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Moving to L.A. in a few months
Vamos
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So, it looks like I'll be moving to Los Angeles sometime in June. I think I will be living in Santa Monica and I was wondering if anyone could tell me what the area is like in general. Is it possible to get around pretty well by walking? Is it a good place to go bike riding and running? I've been to L.A. several times before, but I never really had a chance to explore much.
Also, I'd really like some ideas for things I can do to meet new people. I only know a few people that live in L.A. and I'd definitely like to make some new friends. One thing I like to do is rock climb. Does anyone have any experience with or know of decent rock climbing gyms in the area? The only time I've done any climbing around L.A. is outdoors in Malibu Creek. I'm totally willing to try out new activities as well.
Other than that I'm really in to music, food and film. I know there are tons of good places to eat in Los Angeles and I'm sure I will find good places to try new food or go out for drinks without too much trouble. What I'd really like to know is are there any theatres that show old/foreign/indie films on a regular basis?
That's all I can think of off the top of my head for now. Any other general thoughts or advice about moving/living in Los Angeles would be greatly appreciated as well!
Also, I'd really like some ideas for things I can do to meet new people. I only know a few people that live in L.A. and I'd definitely like to make some new friends. One thing I like to do is rock climb. Does anyone have any experience with or know of decent rock climbing gyms in the area? The only time I've done any climbing around L.A. is outdoors in Malibu Creek. I'm totally willing to try out new activities as well.
Other than that I'm really in to music, food and film. I know there are tons of good places to eat in Los Angeles and I'm sure I will find good places to try new food or go out for drinks without too much trouble. What I'd really like to know is are there any theatres that show old/foreign/indie films on a regular basis?
That's all I can think of off the top of my head for now. Any other general thoughts or advice about moving/living in Los Angeles would be greatly appreciated as well!
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On Montana Ave (which is north of wilshire + south of san vicente), there's the original Father's Office, a very nice, expensive gastropub with the best burgers in LA and a solid beer selection. It's small but if you come earlier for lunch on weekends (say 11:30) or at 5 or 6 at nights, you won't have trouble. Otherwise it could get ugly. It's two blocks away from the Aero, which is one of two theaters (the other is in hollywood) operated by the American Cinematheque. They tend more towards classic mainstream + art movies than lots of new stuff, but it's a lot of fun. You can see their schedules here: http://americancinematheque.com/.
Lots of good food on main street - the library bar, urth cafe, etc. I encourage you to just wander around. Melisse is an amazing fine dining restaurant in the ugliest institutional-looking strip mallish building on wilsire and 10th? maybe. $100/plate. Super good and I only mention it because it is so unassuming. Similarly pacific dining car further east on wilshire is open 24/7 and is a more affordable fine dining experience with great steaks.
El Cholo is an OK mexican place on wilshire with good service and a good UCLA party scene. If you are looking for a night of fratty douchery, cue's or cabo cantina on wilshire + federal is fun.
Abbot Kinney down in venice is a row of yuppie shops, a fun gay bar, a fun-ish straight bar, the brig. They offer an amazing brunch place, Gjelina. There's a new bar, the Venice Alehouse, that opened up on the venice boardwalk that's my new favorite spot for day drinking. Amazingly good service so far with their customer load.
There's a lot more to do east of the 405, but take it one step at a time.
As for running, the beach paths are nice. My favorite during-the-week loop is to run along the park on ocean(going from the pier to san vicente), then take san vicente, which is a wide street with a great, huge grassy median perfect for running, and going down around the brentwood country club, and coming back down montana or a parallel street to where I started.
San Vicente is bike-friendly, too, but is a short ride. Pasadena has some better trails for biking, and the biking community is centered more on the east side. Four good links for that:
http://la-bike.org/
http://ciclavia.wordpress.com/
http://echoparkcycles.blogspot.com/
http://midnightridazz.com/
Are you coming to samo for work or school?
Duke's (Malibu) (Google Map) - Best fish tacos in LA
Midori sushi (Sherman Oaks) (Google Map) - All you can eat sushi for $25 if you sit at the bar
Kaiten sushi (Encino) (Google Map) - Have you ever seen a sushi train? This is the LA version where instead of a conveyer belt, you eat sushi by the plate from boats in a moat
Good Earth (Studio City) (Google Map) - Awesome breakfast eatery
Vito's Pizza (West Hollywood) (Google Map)
Marmalade Cafe (Calabasas) (Google Map) - Brunchish cafe; good place to scope celebrities
Evil_Reaver - Thanks for the suggestions. I will definitely check them out.
My one big piece of advice for living in Los Angeles is to get to know the back roads. It's certainly possible to bike or walk around if you're doing things locally but if you have to use your car, you're going to want to find every possible way to avoid the major highways. The canyons can be especially helpful.
no.
is it bike friendly?
no, but possible to bike. LA culture doesn't really approve of bikes being on our roads despite it being legal so you'll get lots of pissed off people just barely missing you. There are bike paths though. The beach is great for a ride.
Running?
Sure you can do that anywhere
If you want to catch a band with a more local feel, definitely check out The Smell and The Echo. The Smell is one of my favorite venues because I've discovered a lot of new good music there. Most nights, the entry fee is only five bucks, too. Totally worth it.
As for the best Mexican food in LA (you'll get a lot of different opinions from different people), I personally believe the Tacos Arizas truck in Echo Park (close to the intersection of Sunset Blvd/Echo Park Ave) is uncontested, both in taste and value. Definitely try it out sometime. The Echo Park neighborhood, in general, is a cool place with a good night life.
I still need to go back to my OG post, but I live right by Tacos Arizas. It is fantastic, and I had no idea it had widespread acclaim.
NotYou - Sorry, I should have been more specific. I am mostly wondering if it would be possible to walk and bike around the Santa Monica area without too much trouble. I know I'm going to have to drive if I need to get anywhere more than a couple miles away. However, I'd like to be able to walk to the store or to lunch without having to drive if possible. Also, I like to go on bike rides for exercise.
balerbower - Thanks, that's very helpful. I really like finding new music, I will definitely go check out the places you suggested. I will be sure to try out all the mexican places too. It's hard to find truly good mexican food where I live and I have an unnatural love for good al pastor. I'll be spending a lot of time driving around trying everything.
kaliyama - Perhaps when I go try out Tacos Arizas I can buy you lunch, sir.
chromdom - Yeah, I've done some climbing in Malibu, but it was outdoors. I asked around with some of my climbing buddies and someone suggested a place called Rockreation in Santa Monica. Also, after some research I found a cool website that lists most of the climbing gyms around the world.
I don't know about foreign films but there are a bunch of theaters that will show more indie stuff. Landmark has three theaters, the Nuart, the Regent and the Landmark. While only the Nuart shows indie stuff primarily, with the Landmark being a regular theatre and the Regent a disney theater they will all show indie stuff. There is also the Monica on 2nd street but Ive never been
Also if you are free tue or thur you can check out free shows they do at UCLA's Melnitz theater (http://gsa.asucla.ucla.edu/melnitz/). Its free to anyone, or at least was and all they show is indie stuff.
Depending on where you are in SM, the 10 is going to be your major freeway outlet to the rest of the city. The 10 is basically a clusterfuck from the ocean all the way to the 405 during the rush hours (hell, most of the day), so plan accordingly and give yourself extra time when you venture out of the area.
In fact, you should familiarize yourself with www.sigalert.com if you haven't already.
My op is updated. If you're living in santa monica, you're going against traffic either way. That said, It ain't pretty for a commute downtown, but century city is pretty easy. The 405 is the biggest bottleneck for traffic as Reaver has pointed out. When I lived in SM I left early for work (7ish) and came back late, though not by choice (7:30 or later), and my commute downtown was like 20 minutes each way.
I'm not sure why people are sending you out to Sherman Oaks and such for food, there are plenty of restaurants in and and around Santa Monica proper that serve interesting food. Also, the food truck thing is blowing up in LA in a major way. In the last week I have had banh mi, jambalaya, Filipino street food and Philly cheesesteak from trucks, usually for $8-10 which is a lot less than a meal in any sit-down place around here.
Also, if you like to cook: Santa Monica Farmer's Market.
As far as transport: I don't own a car and I survive, I just rarely go to the east side of the city. You can get around the Santa Monica area ok with a bike. I walk, too, but things are so spread out that you really have to like walking. What I will recommend, though, is the Santa Monica bus system (Big Blue Bus), which is pretty good if you are trying to run errands and stuff without a car.
Finally, one thing to be aware of is that Santa Monica is technically its own city, albeit surrounded by LA on three sides. So you might want to check if the place you are living is technically in Santa Monica or in LA. It doesn't make a huge difference, but I have found at least one minor difference in landlord responsibilities that made me wish I was a few blocks further west.
I am going back to school. So that's why I wanted to stay around in that area for now. My plan is to go to to SMC and then transfer to UCLA once I get my stuff back in order.
Thanks for the more comprehensive post. I'm actually a little familiar with Abbott Kinney already. I found Melisse after doing a bit of research online, glad to hear someone recommend it. I definitely want to give it a try, I believe it has a 2 michelin star rating and it would be very close by where I am looking at living.
Also, thanks for the cycling/running info. It will make it a lot easier to jump into that once I get down there instead of wandering around aimlessly.
Acer87 - Cool, that's what I was hoping to hear. I want to avoid driving as much as possible, knowing I can take care of basic things by walking/riding is good news. Thanks for the information about the theatres too. That's another thing I don't have where I live and I'm looking forward to having that available.
Evil_Reaver - That website is pretty sweet, it should come in handy. Is Santa Monica notoriously bad with traffic or just bad in a general sense like most of LA is?
Grizzled - The NuArt sounds like something I'd definitely be into. Also, I'm willing to take a trip at least once to try good food somewhere. I'll look in to the farmer's market too, I really like to cook, so that's nice to know about. Is it a weekly thing or available every day?
I'll keep that information about Santa Monica being it's own city in mind. However, all the places I've looked at online have definitely been in Santa Monica. Granted, I haven't looked at a whole ton of places yet and the ones I have checked out are all down at the beach. I think I am going to drive down to LA in a week or two and check it out in person. So far zillow has been really helpful though.
Well, let me give you some thoughts about my LA experience. What I'm going to say isn't a blanket statement for everyone, so everyone's mileage is going to vary, including yours.
I lived in the Valley near Balboa and Saticoy for 2 years, which is basically the middle of the SFV. My major thoroughfares were the 101 and the 405. The 101 would jam up around 6:30 AM and would kind of clear up after 10:00ish. Then it would jam up again for the lunch hour and then clear up for part of the afternoon. Then it would jam up again around 3:30 all the way though 7:30/8:00. Keep in mind that when I say "the 101," I mean from Topanga Canyon to the west all the way to the 170 in the east.
The 405 would jam up at the same times, but it would jam from Roscoe in the north all the way down to the 10 in the south.
The 405/101 interchange is hell on earth pretty much all the time except for late at night.
I drove all over the LA area, but because I lived in the Valley, a 85% of my driving was contained to that area.
The thing about LA is just that there's a lot of people trying to get to a lot of different places and there's only so much road to handle all of the traffic. That's why it's important to know your surface roads; if you get stuck in a jam, you can always pull off the freeway and take surface roads the rest of the way.
Yes, traffic in LA is bad, but it's manageable. Just know multiple ways to get to your destinations and always leave 30-45 minutes before you think you should leave. Also remember that there's basically 3 rush hours and they last longer in duration than other cities (morning, lunch, evening).
I moved away about 2 1/2 years ago, so some things have changed, but I can't imagine that these basic tips are going to be so outdated that they're patently false.
My food suggestions were just places that I really liked when I lived in LA. Obviously a lot of them are going to be in the Valley because that's where I lived, but I made it a point to add a few places that were outside the fold of the SFV. There's no reason for him to only try places in SM; if he has access to a car, he can certainly take little trips (really, Sherman Oaks isn't that far from SM) to check out new foods. I'm sure other people on the board who live in LA appreciated the tips, so I don't see why suggesting them is a bad thing.
Be sure to check out Diddy Riese for ice cream sandwiches in Westwood. Back in my day there only a buck but I heard that they've raised it to $1.25 which, for two amazing homemade cookies with ice cream in the middle, is still extremely reasonable. If you like matzoh ball soup as much as I do there's a Jerry's Deli with a huge upstairs that I used to spend many late nights studying in. Westwood is also the home of some nice cheap shopping venues. /nostalgia.
I don't know what your budget is but you definitely pay a premium for living alone. If you can get a roomie you can get things in good distance from the beach along wilshire for like 2k-2.2k/mo for a 2 bedroom. The thing with the beach is that all the beach activities and the like really start happening south of the pier.
If I were you i'd look at south of wilshire and west of lincoln. That's the best trade off of beachy and affordable for you, I think. Odds are you can find something cheaper targeted towards students if you hunt around.
HK5 - It's been a few years since I was in school. Part of the reason I picked SMC are the high amount of transfers to UCLA. Also, I didn't want to jump headfirst in, I wanted some time at a lower pressure school to get back in the swing of things. Plus, you know, it gives me an excuse to live by the beach for a year or whatever!
kaliyama - I do pretty well for myself. My budget is going to be around 4-5k a month. However, I don't want to blow all of that on rent. Ideally I'd like a one bedroom and not spend much more than 2500ish on it. I'd prefer to live alone, but if the stars aligned I would consider a roommate.
Most of the places I've looked at online so far are south of the pier along the beach. I am going to drive down there soon to look around though. The real important thing that I want is to be able to walk to most of the places I need to go. I guess that would basically be campus, to get groceries/food and to the beach.
Getting around via car can be a bit of a pain if you're doing it at the wrong time. As mentioned, the 10 East turns to absolute shit for large swaths of the day. The 405 is a scalloped pile of dung as well to the south. Google's time estimates are usually pretty accurate though. Surface streets are usually a bit longer for the best case, but have a lot better worst case behavior. Routes that need the 10E tend to have estimates along the lines of "53 minutes. 2h20m with traffic"
For food, there's a ton of places up and down the 3rd street promenade, pricing ranges from reasonable to outrageously silly.
There are a couple of theaters that go for the vintage stuff, http://www.americancinematheque.com/Aero/aeromastercalendar.htm would be one of them. There's another up wilshire a bit I don't remember the name of, as well as one more on santa monica somewhere.
There's a rock climbing gym nearby, http://rockreation.com. They're actually near one of the SMC shuttle lots.
Groceries by foot might be a bit of a stretch, at least for cheap. The only one near me I'd call walkable is a Whole Foods, which ain't cheap.
You almost certainly want a place with a parking spot, because otherwise you're stuck with a hunting license permit that's usually only good for a 2-3 block radius. On top of that, every street has a street cleaning no-parking period, just for that extra added bit of fun to the musical chairs game.
For a more in-depth view of why the traffic is kinda terrible, there's no good way to go north/south via freeway (405 is terrible), which means you're stuck with lincoln (lots of traffic, best way to the airport for almost anyone west of the 405), ocean/pacific (narrow, absolutely packed with idiots any time the weather is nice, which is always. It's about 60 degrees outside now), or one of the various inland streets, which you have to sit through tons of traffic to get to.
For east/west, you pretty much have wilshire, santa monica, olympic, the 10, and pico. Most of those are 2.5 lanes each way most of the time, depending on time of day for the street parking.
I've driven through LA multiple times, so I kinda know how shitty the traffic can get. It's good to learn about the patterns so I can do my best to avoid them. I'm actually ok with taking surface streets, even if they take a bit longer, as long as it's a constant traffic flow. The thing I hate the most is just not moving anywhere.
I'm looking forward to trying out all the different food places, so the more recommendations the better. I'm ok with occasionally paying for ridiculously priced food as long as it's really good.
I'm actually pretty excited about going to all the different cinemas. It's not something I have access to where I live. I'm glad that there are so many doing different things all the time.
I was actually looking for a place near Whole Foods, or barring that, Trader Joes. So, no worries there.
The info about the parking spot is good to know. I hadn't really thought about how much it would suck to have to always hunt for a spot every time I came back home. The other thing I've been looking for are units with a washer/dryer, which are surprisingly rare for some reason.