Moving to Los Angeles..need advice !

[janetcerdas]

Hi everyone !

I want to say thank you in advance to anyone who may help me out with this..

I'm a student who currently lives in London, Ontario.. and I am planning to move to Los Angeles for a month and a half to take a high fashion makeup course at the Cinema Makeup school (Wiltern Theater). My biggest concern is the gangs and the unsafe areas. I have been researching areas a lot but everything is so confusing. I know to steer clear of South Los Angeles. I haven't found a place to stay at yet because I'm unsure of the safety of the location of the school !

The address is 3780 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010
I have found a few places nearby (hostels, hotels) but I keep seeing the names of some sketchy neighborhoods around these hostels.

Gramercy Place, Academy House, Hayward Manor Apartments, Highland Park Apartments and Mid-Wilshire Apartments,Radisson Wilshire Hotel are some of my options at the moment. I just wanted to know if this is in an unsafe area of Los Angeles and if there are any other safer places around the Wiltern Theatre that I could stay at?

Also, is the Hollywood area safe?

I will not have a car there, so my only means of transportation would be taxi, bus and subway.

I may be silly for over worrying since I'll only be there for a little over a month but I've just read so many bad things about L.A !

Thanks a lot

[gumbysuz]

I'm from LA and know the Wilshire district to be safe. I would contact your school for suggestions. Will you be bringing your pooches?

[gumbysuz]

P. S. There is NO subway, but the buses run on schedule along Wilshire Blvd.

[janetcerdas]

Originally Posted by gumbysuz

I'm from LA and know the Wilshire district to be safe. I would contact your school for suggestions. Will you be bringing your pooches?

Alright, thank you. The housing available is located on Crenshaw so I thought maybe it wasn't safe. No I will not be bringing my puppies my mom will be taking care of them since I'm only gone for a month.

I wasn't aware that there was no subway so thank you

[Maximo]

There is a limited subway/rail system in LA: Metro Rail (Los Angeles County) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I agree that your school would be the best resource for places to stay while you are there.

LA is arguably different from any city in the US in that it is truly sprawling, not really a city where walking from place to place is possible.

[lovespandp]

Let's call it low-income, not low-class. You also have middle-income people there, as well, but it's basically African-Americans living in the area. Dangerous? Sure, there's crime there. But Mrs. Obviousman works nearby, and goes into the area regularly. Other than being annoyed by panhandlers, nothing has ever happened there.

So, to summarize: It's mostly African-American, has some crime, but you can live there if you choose. It's much worse further south.

If you're looking for a place in LA for $700 or less, that's the best you're going to do. It might be scary for you, especially if you're a young white girl new to the city. They're really going to take advantage.


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, and Eagle Rock. Palms and Mar Vista are pretty good, too. In the Valley(part of LA), you have Encino, Tarzana, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Granada Hills, Woodland Hills, Sherman Oaks, West Hills, and Chatsworth. Glendale and Burbank are good places, and are incorporated cities of their own.

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.

[DvlshAngel985]

Originally Posted by lovespandp

Let's call it low-income, not low-class. You also have middle-income people there, as well, but it's basically African-Americans living in the area. Dangerous? Sure, there's crime there. But Mrs. Obviousman works nearby, and goes into the area regularly. Other than being annoyed by panhandlers, nothing has ever happened there.

So, to summarize: It's mostly African-American, has some crime, but you can live there if you choose. It's much worse further south.

If you're looking for a place in LA for $700 or less, that's the best you're going to do. It might be scary for you, especially if you're a young white girl new to the city. They're really going to take advantage.


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, and Eagle Rock. Palms and Mar Vista are pretty good, too. In the Valley(part of LA), you have Encino, Tarzana, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Granada Hills, Woodland Hills, Sherman Oaks, West Hills, and Chatsworth. Glendale and Burbank are good places, and are incorporated cities of their own.

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.

haha! You described south central. Her school will actually be in my neck of the woods.

OP there are certain places you should avoid. I'm not going to lie or sugar coat it, there are some bad areas in Los Angeles, but you are nowhere near South Central if that's what you're scared of. The immediate area is a Korean community where you will find a lot of people in their BMW's and Mercedes while living in small apts.

As long as you stick to larger streets like 3rd, Wilshire, Alvarado, Normandie, Western, then transportation by bus wouldn't be a problem. The Metro rail like Maximo said is very limited. But it does run right on Wilshire. When I didn't have a car, I prefered the bus though. Especially the Rapid (red bus).

If you have a specific area or adress you looking at go to Google maps and see the street for yourself.

[janetcerdas]

Originally Posted by lovespandp

Let's call it low-income, not low-class. You also have middle-income people there, as well, but it's basically African-Americans living in the area. Dangerous? Sure, there's crime there. But Mrs. Obviousman works nearby, and goes into the area regularly. Other than being annoyed by panhandlers, nothing has ever happened there.

So, to summarize: It's mostly African-American, has some crime, but you can live there if you choose. It's much worse further south.

If you're looking for a place in LA for $700 or less, that's the best you're going to do. It might be scary for you, especially if you're a young white girl new to the city. They're really going to take advantage.


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, and Eagle Rock. Palms and Mar Vista are pretty good, too. In the Valley(part of LA), you have Encino, Tarzana, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Granada Hills, Woodland Hills, Sherman Oaks, West Hills, and Chatsworth. Glendale and Burbank are good places, and are incorporated cities of their own.

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.

I have read your posts on several other forums about L.A.. thanks for your input

[janetcerdas]

Originally Posted by DvlshAngel985

haha! You described south central. Her school will actually be in my neck of the woods.

OP there are certain places you should avoid. I'm not going to lie or sugar coat it, there are some bad areas in Los Angeles, but you are nowhere near South Central if that's what you're scared of. The immediate area is a Korean community where you will find a lot of people in their BMW's and Mercedes while living in small apts.

As long as you stick to larger streets like 3rd, Wilshire, Alvarado, Normandie, Western, then transportation by bus wouldn't be a problem. The Metro rail like Maximo said is very limited. But it does run right on Wilshire. When I didn't have a car, I prefered the bus though. Especially the Rapid (red bus).

If you have a specific area or adress you looking at go to Google maps and see the street for yourself.

Thanks a lot for your help ! I've been typing the addresses of all of the places I mentioned in my original post and it just seems like everything is really close to eachother.. to me it looks like south Los angeles is lose to the school when in reality I guess it's not ! I'm going to go look at the school and the apts within the next few weeks to check everything out.

[mimimomo]

That Wilshire area is right by Korea Town (I'm Korean). You might get culture shock lol. I agree w/the others' suggestions, you can get info on where to stay from the school. I went MUD (Make-Up Designory) when it was in Toluca Lake & the school had a list of houses we can stay in that rent out rooms. Maybe they'll have something like that. Good Luck=)