs are nearly nonexistent. Economists predict this trend to last for the foreseeable future with L.A being the 2nd most difficult city to find work in (NYC is 1st). Finding work will be extremely difficult, especially since both you are just starting out in life. That is one of the reasons why there have been more people moving OUT of California than moving IN for the past 4 years in a row. You will experience "sticker shock" when you see how expensive everything is compared to there in Ohio. Rents for a tiny apartment will start at roughly $1100 a month with a move in cost of close to $3500. Anything less will be in an area you DON'T want to live in. You would have to have roughly $10-15,000 saved up to get you established, and that would only last about 2 months.

Waiting tables is an honorable profession, but it is a minimum wage job. It would be Okay if you were living at home with Mom & Dad, but here it is no way near enough to survive on if you have to maintain a household. If your ultimate goal is to "pursue acting" forget it. An inexperienced, no name wanna be doesn't stand a chance. You'll be just one more face in the crowd of all the other thousands of wanna be's. Probably 1/4 of the population of L.A. wants to "be an actor".

Finally, (and it's none of my business, but) I know you presently think you're both sooooooo in love. But time wears on relationships, and if I were a young woman considering leaving friends and family to move clear across the country I would feel more confident of the success of that relationship if I had a ring on my finger. If you do move here make sure to keep enough in the bank to move back if things don't work out the way you plan.

BMW-Metal-420

Well I am 20, I live in Simi Valley (10 mins form LA)

My girlfreidn of 3 years is a Server out here, and has 2 jobs while she goes to school. I work full time. We pay 1600 for rent in a nice apartment not including utilities, but if you arent making at least 50K a year your looking at living in the ghetto and paying about 500$ for a rented room.

MAD DOG

Just so you know, there is NO SUCH THING as inexpensive in LA, or California in general.

As of right now, because of the economy, a job opening in Los Angeles is almost non existent.

You will also need about $10,000 to start off.

Decent prices start at $1000 mo. for either an extremely small studio or a 1bd/1ba apartment if you're lucky. There is no such thing as $350 mo. here. A minimum waged job alone will barely pay the rent. Remember, you need to eat, you need water, gas, electric, personal hygiene, etc.

If you move to Los Angeles, you will LITERALLY be spending thousands of dollars A MONTH. That waitress job alone will barely pay the rent.

Bottom Line: Look elsewhere, in 3 months you will probably be back in Ohio with no improvement whatsoever.

RaffiTheMaster

If you like to live there, then you can, its very populous of the number of people in LA.

star b

Sherman Oaks is my choice and Hollywood

gtech

North Hollywood....its where the poor people live...a 1 bdrm apt with no ac is only $1100!! per month I lived there

redeyes24_7

compton! make sure you give your neighboors all a fruit basket. and arrange playdates with all the hood ra eeer i mean kids and wear the sweater on your back hahahah no im jk but seriously...

skeptical

Will he be going to school in L.A.? If so, there's your answer. Find a place close to the school.

To check out rental prices, go to:

http://www.altavista.com/web/results?itag=ody&q=rent+apartments+los+angeles&kgs=1&kls=1

Plan on a 6 month rental at first, so you can get to know your way around.

Take an oxygen mask. (Kidding. The smog really isn't THAT bad. It's just terrible, not fatal.)

chuckles951

You get a place to live within 5-10 miles of where you land a job. You don't worry about nightlife as that is only every couple weeks. Work is 5 times a week.

And a waitress here does not make enough to live on her own. And there are no jobs here anyway except in engineering.

Obviousman

We see this every day in this forum. In fact, yours is the third or fourth "wanna move to LA and be an actor" question today. So forgive us if we're just a little cynical. We have NO idea what you consider "expensive" or "too outrageous". You live there, and we live here, so everything is relative.

Everyone wants to move here, and is looking for â€œcheap/affordable and safe". However, such a place just doesnâ€™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 need good schools, add a couple hundred bucks a month on top of it.

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. Youâ€™ll quickly see that the minimum rent for a non-war zone is about $1,000-$1,200 per month for a studio or 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.

"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, Eagle Rock, Encino, Tarzana, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Granada Hills, Woodland Hills, Sherman Oaks, West Hills, Chatsworth.

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.

midosgirl46

Hollywood, Los Feliz, North Hollywood, West Hollywood, Studio City. If you are an aspiring actress those are the best cities to be in. Most of the young struggling actors live in these areas. We lived in Hollywood. My husband was an actor until we moved overseas. Hollywood has the best club scene.

Horatio B

hermosa beach for every possible reason you could imagine.

Mom of 2 baby bois

santa fe springs/ norwalk/ whittier.

i grew up around their! nice and beautiful and a reasonable price

DeAndre B

Apartments that are about one mile from Venice beach are very cheap as long as you buy them around winter area cause in spring alot of ppl try to get apartments.

cardgirl2

Santa Monica Beach is a great place because it is a tourist area and there are many jobs available...I don't believe the rentals are that expensive there...Also I love San Diego..the weather is gorgeous and it is also easy to get a job there because it is another tourist area. If you go to Los Angeles, don't go to the Hollywood area, it is very commercial, and not at all good for a young couple and housing is expensive. Another area that is lovely and near Hollywood and Culver City is Manhattan Beach, and Rodondo Beach...just gorgeous. So that is my opinion and I have relatives who live in the places I mentioned, and I also have visited California 14 times in the last 10 years. So I am sure there are other places that are good. Why don't you do some research..Simi Valley is nice, but very hot and is 45 minutes to LA area. If you want enexpensive living, Venice Beach is nice, but lots of surfers and young people...night life...Check Venice Beach out. I would go to LA, rent something on a short term basis and take trips with your husband on your time off and find the place that suits your lifestyle best.

Johnny Outlaw

the hood

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