LA vs. San Fran vs. NYC (San Francisco, London: insurance, job market, neighborhoods)

[nichole.hopkins]

Im city-hunting for a new place to live- please help!

LA any NYC are my first choices, however LA is very car-centric and that kind of goes against my environmentalist views (and the fact i HATE traffic). I would have to spend a lot on gas and insurance.
NYC is a place where you dont need a car, which I love, and has lots and lots to do, which I love as well, but NYC is clear across the country and I dont want to be too far from NM and my family if possible. SF seems like a very nice solid option. Ive visited LA but not SF or NYC.

Heres what I know:

San Fran: plenty of public transit (BIG bonus), lots of arts and culture(BIG bonus, i love art), pleasant weather (i enjoy rain and fog, which i wont get in LA)

LA: Lots of cars/driving everywhere (bad for me), some art culture, lots of opportunities for employment (Im a professional makeup artist who also models swimwear/lingerie...hence choosing LA and NYC. I know enough about the industry to know LA is a better market for the type of work I do). Close to ABQ geographically and culturally. If i move to LA the neighborhood Ive chosen is Silver Lake....it seems more artistically inclined than other areas near downtown.
No real weather in LA other than sunshine (kind of bums me out...i like 4 seasons, or at least 2, but i can live)

NYC: plenty of public transit, tons of arts culture, tons of people, lots of employment opportunities, been told you feel more "productive" in a busy city envt. which i need. The reason I put this out here as an option is because everyone I know who has lived in NYC has loved it, I would like some feedback since I have no familiarity with NYC.
The winters in NYC would prob. be too much for me, but i dont know, i havent experienced more than a foot of snow in my life.


Im curious to know about the job market in the entertainment industry in SF as a makeup artist (most of my clientelle are performers/actors/etc) and model (if anyone knows).

Im 22, vegetarian, must move with cat. I want to move somewhere I can actually feel alive.

Generally id like to know from residents of said areas what they think/what kind of experiences they had living in each area and if they prefer one over the other. Any info is extremely helpful. Thanks!

[cabrat]

Little to none in SF. San Fran is the largest tech hub in the world, it's not for show business. Your better off in L.A.

[Miss Pip]

I suggest LA. I live there, moved from London and i've gotten use to the car thing. I prefer it more than sitting next to idiots on the tube. Lots of jobs here for you and the weather is great.

[mini_cute]

I've lived in all 3 and prefer SF the most. However, LA does seem better for your career interests. The good thing about trying out LA vs NYC is that if LA doesn't work out for you, it is easy to relocate to SF which is just 6-7 hours drive north and you won't have to change states.

There is this make up artist on YouTube that I watch sometimes. I think she is from San Francisco and maybe you should message her so she can probably give you input as to how the industry is up in SF.

YouTube - kandeejohnson's Channel

[cabrat]

Oh god what has the U.S. come too. It's just makeup people.

[mini_cute]

Originally Posted by cabrat

Oh god what has the U.S. come too. It's just makeup people.

Oh god what has this forum come to... rude people... what's it to you if she does make up? Live and let live.

[cabrat]

That was actually pretty good...

[uptown_urbanist]

I've lived in SF and LA, spent a lot of time (but never lived) in NYC.

For your job it sounds like LA is the way to go. I would say that you don't have to have a car (I didn't; public transportation is decent) BUT in your field you'd almost certainly not have one set work location, and the locations will be scattered across a broad area. Still, you can at least find a neighborhood to live in where you won't have to use the car very often when you're home. Silverlake is an option, but there are many others, too. The arts situation is also quite good in LA; not sure why you think it's not. Lots of museums, galleries, etc. You won't get bored on that front. And while the weather is far more constant, of course, than in NYC, you'll definitely start to feel differences between seasons. You won't get the fog of SF, though, and it gets a lot hotter. You can always make some weekend trips up to SF in the summer for a cooler, foggy weather fix.

You still might want to investigate NYC a bit more. Unless you're planning on going back to NM very frequently the distance won't make such a difference, and you'll get probably get used to the weather.

[matt345]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

For your job it sounds like LA is the way to go. I would say that you don't have to have a car (I didn't; public transportation is decent) BUT in your field you'd almost certainly not have one set work location, and the locations will be scattered across a broad area.

Yeah, driving isn't always a necessity in LA anymore....unless you work on the production side of the entertainment industry. Many postings will list car ownership as one of the job requirements. LA's transportation culture is changing and more people than ever are embracing mass transit. But IMO, the film/music/tv business is one of the biggest strongholds of LA's car-only culture of the past.

[batransplant]

Having lived in both LA and SF, you can live in walkable or car dependent neighborhoods in both cities. For your job, you definitely want to be in LA, and there is a stronger arts scene in LA for the simple reason there are far more jobs available for artists. Way more galleries, museums, theaters, etc. SF has more of a tech/finance focus...not really much of an art scene outside of a few museums and the Opera/ Ballet, which LA also has btw.

Ive always lived in walkable neighborhoods in LA where I could walk to coffee, grocery, restaurants, movies, and boutiques. There are several in LA....west hollywood off melrose/beverly, silverlake, hollywood near HW Blvd, santa monica, venice....all these neighborhoods are completely walkable, artsy, with lots of young creative people. Beachwood Cyn n. of franklin in Hollywood is a nice street to live on There are several quaint restaurants, a cafe, gourmet grocery, etc. at the corner of the intersection across from the celebrity center, or off of Vermont n. of sunset in Silverlake. I actually used to live on Sunset and Sanborn in Silverlake while going to art school downtown when I was your age a long time ago :-). Koreatown, Chinatown and parts of downtown are also cool and tons of really young artists.

The only neighborhood in SF that I would consider artsy is parts of the Mission. There is just no comparison to the enormous amount of options you have in LA.