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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Best Areas to Live in Los Angeles

I've been hear since 1982 and have lived in:

As a UCLA student:
briefly Panorama City (north of Van Nuys)
Westwood Village

After graduation:
West LA (near the Nuart Theater)

Then went to film school at CalArts in Valencia, so:
Newhall

After graduation:
Winnetka in the Valley south of Northridge

After the Northridge Earthquake wrecked my apartment complex and my wife changed jobs:
West LA (near the Nuart Theater again)

Then:
MidWilshire/Fairfax near LACMA

Now:
MarVista near Venice High School (near Culver City, Venice, Marina Del Rey)

Trouble with the film industry is that production can take place anywhere. I shot a TV series in Santa Clarita, and two features this summer there -- now I'm shooting a TV series based out of Occidental Studios south of Silver Lake, near Koreatown, etc. So my commuting patterns change all the time (not to mention, I often shoot out of town.)

There are many things I like about being in Mar Vista near Culver City:

The temperature is more moderate and pleasant year-round
I'm several blocks from Lincoln Blvd. which is a fast trip to LAX for me
I'm close to the 405 and 10 freeways but not too close
Venice Blvd. is a nice diagonal street that runs NE from where I live, connecting me to northbound streets to Hollywood
I'm not too far from the beach but I'm not too close
My neighborhood is not as upscale nor as expensive as the surrounding neighborhoods

And commuting north to Santa Clarita for productions hasn't been too bad since most of the time, I'm driving the opposite direction of rush hour traffic up the 405.

Downside:
It's not super-convenient for getting to Hollywood and even worse for Burbank/Glendale.

So I'm partial to the Westside in general -- Culver City is a particularly nice area to live in, shop in, see movies in. And there are a few stages around that area (Fox, Sony, Culver Stages).

But I think the Glendale/Burbank area isn't a bad idea either, though warmer in general in the summer than the Westside.

Silver Lake / Los Feliz area is also a good idea.

I would tend to avoid the SF Valley though, except the places along the freeways like Studio City, Sherman Oaks, etc. Although at least when I lived in Winnetka, it was a quick trip to Panavision Woodland Hills.
 
David Mullen ASC said:
I've been hear since 1982 and have lived in:

[...]
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Thank you very much for your suggestions, David. Your posts are always obligatory reading and a joy to read. And now thanks to you we have an official ASC opinion on where to live in LA... :) I can't imagine how this board could get any better. Well, maybe if Mr. Jannard himself also contributed his opinion on the topic of living arrangements... but then again he would probably just suggest to buy half of Nevada (the other half) and just fly in to LA for breakfast each day.
 
TheThe said:
That sounds like a good idea. I'll make a proper invitation to everyone once I'm in LA. In the mean time I have to figure out this moving thing out.
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Makes two of us, TheThe. I'll be moving back to SoCal within the next ten weeks myself. And to think I used to live out there just five years ago!

It's like that Eagles song- "You can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave!"

Good luck with the move and hope to meet you out there sometime.
 
Freakishly this thread got me thinking about the various places I've lived- almost always some version of the west side, due to the temperature thing- BUT it reminded me of the FIRST place I lived in LA, probably like 25% of the people in this industry, and I highly recommend it: The Oakwood.

http://www.oakwood.com/

It's a month-to-month overpriced apartment, but still cheaper, and bigger, than a hotel room. The best known of these is on Barham behind Universal just up the hill from Warner Bros. It's on the road between old hollywood and 'working' hollywood (burbank) so it's well located for lots of work; and you only have to stay a month or two until you decide where you want to live. It's well known for housing a bizarre combination of kid-actors who are in for either work or pilot season, crossed with wanna-be rock stars who are either recording in hollywood or attending classes at MIT or the like. Very interesting pool scene, needless to say. That's where I'd start- that gives you a little breathing room to decide where you'll move first.
 
If your going to be going to Warner Bros., Universal, Disney, DreamWorks and some of the TV studios. Then I think Burbank is the best place for that. But like many places it has its good areas and bad areas. I use to live near the corner of Grismer and San Fernando and that place was ghetto. Some times I would wake up to gun shots pretty close to my condo. As Luki said it does have a high population of Armenians, which seem to really not like anyone that's one of them.

But a couple years I got out of that place and moved closer to the studios into a nice little house and its like moving from South Central to Pasadena. Most of my neighbors work in the industry and its super quiet on my block. Takes me 5 minutes to get to any of the major studios around me and I can go home for lunch. I use to live near Huntington Beach and do that commute and that sucked. Sometimes I'm going out to Fox for weeks at a time and the drive is horrible. Takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 1hr & 15min.

So if your moving here for the work I would say live close to where you want to work.
 
I know this is going to sound weird to get advice from a Parisian guy, but I must have lived in more than 8 different locations in LA over the last 6 years and my final word would be to go and live in the Topanga Canyon... if you can find a place...

It's a beautiful place and I know it's a 25mn to 60mn ride to the Burbank, Hollywood or any place related to work. But you're going to have long drives anywhere you chose to live! You can't say that living in Culver you'll never get to work in Pasadena or the opposite; and with the crazy 405 you'll be in not matter what. So if you'll get the drive anyway you might as well get back to a less crazy home at the end of the day and enjoy a bit of peaceful nature environment.

I think I spent the best time of my LA life living over there and as I said before the most difficult won't be the drive but finding a place over there!! But there is always some sublets to find if you look deep enough in the local ads.

Good luck
 
Arno said:
I know this is going to sound weird to get advice from a Parisian guy, but I must have lived in more than 8 different locations in LA over the last 6 years and my final word would be to go and live in the Topanga Canyon... if you can find a place...
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Arno's other favorite place to live in California is Humboldt County... ;)
 
Tico said:
Makes two of us, TheThe. I'll be moving back to SoCal within the next ten weeks myself. And to think I used to live out there just five years ago!

It's like that Eagles song- "You can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave!"

Good luck with the move and hope to meet you out there sometime.
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Thanks for wishing me luck (I'll definitelly need it to sift through all the suggested neighborhoods mentioned in this thread :) ). By the way, don't forget to let us know on this board when you are in town. I can already foresee many interesting meetings coming out of this.


luki said:
Arno's other favorite place to live in California is Humboldt County... ;)
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Is this some kind of California inside joke? What's up there?
 
I think Lucas is referring to this movie:
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810022250/info
Which I have not seen.
And he's probably saying that because Topanga has a bit of a reputation for a being place where a lot of hippies are living, smoking drugs and loving mother nature. Maybe this also has to do with 99% of Topanga's population going to Burning Man in September.
Can't comment on that cause I was living there too long to be objective and I have too many friends up there! But I'm sure Lucas has ended up in Topanga many times on late weekend nights singing songs with the guitar by the firepit... Oh and I'm sure Lucas is a burner as well!! ;-)
 
Okay, let me see: ...On the margins of society ..."The Lost Coast" ... marijuana farmers co-existing peacefully within the rural community... Burning Man... Naked mud dancing... Lots of burning things up...

Okay I think got it. I swear that I learn something new every day. I did know about burning man, but it really never had entered into my reality. I guess the east coast is very different from the west coast. :) I wonder if anyone has ever taken a Red into this part of the world. How would you protect it from the mud while dancing?
 
Arno said:
But I'm sure Lucas has ended up in Topanga many times on late weekend nights singing songs with the guitar by the firepit... Oh and I'm sure Lucas is a burner as well!! ;-)
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Luki, as your legal advisor, I suggest you don't comment on any of these statements!

:innocent:
 
I lived in the Marina and really liked it!

It's close to LAX, the beach, Culver City, Venice, Santa Monica & COSTCO!

Check out West Side Rentals.com for rentals...... & bring lots of money!

Dave
 
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