Areas of LA

interested in getting some thoughts on nice, SAFE place to live in LA. That's not super expensive. Looking at new metro lines and wondering where's a good place for nice central location, easy commute to beach (Santa Monica) or to downtown LA. Possibly a condo purchase if there's areas where good deals can be found. Looking at Expo line and other than Sara Monica and Culver City, not sure about these interim locations:

(Note: open to other train lines too even ones "coming soon")

Map and Station Locations

7th St /Metro Center  660 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles 90017

Pico  1236 S Flower St, Los Angeles 90015

LATTC/Ortho Institute  2460 S Flower St, Los Angeles 90007  10 Bike Rack Spaces

Jefferson/USC  3214 S Flower St, Los Angeles 90007  10 Bike Rack Spaces

Expo Park/USC  661 Exposition Bl, Los Angeles 90089  10 Bike Rack Spaces

Expo/Vermont  1043 Exposition Bl, Los Angeles 90007  10 Bike Rack Spaces

Expo/Western  1573 Exposition Bl, Los Angeles 90018  10 Bike Rack Spaces

Expo/Crenshaw  3428 Exposition Bl, Los Angeles 90018  Nearby Free Parking (Independent)  10 Bike Rack Spaces

Farmdale  4420 Exposition Bl, Los Angeles 90016  10 Bike Racks Spaces

Expo/La Brea  5060 Exposition Bl, Los Angeles 90016  20 Bike Rack Spaces

La Cienega/Jefferson  5664 W Jefferson Bl, Los Angeles 90016  On-site Parking – 476 Spaces  12 Bike Rack Spaces  8 Bike Lockers

Culver City  8817 Washington Bl, Culver City 90232  20 Bike Rack Spaces  22 Bike Lockers

Palms  10021 National Bl  Los Angeles, 90034  6 Bike Rack Spaces  8 Bike Lockers

Westwood/Rancho  10800 W Exposition Bl  Los Angeles, 90064  6 Bike Rack Spaces  8 Bike Lockers

Expo/Sepulveda  11295 Exposition Bl  Los Angeles, 90064  On-site Parking – 260 Spaces  10 Bike Rack Spaces  16 Bike Lockers

Expo/Bundy  12201 Exposition Bl  Los Angeles, CA 90064  On-site Parking – 217 Spaces  10 Bike Rack Spaces  16 Bike Lockers

26 th St/Bergamot  2602 Olympic Bl  Santa Monica, 90404  6 Bike Rack Spaces  8 Bike Lockers

17 th St/SMC  1610 Colorado Av  Santa Monica, 90401  On-site Parking – 67 Spaces  10 Bike Rack Spaces  16 Bike Lockers

Downtown Santa Monica  402 Colorado Av  Santa Monica, 90401  10 Bike Rack Spaces

My BIL lives in LA. It is impossible to have all of nice, safe and not super-expensive. Certainly not anywhere remotely on the Westside. Prices in that area will make NJ look like a bargain. Maybe more in the Valley.

I will say that in the almost 20 years that I have been going to LA regularly to visit family it has transformed remarkably. There are now loads of nice walkable areas that are real communities. It was not that way when I first went. But all that comes at a high price tag.

The first thing is that like the NYC area, finding an affordable place will not be easy, but I'm guessing you already know that.  I have a former colleague who lives in the USC neighborhood.  She described it as in transition.  It had been a very bad neighborhood for many years, and it's gentrifying.  I've been there when my son visited USC, and more recently to see a concert at the now-demolished LA Sports Arena.  It was daytime for one visit, and a very busy night when the concert was happening.  Under those circumstances it seemed safe and not intimidating.  And it appears that the area around the Coliseum has plenty of restaurants, bars, etc. I saw enough that I'd consider investigating it.

I'm not looking for dirt cheap. By reasonable, I mean $2000-2700 a month for a 2 bedroom. Something like that. For example, Culver City seems to have rents in that range. How is Culver City? Safe? Is Westwood higher or lower priced than Culver City? And anything close in style to a place like Culver City that might have slightly lower rents that's maybe a little less trendy? 

Thank you for this. That seems to be on this line. 

ml1 said:

The first thing is that like the NYC area, finding an affordable place will not be easy, but I'm guessing you already know that.  I have a former colleague who lives in the USC neighborhood.  She described it as in transition.  It had been a very bad neighborhood for many years, and it's gentrifying.  I've been there when my son visited USC, and more recently to see a concert at the now-demolished LA Sports Arena.  It was daytime for one visit, and a very busy night when the concert was happening.  Under those circumstances it seemed safe and not intimidating.  And it appears that the area around the Coliseum has plenty of restaurants, bars, etc. I saw enough that I'd consider investigating it.

Culver City is very nice.  I know someone who works there and loves the neighborhood.  I'd definitely consider it, depending on where you're commuting to.  I don't know pricing in Westwood, but that's also a great neighborhood, right near UCLA.

I am very familiar with Westwood. My BIL lives in Brentwood so we go there frequently for meals and shopping. It is a essentially a college town but as a college town has a lot to offer in a walkable area. Not as familiar with Culver City. There are definitely nice areas and amenities but there might be some not so good portions.

thanks. Westwood sounds great but quick scan of apartments looks higher than Culver City by 20% or so. Not quite as high as Santa Monica though.

Culver City is a pretty big area, so a person would need to be specific about which parts. There's a section off La Cienega that's essentially industrial, with oil fields.  But I'm told the downtown area of Culver City is kind of artsy, and walkable.  And there are some very charming residential neighborhoods.  On a trip there a couple of years ago, Waze directed me off the main streets and through a very nice Culver City neighborhood.  I was pleasantly surprised because coming in and out of LAX, all I saw of Culver City was oil derricks, strip malls and auto repair shops.  When you get off La Cienega into the neighborhoods though it's quite nice.

looking near metro stations. I am guessing those are in downtown?

the heart of downtown in Culver City is a short distance from the metro stop.  Not all the metro stops are near the walkable parts of a particular neighborhood though, from my experience.  Some of them are nearer to major surface streets or freeways.  Probably a good idea to check that out for any neighborhoods you're considering.

The rule of thumb in LA is to live where you work. While the train is nice, the schedules aren't great and they haven't been a huge driver of real estate. The biggest plus was connecting the beach to DTLA. 

DTLA is now the highest rent area in the city so discount that. The median rent for LA for a 2BR reached almost $3000 this winter. Culver City is a very popular area - you might find rents and condos pretty expensive. Palms doesn't have as many amenities but is a popular place for people priced out of Venice and SaMo. If you're buying I doubt you will find a 2 BR condo under 700K in a neighborhood that you'd want to buy in that doesn't have either large HOA dues, need a lot of work, or right next to a freeway. Redfin is a good website to get a sense of costs. Keep in mind that most places sell well over asking.

eliz said:

The rule of thumb in LA is to live where you work. 

This is true. I know a few people out there who don't, and they have a pretty long commute, which they have to make at ungodly hours to avoid traffic.  Most of my colleagues who work in Century City seem to be out in the Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey, Venice areas.  And most of my former colleagues who work in Burbank seem to be in Studio City, Pasadena, Toluca Lake, Sherman Oaks, or Burbank.

The number one rule is -- don't live on the other side of the hill from where you work.

lol he doesn't work. He's a teen exploring various schools and he'd likely transfer from one to another in 1-2 years. Not looking long-term necessarily unless there's some great condo deals on up and coming train line towns. 

The rail lines aren't a draw now but heard they are going to be adding many and it's going to be a game changer, true?

$3000 for a 2 bedroom seems fairly reasonable to me. If he can branch out a little further but still be in a fun, safe place for more like $2500, that would be ideal.

Predictions are hard, especially about the future.

But if I were a betting man, I would not bet on LA car culture changing dramatically in the near term, say 5-10 years.  There are people in the NYC area who drive to Manhattan or Jersey City or Newark every day, and we actually have a mass transit culture. I can't see Angelenos getting out of their cars and into trains without some sort of paradigm shift caused by a major event (like an earthquake forcing closure of the 405 for a couple years).  The advent of Uber IMHO actually makes a shift to mass transit less likely.

just my 2 cents, and I could well be wrong.

I think the wild card might be what happens to the downtown LA area.  It's becoming a really popular place to live, and it's got the metro.  Uber could be a spur for downtown residents to give up their cars.  And maybe they'd gravitate toward mass transit for commuting.

conandrob240 said:

lol he doesn't work. He's a teen exploring various schools and he'd likely transfer from one to another in 1-2 years. Not looking long-term necessarily unless there's some great condo deals on up and coming train line towns. 

The rail lines aren't a draw now but heard they are going to be adding many and it's going to be a game changer, true?

They've already completed a lot of of the metro lines and it hasn't been a game changer and I don't see it being in near future. I get that he doesn't work but he's already a not very motivated kid - add a miserable commute and do you think he'll end up going to classes? If you want to set him up for success he should ideally live walking distance from his school. Every college will tell you that kids who live on campus are much more likely to succeed. My kid's big public university here in CA is now making it mandatory to live on campus thru sophomore year to improve retention/grad rates. Since it's a community college living as close as possible is the next best thing.

ml1 said:

Predictions are hard, especially about the future.

But if I were a betting man, I would not bet on LA car culture changing dramatically in the near term, say 5-10 years.  There are people in the NYC area who drive to Manhattan or Jersey City or Newark every day, and we actually have a mass transit culture. I can't see Angelenos getting out of their cars and into trains without some sort of paradigm shift caused by a major event (like an earthquake forcing closure of the 405 for a couple years).  The advent of Uber IMHO actually makes a shift to mass transit less likely.

just my 2 cents, and I could well be wrong.

I think the wild card might be what happens to the downtown LA area.  It's becoming a really popular place to live, and it's got the metro.  Uber could be a spur for downtown residents to give up their cars.  And maybe they'd gravitate toward mass transit for commuting.

conandrob240 said:

lol he doesn't work. He's a teen exploring various schools and he'd likely transfer from one to another in 1-2 years. Not looking long-term necessarily unless there's some great condo deals on up and coming train line towns. 

The rail lines aren't a draw now but heard they are going to be adding many and it's going to be a game changer, true?

Mass transit as a mode of transportation will probably never be the major mode in LA. Where people live and work is too defuse. It only "works" in our area because so many people work in one area - Manhattan. If you live in Queens and work in Brooklyn rail transportation to work would be a real slog.

But the real change in LA now is the number of real walkable neighborhoods. So even if you still need to drive to work there are plenty of places to live where you can walk to restaurants, bars, etc.

But it has taken me 3 hours to get from my BIL to LAX by car on the 405. The distance is comparable to our trip to EWR. Traffic is still what I like least about LA. 

We have a dear friend who purchased a condo in Culver City, and has loved it there for a few years. A Brooklyn transplant driving a car! She readily admits that LA w/out a car is like NYC w/out a subway.

We have friends in Calabasas and Westwood as well. Calabasas is more family oriented to me whereas Westwood is the hip college area which could work for singles or those with kids. 

yup, I remember many times sitting in traffic to the point of tears in LA. Yuck. Can't stand the place myself. Can't believe we raised a person that hates NY and wants LA. Boo!!! lol

He may not have a car initially so hence the desire to be near a train line for now. I figured the Santa Monica line ran up and down a number of schools he's interested in. 

And, yes, I do think he's going to want to go to classes and succeed there even if there's a commute involved. If I don't believe in him, who will?!?? Sigh

good info about these train lines. Various articles suggest they are transforming areas and real estate markets. Interesting to hear a real perspective. Thank you.

he's not going to be able to afford an apartment walking distance to Santa Monica or Hollywood or the schools he applied to. That's the other issue. That would be first choice of course and we'll start there but a quick scan tells me those areas price out for them.

there's always Uber if it's late at night or a weekend when mass transit isn't running as often.  I have been traveling to LA for many years, and always rented a car.  But in the past year, I've stopped driving out there, and taking Uber.

For a lifelong Jersey guy, I actually know my way around LA pretty well by car.  The first job that took me out there had its office in Century City.  The next job had its office in Santa Monica, and most of my projects took me out to North Hollywood or Glendale.  The next job, the office was in Hollywood.  The next after that was Burbank.  My current company has offices in Century City and Burbank.  And I have friends and colleagues all over the city whom I visit when I'm out there.  Then there are the clients who are all over the place -- Beverly Hills, El Segundo, Century City, Culver City, Burbank, Universal City, Orange County, etc.

For many years I thought I could never, ever live in LA. I don't plan on it, but if our life circumstances ever required it, I could live there happily.  

well, they certainly have weather on their side. And prices compared to living in a NY apartment are better.