Where's the BEST part of LA and why?
 

Include traffic, housing costs, etc

Irvine? Chatsworth? Huntington Beach?

The airport... because then you can leave LaLa land and join the real world :)

everyone says LA is so fake... but IMO, so are Vegas, Miami, etc

there are real, honest, good ppl everywhere you go no? maybe you just have to work a lot harder to find them in the "City of Angels"

Hollywood, it's glamorous, lots of celebrities, lots of clubs on Sunset. Irvine is really boring and suburban hell, it's not very city-like. It's peaceful if you like that kind of stuff but I find it very boring and too suburban hell like.
Irvine is more like a white-collar type neighborhood, they are all professionals. I can't stand the houses which all look the same. It has no style and no excitement, no glamour.

Huntington Beach is ok.

To me, I think the best area is Hollywood around Miracle Mile or Beverly Hills or somewhere in that area. I like it busy and city-like. And I admit I kind of like the "fakeness" and "superficiality" thing because I'm superficial and fake myself.

Check out Valencia / Santa Clarita which is where Magic Mountain is. Is is beautiful there and the poeple are very nice. Great family city.

Mitch

anywhere near the beach

if you don't believe me then just wait till summer rolls around :1orglaugh

Hollywood is mostly a huge shithole. West Hollywood is nice if you like that sort of atmosphere.

Compton it has the best drugs. :1orglaugh

How about the area around Hauser, W 3rd street and S La Brea? That seems nice. I don't know though cause I don't go to La a lot but from I've seen it looks ok. Like around here http://www.palazzoeast.com/home.html

Expensive but looks nice. I think that's where some of the mtv show "The Hills" is filmed at.

Yea, that's what I meant, West Hollywood, the nice part of Hollywood, not ghetto kind. If I lived there I'd probably try and get into acting or the music industry somehow and hope I'd get discovered and become famous while selling porn on the side waiting for my big break :1orglaugh

That's funny...I was thinking the same thing when I clicked this thread. :1orglaugh

I visit LA frequently, and almost always have a good time (hey, I'm usually there shooting porn), but I'm always happy to get on a plane and head back to the Bay Area.

ADG Webmaster

I like lala land. I don't want to live in the real world. lala land seems real to me.

I love the silverlake/ los feliz area.

Silverlake is nice. Venice Beach is fun. Santa Monica's 3rd Ave. Promenade is a cool place to hang out and people (hot chick) watch. Melrose is just funny. Hollywood is a complete shithole, but a great place to see intersting people doing very interesting things. Beaches in LA all pretty much suck and are dirty as hell. You need to go down to Huntington Beach for a great beach experience (plus tons of hot girls in bikinis walking around every where).

I am in Huntington Beach but would rather be in newport actually. but both have there pros and cons. Either way you can't go wrong. just stay close to the beach and you will be good. more chill people and more stuff to do.

I suppose, like anywhere, if you don't live 5 mins from the office, you're going to have like an hour commute at least.

traffic complaints, hints, tips?

burbank.

burbank and glendale

it depends on what kind of scene you want. you can live in Hollywood and be close to trendy clubs and bars, but then you deal with the tourists and tons of homeless people.

if you want to live at the beach, I would recommened the south bay area. Its a little less expensive and less "crowded" then Venice and Santa Monica. If you like an older relaxed crowd, then check out manhattan beach. if you are into a younger scene then go to hermosa beach.

if your looking for a cheaper area and still want to be part of "LA" then check out either palms which is between venice and west la (north of venice blvd after the 405) or a little further south try Redondo beach. You can get a 1 bedroom apt for about $1200 a month.

With Venice (beach area) I would not want to live there. lots of crime and some parts are really shady. Same with downtown. i lived there for a year and could not wait to move.

Ideally, if I could live anywhere, it would be in Santa Monica either north of SM Blvd around ocean to 5th street, or between main st and 5th street close by the bars on Main. Those places can get crazy expensive and they go really really fast when they are for rent. A decent place will run about $2,000 a month.

Rigth now I live in Marina del Rey. Its really quiet, but im not really close to anything cool. The place im in is really big and the rent is a decent price. In the next few months or so I plan to move out of there, but still stay in the westside area.

So here is the cliff notes:

Cheaper: Palms, Redondo Beach
Nice/beach: Manhattan, Hermosa, West Santa Monica, MdR

Great post! thank you very much... very helpful :thumbsup

South Central. Low cost housing, little traffic.

Depends on what you can afford, and where you work.

If I worked out of home, I'd find a place in Santa Monica.

If I was swimming in cash, maybe Malibu.



As it is, I live in Valley Village.

The Valley gets too damn hot during the summer, imho... but it's nice enough if you pick the right spot (Burbank, Studio City, Valley Village... and any place up on 'the hill', etc), and I'd detest a daily 405 commute even more than the seasonal heat.... so it's the Valley Life for me.

I lived in Redondo Beach for a while and it was great. Anywhere in the South Bay is nice.

When I first moved to LA, I was living in a spare bedroom in Bel Air. It was high in the hills almost right across the Holiday inn at the 405 and sunset. On clear days I could see LMU easily.

In time I went to LMU to work on Student Films and eventually moved into an apartment right there on Manchester just down the street from the beach.

I was always between Marina and Playa Del Rey, and Manhattan and Hermosa... Once you get used to that area it's HARD to leave. What I miss most aside from the beach, is the terrain.

Going to Maui FUCKED up my cali beach experience forever. Cali beaches are like fucking sewers now. Gross. I could never go back to the cali beaches. :(

You live in VV??? Where? I used to live in a Town House on Radford south of Burbank Blvd. It was just about as north in VV as you could get and still be considered VV.

Would love to live in Malibu on the beach. One day.

A bit South of where you were.

Magnolia and Morella - near the High School.

I like the area... lived there for 10 years now. Right down the street from 2 parks, walking distance to the NoHo Arts district, easy highway access in every-which direction, and some of the best restaurants in L.A (Thai and Sushi, especially) within a mile.

I'm also a bit removed from the traffic, so the only real downside, in my estimation, is the summer heat... those 100 degree+ week-long stints do get exhausting.

I know. even the beaches in new jersey are cleaner then LA. im so suprised with the money that is generated in this county that they cant clean some shit up.

Personally I lived in both Hermosa and Manhattan Beach. Hermosa is kind of for younger people and less expensive than Manhattan Beach; however, I really loved Manhattan beach better.

Mr. Romance

My best friend loves West Hollywood, but he loves cock so that probably explains why.

bump. hope you get the research you need :)

Thai food is nasty, but sushi?? You found a sushi place in the area.. THAT'S GOOD??!?! Provie it. Where is it? The best place I've found is the place next to Trader Joes on Riverside.

Yamakawa. The BEST in the valley.

park la brea is a nice area

There's lots of good sushi places in the area (that place at the corner of Laurel and Magnolia is pretty decent), but the place that regularly gets written up as the best, second best or third best sushi joint in L.A. County (depending on who's doing the write-up) is Katsu-Ya at the corner of Ventura and Colfax.

I'm just going on what other, supposedly more objective people have to say about those places...

Myself, I'm fine with any number of places. :-D Though I don't think I've ever tried Yamakawa.... I'll have to.

Ventura Blvd's gotta have more of a Sushi Bar density than any place outside of Tokyo. :)

Bump !!! Planning to move to LA next year maybe, nice recommendations everýone

Yea, keep it coming... this is great info.

I am a suburb kid... I am out in Simi.. Its outta the LA hassle and crime but close enough of you do not mind a extra 20 min drive to go in and have fun.

I gotta agree with those that said Miracle Mile/Park La Brea area. Its a nice area while still being right in the center of the city so its convenient to a lot of places without freeways, if you learn what streets to take traffic really isn't bad at all:

2-3 miles west to Beverly Hills
3-4 miles north to Hollywood
9-10 miles west to the beach in Santa Monica
8-9 miles south to LAX airport
7-8 miles east to Staples Center/downtown

The only time its inconvenient is if you gotta get up to the Valley; if you're gonna hang out there a lot then I wouldn't recommend it, you'd have to take 405 on the west or 101 on the east and deal with traffic. But thats the only time I ever use the freeways.

There seems to be no consensus on where the best spot is.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh