moving to CA
 

sup guys.. i dont know shit about ca or the cost of living, but i'm in a band and we wanna relocate. just wondering if any of you were familiar w/ it.. . basically, it'd be preferable to have an apartment or house that'd be just comfortable enough for 3 or 4 people, now as some of you know already imma bum so it can't be expensive (same applies for the others too)... but we were hoping to get as close to LA as possible....

is this reasonable / possible?

Whats CA ??

canada or California.

Most parts to LA are not cheap...

Good luck!

cali

I live in LA and have been here for over 25 years. There are parts of the San Fernando Valley [about 20 mins from LA] that fit your bill. You can also try the southern part of West Los Angeles. Most parts, as said by an earlier post, of LA can get pretty pricey. You can also try some parts of Hollywood.

Watts? East LA? Blythe? Who says CA is too expensive?

You're a comedian :thumbsup :1orglaugh

thanks guys, yeah san fernando / west hills looks to be ideal. anyone know how they are in terms of community?

I love it here and I wouldn't have it any other way. If your into the night life there is always something and someone to get into. Pretty much everything in and around LA is accessable in 30 minutes or less (depending on 405 traffic..heh). Great eateries, nice classy ladies and the sunshine is oh so wonderful

you mean i'd be living near tdf?! a real pimp, crazy.

Orange County woop wooop

If you don't mind the crack whores, Van Nuys and N. Hollywood have some good prices. What do you guys want to pay for rent anyhow?

San Fernando Valley is always good. You can get a decent house just over the hill for a low price starting from Moorpark Ave. going north. Pasadena is very cool and fairly cheap. Glendale and Loz Feliz are pretty nice. Silverlake probably has more guys in your situation than most people know! Haha! It also has some great analog studios with small rooms, warm sound and low 12 hour lockout prices.

You can also rent a warehouse downtown if you want a hip spot that you just have to fix up a bit. Babes will dig coming to see 'the band guys that live in the cool warehouse loft.'

Whatever you do, don't move out towards the Covina - Marino Valley areas. When you are on the freeway and you start seeing endless car dealerships and malls you have gone too far!

Oh, if you want to stay in the direct L.A areas check out Culver City, Hancock Park and south of the Museum district. Anything south and west of the Roscoes on Pico would be a decent price too. Depending on the kinda band you are in I wouldn't suggest going too far south of Roscoes.:1orglaugh

you forgot Compton.. That's the place 2 live.:Graucho

hell yeah, thanks. good info.

Try North Hollywood all the starving musicians live there:winkwink:

A ton of the non-starving musicians live there as well.:winkwink:

I was Studio City pimpin once upon a time.

well my primary reasoning isn't because of the band. its cause i really want out of this hell hole (ohio) too depressing here w/ all the overcast 24 fuckin 7. i wanna live in a place where the sun is always shining, with nice warm temperatures, near a beach.. ahhhh

pornwolf said it perfectly. I'm in Westchester(by LAX) which isn't too expensive but it's almost as far to Hollywood as the Valley is... There are some good parts of N.Hollywood and Van Nuys, and there are some terrible spots... go with your gut when you check a place out... if it looks shady during the day it will be worse at night.

The downtown lofts are sweet, but they are pretty expensive... with Silverlake being just about the same cost as the Valley, but it's not the best area... very cool people hang in Silverlake, though... lots of Musicians.... lots.

Basically, the Valley is prolly the best bet until you get a feel for the areas. East Valley is actually a music Mecca of sorts.. The NoHo Arts district is cleaning up and becoming fun again.

Have fun getting used to the dreaded 405 Fwy. ;)

oops... The valley, Silverlake and Downtown are all far from the beach. The beach areas are the most expensive.. SantaMOnica, Venice, Marina Del Rey, etc. :)

Haha, yeah that changes things a bit. Since he's coming from Ohio anything below Playa Del Ray may work for him. Actually, the west part of Culver City or even a seedy apartment in Venice might make him happy. Not a lot of crime really happens in Venice (don't let 'em scare you).

The worst part about living in the valley is you have to drive way outta your way to get to the beach. It's normally 10 degrees hotter in the Valley and on really hot weekend days it will take you forever getting to the beach! It's torture!

ah, someone told me it was approx. 30 mins to get to the beach from the valley??? to me that isn't long.

i assume its misleading info tho.

Not misleading... it's just that to get to the beach you have to take the 405 and traffic is terrible... it used to take me 1.5 hours to commute from N.Hollywood to SantaMonica... both ways... There are rare times thought that there isn't traffic on the 405, and then it's only 30 minutes. :)

That's right. It depends on when you are driving. That is the non peak times and on cold weekends. Rush hour it has taken me an hour to get from one side of the Hollywood Hills to the other. Traffic in LA is like nothing else you have ever experienced.

HeHe...

well thats a bitch. no shurtcuts?!?!

There are a few... but they are just as busy... There are like only 6 North/South routes... and 3 of them are winding 2 lane roads... Then 2 others run parallel each other, so are kinda the same and the last is a roundabout way. That's it. No more.

None. It's worth the hassle though. It's hard to beat LA... especially when you have money to burn, then it's heaven on Earth!

San Gabriel Valley into the Inland Empire has lots of rents sub-$1000 for 1-3 bedrooms...

25-45 minutes from Hollywood in traffic on the 10.

Want to save mega-$$ though, move to the Central Valley or Apple Valley--Central Valley puts you between SF & LA with rents at $500 for 2 bedrooms. Apple Valley/Victorville puts you 90 minutes from Hollywood with rents at $400 or so.

More community there than Hollywood area.

FUCK the Valley --- seriously, stay away from that place. My dad had a place in Northridge by the mall up there nice area and all that but during the summer its like 120 there EASY. And if yuo ar not in a super-nice ($$$) part of the valley you are in a shithole. There is no 'ok' areas of the Valley. Plus you would have ot deal with that shit 405 traffic to go *anywhere* in LA.. not good, not good at all. And 30 mins to the beach from the valley? LOL - maybe at 3 am. During any part of the day it will take you at least 30 mins just to get over the mountians out of the valley.

Culver City and Westchester are probally your best bet. They are both nice areas (Westchestr more than Culver City). But Westchester does not have that much in terms of apts - but houses galore. Real nice area without the cost. I have friends who live there and they love it, I would be living there if I did not have my son here in San Diego. I went to school at Westchester High - its just a really nice area.

Culver City is cool also, hell my Mom still lives there. Thats where all the TV studios are, they all left the crack town of Hollywood years ago.

Stay away from Venice, Inglewood, South Central (duh), San Fernando Valley, East LA just to name a few places.