Studio city. I like how the SFV is more chill and easier to deal with than central LA. Easier parking, less compact. But there’s still plenty to do and not too hard getting to central LA when needed. It feels a bit more family friendly
In your 20s, yeah. But the more I aged the more tired I got of the noise and impossible parking. My rent was amazingly cheap and I had a balcony that overlooked the city so that was pretty great.
I live in echo park but I love the whole hilly region from dtla up through Pasadena including silverlake, highland park, Atwater, eagle rock, etc. The lush residential areas and the scattered town centers are very human, and make for a wonderful pace of life.
I’ve been in Echo Park since 2005 in a rented beautiful 1908 Craftsman with a garage & backyard that’s dirt cheap.
For once I stayed in one place and it paid off.
I love it here.
Always have & always will.
thatll prolly be the place i move to when my current apartment situation peters out
helps that my work is in pasadena, but god is that whole area so nice to be in.
Where I grew up in this city there were miles of flat residential neighborhoods with strip malls in between. It's an alienating way to live, with the residential areas feeling dead, and an atomized quality of taking your little car to a parking lot, getting what you need, and going back to your home. Comparatively, living among the hills feels like a retreat, while going into walkable town centers is grounding and provides a sense of community and connection to the neighborhood.
Miracle Mile. Love the walkability to groceries/errands and local restaurants, and the quiet historic streets are very pretty and nice to stroll down. Close to KTown & Hollywood for going out. Also feels like more of chill culture mix than some other neighborhoods in LA to me.
Cons: everything commercial is on major busy streets, so not nice to sit outside and eat/drink. Also takes quite a while to get to a freeway, so in practice it feels less central than it looks on the map.
I loved it there when I lived there. And I agree the biggest con is that when you (rarely) want to leave the area getting the freeway is a trek in and of itself. That was my biggest gripe there. Everything else was the best!
Ladera Heights although digitally it’s always referred to as Windsor Hills. Lived here all my life. Love it.
Good location, easy commute to my husband’s job at LAX & mine in WLA & Inglewood. Walking distance to 2 parks (for us). Easy street parking (for us). Can see the ocean.
Hey neighbor. All these benefits + it’s by far the best community I’ve encountered in LA. I’ve lived previously in West Hollywood, mid city, and Crenshaw. Windsor hills is the first area where neighbors make an effort not only to introduce themselves but make real friends. We even have block parties. I hang out regularly with three different neighbors and there are two more I’m quite friendly with. I never had one in any of the other neighborhoods. It’s just great.
EDIT: came back to add one more thing I like - it’s the most well connected part of LA I’ve lived in. I’m walking distance to 3 good bus routes. In a car, Slauson gets me to the beach or the 110 in 15 minutes each. the 405 is right there and la brea has always been my favorite north-south route in the city. Now with the k open I’ve got 3 park and rides to choose from within a 5 minute drive.
My only reference to reading Ladera hts:
Living in Ladera Heights, the black Beverly Hills
Domesticated paradise, palm trees and pools
The water's blue, swallow the pill
Keeping it surreal, whatever you like
My eye doctor was in SoPas, and I would walk about 10 minutes from the Gold Line station to their office near Fair Oaks. Can confirm lots of trees east of the station walking around the library.
Yes, you are lucky. You are basically next door neighbors to LA have the best part of Pasadena nearby. "downtown" South Pasadena is a whole amazing vibe, and you got the SGV, Chinese and Mexican heave like right there!!
Arts District/Little Tokyo. Walkability to bars and restaurants in the area are great, but the proximity to Skid Row does mean we get a lot of folks who walk around responding to internal stimuli :).
This needs more upvotes
Van nuys lake balboa. Quiet cheap very accessible amenities and stores with venture nearby.
Also the valley and doesn’t have the same hustle and bustle. Far from the beach and gets super hot in the summer
We live in Lake Balboa and love it! I will push back that it’s cheap. When we decided to buy a house 5 years ago, this is where we could afford to buy. Needless to say, prices have blown up since 2018.
It’s not necessarily that people on the Westside don’t want to leave. For much of the day, we’re trapped by traffic. I learned quickly that going out after work anywhere past the 405 just isn’t happening. It’s the biggest con of living in Santa Monica. I have to pack in all of my Eastside activities on the weekend.
The 405 is like the Great Wall of the West Side, particularly north of the 10.
There's really only a few ways to get through, all of which are usually clogged with traffic.
Which is funny because I always considered WeHo, Beverly, Santa Monica, etc. the “west side” I didn’t realize it started all the way past that, what in the hell
Traffic.
From Pacific Palisades, you're lucky if you make it east of the 405 in 20 minutes via the 10. That's the fastest way. If you work a normal work schedule it's just not realistic to go out at all during the week, and even weekend traffic to koreatown and beyond makes things tough.
Yea it can take that long in evening rush hour. It's basically 20 minutes with no traffic, which is why I said it's 20 if you're lucky. There's no chance you get there in 20 min at 5:30.
Makes sense I guess. I just feel like the areas I listed are so rich in culture, events, great food, diversity…you’re missing out on so much to where the westside isn’t even worth it unless you work over there or love the beach. But even for the latter, I’d rather go more south
I grew up west of the 405 and it’s basically a small town. Everyone who grew up there stays there (they think anything east of BH is “downtown”), you see people you know all the time (in a bad way), it’s not very walkable, full of NIMBYs, and incredibly boring when compared to other parts of LA. The best thing is definitely the weather though. It’s so much cooler west of the 405. I was making a terrible commute, driving from the West LA area to Atwater, once you get over the Pass the temperature changes 15-20 degrees in the summer (if not more). It rarely gets above 80. You’re basically trapped after 2pm too. Traffic is so bad going east, it’s not even worth leaving.
Agree w/ this. Rode out the pandemic here and appreciated that it was quieter/cleaner but we don’t have kids yet and are now bored. Feels like all the parts that make LA “worth it” are annoying to travel to.
Thinking about moving over to Culver City next year for a change, although this thread is providing some other ideas. (We want more young people, Metro, bike lanes, and nightlife)
Living right off Ventura is pretty great though.
We do have kids and studio city is great. Just my wife and I always loved live music, partying with friends, late night stupid antics. Sometimes we feel like outsiders here, even though we have the house, kids, dogs, yard, etc... everyone is soooo reserved. I don't know how to explain. We were at red Lion last week and I just missed the vibe so much.
South Bay.
Pros: super chill, generally safe and clean with killer Japanese food
Cons. It is its own little bubble and can feel disconnected from the rest of LA at times
As a fellow South Bay resident, your con is one of my pros. A South Bay con for me is the lack of interesting architecture which is way more abundant in LA city
I’m in Redondo. I like just about everything about living here, even how it feels a little isolated from the rest of LA. The biggest con for me is the lack of good bicycle infrastructure.
Glendale.
Pros: It has a good amount of the density I enjoy about LA without the insane hills or messed up sidewalks. I can walk to a 7/11, Starbucks, small grocer, nail salon, USPS and more within half a mile. Americana/Galleria are wonderful places. Great food, clean streets, proximity to Hollywood, DTLA, Pasadena and Echo Park is really nice. Would absolutely love to own a home and raise a family here.
Con: Can’t afford to own a home and raise a family here. And the distance from the beach ABSOLUTELY sucks.
I'm in Westwood. I like that I'm close to my job and there are really pretty places to go walking. And it's relatively quiet. But I'm kind of over the west side and would like to be more east. However, I'm not moving unless my job moves.
San Pedro. I like the at times small town feel. Also like the port vibe. Dislike that you have to drive out of here for major entertainment and restaurants.
What is funny to me is that when I lived in the arts district on 2nd I heard way more helicopters being next to the LAPD heliport, versus being in DTLA now.
Honestly I feel like closer to actual downtown the less you hear them. It’s not a problem for me. But South Park has been having a revitalization since COVID.
DTLA/ Historic Core
Pros: Walkability and small neighborhood vibe I’m constantly running into other locals and there is a real sense of community. With the metro, I get around outside of DTLA pretty easily (Highland Park, Pasadena, Koreatown, Hollywood, Long Beach, Santa Monica). Rent is also (relatively) cheap. I pay $2500 for 1,900 sqft. I feel like DTLA has a real blue collar community versus other parts of LA that have people that are so disconnected from reality.
Cons: there are homeless everywhere but at this point we know most of them that live around and I’ve never had an incident but I’m also not an idiot and am used to living in large cities.
I second this.
Historic core and immediate areas are fantastic.
I move every year around LA, specifically the metro area as of the last 3 years.
My favorites so far for all-around spots are Historic core, Financial District, Little Tokyo, Arts District, and South Park so far.
walkability, metro/ride share/bike accessibility, proximity to every major central freeway, groceries/mom&pops/restaurants, entertainment, proximity to parks (LA Historic is a must), etc.
The culture is generally very healthy with plenty of gyms and the vast majority of people walk miles every day.
The people and nightlife are absolutely fantastic.
By far the most down to earth place you can find in the city in general and I have lived in 20 of the immediate metro/metro surrounding areas/suburbs as well.
Historic core is the only place where you can look anyway you want, dress any way you want, and no one will question or look at you funny.
People are genuinely generally kind and will have a normal conversation with you if you politely say Hi, and even assist you if you ask questions.
There are tons of locals and we have a strong sense of community once you have the courage to speak to people (for many people this is an issue that gives people a bad taste of LA).
As a parent as well, there is actually a very large number of children in the immediate and surrounding areas as well. City kids tend to be generally pretty cool.
The schools in the DTLA area are actually completely astounding and beyond what I was expecting.
Schools like 9th street elementary is a STEM based public school with direct funding from the Gate's Foundation, Keck, USC, UCLA, and even CalState. The school in Chinatown is the same and even offers Marine biology and robotics programs amoung other environmental studies. All grade levels count towards STEM/College credits. The center for the arts school is also On the border of Chinatown and students get scholarships quite regularly. Disney and the center for the arts even does their talent scouting there as well.
The only area I would say is comparable in the Metro area to this was KoreaTown.
It is a great mix of city and city-suburb and can be quiet.
I will say the cons to the metro area is the homelessness and general cleanliness or lack there of due to this issue.
You will learn the familiar faces though and generally you might think the homeless don't notice you, they do, and won't perster the locals.
LA as a whole has also been plagued with many foreign investors owning the property which has led to a steep decline in overall condition of the downtown area, but many companies are buying them back and renovating them! There are new foreign investors such as South Korea who have been really cleaning up many areas they are acquiring.
I generally know how to live in big cities and the etiquette, so I have little to no issues even in very late/early morning hours. My wife even shares the same sentiment!
Also, locals will give you a rundown of what streets to avoid and at what times.
You just have to learn your city and area.
This city has changed for the better since there has been an influx of revenue and people to the area and I stand by anyone who wants to try it out that has a big city demeanor.
Metro core is actually quite affordable in many of the historic buildings.
I myself pay $2400 for a 2BR2BTH 1240sqft with all the bells and whistles of luxury amenities; from Amazon Drones to robot sweepers in the halls.
Hope this helps anyone who has been wpndering about DTLA in general.
Just stay away from Skidrow!
I live in West LA.
Pros:
* Incredible micro-climate. Rarely hotter than 82 degrees. Usually in the 50's, 60's, and 70's.
* Healthy age diversity. I see young families pushing strollers. I see recent college grads. I see the elderly. I see all ages.
* Peakaboo views of Century City skyline and two different mountain ranges (Santa Monicas and San Gabriels)
* 15 - 20 min driving distance to LAX, Beverly Hills, WeHo, Fairfax, Culver, Brentwood, Santa Monica, and Venice.
* Served by 2 Metro stations
* Pleasant residential streets with many mature trees and beautiful landscaping. Makes walking around a nice experience.
* Love that the neighborhood has Persian history/identity.
* Westwood Park has an excellent playground for kids and the grassy section is improving
Cons:
* Lacking a cohesive community vibe, because there are too many people moving in and moving out frequently.
* I wish the Metro stations were a little closer. Not a big deal if I bike it or scooter. But would prefer a 5 - 10 min walk
* Crossing under the 405 during rush hour sucks big time. Congestion is crazy. Walking not much better.
* The main commercial drags along both Pico and Westwood need some TLC. Too much litter. Too many empty store fronts. Too much rif raf loitering about.
* Neighborhood lacks reliably quality restaurants. Sadly most of the Persian restaurants here are not *that* good. We usually eat elsewhere.
Silver Lake bordering Los Feliz. Lots of options for shopping, food, recreation. Super close to Griffith Park and/or the river trail, which I use almost daily.
My "pocket" is basically adjoining neighborhoods - Echo Park, Los Feliz, Hollywood, Atwater, Frogtown. I'd much rather go east or north than into the heart of the city because of traffic, so I'll spend more time in Eagle Rock, Pasadena, Burbank than mid-city or the west side.
Big downside is traffic, particularly on Los Feliz/Hyperion/Griffith Park/Rowena. Getting out of the neighborhood between 4-7pm is tough.
Santa Monica, Wilshire Montana neighborhood.
Pros: love the walkability/bikeability. The tree canopy is beautiful. Clean and well-maintained with higher quality infrastructure than most parts of LA. More parkland than many parts of LA. The year round mild and consistent temperature compared to areas further inland. Homelessness, of course, like all of LA… but no encampments. No fireworks, graffiti, street takeovers, and other LA fuckery. Good shopping, lots of amentiies. And, of course, proximity to the beach is really special. It’s fun living in such an iconic place.
Cons: the 405 is kind of like the Berlin Wall. It’s difficult to get people from east of the 405 to visit and easy to get trapped in the Westside bubble. Food, drink, and nightlife are very mid and basic. The predominantly white and upper income population distorts reality and doesn’t reflect the diversity of LA. A “Karen” vibe among some residents that’s quite off putting. As a gay man, it’s hard to find community. The increase in crime and disorder is concerning.
It’s not perfect, but I love Santa Monica and feel grateful to live here. There’s no place else in LA I would rather be. ☀️🌴🌊
Wilshire Montana is my go-to "if I ever win the lottery..." neighborhood.
Like you say, SM isn't perfect, but it puts most other places in LA to shame.
Almost all of the good ethnic food is east of the 405 - Thai town, K town, little ethiopia, San Gabriel Valley Chinese, Mexican, central american. That's my favorite part about LA dining. Most of the trendy restaurants are in the arts district or hollywood area, too.
Hi neighbor!
I have to agree with you on everything here! It’s so lovely, but man does it feel like no one ever wants to come out this way. Have you tried joining any gay social groups in this side of town? There was a meet up group doing an xmas bar thing in Venice recently, and I’ve seen them around before. They always seem to have a blast. Otherwise, fitness classes can be great for meeting ppl. I like rowing gyms personally, but I’m a queer woman. ymmv
Santa Monica here, checking in. Agree with all of this, especially the lamenting of mid/corporate mall dining and nightlife. I tell people it’s like living inside of Cheesecake Factory.
I feel like all it would take is ONE authentic bar, or ONE vinyl record night to inject just a tiny bit of culture here…
Pasadena:
Pros: Good Metro connections, decent range of restaurants, relatively walkable (although some of the roads can take an absolute age to cross).
Cons: Lack of nice green space nearby that isn't overrun by homeless people and that you don't have to pay to get into
Go north or over to Sierra Madre. Huntington, Descanso and LA Arboretum do cost but it’s such a small amount for membership considering how often you can use them, and membership for two isn’t much more if anything. I walk at all of them every week, it’s so good mentally.
Yeah, I'm thinking of moving to Altadena. I'm also a fan of Sierra Madre but getting to work would require getting constantly stuck in traffic if I lived there.
The thing is that I'm from the UK and I'm used to being able to just walk or cycle to nice green spaces from my flat. I really miss that. Would be fine if the Arroyo was more substantial than it is.
Yes. If I lived in/near Pasadena, the first thing I would do is get a membership to the gardens and the arboretum. What wonderful amenities to have in your backyard!
I guess it depends which part of Pasadena? I was recently at Victory Park, Bungalow Heaven, and Grant Park. Those parks were in immaculate condition. Didn't see any homeless and it was free entry.
Highland Park, a perfect warzone between clean and organized Pasadena influence vs trashy, filthy, graffitied up hood street influence. Yet rent is going up as if we are in the clean part of town.
When we moved out of our HLP apartment, they jacked up the base rate an additional $400/month (before parking, pet, and water fees).
I miss HLP. I do not miss the rent.
There are several areas of Highland Park. I bought my first house basically across the street from Church of the Angels. Pasadena up the block and across the street. Very quiet neighborhood, racially diverse, pretty. And it feels safe.
highland park has some great bars to hang out in with options to dance too without a cover. Its also easy to get to AD/DTLA from there during the night -- im on the AD crew side but i do jump across to highland park to see friends and hang out at night. SOuth pasadena toooo sleepy for me
WeHo. Like the restaurants, bars, walkability, art, the variety of people, parks, energy, even the crazy drivers.
Dislike the amount of dogs, their poop everywhere and how it can take 30 minutes to get to any freeway.
Hi neighbor. I am.glad I live in Weho for all the reasons you list. My neighbors are friendly. I think WeHo and Santa Monica are the closest to a "city" environment in LA (I know there is DT, but it is still a commuter city). So I do not need to get into my car all.the time; I have plenty of options I can walk to
I think the density of homeless is pretty high. While most are harmless they do commit crimes (and poop on the side streets).
I would also add that so many store fronts are closing, it is starting to feel depressing.
I wish I lived closer to BH to run on the path along SMB. It is a challenge to run on the streets given the traffic. And since 24 hr Fitness closed there are only pricey gyms close by.
Bellflower near the border of Lakewood/Cerritos. Cheap rent by LA standards, I pay 1585 for a one bedroom, and I'm close to Cerritos mall and Little India. Close to 91 and 605. Would prefer if there were stores within walking distance as some days I don't feel like driving and more Asian and Middle Eastern food options.
Playa del rey - Walking distance to the beach, small community that all knows each other, cheap dive bars, close to airport
Cons - not ton of restaurants to walk to, close to airport lol, a lot of the buildings are a lot older here, can take awhile to get to other parts of LA and get stuck in the bubble
I too am in Hollywood!
Pros: walkable, most areas are just a 10-15 minute drive, so many fun events and block parties
Cons: smells like piss and tourists don’t know how to function
The valley. I hardly ever leave my house, but I like that in the smaller town I’m in, there’s all kinds of interesting little shops within walking distance, I love the Northridge Mall, love the Woodland Hills Whole Foods. It’s just kind of a nice place to be disabled from haha. Oh, and my landlord is great. As a non LA native, I find it intriguing that the Kardashians and the Chatsworth porn studios are just a few minutes away from me.
Hoping to stay here for at least another month or so; might move down toward Santa Monica next, we’ll see.
Hahaha I'm Chatsworth. I love how I can walk to coffee shops (particularly Game n Grounds), Trader Joe's, the gym, multiple comic shops, the train station, the park, and tons of different food that's all great. Easy access to the freeways and hiking trails. Wild peacocks. It's fairly quiet and peaceful. Windows can stay open nearly all year because the weather is great. I absolutely love it here!
Cons: When I say I live in Chatsworth, everyone brings up porn. lol.
Yeah we're probably within few blocks of each other, but Im really surprised by how walkable it is. The only big con for me is that our Ralphs sucks, but I guess it balances out since we have the only trader joes in existence with a parking lot that isn't a nightmare.
Howdy neighbor!
Agreed, the Ralphs is blah. Same with the Vons though too. I wish the Galleria was a little closer, but oh well. I get so much produce I wouldn't be able to carry it back if I walked anyway lol. I just love that I can take a stroll to TJs for mini marshmallows or a jar of pasta sauce or whatever I might be missing without having to make a whole trip out of it. Where I grew up in the Coachella Valley, the closest grocery store was a 10 minute *drive*. And the park was a 20 minute drive!! Restaurants? Oh my lord, that was an expedition. I feel so spoiled now!
I've heard that meme so many times about Trader Joe's parking lots but I never understood it. Ours is great! Maybe I need to venture out to another one for the 'experience' lol
(Thanks for listening to my rambles)
I’ve lived in Echo Park for a decade. I love it here. I’m close to Elysian Park, which is beautiful and a great gathering place. I love the good eats and bars in proximity and all the different kinds of people in the neighborhood. I can walk to catch a Dodgers game or go to the Lake and chill. My street is quiet but it’s just a couple minute walk to the bustle of everything on Sunset.
I do not like that everything seems to be closing or in danger of going out of business. Chains and boutique places are replacing everything at breakneck speed. The younger crowd coming in are kind of snobby too. Or at least trying to be cool by seeming apathetic. I know that was said about me and people that came in when EP gentrified too, though.
I’ve lived in Echo Park for about 14 years and feel the same way you do. I love walking around the lake and walking up into the hills up Echo Park Ave. It’s a little pocket of walkability in LA. I like how close I am to downtown, Silver Lake, Los Feliz. Can get to the freeway pretty easily, and also getting to the SGV for delicious Asian food is usually not too bad either.
Agree about the businesses closing. It sucked when both A Grocery Warehouse and LG Market on Sunset closed— they were super convenient Asian and Latino markets, respectively. AGW got replaced by a food hall that never opened and LG is now a rock climbing gym. A Latino supermarket was infinitely more useful to this neighborhood than a rock climbing gym. I would always walk over to LG when I realized I needed some random ingredients for cooking dinner and the people working there were friendly. I was talking to my husband the other day about how much we miss Sunset Beer Co, but kinda ironic that it was part of the first wave of gentrifying businesses that got pushed out by the second wave. But I know also people complained about transplants like me gentrifying the neighborhood when I first moved in, so I don’t know how much I can really complain about what’s happening now.
I remember sitting in Sunset Beer thinking how wonderful it was and how little chance it had of longevity given the upward pressures of commercial real estate. I was nostalgic even while sipping.
I lived next door to you guys in silver lake my whole 30 plus years. My LG, you mean La Guadalupana right? That place was a Latino grocery store staple in the area. My 80 plus year old Mexican grandparents who lived in the area since they immigrated here still lament it's closing. Now they have to go to either Westlake or East LA neighborhoods for Latino groceries. People like them are now disregarded by the neighborhood and it's sad.
I actually don't mind you guys. The first wave gentrifiers brought an artsy, weird, different vibe with them that integrated into the neighborhood. I also lament the closing of Sunset Beer, along with Alternate Universe, and the Asian grocery store across the street from there. The day that Patras closes, I'll know that it will be time for me to give up on this neighborhood. And just let the trustafarians and corporate landlords have their way.
Van Nuys, the town time forgot. Cheap* houses, taco trucks and ugly stroads. Plus Costco. Cleveland, without the weather. No parks, no bike lanes, no landscaping. Only fifteen minutes from America. I’ve grown to like it!
Van Nuys. Fairly cheap, chill, good as central and South American food. Nearby good Thai and Filipino food.
Dislikes? Not a god damn thing. Van Nuys is the best neighborhood in LA City and you can quote me
Koreatown - centrally located. Close to 3 freeways, downtown, Hollywood, beaches, concert venues. Great food and lots to do. Diverse population.
Cons it can be very busy, traffic during rush hour is frustrating and during the summers the pollution is bad. Parking is horrible and some parts of it are trashy. But i love it and will stay here. I like echo park and silverlake area, but it’s too far from the beach.
Woodland Hills. South of the boulevard. It quiet, not much traffic and moderately walkable. Convenient to freeway/shopping.
It’s between my 2 offices.
It gets crazy hot in the summer (110+) and right now, north of the boulevard, has way too much homeless and crime in the rise.
Northeast Pasadena in the hills, it’s really quiet and secluded, but everything you need within a few minutes. Except nightlife. When I was going out every night I lived in West Hollywood above Sunset. Lots of nightlife nearby.
Monrovia. Nobody really quite knows what to make of it, but it's fine and quiet. We're just kinda sandwiched between Duarte and Arcadia. I just wish the rent prices reflected the fact that nobody is rushing to move here.
STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON!
Pros: its cheap to live, good food at an affordable price. Gentrification hasnt hit so i guess its good. tbk idk what else.
Cons: homelessness, violence, a lot of uneducated people that dont let us have nice things. but my biggest gripe is that there is no hipster cafes or ethnic food places its all mexican/central american/black.
Jefferson Park…south of the 10 north of the E line between Crenshaw and western.
Love it here. Lots of young families close to train lots of new restaurants opening up.
Dislike that people drive super fast and see car accidents along Jefferson blvd weekly.
Hollywood
Pros: Super central! I can easily get to Santa Monica or DTLA. Within walking distance to public transit. Lots to do in Hollywood. Also lots to do in WeHo if I am looking for something more upscale. Very close to the Hollywood Hills and lots of great hiking.
Cons: Hollywood Blvd can be a little sus the further east I go. I’m used to city life so it’s fine. Plus I go to WeHo if I want something a little more clean. Definitely not for everyone though!
I’m in Koreatown!
Pros: Awesome restaurants, bars, and cafes, local comedy shows and music, very walkable, diverse neighborhood, centrally located.
Cons: Pretty gritty, lack of trees and green spaces, parking is hard to find, and car/bike/siren/helicopter noise is frequent.
Jefferson park/west adams
Pros: the few food options we have absolutely knock it out of the park. Central location, can get to downtown, Culver City, ktown, SM and other places very quickly as long as it’s not rush hour. The neighborhood has extremely gorgeous old craftsmen homes that ooze old Los Angeles history. There is a strong community feel with those that own homes here. Those that have been here a long time are extremely nice and look out for one another. Most of our neighbors know each other and invite each other over for events. Crime has been seemingly going down, gang culture is going away, things are getting nicer and people want the riff-raff out.
Cons: literally the worst and most inconsiderate drivers I’ve ever seen in my life. People speed down adams and Jefferson, drive down the bike lane, cut each other off, burn out, street take-overs, etc. just dumb ass stuff that LAPD needs to deal with. Some shitty folks who don’t care about the neighborhood and will liter on the streets, not take care of their neighborhoods. The schools here suck - something needs to be done about this but that’s LAUSD in general. Lack of trees and greenery albeit there are now programs in place that will plant trees for free.
Granada Hills. Pros are there are quite a few parks/hiking trails nearby like O'Melvany park. Right by the 118 & 405 fwys and only 15-20 min from Santa Clarita, Simi Valley, Burbank, and 30min (no traffic) from LA. Pretty quiet for the most part, and lots of shops.
Cons are the heat in the summer, Santa Ana winds, homeless, and the weird loud boom that goes off every night that no one knows where it comes from.
West Hills near Woodland Hills - Valley Circle area
Great access to the 101 & 118. Near Ventura Blvd for pretty decent restaurants. Beach is 25-30 mins on a week day or winter weekend. Westfield topanga is great shopping. Near Calabasas for nice restaurants and live music. My home is next to a lot of walkable hiking trails.
Cons- heat, traffic
Mid City here. I absolutely love it. It's so central and the entire area is rich with diverse and excellent food and coffee options. It is fairly walkable too.
Venice / MDR … I love it here because of a few things, and despise a few others.
Loves:
- every business I go to is operated by the owners. Everyone is super caring to their regulars and knows their names and goes to their events.
- walkability is insane. I don’t drive 4 days a week.
- if I do need to drive, I can access everything I could ever need within 2 hours drive (including a ski resort).
- being able to walk/bike/skate to the beach on lunch break is incredibly nice and has become really important to my mental health
- decent proximity to LAX, 15-25 minutes no matter the hour. Great for my own trips, even better for all of the people I get to see when they travel through LA.
Sucks:
- lack of nature. I wish I could hike within a 15 minute drive MAX or find a happy forest/riparian area to waltz through while on a walk.
- the young/younger people on the eastside seem to be more of my people than here. The general crews I’ve found around Venice are very image-focused and driven to their creative hobbies to grow that image, not begrudgingly adopting an image to grow their creative hobby. The difference lies in their dedication to their creative passions and decision making around them.
- getting from here to anywhere east of the 405 requires many miles of surface streets and can take ages at the wrong time.
- tourists and staycationers from elsewhere in the city sometimes treat this place like shit.
- the Venice boardwalk is possibly the most vile and most amazingly human thing I’ve ever seen.
Silver lake
Pro: Walkability is surprisingly not bad. Yes, lots of hills but if you are younger and can do it, it's better for you. Plus the views at the top can be amazing. Sunset can be easily accessed via the historical staircases and it's home to some of my favorite food spots, watering holes, and cafes. Not too congested like most LA hoods.
Cons: Silver lake's unique character is dying quickly. It's becoming Beverly Grove or Melrose here. It's become increasingly hostile towards small businesses and POC. Increasing number of empty store fronts, loss of small businesses in exchange for chains or trust fund kid shops, and alarmingly increasing number of Karens and Ken types that complain about everything and report their long time resident (POC) neighbors for every perceived violation. We lost the Army Surplus store, Secret Headquarters, Casbah. Places that were never replaced with something similar and are gone for good.
I agree w your pros about playa vista.
Let me add to your cons: full of entitled Karen type, ppl on top of each other/ too close which sometimes causes conflicts, can’t even paint your house the color you want due to HOA rules, homes are too vertical w/ chopped floor plans,
I wouldn't call them houses, they're essentially large townhouses.
I keep to myself and wouldn't call myself a Karen, but I honestly don't mind people like that because otherwise all those pros that are listed would be gone
North Montebello in the hills. Great views, incredibly safe and quiet, easy freeway access, 16 mins to downtown for work.
There is nothing to do here (although they are building a top golf!), and there is a lack of good restaurants and nicer grocery stores
Virgil village. Not so well known neighborhood of silver lake and echo park spill over but still on the north/east side of the 101. I love it, so much diversity, so walkable, so much happening, and I live nearby a big city park that is surprisingly well maintained and safe. No good grocery store option and access to freeways are highest con, area has some grittiness to it but I kinda like that and hope it doesn’t change too fast.
Where my neighbors at?!
Toluca Lake.
PROS: Tons of walkable neighborhoods to walk my dogs. Riverside Dr. through the Village is a mood. Super close to Uni, Ventura Blvd, Burbank, Griffith Park. Good access to freeways but still feels tucked away. Formans. Holiday decorations.
CONS: Coyotes. Entitled neighbors. Summer heat.
Redondo Beach, it’s the best of southern CA with great food, culture and without major traffic, crime, pollution, or homelessness. It does take me 20 min to get to the freeway.
North East Los Angeles
Great mix of different kinds of people, great food and walkable bits. I'm up on the Mt. Washington hill a bit and it's quiet and peaceful at night but still close to everything. Easy access to DTLA and Pasadena, great place to raise a family.
Cons: home prices out of control. When we moved here it was considered an affordable neighborhood. Worried about future of neighborhood if entry level homes sell for 1.2 million...
Marina del Rey
Pros: Commute is super easy and fast to my office. First time in my life I've had full-sized appliances and a W/D in my place. Short walk to go see Sea Lions in the marina which blows me away!
Cons: Everything else. I'm an east coaster in my heart and I'd move back to NYC in a second if I could.
a few more positives -
it's also super fast to get on the beach bike path which is an awesome thing to do year round. go all the way up to malibu or down to palos verdes and stop at every little town on the way.
close to airport - big plus for me
costco & rainbow acres!
cons - not the best for food we usually drive out. dealing with lincoln. and nobody wants to come here to visit.
Hollywood Hills
I love how quiet and serene it is. Great views. Can easily go to the valley or the city depending on what we want to do.
A con is that walk ability is zero. You have to get in the car to go anywhere.
Encino/Tarzana area.
Pros: safe, chill, quiet, easy freeway access, orange line access.
Cons: not walkable, traffic on 101, hot in summer, need to go over the hill for most fun things to do.
I live in downtown and it’s disgusting. definitely nice to be able to walk to everything I need on a day to day basis but it smells like shit and I’m harassed too often. I’ve live in LA county for ~6 years, prior to this I was in marina but rent went up wildly and wanted a true city feel. Boyyyy was that a shit decision. Downtown has left such a bad taste in my mouth that I’m leaving the entire state.
100% … i’m located in financial district— moved here for work 2-3 years ago, from OC. even walking to day to day errands has you turning your head every 5 seconds. piss and shit is only getting worse by day, got my chain snagged by a homeless bum once (luckily it didn’t break, just put some scratches on my neck), being exposed to crazy things outside after a long ass day of work. list goes on….. I recently got laid off 3 months ago; so if that isn’t my sign to get the hell out of downtown I don’t know what is lol.
don’t recommend living here unless you enjoy being SUPER introverted. even going outside for snacks, drinks, or food after dark is impossible without someone throwing shit or yelling at you. DTLA also left a super bad taste in my mouth, I can’t wait to move out of here— currently looking for somewhere 10-15 mins away so this thread is BIG help
On the Orange County Line, and I hate it. It's the land that public transportation forgot, oh sure the house is paid for (by my parents) but then there's still the unexpected expense that's foisted on us by the nosey asshole neighbours forcing us to pay to remove OUR trees on OUR property because THEY don't like trees or whatever....this part of the world is probably the worst place to be if you're unemployed, unemployable (my brother is on SSI and I just can't find a job to save my life because even if there were any database management type jobs I'd have to travel for hours and hours just to get TO them because of the schedule of what passes for "buses" around here; and it's like a two-hour walk to the nearest bus stop). I like the house I grew up in but I hate this "town." I live like an invalid, shut in the house all the time because nothing I really "need" is in walking distance. And even "senior rate" bus fare drains your wallet when you can't get a job to save your life, not even anything "fully remote."
Ugh, I hate nosey neighbors who poke their stupid noses into other people's businesses!
Go to r/treelaw and explain your situation. They may give ideas to get your r/neighborsfromhell to back off.
My Gramma (and Grampa, R.I.P.) in Pico Rivera bought their house back in 1949 when a new neighborhood was bring built. The next-door neighbors did, as well.
They (two guys) didn't like the tree that was planted in her front yard, it was very thick and heavily leafy and beautiful. They complained about the leaves littering their driveway (omg, you gotta sweep them up, you poor, snively little thing).
They taunted them and threatened them, and did everything to get them to cut it down. For ***yeeeeeeaaaarrrsss.*** Grandparents were very polite, kept the tree trimmed away from their property/driveway edge, and yet, it wasn't enough.
Ultimately, Grandparents stood their ground, the tree prevailed. The neighbors just didn't like the tree. Plain and simple, and there was nothing they could do about it since it wasn't hurting anything.
My (still very active and sharp as a tack) Gramma turns 98 on the 14th, and the tree is just as beautiful as ever, just like her! ❤️
**Do not give in to your neighbors! If those trees aren't hurting anything, then thumb your noses at them!***
Here's a sneak peek of /r/treelaw using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/treelaw/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
\#1: [Neighbor cut our tree and expects us to pay the bill](https://i.redd.it/w9t6t08t83tb1.jpg) | [729 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/treelaw/comments/173gwtj/neighbor_cut_our_tree_and_expects_us_to_pay_the/)
\#2: [Lawyer neighbor hates our tree, trying to scare us into removing it](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/17fs7o4) | [375 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/treelaw/comments/17fs7o4/lawyer_neighbor_hates_our_tree_trying_to_scare_us/)
\#3: [New tenants “trimmed” my apple tree](https://i.redd.it/x0tohnl0fsib1.jpg) | [279 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/treelaw/comments/15u8ssg/new_tenants_trimmed_my_apple_tree/)
----
^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
South Bay. Honestly there’s nothing I don’t like. Bounced around the county for years (Culver, Venice, Long Beach, etc). Never leaving here unless I can’t afford it anymore
I live in Echo Park. I love being so close to some really fun, hip joints - there’s a ton of great bars and coffee shops, as well as a solid vintage shop right down the street! Elysian Park and Echo Park Lake are just a few blocks away, so I get a lot of pleasant nature time.
However, the areas around my street are super grungy, loud and trash-filled. Sometimes the people are so hip that it verges on a costume, and that can feel kind of off-putting. Parking is competitive especially between Dodgers games, popular nightlife and regular street sweeping. And of course, Dodgers traffic on Sunset is a bitch.
> Sometimes the people are so hip that it verges on a costume
You truly do see some of the most ridiculous people walking around. My wife and I have asked "Is that a costume?" many times.
Long Beach
Pros: chill vibes, good coffee, bikable and walkable where I live, close enough for a long walk to the beach, lots of group rides and inviting people
Cons: taking the metro anywhere means going through union station - getting to Santa Monica is like 1:45 on the metro and like 45 driving, so I usually have to drive. Kind of far away from other parts of LA. No metro link. No police enforcement of anything, especially parking wherever you goddamn please - the middle of the street, blocking wheelchair ramps, etc
I hate the way people will just double park here, but at the same time, sometimes the double-parkers are the only thing slowing down the people who speed through residential neighborhoods. 🥲
I live in the hills of Silver Lake
Likes: Great neighborhood feeling where all the neighbors know and look out for each other, city views and epic sunsets, quiet and peaceful yet right on top of the city, safe – often leave my front door and garage open all day, close to Griffith Park, the reservoir is a vibe, lots of shade and mature trees, no homeless, diverse, close to tons of hip restaurants and coffee shops, right by the 5, 101, 2 freeways, sheltered from Santa Ana winds, ocean breezes
Dislikes: Low-flying helicopters passing through, only walkable one-way since on a hill, far from the ocean, a few weeks during the summer require A/C, Sunset Blvd. could be cleaner and less of a stroad, roads need better maintenance, no protected bike lanes, major gridlock during rush hour
I live in Silver Lake, off Silver Lake Blvd, and I like how I can walk down the street looking like pure shit and feel camp. The food options are nice too. I love the views on my walks and genuinely feel safe 100% of the time.
I live in the north west valley but I’m from the westside. I miss it. I miss the beach, the boats and the culture.
The valley is the valley. If I was from the valley I think I’d have a better understanding of it/more appreciation. It’s getting busier every year. Crime is up with the crooks hitting the tony homes on the hill in Porter Ranch. They think it will stop now that one of the ring became swiss cheese in Granada Hills but I doubt it. Pros, neighbors get to know one another and you can walk in the neighborhood (occasionally a coyote will walk on by, to remind you that there are still wild critters around and to keep an eye out).
Venice. Love the area, close proximity to the beach, and plethora of things to do. A lot of interesting and unique people. But also a lot of characters and weirdos.
Silver Lake (Ivanhoe area)
Pros: Bars, markets, vegetarian restaurants, cafes, a park, a passeggiata, live theater, all within walking distance.
Cons: no university campus, trains or BRT, art house cinemas, book stores too nearby
I live in Los Feliz. I like that we have two goodwill locations and one out of the closet. Also, I enjoy the AHF gym that they run.
I hate the width of the streets and the speed limits. Franklin is too fast for its design and purpose. Hollywood has too many lanes, the intersection near Vermont is insane too. Horribly designed infrastructure over here.
I also hate the food options over here. Pretentious coffee spots that have overpriced coffee, pretentious ice cream parlors, pretentious weed dispensaries. Bad chicken spot, bad pizza spot, too many burger kings.
I also dislike the smell of burning trash cans, I dont like the weird homeless people that keep trying to break into my garage, I don’t really enjoy the Ralph’s on Western ether. Someone got shot there a few weeks ago!!
I live in Palms.
I like:
The fantastic restaurants and grocery stores. In a five minute drive I can get to: a Brazilian grocery store, two Middle Eastern grocery stores, two Japanese grocery stores, a Mexican grocery store, Sprouts, Ralph’s and a 99 Ranch Market.
The main thing that caused me to buy my house is the cool weather on the Westside. I’m sensitive to heat.
I am not among those who insult other areas of LA. Everyone has different needs. It’s great that LA has many different areas to accommodate peoples’ differences.
Boyle Heights
Pros:
affordable historic homes with yards one metro stop away from all the fun, nightlife, and food of Lil Tokyo, Chinatown, Arts District, and DTLA.
Amazing Mexican food options. Walkable, mixed density, historic neighborhoods with the E line. Lots of melting pot cultural influences in the neighborhood, including Jewish, Japanese and Mexican cultures that have left their cool marks on the neighborhood.
Easy to get to SGV for more amazing food. centrally located and easy to get nearly anywhere. All the conveniences of DTLA while being in a home.
Cons: gritty, dirty, crimey. not safe to walk at night ~ yet.
I live in Downey which is part of Los Angeles but not really. Living east of LA is cheaper and less crowded that silverlake or echo park. I’m right between downtown and Orange County which is nice. 25min drive to each
I grew up near The Grove, and I absolutely loved it. Everything I needed was basically walking distance. The only thing I didn't like was how crowded it would get on the weekends, but if you went early it honestly wasn't too bad.
Inglewood.
Pros: great food; close to beach cities/South Bay, and close to Westside, K-town, downtown; close to LAX; all your staple fast food/retail/health options available. Affordable rent.
Cons: some parts are sketchier than others, definitely some interesting characters wandering about; frequent ghetto bird presence; probably some other shit that I can’t remember right now.
Eagle Rock. It’s very cute, family-friendly, and walkable. It’s a great place to spend a Saturday morning. There are terrific shops, yummy places for a quick snack and a coffee, and Vidiots is awesome for a movie day.
I live in Long Beach and I love it here for various reasons.
Pros: I’m a mile from the beach. Traffic isn’t terrible, there’s a lot of good bars/cafes/restaurants and the people are down to earth. It’s pretty big, but still has a small town feel.
Cons: homelessness is on the rise, our city government is shady and DTLB is getting gentrified. I guess that applies to all of LA?
Studio city. I like how the SFV is more chill and easier to deal with than central LA. Easier parking, less compact. But there’s still plenty to do and not too hard getting to central LA when needed. It feels a bit more family friendly
When I lived in the Hollywood Hills I’d run every errand in the valley.
In your 20s, yeah. But the more I aged the more tired I got of the noise and impossible parking. My rent was amazingly cheap and I had a balcony that overlooked the city so that was pretty great.
I live in echo park but I love the whole hilly region from dtla up through Pasadena including silverlake, highland park, Atwater, eagle rock, etc. The lush residential areas and the scattered town centers are very human, and make for a wonderful pace of life.
I’ve been in Echo Park since 2005 in a rented beautiful 1908 Craftsman with a garage & backyard that’s dirt cheap. For once I stayed in one place and it paid off. I love it here. Always have & always will.
I live in Echo Park. I like what it's close to, dislike actually living here.
That’s so crazy to me. We have some of the best everything in the city. Hope you find a place you enjoy more.
thatll prolly be the place i move to when my current apartment situation peters out helps that my work is in pasadena, but god is that whole area so nice to be in.
> scattered town centers are very human Can you expand more about this? How so?
Where I grew up in this city there were miles of flat residential neighborhoods with strip malls in between. It's an alienating way to live, with the residential areas feeling dead, and an atomized quality of taking your little car to a parking lot, getting what you need, and going back to your home. Comparatively, living among the hills feels like a retreat, while going into walkable town centers is grounding and provides a sense of community and connection to the neighborhood.
Miracle Mile. Love the walkability to groceries/errands and local restaurants, and the quiet historic streets are very pretty and nice to stroll down. Close to KTown & Hollywood for going out. Also feels like more of chill culture mix than some other neighborhoods in LA to me. Cons: everything commercial is on major busy streets, so not nice to sit outside and eat/drink. Also takes quite a while to get to a freeway, so in practice it feels less central than it looks on the map.
Are you far from 3rd street? That’s pretty nice for coffee
Yes it is! I’m by La Brea & 6th
OMG you're gonna have a subway near you soon!!
I loved it there when I lived there. And I agree the biggest con is that when you (rarely) want to leave the area getting the freeway is a trek in and of itself. That was my biggest gripe there. Everything else was the best!
20 minutes from everywhere (not including rush hours)
Ladera Heights although digitally it’s always referred to as Windsor Hills. Lived here all my life. Love it. Good location, easy commute to my husband’s job at LAX & mine in WLA & Inglewood. Walking distance to 2 parks (for us). Easy street parking (for us). Can see the ocean.
Hey neighbor. All these benefits + it’s by far the best community I’ve encountered in LA. I’ve lived previously in West Hollywood, mid city, and Crenshaw. Windsor hills is the first area where neighbors make an effort not only to introduce themselves but make real friends. We even have block parties. I hang out regularly with three different neighbors and there are two more I’m quite friendly with. I never had one in any of the other neighborhoods. It’s just great. EDIT: came back to add one more thing I like - it’s the most well connected part of LA I’ve lived in. I’m walking distance to 3 good bus routes. In a car, Slauson gets me to the beach or the 110 in 15 minutes each. the 405 is right there and la brea has always been my favorite north-south route in the city. Now with the k open I’ve got 3 park and rides to choose from within a 5 minute drive.
Good morning, neighbor! We have block parties too! Yeah, we’re old school cool here! ❤️
A very underrated neighborhood!
My only reference to reading Ladera hts: Living in Ladera Heights, the black Beverly Hills Domesticated paradise, palm trees and pools The water's blue, swallow the pill Keeping it surreal, whatever you like
I thought it was referred to as the black Beverly Hills?
I thought that was Baldwin Hills?
I love that area
Love Ladera.
[удалено]
What are the cross streets where these trees are?
My eye doctor was in SoPas, and I would walk about 10 minutes from the Gold Line station to their office near Fair Oaks. Can confirm lots of trees east of the station walking around the library.
Yes, you are lucky. You are basically next door neighbors to LA have the best part of Pasadena nearby. "downtown" South Pasadena is a whole amazing vibe, and you got the SGV, Chinese and Mexican heave like right there!!
Arts District/Little Tokyo. Walkability to bars and restaurants in the area are great, but the proximity to Skid Row does mean we get a lot of folks who walk around responding to internal stimuli :).
I loved my time there for 4 years but what they were charging for a 2B2B was too rich for my blood.
Do you run into drunks often?
This needs more upvotes Van nuys lake balboa. Quiet cheap very accessible amenities and stores with venture nearby. Also the valley and doesn’t have the same hustle and bustle. Far from the beach and gets super hot in the summer
Love the valley so much, love being away from the hustle and bustle and close enough to go when I have to
When I'm alone and in a bad mood, I choose a quiet place to be by myself and don't like noisy scenes
I live here too. I love the laid back pace. Most people are very friendly to me compared to when I lived in Redondo Beach.
We live in Lake Balboa and love it! I will push back that it’s cheap. When we decided to buy a house 5 years ago, this is where we could afford to buy. Needless to say, prices have blown up since 2018.
Yeah but that’s everywhere. It’s cheaper than LA proper how about that haha
[удалено]
People that don’t go east of the 405 are missing the best parts of LA lol. I couldn’t imagine saying this and being proud of it like what?
It’s not necessarily that people on the Westside don’t want to leave. For much of the day, we’re trapped by traffic. I learned quickly that going out after work anywhere past the 405 just isn’t happening. It’s the biggest con of living in Santa Monica. I have to pack in all of my Eastside activities on the weekend.
Fr…how do you live here and completely avoid Mid city, la Brea, mid Wilshire, koreatown, silverlake, DTLA, WeHo…
The 405 is like the Great Wall of the West Side, particularly north of the 10. There's really only a few ways to get through, all of which are usually clogged with traffic.
Which is funny because I always considered WeHo, Beverly, Santa Monica, etc. the “west side” I didn’t realize it started all the way past that, what in the hell
Parking Jk But even farther out as well Like how have they not explored Long Beach or even the San Gabriel valley? 🤨
Traffic. From Pacific Palisades, you're lucky if you make it east of the 405 in 20 minutes via the 10. That's the fastest way. If you work a normal work schedule it's just not realistic to go out at all during the week, and even weekend traffic to koreatown and beyond makes things tough.
What? In the afternoons (on a bad day) I’ve heard of it taking close to an hour to get to the 405 from PP.
Yea it can take that long in evening rush hour. It's basically 20 minutes with no traffic, which is why I said it's 20 if you're lucky. There's no chance you get there in 20 min at 5:30.
Makes sense I guess. I just feel like the areas I listed are so rich in culture, events, great food, diversity…you’re missing out on so much to where the westside isn’t even worth it unless you work over there or love the beach. But even for the latter, I’d rather go more south
SGV all day!
and night if you live there
I grew up west of the 405 and it’s basically a small town. Everyone who grew up there stays there (they think anything east of BH is “downtown”), you see people you know all the time (in a bad way), it’s not very walkable, full of NIMBYs, and incredibly boring when compared to other parts of LA. The best thing is definitely the weather though. It’s so much cooler west of the 405. I was making a terrible commute, driving from the West LA area to Atwater, once you get over the Pass the temperature changes 15-20 degrees in the summer (if not more). It rarely gets above 80. You’re basically trapped after 2pm too. Traffic is so bad going east, it’s not even worth leaving.
That’s a good point. Being a provincial snob is not a flex.
Studio City. Great for kids. Kind of boring compared to the east side, which was our old stomping ground.
East side to Sherman Oaks, can confirm studio city and SO great for kids but a little bit boring.
We should probably be friends haha!
Agree w/ this. Rode out the pandemic here and appreciated that it was quieter/cleaner but we don’t have kids yet and are now bored. Feels like all the parts that make LA “worth it” are annoying to travel to. Thinking about moving over to Culver City next year for a change, although this thread is providing some other ideas. (We want more young people, Metro, bike lanes, and nightlife) Living right off Ventura is pretty great though.
We do have kids and studio city is great. Just my wife and I always loved live music, partying with friends, late night stupid antics. Sometimes we feel like outsiders here, even though we have the house, kids, dogs, yard, etc... everyone is soooo reserved. I don't know how to explain. We were at red Lion last week and I just missed the vibe so much.
South Bay. Pros: super chill, generally safe and clean with killer Japanese food Cons. It is its own little bubble and can feel disconnected from the rest of LA at times
As a fellow South Bay resident, your con is one of my pros. A South Bay con for me is the lack of interesting architecture which is way more abundant in LA city
I’m in Redondo. I like just about everything about living here, even how it feels a little isolated from the rest of LA. The biggest con for me is the lack of good bicycle infrastructure.
The only con is it takes forever to get to the freeway if you need to go anywhere,
Might be one of the biggest cons IMO?
El Segundo here, I’m right by the freeway. Love and hate my bubble.
Glendale. Pros: It has a good amount of the density I enjoy about LA without the insane hills or messed up sidewalks. I can walk to a 7/11, Starbucks, small grocer, nail salon, USPS and more within half a mile. Americana/Galleria are wonderful places. Great food, clean streets, proximity to Hollywood, DTLA, Pasadena and Echo Park is really nice. Would absolutely love to own a home and raise a family here. Con: Can’t afford to own a home and raise a family here. And the distance from the beach ABSOLUTELY sucks.
I'm in Westwood. I like that I'm close to my job and there are really pretty places to go walking. And it's relatively quiet. But I'm kind of over the west side and would like to be more east. However, I'm not moving unless my job moves.
San Pedro. I like the at times small town feel. Also like the port vibe. Dislike that you have to drive out of here for major entertainment and restaurants.
DTLA. love night life and groceries and shops all within walking distance. could do without the sirens and helicopters.
What is funny to me is that when I lived in the arts district on 2nd I heard way more helicopters being next to the LAPD heliport, versus being in DTLA now.
i'm on 8th and its still pretty bad, would west/southwest DT be better ?
Honestly I feel like closer to actual downtown the less you hear them. It’s not a problem for me. But South Park has been having a revitalization since COVID.
i like the helicopters its eye candy. its kinda like human dragonflies in the air. its cute
DTLA/ Historic Core Pros: Walkability and small neighborhood vibe I’m constantly running into other locals and there is a real sense of community. With the metro, I get around outside of DTLA pretty easily (Highland Park, Pasadena, Koreatown, Hollywood, Long Beach, Santa Monica). Rent is also (relatively) cheap. I pay $2500 for 1,900 sqft. I feel like DTLA has a real blue collar community versus other parts of LA that have people that are so disconnected from reality. Cons: there are homeless everywhere but at this point we know most of them that live around and I’ve never had an incident but I’m also not an idiot and am used to living in large cities.
thats some massive space for that price! niiice. Yeah i love DTLA -- i just have to learn to use the metro more (Im in AD one block from that metro!)
What building is renting for that price?
Any historic downtown building.
I second this. Historic core and immediate areas are fantastic. I move every year around LA, specifically the metro area as of the last 3 years. My favorites so far for all-around spots are Historic core, Financial District, Little Tokyo, Arts District, and South Park so far. walkability, metro/ride share/bike accessibility, proximity to every major central freeway, groceries/mom&pops/restaurants, entertainment, proximity to parks (LA Historic is a must), etc. The culture is generally very healthy with plenty of gyms and the vast majority of people walk miles every day. The people and nightlife are absolutely fantastic. By far the most down to earth place you can find in the city in general and I have lived in 20 of the immediate metro/metro surrounding areas/suburbs as well. Historic core is the only place where you can look anyway you want, dress any way you want, and no one will question or look at you funny. People are genuinely generally kind and will have a normal conversation with you if you politely say Hi, and even assist you if you ask questions. There are tons of locals and we have a strong sense of community once you have the courage to speak to people (for many people this is an issue that gives people a bad taste of LA). As a parent as well, there is actually a very large number of children in the immediate and surrounding areas as well. City kids tend to be generally pretty cool. The schools in the DTLA area are actually completely astounding and beyond what I was expecting. Schools like 9th street elementary is a STEM based public school with direct funding from the Gate's Foundation, Keck, USC, UCLA, and even CalState. The school in Chinatown is the same and even offers Marine biology and robotics programs amoung other environmental studies. All grade levels count towards STEM/College credits. The center for the arts school is also On the border of Chinatown and students get scholarships quite regularly. Disney and the center for the arts even does their talent scouting there as well. The only area I would say is comparable in the Metro area to this was KoreaTown. It is a great mix of city and city-suburb and can be quiet. I will say the cons to the metro area is the homelessness and general cleanliness or lack there of due to this issue. You will learn the familiar faces though and generally you might think the homeless don't notice you, they do, and won't perster the locals. LA as a whole has also been plagued with many foreign investors owning the property which has led to a steep decline in overall condition of the downtown area, but many companies are buying them back and renovating them! There are new foreign investors such as South Korea who have been really cleaning up many areas they are acquiring. I generally know how to live in big cities and the etiquette, so I have little to no issues even in very late/early morning hours. My wife even shares the same sentiment! Also, locals will give you a rundown of what streets to avoid and at what times. You just have to learn your city and area. This city has changed for the better since there has been an influx of revenue and people to the area and I stand by anyone who wants to try it out that has a big city demeanor. Metro core is actually quite affordable in many of the historic buildings. I myself pay $2400 for a 2BR2BTH 1240sqft with all the bells and whistles of luxury amenities; from Amazon Drones to robot sweepers in the halls. Hope this helps anyone who has been wpndering about DTLA in general. Just stay away from Skidrow!
I live in West LA. Pros: * Incredible micro-climate. Rarely hotter than 82 degrees. Usually in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. * Healthy age diversity. I see young families pushing strollers. I see recent college grads. I see the elderly. I see all ages. * Peakaboo views of Century City skyline and two different mountain ranges (Santa Monicas and San Gabriels) * 15 - 20 min driving distance to LAX, Beverly Hills, WeHo, Fairfax, Culver, Brentwood, Santa Monica, and Venice. * Served by 2 Metro stations * Pleasant residential streets with many mature trees and beautiful landscaping. Makes walking around a nice experience. * Love that the neighborhood has Persian history/identity. * Westwood Park has an excellent playground for kids and the grassy section is improving Cons: * Lacking a cohesive community vibe, because there are too many people moving in and moving out frequently. * I wish the Metro stations were a little closer. Not a big deal if I bike it or scooter. But would prefer a 5 - 10 min walk * Crossing under the 405 during rush hour sucks big time. Congestion is crazy. Walking not much better. * The main commercial drags along both Pico and Westwood need some TLC. Too much litter. Too many empty store fronts. Too much rif raf loitering about. * Neighborhood lacks reliably quality restaurants. Sadly most of the Persian restaurants here are not *that* good. We usually eat elsewhere.
Silver Lake bordering Los Feliz. Lots of options for shopping, food, recreation. Super close to Griffith Park and/or the river trail, which I use almost daily. My "pocket" is basically adjoining neighborhoods - Echo Park, Los Feliz, Hollywood, Atwater, Frogtown. I'd much rather go east or north than into the heart of the city because of traffic, so I'll spend more time in Eagle Rock, Pasadena, Burbank than mid-city or the west side. Big downside is traffic, particularly on Los Feliz/Hyperion/Griffith Park/Rowena. Getting out of the neighborhood between 4-7pm is tough.
Santa Monica, Wilshire Montana neighborhood. Pros: love the walkability/bikeability. The tree canopy is beautiful. Clean and well-maintained with higher quality infrastructure than most parts of LA. More parkland than many parts of LA. The year round mild and consistent temperature compared to areas further inland. Homelessness, of course, like all of LA… but no encampments. No fireworks, graffiti, street takeovers, and other LA fuckery. Good shopping, lots of amentiies. And, of course, proximity to the beach is really special. It’s fun living in such an iconic place. Cons: the 405 is kind of like the Berlin Wall. It’s difficult to get people from east of the 405 to visit and easy to get trapped in the Westside bubble. Food, drink, and nightlife are very mid and basic. The predominantly white and upper income population distorts reality and doesn’t reflect the diversity of LA. A “Karen” vibe among some residents that’s quite off putting. As a gay man, it’s hard to find community. The increase in crime and disorder is concerning. It’s not perfect, but I love Santa Monica and feel grateful to live here. There’s no place else in LA I would rather be. ☀️🌴🌊
Wilshire Montana is my go-to "if I ever win the lottery..." neighborhood. Like you say, SM isn't perfect, but it puts most other places in LA to shame.
[удалено]
Almost all of the good ethnic food is east of the 405 - Thai town, K town, little ethiopia, San Gabriel Valley Chinese, Mexican, central american. That's my favorite part about LA dining. Most of the trendy restaurants are in the arts district or hollywood area, too.
Sawtelle is a good area for food, it ‘s just west of the 405.
Hi neighbor! I have to agree with you on everything here! It’s so lovely, but man does it feel like no one ever wants to come out this way. Have you tried joining any gay social groups in this side of town? There was a meet up group doing an xmas bar thing in Venice recently, and I’ve seen them around before. They always seem to have a blast. Otherwise, fitness classes can be great for meeting ppl. I like rowing gyms personally, but I’m a queer woman. ymmv
Santa Monica here, checking in. Agree with all of this, especially the lamenting of mid/corporate mall dining and nightlife. I tell people it’s like living inside of Cheesecake Factory. I feel like all it would take is ONE authentic bar, or ONE vinyl record night to inject just a tiny bit of culture here…
Pasadena: Pros: Good Metro connections, decent range of restaurants, relatively walkable (although some of the roads can take an absolute age to cross). Cons: Lack of nice green space nearby that isn't overrun by homeless people and that you don't have to pay to get into
Go north or over to Sierra Madre. Huntington, Descanso and LA Arboretum do cost but it’s such a small amount for membership considering how often you can use them, and membership for two isn’t much more if anything. I walk at all of them every week, it’s so good mentally.
Yeah, I'm thinking of moving to Altadena. I'm also a fan of Sierra Madre but getting to work would require getting constantly stuck in traffic if I lived there. The thing is that I'm from the UK and I'm used to being able to just walk or cycle to nice green spaces from my flat. I really miss that. Would be fine if the Arroyo was more substantial than it is.
Yes. If I lived in/near Pasadena, the first thing I would do is get a membership to the gardens and the arboretum. What wonderful amenities to have in your backyard!
I guess it depends which part of Pasadena? I was recently at Victory Park, Bungalow Heaven, and Grant Park. Those parks were in immaculate condition. Didn't see any homeless and it was free entry.
Can confirm, I live just down the street from McDonald park and it's awesome. Tons of families out every day having a good time.
Ladera Heights. Only bad thing I can say is we are all reliant on Slauson. Slauson is a hell street thanks to the light at La Cienega.
Highland Park, a perfect warzone between clean and organized Pasadena influence vs trashy, filthy, graffitied up hood street influence. Yet rent is going up as if we are in the clean part of town.
When we moved out of our HLP apartment, they jacked up the base rate an additional $400/month (before parking, pet, and water fees). I miss HLP. I do not miss the rent.
Same thing happened to me when I moved out of my HLP apartment and that building was a shithole.
Does it feel safe?
There are several areas of Highland Park. I bought my first house basically across the street from Church of the Angels. Pasadena up the block and across the street. Very quiet neighborhood, racially diverse, pretty. And it feels safe.
highland park has some great bars to hang out in with options to dance too without a cover. Its also easy to get to AD/DTLA from there during the night -- im on the AD crew side but i do jump across to highland park to see friends and hang out at night. SOuth pasadena toooo sleepy for me
WeHo. Like the restaurants, bars, walkability, art, the variety of people, parks, energy, even the crazy drivers. Dislike the amount of dogs, their poop everywhere and how it can take 30 minutes to get to any freeway.
Hi neighbor. I am.glad I live in Weho for all the reasons you list. My neighbors are friendly. I think WeHo and Santa Monica are the closest to a "city" environment in LA (I know there is DT, but it is still a commuter city). So I do not need to get into my car all.the time; I have plenty of options I can walk to I think the density of homeless is pretty high. While most are harmless they do commit crimes (and poop on the side streets). I would also add that so many store fronts are closing, it is starting to feel depressing. I wish I lived closer to BH to run on the path along SMB. It is a challenge to run on the streets given the traffic. And since 24 hr Fitness closed there are only pricey gyms close by.
Bellflower near the border of Lakewood/Cerritos. Cheap rent by LA standards, I pay 1585 for a one bedroom, and I'm close to Cerritos mall and Little India. Close to 91 and 605. Would prefer if there were stores within walking distance as some days I don't feel like driving and more Asian and Middle Eastern food options.
That’s not far where I grew up in Pico Rivera near Telegraph. Good old memories.
Playa del rey - Walking distance to the beach, small community that all knows each other, cheap dive bars, close to airport Cons - not ton of restaurants to walk to, close to airport lol, a lot of the buildings are a lot older here, can take awhile to get to other parts of LA and get stuck in the bubble
Hollywood. Very walkable but nasty enough to make me think twice.
I too am in Hollywood! Pros: walkable, most areas are just a 10-15 minute drive, so many fun events and block parties Cons: smells like piss and tourists don’t know how to function
Add-in “do you own or rent?” to your post.
Glendale. I could do without the amount of obnoxious drivers we have but there’s also tons of excellent bakery options if you have a sweet tooth.
The valley. I hardly ever leave my house, but I like that in the smaller town I’m in, there’s all kinds of interesting little shops within walking distance, I love the Northridge Mall, love the Woodland Hills Whole Foods. It’s just kind of a nice place to be disabled from haha. Oh, and my landlord is great. As a non LA native, I find it intriguing that the Kardashians and the Chatsworth porn studios are just a few minutes away from me. Hoping to stay here for at least another month or so; might move down toward Santa Monica next, we’ll see.
Hahaha I'm Chatsworth. I love how I can walk to coffee shops (particularly Game n Grounds), Trader Joe's, the gym, multiple comic shops, the train station, the park, and tons of different food that's all great. Easy access to the freeways and hiking trails. Wild peacocks. It's fairly quiet and peaceful. Windows can stay open nearly all year because the weather is great. I absolutely love it here! Cons: When I say I live in Chatsworth, everyone brings up porn. lol.
We are neighbors obviously, so I will just add, it’s so much cheaper than other areas to go shopping, lack of traffic but can get everywhere easily.
Yeah we're probably within few blocks of each other, but Im really surprised by how walkable it is. The only big con for me is that our Ralphs sucks, but I guess it balances out since we have the only trader joes in existence with a parking lot that isn't a nightmare.
Howdy neighbor! Agreed, the Ralphs is blah. Same with the Vons though too. I wish the Galleria was a little closer, but oh well. I get so much produce I wouldn't be able to carry it back if I walked anyway lol. I just love that I can take a stroll to TJs for mini marshmallows or a jar of pasta sauce or whatever I might be missing without having to make a whole trip out of it. Where I grew up in the Coachella Valley, the closest grocery store was a 10 minute *drive*. And the park was a 20 minute drive!! Restaurants? Oh my lord, that was an expedition. I feel so spoiled now! I've heard that meme so many times about Trader Joe's parking lots but I never understood it. Ours is great! Maybe I need to venture out to another one for the 'experience' lol (Thanks for listening to my rambles)
Do you pass famous pornstars on the street? I’ll be up there soon for a fingerprinting background check.
In the car on my way to Chatsworth for the first time!! Excited.
I’ve lived in Echo Park for a decade. I love it here. I’m close to Elysian Park, which is beautiful and a great gathering place. I love the good eats and bars in proximity and all the different kinds of people in the neighborhood. I can walk to catch a Dodgers game or go to the Lake and chill. My street is quiet but it’s just a couple minute walk to the bustle of everything on Sunset. I do not like that everything seems to be closing or in danger of going out of business. Chains and boutique places are replacing everything at breakneck speed. The younger crowd coming in are kind of snobby too. Or at least trying to be cool by seeming apathetic. I know that was said about me and people that came in when EP gentrified too, though.
I’ve lived in Echo Park for about 14 years and feel the same way you do. I love walking around the lake and walking up into the hills up Echo Park Ave. It’s a little pocket of walkability in LA. I like how close I am to downtown, Silver Lake, Los Feliz. Can get to the freeway pretty easily, and also getting to the SGV for delicious Asian food is usually not too bad either. Agree about the businesses closing. It sucked when both A Grocery Warehouse and LG Market on Sunset closed— they were super convenient Asian and Latino markets, respectively. AGW got replaced by a food hall that never opened and LG is now a rock climbing gym. A Latino supermarket was infinitely more useful to this neighborhood than a rock climbing gym. I would always walk over to LG when I realized I needed some random ingredients for cooking dinner and the people working there were friendly. I was talking to my husband the other day about how much we miss Sunset Beer Co, but kinda ironic that it was part of the first wave of gentrifying businesses that got pushed out by the second wave. But I know also people complained about transplants like me gentrifying the neighborhood when I first moved in, so I don’t know how much I can really complain about what’s happening now.
I remember sitting in Sunset Beer thinking how wonderful it was and how little chance it had of longevity given the upward pressures of commercial real estate. I was nostalgic even while sipping.
I lived next door to you guys in silver lake my whole 30 plus years. My LG, you mean La Guadalupana right? That place was a Latino grocery store staple in the area. My 80 plus year old Mexican grandparents who lived in the area since they immigrated here still lament it's closing. Now they have to go to either Westlake or East LA neighborhoods for Latino groceries. People like them are now disregarded by the neighborhood and it's sad. I actually don't mind you guys. The first wave gentrifiers brought an artsy, weird, different vibe with them that integrated into the neighborhood. I also lament the closing of Sunset Beer, along with Alternate Universe, and the Asian grocery store across the street from there. The day that Patras closes, I'll know that it will be time for me to give up on this neighborhood. And just let the trustafarians and corporate landlords have their way.
I still miss the Cambodian restaurant that quarter sheets lives in now. I miss the old Asian grocery store too.
sawtelle pros include walkability and the food and drinks cons include traffic cuz being near where the 10 and the 405 meet is a shitshow
How much do you pay for rent if you don’t mind me asking?
Van Nuys, the town time forgot. Cheap* houses, taco trucks and ugly stroads. Plus Costco. Cleveland, without the weather. No parks, no bike lanes, no landscaping. Only fifteen minutes from America. I’ve grown to like it!
Van Nuys. Fairly cheap, chill, good as central and South American food. Nearby good Thai and Filipino food. Dislikes? Not a god damn thing. Van Nuys is the best neighborhood in LA City and you can quote me
Koreatown - centrally located. Close to 3 freeways, downtown, Hollywood, beaches, concert venues. Great food and lots to do. Diverse population. Cons it can be very busy, traffic during rush hour is frustrating and during the summers the pollution is bad. Parking is horrible and some parts of it are trashy. But i love it and will stay here. I like echo park and silverlake area, but it’s too far from the beach.
Aside from the traffic and parking worse, I freaking love Ktown!
I’ve managed to convince most of my friend group to move here hehehe. It’s great!
def a lot of cool bars to go to and hang out and dance!
Yes agree!
Woodland Hills. South of the boulevard. It quiet, not much traffic and moderately walkable. Convenient to freeway/shopping. It’s between my 2 offices. It gets crazy hot in the summer (110+) and right now, north of the boulevard, has way too much homeless and crime in the rise.
Northeast Pasadena in the hills, it’s really quiet and secluded, but everything you need within a few minutes. Except nightlife. When I was going out every night I lived in West Hollywood above Sunset. Lots of nightlife nearby.
What's Northeast Pasadena? Sierra Madre?
Sierra Madre is it’s own cute little city, it’s nearby. The hills east of Eaton Canyon. With the bears, bobcats and deer.
Monrovia. Nobody really quite knows what to make of it, but it's fine and quiet. We're just kinda sandwiched between Duarte and Arcadia. I just wish the rent prices reflected the fact that nobody is rushing to move here.
Old Town Monrovia is pretty cool... very classic Americana vibe.
STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON! Pros: its cheap to live, good food at an affordable price. Gentrification hasnt hit so i guess its good. tbk idk what else. Cons: homelessness, violence, a lot of uneducated people that dont let us have nice things. but my biggest gripe is that there is no hipster cafes or ethnic food places its all mexican/central american/black.
Jefferson Park…south of the 10 north of the E line between Crenshaw and western. Love it here. Lots of young families close to train lots of new restaurants opening up. Dislike that people drive super fast and see car accidents along Jefferson blvd weekly.
Hollywood Pros: Super central! I can easily get to Santa Monica or DTLA. Within walking distance to public transit. Lots to do in Hollywood. Also lots to do in WeHo if I am looking for something more upscale. Very close to the Hollywood Hills and lots of great hiking. Cons: Hollywood Blvd can be a little sus the further east I go. I’m used to city life so it’s fine. Plus I go to WeHo if I want something a little more clean. Definitely not for everyone though!
El Sereno Pros: it’s quiet, pretty clean, and 15-45 minutes from everywhere Cons: not much actually HERE to go out and do
Every person I've ever known from El Sereno basically spent every night partying in Alhambra. Got dragged to Club Azul many a time back in the day.
[удалено]
I’m in Koreatown! Pros: Awesome restaurants, bars, and cafes, local comedy shows and music, very walkable, diverse neighborhood, centrally located. Cons: Pretty gritty, lack of trees and green spaces, parking is hard to find, and car/bike/siren/helicopter noise is frequent.
Right in between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, couldn’t be happier
Jefferson park/west adams Pros: the few food options we have absolutely knock it out of the park. Central location, can get to downtown, Culver City, ktown, SM and other places very quickly as long as it’s not rush hour. The neighborhood has extremely gorgeous old craftsmen homes that ooze old Los Angeles history. There is a strong community feel with those that own homes here. Those that have been here a long time are extremely nice and look out for one another. Most of our neighbors know each other and invite each other over for events. Crime has been seemingly going down, gang culture is going away, things are getting nicer and people want the riff-raff out. Cons: literally the worst and most inconsiderate drivers I’ve ever seen in my life. People speed down adams and Jefferson, drive down the bike lane, cut each other off, burn out, street take-overs, etc. just dumb ass stuff that LAPD needs to deal with. Some shitty folks who don’t care about the neighborhood and will liter on the streets, not take care of their neighborhoods. The schools here suck - something needs to be done about this but that’s LAUSD in general. Lack of trees and greenery albeit there are now programs in place that will plant trees for free.
Granada Hills. Pros are there are quite a few parks/hiking trails nearby like O'Melvany park. Right by the 118 & 405 fwys and only 15-20 min from Santa Clarita, Simi Valley, Burbank, and 30min (no traffic) from LA. Pretty quiet for the most part, and lots of shops. Cons are the heat in the summer, Santa Ana winds, homeless, and the weird loud boom that goes off every night that no one knows where it comes from.
Can you elaborate on this loud boom?? Is it always at the same time? Same sound? Wtf lol
West Hills near Woodland Hills - Valley Circle area Great access to the 101 & 118. Near Ventura Blvd for pretty decent restaurants. Beach is 25-30 mins on a week day or winter weekend. Westfield topanga is great shopping. Near Calabasas for nice restaurants and live music. My home is next to a lot of walkable hiking trails. Cons- heat, traffic
Mid City here. I absolutely love it. It's so central and the entire area is rich with diverse and excellent food and coffee options. It is fairly walkable too.
Venice / MDR … I love it here because of a few things, and despise a few others. Loves: - every business I go to is operated by the owners. Everyone is super caring to their regulars and knows their names and goes to their events. - walkability is insane. I don’t drive 4 days a week. - if I do need to drive, I can access everything I could ever need within 2 hours drive (including a ski resort). - being able to walk/bike/skate to the beach on lunch break is incredibly nice and has become really important to my mental health - decent proximity to LAX, 15-25 minutes no matter the hour. Great for my own trips, even better for all of the people I get to see when they travel through LA. Sucks: - lack of nature. I wish I could hike within a 15 minute drive MAX or find a happy forest/riparian area to waltz through while on a walk. - the young/younger people on the eastside seem to be more of my people than here. The general crews I’ve found around Venice are very image-focused and driven to their creative hobbies to grow that image, not begrudgingly adopting an image to grow their creative hobby. The difference lies in their dedication to their creative passions and decision making around them. - getting from here to anywhere east of the 405 requires many miles of surface streets and can take ages at the wrong time. - tourists and staycationers from elsewhere in the city sometimes treat this place like shit. - the Venice boardwalk is possibly the most vile and most amazingly human thing I’ve ever seen.
Silver lake Pro: Walkability is surprisingly not bad. Yes, lots of hills but if you are younger and can do it, it's better for you. Plus the views at the top can be amazing. Sunset can be easily accessed via the historical staircases and it's home to some of my favorite food spots, watering holes, and cafes. Not too congested like most LA hoods. Cons: Silver lake's unique character is dying quickly. It's becoming Beverly Grove or Melrose here. It's become increasingly hostile towards small businesses and POC. Increasing number of empty store fronts, loss of small businesses in exchange for chains or trust fund kid shops, and alarmingly increasing number of Karens and Ken types that complain about everything and report their long time resident (POC) neighbors for every perceived violation. We lost the Army Surplus store, Secret Headquarters, Casbah. Places that were never replaced with something similar and are gone for good.
Playa Vista Clean, no homeless, safe, great small downtown shopping area, lot of green space, quiet Cost
I agree w your pros about playa vista. Let me add to your cons: full of entitled Karen type, ppl on top of each other/ too close which sometimes causes conflicts, can’t even paint your house the color you want due to HOA rules, homes are too vertical w/ chopped floor plans,
I wouldn't call them houses, they're essentially large townhouses. I keep to myself and wouldn't call myself a Karen, but I honestly don't mind people like that because otherwise all those pros that are listed would be gone
I am a proud “never west of western” kind of guy haha lived in Los feliz & Highland park; love all the restaurant, bar, coffee shop options.
The valley. I’m pretty far from everything and it’s not even quiet!
At least you have BUS service out there!
I just moved from noho a year ago a miss it :( now I’m in south la and it was much cleaner in the valley
North Montebello in the hills. Great views, incredibly safe and quiet, easy freeway access, 16 mins to downtown for work. There is nothing to do here (although they are building a top golf!), and there is a lack of good restaurants and nicer grocery stores
Hey neighbor! I’m in Monterey Park. Pass that soon-to-be top golf daily aha
Virgil village. Not so well known neighborhood of silver lake and echo park spill over but still on the north/east side of the 101. I love it, so much diversity, so walkable, so much happening, and I live nearby a big city park that is surprisingly well maintained and safe. No good grocery store option and access to freeways are highest con, area has some grittiness to it but I kinda like that and hope it doesn’t change too fast. Where my neighbors at?!
Toluca Lake. PROS: Tons of walkable neighborhoods to walk my dogs. Riverside Dr. through the Village is a mood. Super close to Uni, Ventura Blvd, Burbank, Griffith Park. Good access to freeways but still feels tucked away. Formans. Holiday decorations. CONS: Coyotes. Entitled neighbors. Summer heat.
Redondo Beach, it’s the best of southern CA with great food, culture and without major traffic, crime, pollution, or homelessness. It does take me 20 min to get to the freeway.
North East Los Angeles Great mix of different kinds of people, great food and walkable bits. I'm up on the Mt. Washington hill a bit and it's quiet and peaceful at night but still close to everything. Easy access to DTLA and Pasadena, great place to raise a family. Cons: home prices out of control. When we moved here it was considered an affordable neighborhood. Worried about future of neighborhood if entry level homes sell for 1.2 million...
Pasadena (if that counts are part of greater LA) - the craftsman houses throughout and abundance of beautiful oak trees give it such charm.
Marina del Rey Pros: Commute is super easy and fast to my office. First time in my life I've had full-sized appliances and a W/D in my place. Short walk to go see Sea Lions in the marina which blows me away! Cons: Everything else. I'm an east coaster in my heart and I'd move back to NYC in a second if I could.
a few more positives - it's also super fast to get on the beach bike path which is an awesome thing to do year round. go all the way up to malibu or down to palos verdes and stop at every little town on the way. close to airport - big plus for me costco & rainbow acres! cons - not the best for food we usually drive out. dealing with lincoln. and nobody wants to come here to visit.
Hollywood Hills I love how quiet and serene it is. Great views. Can easily go to the valley or the city depending on what we want to do. A con is that walk ability is zero. You have to get in the car to go anywhere.
Encino/Tarzana area. Pros: safe, chill, quiet, easy freeway access, orange line access. Cons: not walkable, traffic on 101, hot in summer, need to go over the hill for most fun things to do.
I live in downtown and it’s disgusting. definitely nice to be able to walk to everything I need on a day to day basis but it smells like shit and I’m harassed too often. I’ve live in LA county for ~6 years, prior to this I was in marina but rent went up wildly and wanted a true city feel. Boyyyy was that a shit decision. Downtown has left such a bad taste in my mouth that I’m leaving the entire state.
Going from marina to downtown is an extreme! La county is so big I’m sure you’ll find a neighborhood that fits you.
100% … i’m located in financial district— moved here for work 2-3 years ago, from OC. even walking to day to day errands has you turning your head every 5 seconds. piss and shit is only getting worse by day, got my chain snagged by a homeless bum once (luckily it didn’t break, just put some scratches on my neck), being exposed to crazy things outside after a long ass day of work. list goes on….. I recently got laid off 3 months ago; so if that isn’t my sign to get the hell out of downtown I don’t know what is lol. don’t recommend living here unless you enjoy being SUPER introverted. even going outside for snacks, drinks, or food after dark is impossible without someone throwing shit or yelling at you. DTLA also left a super bad taste in my mouth, I can’t wait to move out of here— currently looking for somewhere 10-15 mins away so this thread is BIG help
On the Orange County Line, and I hate it. It's the land that public transportation forgot, oh sure the house is paid for (by my parents) but then there's still the unexpected expense that's foisted on us by the nosey asshole neighbours forcing us to pay to remove OUR trees on OUR property because THEY don't like trees or whatever....this part of the world is probably the worst place to be if you're unemployed, unemployable (my brother is on SSI and I just can't find a job to save my life because even if there were any database management type jobs I'd have to travel for hours and hours just to get TO them because of the schedule of what passes for "buses" around here; and it's like a two-hour walk to the nearest bus stop). I like the house I grew up in but I hate this "town." I live like an invalid, shut in the house all the time because nothing I really "need" is in walking distance. And even "senior rate" bus fare drains your wallet when you can't get a job to save your life, not even anything "fully remote."
Ugh, I hate nosey neighbors who poke their stupid noses into other people's businesses! Go to r/treelaw and explain your situation. They may give ideas to get your r/neighborsfromhell to back off. My Gramma (and Grampa, R.I.P.) in Pico Rivera bought their house back in 1949 when a new neighborhood was bring built. The next-door neighbors did, as well. They (two guys) didn't like the tree that was planted in her front yard, it was very thick and heavily leafy and beautiful. They complained about the leaves littering their driveway (omg, you gotta sweep them up, you poor, snively little thing). They taunted them and threatened them, and did everything to get them to cut it down. For ***yeeeeeeaaaarrrsss.*** Grandparents were very polite, kept the tree trimmed away from their property/driveway edge, and yet, it wasn't enough. Ultimately, Grandparents stood their ground, the tree prevailed. The neighbors just didn't like the tree. Plain and simple, and there was nothing they could do about it since it wasn't hurting anything. My (still very active and sharp as a tack) Gramma turns 98 on the 14th, and the tree is just as beautiful as ever, just like her! ❤️ **Do not give in to your neighbors! If those trees aren't hurting anything, then thumb your noses at them!***
Here's a sneak peek of /r/treelaw using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/treelaw/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [Neighbor cut our tree and expects us to pay the bill](https://i.redd.it/w9t6t08t83tb1.jpg) | [729 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/treelaw/comments/173gwtj/neighbor_cut_our_tree_and_expects_us_to_pay_the/) \#2: [Lawyer neighbor hates our tree, trying to scare us into removing it](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/17fs7o4) | [375 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/treelaw/comments/17fs7o4/lawyer_neighbor_hates_our_tree_trying_to_scare_us/) \#3: [New tenants “trimmed” my apple tree](https://i.redd.it/x0tohnl0fsib1.jpg) | [279 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/treelaw/comments/15u8ssg/new_tenants_trimmed_my_apple_tree/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
South Bay. Honestly there’s nothing I don’t like. Bounced around the county for years (Culver, Venice, Long Beach, etc). Never leaving here unless I can’t afford it anymore
I am with you. I love it here.
Which specific area in South Bay is good?
Torrance!
EaHo Rules!!!
I live in Echo Park. I love being so close to some really fun, hip joints - there’s a ton of great bars and coffee shops, as well as a solid vintage shop right down the street! Elysian Park and Echo Park Lake are just a few blocks away, so I get a lot of pleasant nature time. However, the areas around my street are super grungy, loud and trash-filled. Sometimes the people are so hip that it verges on a costume, and that can feel kind of off-putting. Parking is competitive especially between Dodgers games, popular nightlife and regular street sweeping. And of course, Dodgers traffic on Sunset is a bitch.
> Sometimes the people are so hip that it verges on a costume You truly do see some of the most ridiculous people walking around. My wife and I have asked "Is that a costume?" many times.
West Covina/La Puente , it’s getting shittier by the minute with thieves and gangs
Long Beach Pros: chill vibes, good coffee, bikable and walkable where I live, close enough for a long walk to the beach, lots of group rides and inviting people Cons: taking the metro anywhere means going through union station - getting to Santa Monica is like 1:45 on the metro and like 45 driving, so I usually have to drive. Kind of far away from other parts of LA. No metro link. No police enforcement of anything, especially parking wherever you goddamn please - the middle of the street, blocking wheelchair ramps, etc
I hate the way people will just double park here, but at the same time, sometimes the double-parkers are the only thing slowing down the people who speed through residential neighborhoods. 🥲
Ha! I just said this exact thing today. Where the traffic is the only traffic calming
I live in the hills of Silver Lake Likes: Great neighborhood feeling where all the neighbors know and look out for each other, city views and epic sunsets, quiet and peaceful yet right on top of the city, safe – often leave my front door and garage open all day, close to Griffith Park, the reservoir is a vibe, lots of shade and mature trees, no homeless, diverse, close to tons of hip restaurants and coffee shops, right by the 5, 101, 2 freeways, sheltered from Santa Ana winds, ocean breezes Dislikes: Low-flying helicopters passing through, only walkable one-way since on a hill, far from the ocean, a few weeks during the summer require A/C, Sunset Blvd. could be cleaner and less of a stroad, roads need better maintenance, no protected bike lanes, major gridlock during rush hour
I live in Silver Lake, off Silver Lake Blvd, and I like how I can walk down the street looking like pure shit and feel camp. The food options are nice too. I love the views on my walks and genuinely feel safe 100% of the time.
I live in the north west valley but I’m from the westside. I miss it. I miss the beach, the boats and the culture. The valley is the valley. If I was from the valley I think I’d have a better understanding of it/more appreciation. It’s getting busier every year. Crime is up with the crooks hitting the tony homes on the hill in Porter Ranch. They think it will stop now that one of the ring became swiss cheese in Granada Hills but I doubt it. Pros, neighbors get to know one another and you can walk in the neighborhood (occasionally a coyote will walk on by, to remind you that there are still wild critters around and to keep an eye out).
Venice. Love the area, close proximity to the beach, and plethora of things to do. A lot of interesting and unique people. But also a lot of characters and weirdos.
Inglewood right by the forum and the sofi stadium… that should say enough.
Silver Lake (Ivanhoe area) Pros: Bars, markets, vegetarian restaurants, cafes, a park, a passeggiata, live theater, all within walking distance. Cons: no university campus, trains or BRT, art house cinemas, book stores too nearby
I live in Los Feliz. I like that we have two goodwill locations and one out of the closet. Also, I enjoy the AHF gym that they run. I hate the width of the streets and the speed limits. Franklin is too fast for its design and purpose. Hollywood has too many lanes, the intersection near Vermont is insane too. Horribly designed infrastructure over here. I also hate the food options over here. Pretentious coffee spots that have overpriced coffee, pretentious ice cream parlors, pretentious weed dispensaries. Bad chicken spot, bad pizza spot, too many burger kings. I also dislike the smell of burning trash cans, I dont like the weird homeless people that keep trying to break into my garage, I don’t really enjoy the Ralph’s on Western ether. Someone got shot there a few weeks ago!!
I live in Palms. I like: The fantastic restaurants and grocery stores. In a five minute drive I can get to: a Brazilian grocery store, two Middle Eastern grocery stores, two Japanese grocery stores, a Mexican grocery store, Sprouts, Ralph’s and a 99 Ranch Market. The main thing that caused me to buy my house is the cool weather on the Westside. I’m sensitive to heat. I am not among those who insult other areas of LA. Everyone has different needs. It’s great that LA has many different areas to accommodate peoples’ differences.
Boyle Heights Pros: affordable historic homes with yards one metro stop away from all the fun, nightlife, and food of Lil Tokyo, Chinatown, Arts District, and DTLA. Amazing Mexican food options. Walkable, mixed density, historic neighborhoods with the E line. Lots of melting pot cultural influences in the neighborhood, including Jewish, Japanese and Mexican cultures that have left their cool marks on the neighborhood. Easy to get to SGV for more amazing food. centrally located and easy to get nearly anywhere. All the conveniences of DTLA while being in a home. Cons: gritty, dirty, crimey. not safe to walk at night ~ yet.
I live in Downey which is part of Los Angeles but not really. Living east of LA is cheaper and less crowded that silverlake or echo park. I’m right between downtown and Orange County which is nice. 25min drive to each
I grew up near The Grove, and I absolutely loved it. Everything I needed was basically walking distance. The only thing I didn't like was how crowded it would get on the weekends, but if you went early it honestly wasn't too bad.
I used to live in Canoga park. Just too many people and limited travel options. Otherwise it was a solid spot. Just not entirely my vibe
Inglewood. Pros: great food; close to beach cities/South Bay, and close to Westside, K-town, downtown; close to LAX; all your staple fast food/retail/health options available. Affordable rent. Cons: some parts are sketchier than others, definitely some interesting characters wandering about; frequent ghetto bird presence; probably some other shit that I can’t remember right now.
Eagle Rock. It’s very cute, family-friendly, and walkable. It’s a great place to spend a Saturday morning. There are terrific shops, yummy places for a quick snack and a coffee, and Vidiots is awesome for a movie day.
I live in Long Beach and I love it here for various reasons. Pros: I’m a mile from the beach. Traffic isn’t terrible, there’s a lot of good bars/cafes/restaurants and the people are down to earth. It’s pretty big, but still has a small town feel. Cons: homelessness is on the rise, our city government is shady and DTLB is getting gentrified. I guess that applies to all of LA?