Where are the best places to live in L.A located?

Question

I'm going to be new to L.A [moving frm the east coast]. I would like a safe neighborhood where you can walk to almost everything. Located near colleges or downtown

Answer 1

If you want to be in a safe neighborhood, where you can walk to a college, then try Santa Monica near Pepperdine ... or Irvine, near UCI ...  

Answer 2

You are incorrect in assuming that downtown is where you want to live. Perhaps that's the case in the east, but not here. LA is a city where things are spread out. There aren't any neighborhood where you can walt to everything, because everything is so spread out.

We see this every day in this forum: Everyone wants to move here, and is looking for “cheap/affordable and safe". However, such a place just doesn’t exist; the two terms are mutually exclusive. It's all about supply and demand: If it's in SoCal, then it's not going to be cheap to begin with. If it's a safe area, then it's more expensive. If you need good schools, add a couple hundred bucks a month on top of it.

If you want to live here and enjoy the weather, then you have to pay for it. You put up with the smog and the traffic, enjoy the weather and pay your rent or mortgage. My advice is to start checking out craigslist, rent.com, and apartments.com if you are looking to rent. You’ll quickly see that the minimum rent for a non-war zone is about $1,000-$1,200 per month for a studio or 1BR. Really nice areas (like the West LA area) easily run $3,000 or more. Want to live near the beach? Expect to pay a premium.

"LA" is such a big place, there are so many neighborhoods/cities where you can live. Of course, even within a city or neighborhood, there are safer sections and less-safe sections.

In Los Angeles, some nice sections are West LA, Brentwood, Westwood, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey, Los Feliz, Silverlake, Eagle Rock, Encino, Tarzana, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Granada Hills, Woodland Hills, Sherman Oaks, West Hills, Chatsworth.

To the east: South Pasadena, parts of Pasadena, Altadena, Arcadia, Monrovia, Glendora, San Dimas, Laverne, Azusa, Rancho Cucamonga.

Along the beach: Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Torrance, Palos Verdes, Rancho PV.

In Orange County aka "The OC": Seal Beach , Huntington Beach , Newport Beach , Corona Del Mar , Laguna Beach , Dana Point , Capistrano Beach , San Clemente , Brea, Yorba Linda, Orange, Tustin, Irvine, Laguna Hills, Rancho Santa Margarita, Lake Forest

To the west: Agoura, Calabasas, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Simi Valley, Moorpark.

This is not an all-inclusive list, but it's a start.

Answer 3

Check out Santa Monica or Westwood.

Answer 4

It depends on how far you want to travel and where you are going to work, go to school. Feel free to email me if you want to know more. People are going to give you their opinions of what's nice, but judging by your avatar, I assume you are a person of color...and culture is important, too.

Answer 5

Try Ponoma, Ontario, Hollywood, Venice Beach, Santa Monica.

Avoid South LA (Inglewood, Compton, Bellflower, Inglewood, parts of Long Beach)

Just to let you know since you're moving to L.A., expect to spend A LOT for very little (ex: an 600 sq. ft. apartment in Long Beach for $1100/mo.), gas at $4.10, food's gone expensive, tax is 7-8%, etc. And you do need a car in order to live in L.A.

Answer 6

LA is huge. Get a weekly stay motel room until you find a job. Then get a place near where you will work. As your new co-workers where to look nearby.

If you do it the other way around I pretty well guarantee you that you will end up with a 2-3 hour commute, each way.

Answer 7

In many LA communities (including "rich" areas like Santa Monica and Venice), there are safe neighborhoods and not so safe neighborhoods. If you look around, you'll be able to tell.

Some good walking neighborhoods are:

Pasadena, especially near Old Town and the Playhouse district.

South Pasadena in town (not the hills).

Eagle Rock (L.A.) near Eagle Rock Bl. & Colorado Bl.

La Brea/Fairfax area from Sunset down to Olympic.

Hollywood, but some neighborhoods aren't the safest.

West Hollywood, especially near Sunset Strip, Santa Monica Bl. or Melrose. (Young, like going out? Living off the Sunset Strip is good.)

Los Feliz (L.A.) area near Hillhurst or Vermont Ave.

Some areas of Santa Monica and Venice, near main streets or the Venice boardwalk.

Marina del Rey, near the Marina.

Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Westwood, Pacific Palisades and Malibu. (Most of these places have hilly areas where you'd definitely have to drive unless you like loooong walks and dodging cars).

North Hollywood (NoHo Arts district) near Lankershim & Magnolia, some neighborhoods nearby are rough.

Studio City near Ventura or Riverside.

Sherman Oaks near Galleria.

When you are considering an apt or house, you can put the address into this website and it will give you a walkability score. It gives a decent idea of what is close by.  http://www.walkscore.com/

If you're going to attend college or work, decide where and move close so you don't have to deal with our bad traffic and high gas expense. Many of the colleges are in walkable neighborhoods. Some of the above neighborhoods are not walkably near colleges, but are close to bus lines.

Good luck!

Answer 8

walking to almost everything and safe too boot...  try oregon or washington.

geeze  the area the others are recommending are way out of  the average persons income...  get real people..

Answer 9

Think WEST.  And think OCEAN.

The best, cleanest, safest and most well-run communities in Los Angeles are all along the coast or just inland.

Malibu, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Westchester, Playa Del Rey, Marina Del Rey, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Rolling Hills and Palos Verdes are the best of the best.