Living in LA suburb as means to get to LA (Pasadena: rentals, hotel)

[moonsparkle]

Hi all..

I've been looking at places in the $700-800 range, preferably month-by-month. They are hard to find. Ideally, I'd like be close to some nightlife and have some urban amenities nearby. Whenever a furnished studio shows up, it's usually gone by the next day if it's in a better part of town. There was one in Los Feliz as of a few days ago at $750, I e-mailed the person, but heard nothing back, assuming they found someone. This place was also furnished (which would help me a lot coming from the midwest), although very small, it looked nice.

So, I've thought about considering a suburb close to LA, but not as expensive, currently looking at Alhambra/Rosemead. There are places in my price range in these towns that look nice, and they appear to be safe overall.

Do these suburbs still offer an "LA experience", or are they as boring as every other suburb in America?

For me, it's just a way to be close to LA until I find what I'm looking for in LA.

Or...is it better to just get a place in Koreatown/Mid-Wilshire in my price range? Seems to be the only part of LA that is somewhat decent and consistently has rentals I can afford.

[saybanana]

If you live in Koreatown and near any of the metro subway lines then you are set. You can easily get to DTLA's nightlife in 10 mins and go home drunk without having to worry about driving. You can also get to Hollywood's and Los Feliz's nightlife as well by subway and even a taxi home to Koreatown wont cost an arm and a leg. I forget what Alhambra is like. I used to go there a decade ago to the movie theatres there,and then eat Chinese food, that is about it. I dont see Alhambra as suburban at all. It is pretty urban as Pasadena, but lacks diversity and appeal. I dont think there is "nightlife" in the way I think of it. I dont know much about Rosemead.

[moonsparkle]

Do normal people actually take the subway at night to Hollywood or downtown to go out (besides regular work hours)? Then back home?

I would feel sort of strange telling a date, let's take the subway back home after 2am.

Alhambra/Rosemead seem like decent suburbs that are still somewhat urban and close to LA. If I lived in one of those, I'd probably make an entire weekend out of it and get a hotel if I wanted to party in Hollywood. I may have more money by staying in one of those, which is my main reason for considering them.

It seems like in LA it's more judgmental about what part of town you live in. In Chicago, you could live in the suburbs, visit the city, no one cared. Although certain city people did think it made them better to live in the city, there wasn't such a desire to live in the right neighborhood how there seems to be in LA.

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by saybanana

If you live in Koreatown and near any of the metro subway lines then you are set. You can easily get to DTLA's nightlife in 10 mins and go home drunk without having to worry about driving. You can also get to Hollywood's and Los Feliz's nightlife as well by subway and even a taxi home to Koreatown wont cost an arm and a leg. I forget what Alhambra is like. I used to go there a decade ago to the movie theatres there,and then eat Chinese food, that is about it. I dont see Alhambra as suburban at all. It is pretty urban as Pasadena, but lacks diversity and appeal. I dont think there is "nightlife" in the way I think of it. I dont know much about Rosemead.

If anything, I would just make people aware of being a minority in a majority Asian community. If you like good authentic Asian cuisine, the whole area is the place to be.

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by trancedout

It seems like in LA it's more judgmental about what part of town you live in. In Chicago, you could live in the suburbs, visit the city, no one cared. Although certain city people did think it made them better to live in the city, there wasn't such a desire to live in the right neighborhood how there seems to be in LA.

Hmm . . . I'm not so sure. Personally I would say the opposite. Because LA is so spread out, its just the nature of the region, theres something to do everywhere somewhat. Unless you live in Orange County or the Inland Empire, I haven't noticed much judgementalism.

In Chicago however, there is such a huge difference in the lifestyle between the city and the suburbs.

One of the reasons Chicago is not for me, is that if you don't live in the Lincoln Park/Lakeview/Wicker Park, etc. cluster of neighborhoods, its as difficult to meet young single people in their 20s and 30s as it is in Des Moines or anywhere. If you live in the suburbs, the young crowd looks at you funny, and asks why don't you live in "the city". Then there is the whole north side Cubs, south side Sox divide, the segregation that the city is known for.

In LA they may not be interested in visiting/hanging out for the simple fact that traffic and distant can make it quite difficult to get from Pasadena to Santa Monica or Sherman Oaks to Hermosa Beach but apart from that, I haven't seen the judgemnetalism, as there are clusters of activities everywhere.

Unlike Chicago where it goes from Manhattanesque to typical midwestern family suburbia complete with fireflies and cicadas in under 20 miles.

[moonsparkle]

I agree about that crowd - but, it's also very small, and they usually moved to Chicago from some miniature place in the midwest. Like a few select neighborhoods in Chicago (are cool to live in) vs an entire section of LA...West LA or Hollywood to Los Feliz/Silverlake. I'm also considering the sf valley.

Not that it's relevant, but you can probably relate to it at least somewhat. The majority of people I knew that went to U of Iowa, were from Chicago suburbs, and almost all moved back to Chicago suburbs. There seems to be more interest in Chicago "city living" by people not from Chicago metro at all. Another thing...for having such a large downtown, everyone interested in living in the city always preferred those neighborhoods north of downtown.

It also seemed to me like a lot of the "club crowd" at the River North clubs were actually from the suburbs. The bar crowd was from the city.

[Dunbar42]

Originally Posted by trancedout

There seems to be more interest in Chicago "city living" by people not from Chicago metro at all. Another thing...for having such a large downtown, everyone interested in living in the city always preferred those neighborhoods north of downtown.

I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and worked in the loop for 3 1/2 years and the area in/around the loop is a ghost town after 6-7pm. There has been some gentrification heading south and west of the loop but those areas don't have the nightlife like you get north. And of course if you keep going south and west you hit the inner city which are similar south central and east LA. The desireable areas north of downtown also encompasses a pretty large area that is very well served by public transportation to jobs downtown.

[Joy74]

Try Burbank.

[moonsparkle]

Burbank is nice, but costs more than most of LA it seems.

[BarcelonaFan]

Studio City? NoHo?