Can you live cheaply in West Hollywood? (appointed, rental)

[RockyP]

My girlfriend and I plan on moving down to LA for about a year while she goes to Musician's Institute and I work/work on music. None of us have ever been out on our own and really want to be cautious on living/spending and don't really know anything about renting. Are bachelor pads usually just rented out to one person? Would it be better to rent a studio? Is there a such thing as low-income housing near that area?

Anybody here on this forum that live or have lived near the area that have any suggestions for us?

[Ceece]

If the two of you think you can live together in a studio with just a minimal amount of "things" it can be done, especially if you spend most of your time at work or school away from home Some landlords are specific about only renting to a single person so it would be a case by case thing. And some studios are bigger than others. A Jr 1 bedroom is basically a studio with a walled off bedroom area and that might be suitable. Bachelor pads ("single"s, "bachelors", etc) sometimes don't even have a kitchen and some share bathrooms with other units so pay attention to the descriptions in the rental ads.

Now when you say 'work on music' do you mean actually playing an instrument? That might not work in a studio situation where the are clustered and walls are often paper thin and, again, really no room. Maybe a guest house would be better.

Rent will a minimum of $1000 no matter what for anything decent. The more over $1000 the better IMO. What's your budget?

[bouncethelight]

Originally Posted by RockyP

Are bachelor pads usually just rented out to one person? Would it be better to rent a studio?

There are supposedly differences in the size of the kitchen etc., but you'll find that most people use the two words interchangeably here.

[RockyP]

Originally Posted by Ceece

If the two of you think you can live together in a studio with just a minimal amount of "things" it can be done, especially if you spend most of your time at work or school away from home Some landlords are specific about only renting to a single person so it would be a case by case thing. And some studios are bigger than others. A Jr 1 bedroom is basically a studio with a walled off bedroom area and that might be suitable. Bachelor pads ("single"s, "bachelors", etc) sometimes don't even have a kitchen and some share bathrooms with other units so pay attention to the descriptions in the rental ads.

Now when you say 'work on music' do you mean actually playing an instrument? That might not work in a studio situation where the are clustered and walls are often paper thin and, again, really no room. Maybe a guest house would be better.

Rent will a minimum of $1000 no matter what for anything decent. The more over $1000 the better IMO. What's your budget?

Wow! Thanks for the info!

As for music, I really mean working on a career. Almost everything I compose is done by electronics except guitar...it would be nice to be able to bring it along!

As for budget, we've been mostly looking into places in the $700s right now. We can't afford to look at anything higher at the moment. As long as it isn't all rusty, infested, and has hot water I think I might be good.


And thanks bouncethelight...I had a feeling that might be it

[ZenMaster2008]

700 would be really pushing it.
Would you entertain the option of renting out a room in a house? It will be a bit more difficult going this route with 2 people and I know it's not ideal but what you will get on your own for $700 will be much much worse than a room you can get for $700.

[sucrose]

To address the low-income housing question . . . I'm pretty sure low-income/subsidized housing is reserved for elderly, disabled, and families on public assistance.

I had friends at M.I. years ago and they had quite a few roommates to keep housing costs down.

[RockyP]

Originally Posted by sucrose

To address the low-income housing question . . . I'm pretty sure low-income/subsidized housing is reserved for elderly, disabled, and families on public assistance.

I had friends at M.I. years ago and they had quite a few roommates to keep housing costs down.

That might end up happening since we know a few folks out there, but we really want to go for a studio. I wasn't really sure about the low-income thing since my mom has low-income housing up here in NorCal and she lives alone.


@ Zenmaster. My girlfriend and I were looking at some list of studios near the school at about 750. Most were at an average of 950+, but at the moment we're trying to pile up some money and look for something not-so-bad for as cheap as ever.

[+Lofty]

You're not going to find much in West Hollywood. You can try Palms, West Adams, Echo Park, Glassell Park, but if you think you're going to live the (500) Days of Summer life on $700 a month, you'll be sadly disappointed. This is a very expensive place to live. Public transportation isn't great, but it's serviceable.

[RockyP]

Originally Posted by +Lofty

You're not going to find much in West Hollywood. You can try Palms, West Adams, Echo Park, Glassell Park, but if you think you're going to live the (500) Days of Summer life on $700 a month, you'll be sadly disappointed. This is a very expensive place to live. Public transportation isn't great, but it's serviceable.

We both anticipate everything not being puppies and rainbows over there. We're basically trying to get something that looks like a master bedroom with a stove and live as close to Musicians Institute as possible

[Senshi]

When you say $700 you should also factor in utilities and all of that crap. If $700 is your monthly budget, for TWO PEOPLE, you should just forget about the Hollywood dream honestly. The cheapest place I know, in the area is like $825 and it was a dump and didn't include electricity in the rent.

You're also probably going to need double the rent for a deposit.

HOWEVER, you can get a cheaper place to live in some areas of East Hollywood. MI is ridiculously close to the red line and very accessible by public transit. The closer you are to MI the more money you're going to pay.

If you're close to a red line station you have access to MI. Heck you could even check out Koreatown and go purple to red. K-Town is cheaper than anywhere else in the city I believe.

Also forget about West Hollywood. WeHo isn't as close as you think to MI and you can get cheaper closer to MI.