Suddenly, I Need Accommodation In LA

LaCabra

So I'm going to E3 this year. I have accommodation sorted with some dudes from the 3rd of June to when I leave back to Australia, but I wound up buying a ticket to leave on the 30th of May instead because it saved like $600. The additional four nights were going to be spent on the couch of a friend's friend, but that has unexpectedly fallen through, so now I have about three days to sort out somewhere to sleep for four nights in LA - right now I have nowhere to go when I step off the plane, which is sort of an intimidating prospect!

I'm running down some more potential friends-of-friends-with-couches-in-LA leads but they might not pan out, so I guess I need to find out what's available as far as hostels and stuff. Anyone have any good suggestions for relatively inexpensive impromptu LA accommodation that isn't totally awful? I've never been to LA before besides the airport, so any info on what neighbourhoods I'm most likely to get stabbed in is also welcome.

Someone also suggested this couch surfing thing, anyone got any experience with that?

Thanks folks

Bartholamue

You can definitely find a place to stay for $75/night; I found it in NYC of all places. Are you opposed to cheapo motels?

kaliyama

Bartholamue wrote: »

You can definitely find a place to stay for $75/night; I found it in NYC of all places. Are you opposed to cheapo motels?

I could put you up for the 30th but am out of town the rest of that time period. I'm also downtown close to E3, but no need to spend ten days that far from more touristy attractions. If you want to enjoy the beach and the like, i'd do one of the beach hostels in santa monica or venice.

Esh

I've had friends use that site when they were in Europe to great success. Give it a try!

LaCabra

kaliyama wrote: »

Bartholamue wrote: »

You can definitely find a place to stay for $75/night; I found it in NYC of all places. Are you opposed to cheapo motels?

I could put you up for the 30th but am out of town the rest of that time period. I'm also downtown close to E3, but no need to spend ten days that far from more touristy attractions. If you want to enjoy the beach and the like, i'd do one of the beach hostels in santa monica or venice.

@kaliyama if you are serious about this, it would be awesome if only so I have a day to physically check out hostels before I book myself into something.

How is public transport in LA? Are taxis absurdly expensive?

noir_blood

My go to answer for this type of thing nowadays is airbnb.com

I done it a couple of times now and have no complains.

LaCabra

A couple of people suggested that yesterday! I wish I'd known about it sooner. I now am booked in at someone's house in some kind of suburb called Pico Rivera. Disaster averted I guess!

I guess that's an hour and a half from anywhere by public transport but it's pretty much directly between the two places I plan on visiting, so it's a'ight. I guess I just need to figure out how to get there from the airport now.

What should I know about public transport, you guys?

kaliyama

Sorry Cabra, I was off the internet for the weekend. As you can see on the map, you really can't get anywhere from pico rivera and it's rough. I wouldn't go there. More like 2.5 hours to get anywhere you want to go. Your best bets are venice hostels at the beach or at a culver city hotel near the expo line which will take you downtown.

LaCabra

No probs man. I actually already went ahead and set everything up for staying at that Pico Rivera place - with so little time left to get something planned I kind of needed to. It's hard to tell but it seemed like it was near a couple of bus stops and the people I'm staying with provided a whole bunch of info about how to get places. It seems nice enough, has wifi, private room, and I'm only paying $30 a night. For those first four days I'll probably just be slobbing around anyway, after that I have downtown accommodation near E3. Also, I have an above-average tolerance for long bus trips.
Oh, and the person who runs the place has offered to pick me up from the airport, which is super great. Even if they turn out to be totally crazy or something (don't think so) I've pretty much researched all the hostels and cheap hotels in the area now.
I might be trying to get to Long Beach to meet an interweb friend, is that going to be a huge pain in the ass?

kaliyama

LaCabra wrote: »

No probs man. I actually already went ahead and set everything up for staying at that Pico Rivera place - with so little time left to get something planned I kind of needed to. It's hard to tell but it seemed like it was near a couple of bus stops and the people I'm staying with provided a whole bunch of info about how to get places. It seems nice enough, has wifi, private room, and I'm only paying $30 a night. For those first four days I'll probably just be slobbing around anyway, after that I have downtown accommodation near E3. Also, I have an above-average tolerance for long bus trips.
Oh, and the person who runs the place has offered to pick me up from the airport, which is super great. Even if they turn out to be totally crazy or something (don't think so) I've pretty much researched all the hostels and cheap hotels in the area now.
I might be trying to get to Long Beach to meet an interweb friend, is that going to be a huge pain in the ass?

Best of luck, but you're going to regret it. I'd have your friend come get you.

LaCabra

Can't, he can't drive. Is it really that shitty a place?
this is the airbnb page, seemed like better than a hostel for about as much dough. As long as it's not secretly the dodgiest part of LA or something...
If all public transport fails I've got enough cash at the moment to pay for exorbitant taxis being as most of this trip is going to be reimbursed to me through a grant (hella lucky).

edit: uhh, not that room pictured, the "orange county" room which is cheaper and smaller

kaliyama

LaCabra wrote: »

Can't, he can't drive. Is it really that shitty a place?
this is the airbnb page, seemed like better than a hostel for about as much dough. As long as it's not secretly the dodgiest part of LA or something...
If all public transport fails I've got enough cash at the moment to pay for exorbitant taxis being as most of this trip is going to be reimbursed to me through a grant (hella lucky).

edit: uhh, not that room pictured, the "orange county" room which is cheaper and smaller

Traffic going west from you will be unbearable at every hour of the day. The 5 freeway in particular is a nightmare. You just won't have a good time being stuck in the ass-end of nowhere. You can play with trip planners at metro.net, but they don't really adequately account for traffic and congestion so i'd have to add another 15-25 minutes on everything. Plus we don't have the world's best bus service and they come infrequently, and you've set yourself up for a lousy quality of life for your stay. You can get a hostel room in venice for what you're paying and everything would be 100x better. It's not the dodgiest, but it's hours from anything.

R0land1188

Metro.net has all of the public transport options in and around LA. It would probably be worth your while to go down to Union Station and talk to the metro attendants there and figure out your best options. This is also the major hub for the subway lines, and metrolink ( A private commuter train service.)

Public transport is alright for the most part as long as you are staying in and around downtown/hollywood area. The Blue line will take you down to the Long Beach area.

kaliyama

So how did it go?

TychoCelchuuu

He's still stuck in traffic on a bus.

LaCabra

So far it's actually worked out great. The lady whose house this is picked me up from the airport in exchange for some gas money, there's an AT&T store nearby so I was able to buy a sim card, I've met a few very cool people who were staying here for various amounts of time. The room is comfortable and the wifi is good. Went out to the Hollywood sign and the Getty with some German tourists who had a car. There's a bus nearby that's a straight shot to downtown or long beach, haven't tried it yet, but also the lady of the house just quit her job to live solely on airbnb money and has offered to drive me to and from downtown every day of E3, which is kind of incredibly nice. I'm paying $29 a night (room is tiny but that doesn't bother me). At this point I'm probably going to stay here for the whole trip.

noir_blood

Good to hear. If it works out, make sure to leave a good review for the person.

LaCabra

Yeah absolutely.

kaliyama

Great! With the free ride, it's a much different story. Hopefully people get a pa group together for a drink this week.

Bartholamue

Wow, $29/night? You got a deal there.

R0land1188

I am glad you got everything figured out. Enjoy your vacation and I hope you enjoyed the Getty (It is one of my favorite places to go in LA)

LaCabra

I totally did. Art is way better when it's not jpgs on the internet