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USC / Los Angeles Housing
Lewisham
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey,
So I'm British and 24 years old. I've applied to places around California for a PhD in Computer Science. I received a phone call on Thursday from my proposed supervisor at USC, who says I'm in a pool of three people for two places. So I have a better-than-a-coin-flip chance of getting it.
I'm not sure what I should be looking at in terms of housing, and I'm hoping some LA/USC types will be able to help me. I need a one-bedroom place with my partner, but I don't know which areas I should be looking at.
I know very little about LA. I've visited a couple of times, staying in Pasadena and Santa Monica. I know that USC is in South Central, and I can't live in a rough neighbourhood; that's not an option. I'm not looking into USC housing right now, as the number of people applying for the minimal numbers of one-bedroom places like that must be astronomical.
It's likely that I will be spending half, if not more of my time, in Marina Del Ray, alongside the USC main campus. There is a shuttle that runs between them, so I'm not too worried about that.
Where should I be considering? My Californian gf likes the ideas of either South Pasadena or Glendale, which means we'll definitely need to have two cars. How long would the commute be from there? Google reckons an hour in traffic, I'm sceptical that it's not longer. There's the USC Health Sciences campus in Alhambra, and I could jack a transit ride from the Health Sciences place to the main campus, which means South Pasadena might be doable... but I'm going to be commuting a long time I think.
Where should I be looking? Which districts are nice, but not $TEXAS (Santa Monica, I'm looking at you)? Ones close to the coast are better for both of us, but it's a case of monies and safety.
Thanks guys
So I'm British and 24 years old. I've applied to places around California for a PhD in Computer Science. I received a phone call on Thursday from my proposed supervisor at USC, who says I'm in a pool of three people for two places. So I have a better-than-a-coin-flip chance of getting it.
I'm not sure what I should be looking at in terms of housing, and I'm hoping some LA/USC types will be able to help me. I need a one-bedroom place with my partner, but I don't know which areas I should be looking at.
I know very little about LA. I've visited a couple of times, staying in Pasadena and Santa Monica. I know that USC is in South Central, and I can't live in a rough neighbourhood; that's not an option. I'm not looking into USC housing right now, as the number of people applying for the minimal numbers of one-bedroom places like that must be astronomical.
It's likely that I will be spending half, if not more of my time, in Marina Del Ray, alongside the USC main campus. There is a shuttle that runs between them, so I'm not too worried about that.
Where should I be considering? My Californian gf likes the ideas of either South Pasadena or Glendale, which means we'll definitely need to have two cars. How long would the commute be from there? Google reckons an hour in traffic, I'm sceptical that it's not longer. There's the USC Health Sciences campus in Alhambra, and I could jack a transit ride from the Health Sciences place to the main campus, which means South Pasadena might be doable... but I'm going to be commuting a long time I think.
Where should I be looking? Which districts are nice, but not $TEXAS (Santa Monica, I'm looking at you)? Ones close to the coast are better for both of us, but it's a case of monies and safety.
Thanks guys
Lewisham on
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Palms/Mar Vista looks pretty nice. What do you mean by the "ghetto bird will fly over once in awhile"? I apologise for my Englishness
Wikipedia said that about 20% of people in those districts were below the poverty line. Does that cause any problems?
If anyone else has any ideas, I'd love to hear them!
I walk around at night, go to liquor stores, never been jacked or anything like that.
It's a diverse neighborhood, lots of ethnic grocery stores and restaurants. I recall when France beat Brazil in the World Cup, there were throngs of Brazilians streaming out of the Brazilian restaurant down the street looking forlorn, while the French drove around flying French flags and honking their horns.
Like jesus juice said, if you want nice housing out of the ghetto, and closer to work, then living around UCLA (I've lived here too!) is actually a better bet. You would also have the option of getting a third student roommate in a 2 bedroom for to cut costs. Santa Monica isn't as expensive as you might think (and not as nice as people think) when you're not near the water.
Generally anything area above the 10 fwy and west of Fairfax has the potential to be decent. If you live south of the 10fwy or east of Fairfax, then forget "ghetto birds" (which don't mean much), you'll likely be hearing gunshots every month (I've lived here also!).
I'd advise against using bus as transportation (shuttles and rail are OK), since commute times become much longer. The two of you could probably get away with just one car
Culver City has some nice areas. Downtown Culver City is in the midst of a revival, there's some quality restaurants and stuff there.
My gf lives by USC, and yeah, it's as bad as everyone says it is. But obviously, thousands of sheltered, rich white american kids live there every year. How do they do it? because the surrounding blocks are gentrified. You should check it out yourself, but if you can get something cheaper, then it's definately worth it. Parking and commuting during normal hours is such a nightmare it's not worth it to live far away unless you're going to be doing non-standard hours.
Living in west hollywood and then taking surface streets south (vermont or hoover) works the best if you can't stand living in sight of very poor people, but i think for QOL (not having to get into a car), USC wins hands down.
The QOL is not just for me, but for my partner too. She is a marine biologist, so being closer to the coast is better for her. I'm expecting to also only going to be by USC campus for a year doing classes, I can then stay in Marina Del Rey for the rest of my graduate studies.
What's Westchester like? It looks like you'd have to suffer through the noise of LAX constantly.
Well, I wasn't actually referring to something that far North, especially getting that close to the Valley. Really, I'm not a fan of any part of Hollywood (obviously not the strip), just like I'm not a fan of Santa Monica, despite some of the neighborhoods being decent.
I'd still go by my general rule of thumb, as living in a pocket community might not be his cup of tea, either. All areas have their ups and downs, but east of Fairfax there's a thin line of nice and bad. I've lived in a bad area of Crenshaw, but there's some nice housing around, especially the nice gated communities (which aren't really options for grad students). It's true for almost any city or district in LA, even ones known for being bad.
While your comments are well taken, i'm not sure what that leaves him - driving south on from weho is still a better bet than coming in from the valley on the 5/101. What do you mean by pocket community - do you mean those giant megaplex gated corporate living things like that $$ complex on fairfax?
So regions i can think of
Brentwood
Culver City
Downtown (is being gentrified slightly)
Echo Park
koreatown
Long Beach (barely counts)
Marina Del Rey
Santa Monica
Silverlake
studio city
the valley
Venice
Westwood
I'm trying to figure out where you've left this guy options to live:
You don't like Santa Monica very much - and say most of it isn't very nice. All of Santa Monica north of wilshire, even to the eastern boundary, is very nice. The venice/main street area of SM is funky, but certainly not a bad place to be, and not even "not nice."
If Hollywood is out, so are Echo Park and Silverlake. You like the area around UCLA - so that means Westwood (a student warren with no better housing quality than the area around USC), and Brentwood. Brentwood is nice, but pricey, and would force both him and his gf to take the 405 to get to work. (Or wilshire, I suppose, which still isn't pretty in the AM.) Brentwood is also terribly, terribly boring.
Venice doesn't work for the same reason you said Marina Del Rey doesn't work - too far away. Studio City & the valley, & all of hollywood, you've ruled out because they're too far north. If you go any further south without being in the immediate environs of hollywood, then it gets scary pretty quick. The exception I guess is K-town, which is fun to be in, but pretty grimy, full of strip malls on wilshire and with attractions that are much more fun at night (karaoke, bbqs) than during the day. If Santa Monica and Hollywood are too remote from USC, then the areas around UCLA are definately too remote. I think you've left this guy with the options of living in A) culver city,
To me the advantage of a good LA place to live - especially culver city, santa monica, echo park, silverlake, and hollywood, is that the fact that LA is a living hell to drive or commute in doesn't matter nearly as much if you live in an area that has a vibrant local community that you can walk around in and feel a part of without having to drive to. For me that rules out "Gated communities", because they're sterile corporate compounds, that, while clean and quiet, totally remove you from the experience of living somewhere. If you're going to spend that kind of $, you're better off going to a beach community and getting cleaner air than you would living further east, and just driving to USC at 6AM and hitting the gym or something.
I dunno, the hand-wringing about living in areas that are thought of as unsafe is a bit much to me. I lived in Brixton and Shepherd's Bush for a while. Not the greatest areas of London, but the way people are talking in this thread, you'd think they'd sooner jump off a pier than live anywhere but the los angeles equivalents of kensington..
I never said anything about not living in Marina Del Rey, or any close cities to it. Marina Del Rey is one of his commutes. I said Pasadena is too far. Pretty much the 405 is not really something he can avoid, as I assume even the USC shuttle takes the 10 to the 405. Downtown, Echopark, Silverlake, Valley, Hollywood are even more out of the way from the coast. The nice downtown housing isn't cheap either. If it was, I'd consider moving there. K-Town is a more lively nightlife like Hollywood, but I'd also advise against K-Town if he doesn't want rough.
I've lived in Brentwood for an affordable price by rooming with UCLA students. As for the Westside (Westwood, West LA, etc.) being boring, the night life is bare, but it's an affluent area with plenty to do. I think Culver City is a good choice. Venice is in the same boat as Santa Monica. You like it, and he might like it, but I personally don't.
Long Beach might actually be workable, as the blue line is available to USC, and the commute isn't that bad to Marina Del Rey.
Well, OP wants to not live in a rough neighborhood, so the advice should really be tailored to that. Some people have seen movies like Bowling for Columbine and might get the wrong idea about how safe it is. Half of my family is from LA, and they've all run into crazy incidents. When I lived there, there was (and still are) crack dealers on the corner. I've already mentioned the gunshots (not as prevalent as it was in the 90's, when my grandparents and aunts had to tell me to duck and cover during visits). I've had my bedroom window broken from attempted burglars. My cousin had someone literally jump into his car. My dad has been held up at gunpoint. When the locals tell you to stay away, then take warning.
My partner's Mum lives in South Pasadena. Like you say kaliyama, it would be nice to actually live somewhere where I feel I'm part of a community, rather than hunkering down and having to drive everywhere just to feel like I live somewhere worth emigrating to. The gf is still contemplating Pasadena exactly for the community aspect, she's stayed with her Mum there and she knows she enjoys it. There's a free shuttle from Union Station to USC, so I could take the subway to US from Pasadena and get into the main campus that way. It rather depends on how much time my supervisor thinks I need to spend in MDR.
I know I'm hand-wringing. The idea of LA makes me anxious. Excited, but anxious. Having never lived in a big city, I find thinking about it overwhelming. I know it's sad, but the idea of living close to my gf's Mum is very comforting; it feels much less faceless and lonely that way.
I forgot about the Gold Line from Pasadena to downtown. Never rode that so I can't comment on it, but that could be an option. I wouldn't want to commute to downtown from Pasadena in a car, that's for sure.
falsedef, sorry for the late reply, I didn't actually see your post as it went in after my reply to kaliyama. It was a really great post, thanks.
I've actually been looking at Long Beach under my own volition, and that is really seeming to be a workable deal. the Blue Line runs within 10 minutes bus ride to USC campus. And yeah, I could have a single car, drop the gf off at her job, and then run up to Marina Del Rey outside of rush hours during the days I need to be there.
The property prices (going by craigslist) are also much less than places I was seeing on craigslist even in Mar Vista or Palms. That might be skewed because all the students in MV/P would still be holding on to their property until June, but it certainly paints a very rosy picture. Knowing there is public transport end-to-end is a real boon. So, naturally, I am sceptical! Is Long Beach rough? I didn't see any indication it is anymore (not since the early 90s?) The Blue Line runs through Compton; should I be worried? I could find nothing in the LA Times or Google to indicate any crime of note has taken place on the Blue Line.
Long Beach is really appealing to me right now, so I am just hoping I'm not looking at it through rose-tinted glasses
Once again, you guys have all been really great. I feel so much better about the idea of LA now.
I used to go down there to sell blood plasma when I was really broke, taking the blue line. It's a surface train, so you wind up stopping at red lights, which seemed odd to me. The area around the blood plasma center was kinda run down as you might expect.
More recently, I went down there for a crawfish festival, and the area around there seemed nice enough.
The crawfish festival, on the other hand, was quite a letdown.
edit: oh, and there's a King Taco down there by one of the blue line stations. Best. Tacos. Ever.