Post-Katrina, life is becoming increasingly dreary here in NOLA and I am thinking of picking up roots and moving from one sprawling urban nightmare to another; i.e., I am looking to move to the fabled City of Angels -- anyone live there and can give me some recommendations of neighborhoods to scout for a reasonable place to rent or sublet?

Also, those who feel like chiming in to say how shitty L.A. is should feel free to keep a lid on it. I've only been to three cities in this fading nation that I actually thought had any character and I've already lived in two of 'em (New Orleans and Chicago). I also have a fantasy of moving to the Czech Republic, but such a move seems impossible for me, the quintessential ugly (and I do mean ugly!!!) American. Still, I've heard the streets flow with hot babes in the Czech Republic, so maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to move there after all...

Thanks in advance.

C'mon, NO ONE on this board lives in L.A.? Throw me a bone!

brosef, if you don't hear from anyone, PM me and i will ask my old best friend who recently moved there. man, but why anyone wants to move to LA is lost to me.

God, I can't believe that I have to admit this. I was born and raised in L.A.

I 100% agree with kenoki. I don't know why anyone would willingly come to LA to live, but it's your life, so do with it what you will!

"L.A." covers a vast amount of space. When you say that you would like some suggestions on neighborhoods to scout, that really isn't much help to me in suggesting anywhere. First of all, what are you going to do here? Job? School? Do you need to be located in L.A. itself, or in a suburb of L.A.?

I grew up by the border of LA County and Orange County. We still say were from L.A. even though we were 25 miles West of LA, so that may give you an idea of what I mean about needing to narrow it down a bit for me. If you can give me some more information, I'll do my best to help you out with suggestions.

I used to live in LA for a couple of years, post grad school. It was definitely culture shock. At the time, there were a lot of things I liked about it, but felt that it was really hard to connect with people. Turns out that happens everywhere.

Truth is, there is only one thing that make it different from everywhere else, and that is the physical: The weather, the architecture, etc.

There was also a perceived difference and that was that things were more open. Coming from the east coast, there was a definite lack of the puritanical.

Musically, it also seems a lot more open. I was fortunate to play some decent places like Spaceland and Al's Bar with the west coast version of the Supreme Dicks. I don't see anything like that happening anytime soon in Philly.

I also met lots of politically active people who were actually doing things as opposed to just talking about it.

However, this was almost 10 years ago (97-99) and housing has gotten a lot more expensive. I don't know how many of those type of people are still there.

There is a decadence to the lifestyle, but that's mostly because you enjoy being outside more. You aren't freezing your ass off too much (it does get cold, but not Chicago cold) and when it's hot, it's not Chicago summer hot either. You do experience a bit of mania with all that sunshine. Also, in the winter when it rains for about 2 months straight, everyone gets a bit depressed.

I've been back recently several times in the past year. Before, the concept of LA traffic was all myth. To me, to traffic was nothing compared to NYC, Philly or DC. Houston has horrible traffic too. However, now it does look like LA's traffic is bad. You used to be able to get across the city using surface streets. It took me 1.5 hrs. to get from Santa Monica beach to the city limits of Santa Monica.

Nina wrote:I don't know why anyone would willingly come to LA to live...

It's the Stardust Rodeo, man! Henry Rollins lives there! Need I say more?

I am working as a freelance writer and most of my gigs come from reviewing stuff for people in Europe that I have never actually met, thus I have come to the conclusion that I can live anywhere in the world that I want -- I have chosen L.A. because it's so hateful. I like its ugliness, I feel it will be inspirational to me. Also, there's lotsa stuff to do there, which would be a nice change of pace from living in a cultural vacuum like New Orleans.

With regards to where I'd like to live, I'd like to live in L.A. proper -- I'm not really into the suburbs (I stayed in the O.C. when I was in the area in 2005 and hated it). My friend suggested Silverlake as a place to check out, but I know it's a hipster mecca right now and I dunno if I could handle that sorta shit (I hated Wicker Park when I lived in Chicago, for example).

madlee wrote:It took me 1.5 hrs. to get from Santa Monica beach to the city limits of Santa Monica.

Whoa, WTF? Isn't that like 2 miles at most? You could probably walk it faster, but you would obviously look so uncool for walking.

The only people I ever saw walking in LA were school children, addicts, and prostitutes. Yet then again I was stuck on Sunset Blvd. for 8 days staying in a recording studio's loft and enjoying the feel of "trying to make it" decadence.

Joseph wrote: Henry Rollins lives there! Need I say more?

Yeah, but please don't!

Strangely, I understand about the ugliness factor being of interest to you. If you approach it from almost a "research" level, it works. I think that is how I survived as long as I did. (30+ years) It is incredibly hateful and hostile, oh fuck it, let's throw in fake and pretentious while were at it.

Silverlake...ahh Silverlake. This area was, until recently, predominantly Hispanic. Within the past five years or so, it has grown into much more of a trendy-ish area. Partly due to Spaceland's arrival. Prices in the are are high, like anywhere that it sounds like you may be looking. Large parts of the surrounding area are still pretty iffy.

If you are willing to go a bit further, you have Pasadena which is pretty nice. I can recommend Pasadena, don't know about Silverlake. But that's just me. If you are into shitloads of people all around you, traffic etc. Silverlake and that area might be for you.

How much you want to spend a month figures into it as well...

busbus wrote:The only people I ever saw walking in LA were school children, addicts, and prostitutes. Yet then again I was stuck on Sunset Blvd. for 8 days staying in a recording studio's loft and enjoying the feel of "trying to make it" decadence.

That is scary that parents still allow their children to walk to school in that area!

Hollywood area is shit.. The new re gentrification project is ongoing down there, well actually everywhere in L.A. The new thing is lofts. Big money in renovating dilapidated buildings in the ghetto, then moving out all the local population so the wealthy can inhabit the "artists lofts."

Has not been going over too well with the citizens there.

I grew up in L.A. I was there just two weeks ago to see family in West L.A. I had a blast, but then again, I don't live there anymore. But I was raised there, and then went to O.C. for school and stayed there for another decade. So, the entirely of SoCal is burned in my brain, whether I like it or not.

And i don't drive anymore, so L.A. is fun for exactly 3-4 days max, before I feel I don't make the cut for the minimum requirements of fitting in, for lack of a better term.

I think a lot has improved since I left, but some formerly vibrant neighborhoods like Westwood Village and, now, the Third Street Promenade area (again!) have been allowed to decay, stores closing slowly one by one, as rents remain high, and businesses move out... and this is mainly because of landlords break even when they rent out to retail there due to insurance costs or what not. It's not an easy situation, but it's becoming worse and there's no forseeable future of this turning around for the better anytime soon.

On the other hand, improvements are being made to public transportation, especially the trains. The bus system has always been decent, but the enemy of the bus system is basically the expanse of the basin itself. You can survive in L.A. without a car if you're in the right neighborhood, and you can enjoy all the amenities of being around cool shit and all that... but it will take you 10 times as long to enjoy the same experiences as opposed to having a car... which many rightly feel is a scam.

If you're looking for some ugliness mixed in with some renovation, then you should check out Venice or, better yet, Culver City. It's just south of Santa Monica, which is the best part of L.A. really, although expensive. You're near the beach. You're near LAX. And getting to Hollywood isn't a big deal.