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Apartment rent Cost: West Hollywood, Santa Monica, or/and the Valley?

J

jaadgy akanni

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I'm ready to move to LA, and need to know what I can expect to pay for a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment. Now, I'm wise to the fact that anything West of Fairfax should be pretty decent, but I have no idea what I can expect to pay for a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment. Can anyone here give me some guidance? Thank you in advance.
 
jaadgy akanni said:
I'm ready to move to LA, and need to know what I can expect to pay for a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment. Now, I'm wise to the fact that anything West of Fairfax should be pretty decent, but I have no idea what I can expect to pay for a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment. Can anyone here give me some guidance? Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/apa/

But, honestly, there's no reason to restrict yourself to the west side. Downtown is 'stuck' mid-gentrification, and very interesting.

http://tinyurl.com/268c3ph

Silverlake, Echo Park, EagleRock- almost anywhere you'll find interesting neighbors and many vibrant creative communities. Better prices in the valley, (Studio City, Burbank, etc.,) and if you want to meet intense, annoying young actresses who've just moved here... well, then consider the valley for sure.

Hope that helps.
 
In the same boat here. Girlfriend got a job offer in Calabasas. We're looking at North Hollywood as having the coolest looking places at the best prices and not too far from her work. Santa Monica also seems like an option if she drives up the PCH to Topanga Canyon, but this will have to be tested. Will be looking for my first production work, but will probably have to settle on a computer animation job if I can get it as that's what my degree is in. Maybe I'll check out going to UCLA.

Looking forward to the drive from South Florida out to there! Never been on a road trip.
 
jaadgy akanni said:
I'm ready to move to LA, and need to know what I can expect to pay for a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment. Now, I'm wise to the fact that anything West of Fairfax should be pretty decent, but I have no idea what I can expect to pay for a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment. Can anyone here give me some guidance? Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...

Hey Jaadjy,

glad to see you finally make the move buddy,
even so I'm in deep preparations to move back to Italy Permanently and open the Studios there instead of here in California,
my home it is open to you as a Pit Stop till you find a place in LA,
however do keep in mind that I'm located in Lake Elsinore, about One and a Half Hour from LA, with no traffic, usually takes well over Two hours in Traffic.
 
Thanks everyone for your input.
Hi KETCH, glad to see you're doing well.
Thanks for your offer; I'd be a fool not to seriously consider it; God knows that would be so convenient. And don't worry, I promise not to be too imposing or overstay my welcome. I'm planning to buy a vehicle the moment I get there; That way, I can start looking for my apartment immediately. My friend in Vegas is tells me I should go and buy it there instead of LA. I was just in Vegas 2 weeks ago and saw some good bargains. I'll see what I do.

hey GREG, let me tell ya...I looooooove annoying young actresses, so I might just end up in the Valley...lol
 
Vladimir Cassel said:
In the same boat here. Girlfriend got a job offer in Calabasas. We're looking at North Hollywood as having the coolest looking places at the best prices and not too far from her work. Santa Monica also seems like an option if she drives up the PCH to Topanga Canyon, but this will have to be tested. Will be looking for my first production work, but will probably have to settle on a computer animation job if I can get it as that's what my degree is in. Maybe I'll check out going to UCLA.

Looking forward to the drive from South Florida out to there! Never been on a road trip.
Click to expand...

Valdimir,

Neither of these is a good solution, IMHO. North Hollywood is very east of Calabasas, and she'll have to drive past where the 101 crosses the 405, which is horrilbe.

And you don't want to commute on Topanga Canyon, as it's narrow, winding, hilly, one lane in each direction road.

The farthest east you could probably get away with is Sherman Oaks and have her pick up the 101 West on the Balbo entrance. I'd recommend looking in Van Nuys, Encino, Lake Balboa, Tarzana, Woodland Hills.

Essentially, look at a map for the neighborhoods West of the 405.


HTH ;).
 
Thanks, Peter! That helps a lot. We were hoping for a cool neighborhood halfway between her work in Calabasas and Burbank where I hope to pick up some production work and try and start my career, but she'll be the one with a job and I suppose we should concede to her situation first. I'll only have my 40 MPH scooter to get me around at first though, but perhaps I can take the Red Line...
 
While I haven't lived in the LA area full time for a decade, I can speak to the west valley over the hills via Topanga Canyon road commute. Three words: "don't do it." I did that for a long time when I was living in West Lake and commuting to Santa Monica.

It's a beautiful drive, particularly the PCH section, but it's one lane each way and is there is any sort of problem at all you can get stuck for hours... and there always seems to be something every few weeks. Accidents, fires, floods, landslides, etc.

I'm betting that somebody seriously pissed of a deity and then moved to the hills. :-)

I'd really recommend that you don't set yourself up to spend hours in traffic every day.

I know it's not "cool" and all that but the west valley can be pretty nice. IMO it beats the heck out of other places I've lived in the valley like Van Nuys and Encino, unless you can afford to live south of Ventura Blvd, which I couldn't. Specifically I'm speaking of the area west of Encino out to Westlake Vilalge.

The commute to Burbank from the west valley isn't too bad, as the surface streets can be used if the 101 jams and it really isn't that far.

Westlake was great for kids (we lived in the Sherwood Forest area), but if you want to go to the Archlight or whatever over the hill, it's a long bloody way.

Good luck and good hunting.

Steve
 
Guys, thanks a lot. I'm sharing this all with my GF and we're taking it all into heavy consideration. Luckily the business that's bringing us out there will be putting us up in a hotel for 30 to 60 days while we look for a place. We'll check out all these suggestions.
 
One more tip

One more tip

One more tip.

When you go to FilmTools or the RED store, leave your credit card at home... You'll get to keep your girlfriend that way.

:driving:
 
Stephen Lovett said:
One more tip.

When you go to FilmTools or the RED store, leave your credit card at home... You'll get to keep your girlfriend that way.

:driving:
Click to expand...

LOL

I've never even heard of FilmTools, but I can guess what they sell there. Looking it up now. So excited for this move. I feel I can start moving forward with my life in many ways.
 
Hey Guys,

I'll chime in because I've lived in LA most of my life.

Here are a few considerations:

- Where will you be working ... or will your jobs be all over LA?
- Will you be traveling out of state/country a lot?
- Will you be working with any studios?
- Will you be meeting clients at your place (or close by)?
- What's your lifestyle?
- What's your budget?

These questions are all important for different reasons. For instance
if many of your gigs will require a flight -- then living close to the
airport can save you a lot of stress. For instance, the famous DSLR
guy Vincent LaForet has his studio in El Segundo partly because it's
so close to the airport. Also, Culver City and Venice have really nice
places close to the airport. Remember that other parts of LA are as
much as 45 minutes from the airport WITHOUT traffic, so you could
be taking on a lot of extra time to your travels if flying often.

The last place I lived was at the corner of Hollywood and Vine. Not
a cheap place -- $4000 for a top floor loft. But it was very prestigious.
In the absolute heart of Hollywood, blocks from NBC, Technicolor, the
Arclight, etc. Anyone from the industry who came over was impressed
so you have to consider if wooing clients might sometimes get you
more gigs. We had a rooftop pool with a direct view of the Hollywood
sign ... Keifer Sutherland and Charliz Theron on my floor, etc. (Superficial
thinking, but hey it's Hollywood remember?)

Also, keep in mind you don't have to pay $4000 per month to live in
the heart of Hollywood -- I think there are some places in that vicinity
that can be very nice for $2000 per month, you just have to look a
little harder. Another perk of that area is that it's super close to Red
Studios Hollywood. Not a huge advantage, but cool.

If you're gonna be traveling all over SoCal for your gigs, it might make
sense to live someplace more central -- like Downtown. It's gotten a
LOT better over the recent years ... tons of great bars, clubs, restaurants,
and pretty easy to get to just about any other part of LA. Plus, it's def
cheaper than living in the heart of Hollywood.

For the happiest possible lifestyle -- Santa Monica and north Venice may
be the best. The air is cleaner, the pace is much more relaxed, you're
close to the beach, amazing food, many things to do, the list goes on.
And unless you're right on the water, the rent can be very reasonable.
Several years ago I had a nice little one bedroom with an office/den
that was $1700 per month -- and it was 10 blocks to the beach. The
only drawback to Santa Monica is that it's farther from the rest of LA
and not as many industry people are over there. But if you're working
a lot from home (i.e. post production, etc) then it might give you the
most positive overall experience.

Silverlake is also very cool -- as some of noted. Not quite as relaxed
as Santa Monica (no beach) ... but it's very artistic/eclectic and more
central.

Many studios and rental houses are in Burbank -- so that might also
be a consideration. It's not as fun or glamorous as other parts of LA,
but still very close to many things and if you're spending a lot of time
renting gear ... living over there could save you a lot of driving time.

Anyway, I could go on forever ... guys, feel free to PM me if you have
any specific questions or want to meet up at all. I'm not the most
experienced shooter, but I know LA pretty well. :-)

Anthony
 
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