Moving to Los Angeles

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I just want serious advice about moving to Los Angeles. None of this "Don't do it!" type stuff.

What should I do to prep for my move to the area? I have reiterate that I will not come back to the Seattle area upon my move. If there others in the L.A. area who would love to meet me upon my arrival, please, let me know when you post in this thread.

What part of LA do you intend to move to?

You have to learn about the various parts of the LA area.

It's a funny kind of city. It's so spread out! It doesn't have a large downtown, like NYC or even San Francisco.

I've been intending to move to Los Angeles, as well. I'm getting more and more job opportunities in the LA/Hollywood area and the 60-90 minute drive from OC is starting to take its toll on me. I don't even know where the best places to live are.

I'm open to most anywhere there, really. I have said to myself that upon my moving there, there'll be NO turning back for me.

Keep us updated with what you find out! I'm hoping to make a move to LA sometime this year.

Advice? Well ...

Be prepared for hot summer weather from April to October.

You can't really get anywhere interesting without your own transportation, unless you want to take more than twice the time on Public Transportation.

Be prepared to be confronted on the street by aggressive people for no particular reason. The tweakers and homeless schizophrenics are especially notorious for this.

Sirens, gunshots, loud music, and traffic noise are a normal part of L.A. Living. Learn to deal with it.

"The Happiest Place On Earth" really isn't.

Everybody seems to be on the hustle; shameless self-promotion is common, and not just in Show Business.

Ralph's and Von's markets were the best deals in town until Wal-Mart showed up. If you don't mind a few dark spots on your veggies, the ethnic markets are even more economical, anyway ("99 Ranch" is the best Asian market chain in the area, imho).

A gallon of gas sells for around $2.63 per gallon, but that's in Orange County; it may be even higher in L.A.

What specifics do you want to know?

True, but to be fair, you're going to spend thrice the time sitting in traffic on the 405 or the 10.
But yes, cars are a necessity, and preferably smaller cars since a lot of parts of LA have rather narrow streets.



I encounter homeless people quite a lot whenever I'm either staying in, working in or just visiting LA, but they're never more aggressive than "hey man, can you spare a dollar?". In Venice Beach the street vendors can get a little pushy, but I encountered far more aggressive street people in NYC than I ever did in LA. Matter of perspective, I guess.



It's a loud city, so be a little prepared for that. Like NYC, a lot of it has been gentrified over the last couple decades, so don't equate gunshots with being inherently unsafe. I've even been through Compton a few times



What? Disneyland? In Orange County? But they have pineapple ice cream.



It's a business city, of course everyone's on the hustle, but it's nowhere near as bustly as New York. It's much more laid back, but still pretty fast-paced.

Additionally, LA has some of the best clubs, shops, restaurants and nightlife on the West Coast and the arts are still very much thriving. As a musician, there are tons of great venues and buttloads of awesome underground bands. There's no other city in California which has the kind of art scene LA has and that's why I dig it so much, flaws and all.

Figure out what part of town you want to live in in advance. Figure out a living situation, roommate, apartment, type of apartment, temporary place to stay until you find said apartment. Start looking for jobs you might be interested in, or if your current job allows you to transfer.

Study an area you plan to move to, don't accidentally move to compton

^ I won't. But I've also made a commitment at the same time to NOT move back to Seattle, as I explained in my second post on this thread.

I too made a commitment not to move back to Seattle. There was no turning back once I got to salt lake city.

But I will always commit to my seahawks. You better not become a raiders fan.

^ I won't, trust me. XD

Most of the apartments in Los Angeles are in the areas just west of downtown. MacArthur Park area (goes by several different names including Westlake, Echo Park, Rampart, and a few others), and Hollywood, including Koreatown and Wilshire. That area was built in the 1920s and 1930s when apartments were more accepted as a place to live than after WW2 when single family homes were all the rage. On Craigslist that area is under the "Central LA" tab of the Los Angeles metro board. I looked on there earlier for you and a studio goes for around $800.

There are a number of residential hotels in Hollywood and a room may be cheaper. Just make sure you don't end up in a dump. Look for roach and rodent traps scattered around, droppings, that sort of thing. The good news is that Hollywood is so compact that you may not need a car full time. You probably don't want a bicycle because of the heat, but a motor scooter would work. You will need a special driver's license to operate a scooter, California DMV website is dmv.ca.gov. You can sign up for Zipcar for the times when you need to go to the suburbs.

You don't want to rent a place sight unseen. You will want to travel down there a number of times to get the feel of the area, see apartments, that sort of thing. The Amtrak Coast Starlight train runs from Seattle to San Diego and stops at Union Station in downtown LA. Hollywood is within a few miles, you could get there by bus. When I was down there ages ago there were free classified ad publications where most of the landlords placed ads, those have likely been replaced by Craigslist. Also, if you want to work for the studios most of them are still in the Hollywood area.

I lived there for 8 years.
Herm! Find where a safe place is for living - Silver Lake, Old Town Pasadena, maybe parts of North Hollywood
Immediate work can be found with a temp agency. Apply with tons of them.
Substitute teach as well
Don't consider waiting tables - you'll compete with actors for those jobs
You can also sign up with a company or two that hires extras for movies and TV - for about $100 a day or more.

Visit - Canters deli, Melrose Ave, Santa Monica, that big flea market, yard sales (trendy clothes!!)
Take your sweet time settling in
Don't date just yet - lots of people not willing to settle

Good luck!

^ Thank you.

I lived in Studio City across the street from the Brady Bunch house near Universal Studios. I was 12 minutes away from my job in Glendale, lived on a neighborhood street with real lawns and trees, and was never more than 20 minutes from my friends and favorite locations.

Living in the Los Angeles area is largely dependent on where you work. So, if you move there with a job, look near the job. If you move without a job, find something temporary (month-to-month) until you find employment.

For probably the best introduction to Los Angeles life, watch Steve Martin's L.A. Story.

Good luck!