Silver Lake Area? (Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Culver City: apartment complexes, renters, crime)

[jroisapunkrockr]

I'm moving to Los Angeles from Michigan and have been trying to research neighborhoods for months. I'm a 22 year old female moving with a 24-year-old male. From what I've read about Silver Lake, it seems to be a place where we could get comfortable. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what it's like to live there...

what kinds of businesses are around there?
what's the crime like?
what is an average rent price?
any good apartment complexes there?
is the night life any fun?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

[jlrobe]

Originally Posted by jroisapunkrockr

I'm moving to Los Angeles from Michigan and have been trying to research neighborhoods for months. I'm a 22 year old female moving with a 24-year-old male. From what I've read about Silver Lake, it seems to be a place where we could get comfortable. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what it's like to live there...

what kinds of businesses are around there?
what's the crime like?
what is an average rent price?
any good apartment complexes there?
is the night life any fun?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

I have only visited the area, but rent will be about 1700 for a smaller two bedroom. The night life is WAY better than michigan, it isnt even right for me to compare. You have lots of places in silver lake and los feliz already, take on hollywood corridor, west hollywood, and parts of gentrified downtown, all within a 2 mile radius and you probably have about 300 bars, clubs, live music places, comed clubs, loungers, hotels, pool parties, whateve. There is lots of hiking in that area. You arent too far from griffith park or the hollywood resevoir. There are fantastic apartments in the los feliz/silverlake/hollywood area, but they can run up to 2200, but shop around. As for businesses, anything and everything you want is within a 2 mile radius. If you want to go out a little further you can reach glendale, and most of the interetsting parts of LA. If you want to walk, there are many establishmnts in the silver lake, los feliz area. Lets just say, there are more businesses in that 2 mile radius than possibly all of ann arbhor (although I havent been).

The crime can be bad. some areas there is no crime at all, other areas are really really bad. It is hit or miss. You will live with the more wealthy people I am sure, and thus it wont be bad for you, but walk 4 blocks in the wrong direction at night and its no good. People claim that random crime is high in LA but it really isnt that high. Everyone has their different reality though.

[jroisapunkrockr]

thanks so much for the insight!

If you dont mind a follow-up question...what (if you have any suggestions) are these "wealthy" areas in Silver Lake? Or will I just know by visiting and looking around? Also, would you say I need to worry about vehicle tampering or theft? In things I've read it seems that there are a lot of those types of things going on in that area.

Any suggestions would mean alot...I mean, I've spent a lot of time in Detroit and lived in one of the bad parts of Lansing, but this L.A. business is a whole new monster to me because I have never lived there and have no idea what the decent areas are.

Any other suggestions of places to check out in L.A.? We're looking for someplace that has a heavy influx of young 20 somethings into art, music, culture...kind of bohemian, if you will...

Thanks again!

[jlrobe]

Originally Posted by jroisapunkrockr

thanks so much for the insight!

If you dont mind a follow-up question...what (if you have any suggestions) are these "wealthy" areas in Silver Lake? Or will I just know by visiting and looking around? Also, would you say I need to worry about vehicle tampering or theft? In things I've read it seems that there are a lot of those types of things going on in that area.

Any suggestions would mean alot...I mean, I've spent a lot of time in Detroit and lived in one of the bad parts of Lansing, but this L.A. business is a whole new monster to me because I have never lived there and have no idea what the decent areas are.

Any other suggestions of places to check out in L.A.? We're looking for someplace that has a heavy influx of young 20 somethings into art, music, culture...kind of bohemian, if you will...

Thanks again!

THe "wealthy"(overpriced) apartments are the new "luxury" apartments. Trust me, YOU CANT MISS THEM! You dont want to live in the waelthy area, just somewhat near it, so it is safe with lots of incoming money. Go to www.move.com or craiglist to search for places. The LA times classifieds are useless. Sublet.com is alright, westsiderentals, 4rentinla, and apartmenthunterz are okay pay sites. You can at least get an idea of how much places will cost in the area.

Remember, this is LA. There is probably about 750,000 20 somethings in LA county, they are ALL over. West Hollywood, Santa Monica, West LA(palms area), culver city (as of late), the beach cities (manhattan, redondo, hermosa), some of echo park, some of old town pasadena, north hollywood, even studio city and parts of San Fernando Valley along ventura blvd, mid-wilshire, miracle mile, los feliz, some parts of downtown. ALL of these areas have their own clubs, events, art galleries, restaruants, and young people. LA is HUGE and spread out. My favorite areas for young people would have to be Hollywood area (NoHo northhollywood, WeHo west hollywood, Los Feliz, silver lake, venice, santa monica, then maybe palsm and culver). There are ALOT of posers though. You need to learn how to weed out between good crowd and bad crowd, but every place I mentioned has the bohemian feel, especially los feliz,silver lake, and venice.

AVOID yuppie posers at ALL COSTS. No talent, wannabe, boring, unimaginative yuppies are destroying LA's true "hip" scene, so avoid those posers.

What I have done when I visited is I go to the off-beat stores instead of Gucci. I go to the independent small galleries featuring local artists instead of the larger places. I DEFINITELY go to see the underground bands. The large acts are boring anyhow. If you do all of this, you will meet people no matter what district of LA you are in.

Anyhow, I can call some friends up and dig up some more info for you, but it will be really time consuming for me. If you really are serious about moving down to LA and getting some really specific and useful information, I suppose I can consolidate some of my information and give you what I have, but that will take some time.

[jlrobe]

Originally Posted by jroisapunkrockr

thanks so much for the insight!

If you dont mind a follow-up question...what (if you have any suggestions) are these "wealthy" areas in Silver Lake? Or will I just know by visiting and looking around? Also, would you say I need to worry about vehicle tampering or theft? In things I've read it seems that there are a lot of those types of things going on in that area.

Any suggestions would mean alot...I mean, I've spent a lot of time in Detroit and lived in one of the bad parts of Lansing, but this L.A. business is a whole new monster to me because I have never lived there and have no idea what the decent areas are.

Any other suggestions of places to check out in L.A.? We're looking for someplace that has a heavy influx of young 20 somethings into art, music, culture...kind of bohemian, if you will...

Thanks again!

I will say that people arent shocked if their car is broken into, but it is no where near a given. I would say maybe 1 in 20 cars get broken into if they are unprotected and in an exposed area. What I mean by that is if you have 20 friends, there is a good chance that 1 of them has had their car broken into once. Stealing a car is very rare, just break ins. If you have a detachable face and dont leave anything in your car, and if you dont have really flashy wheels, I would say that you probably wont get your car broken into.

[fastfilm]

punkrockr, I'll add to the discussion from the perspective of someone who has worked in the music business in the past, and still has many friends who are musicians from Detroit and Lansing. Their MI street smarts have served them well here: always be on the lookout in L.A. Car theft is rampant because there's not enough parking for renters except on the streets. They would probably suggest you check out apartments in Hollywood, away from the druggie areas. Nightlife, clubbing abound. Silver Lake has had the national write-ups lately, because it offered cheaper rents to those who wished to start clubs, cafes, shops etc. there. The housing is still mainly houses, which are rentable closer to the boulevards. The housing in the hills would be prohibitive. P.S. I'm a geezer, but back in the day I wrote the first book published in the U.S. about the then new punk rock.

[jroisapunkrockr]

I am, indeed, serious about moving out there, but I wouldnt want to put you out or ask you to do so much work to help me out.

My boyfriend's going there in about two weeks to put a security deposit down on a place and we're hoping to move permanently by the end of next month. I've pretty much settled on Silver Lake, I'm just looking for back ups incase he can't find anything in our price range. We can probably afford $900-$1250 a month. Think we'll have any luck?

[fastfilm]

$900 a mo. would be a studio apartment (like a bedsit in England) next to a family 14 squeezed into another one next door. Don't skimp on rent out here or you'll be very sorry.

[jlrobe]

Originally Posted by jroisapunkrockr

I am, indeed, serious about moving out there, but I wouldnt want to put you out or ask you to do so much work to help me out.

My boyfriend's going there in about two weeks to put a security deposit down on a place and we're hoping to move permanently by the end of next month. I've pretty much settled on Silver Lake, I'm just looking for back ups incase he can't find anything in our price range. We can probably afford $900-$1250 a month. Think we'll have any luck?

You can rent a decent one bedroom for 1300. Just check the classifieds and other rental sites.

[icelander]

I literally scoured ever neighborhood in LA for a week and a half trying to find something similar.
Silver Lake of course is Boho, very cool, very expensive. Echo Park next door is also pretty Boho, but also ghetto-y. More affordable. There are good parts. Beck did (or still ) lives in Echo Park I think. I think the Eels came out of there and Elliot Smith too.

Parts of Culver City have become the new WilliamsBurg, so to speak. but its scattered. Its affordable though, fairly close to the beach, nicely liveable and safe. Nothing special, nothing bad. A good hip young community.

Vermont Ave above Sunset is very cool very young. Getting more expensive as more cool shops and cafes show up. Highly recommended

There's another affordable great little unknown area though. La Brea Ave is the border of West Hollywood and Hollywood. There is a block of apt buildings on La Brea and Franklin at the base of the Hollywood Hills that is 90% young people. All sorts - actors, musicians etc. The 'hood is beautiful, its pretty affordable, and Runyon Canyon is a 5 minute walk. Everyone hikes the canyon and you'll meet cool young people, B-list celebrities etc. Dogs allowed. Its real nice. You'll definitely get a swimming pool too.

Since you are technically in West Hollywood, the 'hood is better than if you cross over to the other side of LaBrea which is Hollywood. A lot of cool underground-esque Hollywood clubs and restaurants are within 5 minute drive. You can walk to some of them. You can walk to Kodak theater (which is cheesy, but there's some decent restaurants) You can walk to the subway even.

However, if you need to be close to venues for indie bands, Silver Lake and Echo Park are the place to be.