Places to live near Los Angeles

hah yeah I'm mostly joking I love Austin .. I'm in Houston right now and wouldn't change a thing

 

Welcome to Southern California.

 

Lived here my whole life. Nothing is as bad as the area right around LA.

 

Currently up In show low (north eastern part of the state about 47 miles from new mexico) I am closing on a house down in the phoenix area now and will be moving down there in about 2 weeks

 

Instead of looking at Brentwood, look at the other side of the 405. Right behind the KB Home building and behind the park, there are some nice quiet streets, and all units have 2 car underground garage parking, unlike Brentwood which has a lot of street parking. I own two properties there. Camden AVE. My 2+2 is rented out at 2600$ a month and my 1+1 is rented at $2100 a month.

SCV is too far to commute to the west side, unless you want to spend all day on the road. Though rent is dirt cheap there. My 3+2 single family in SCV (close to mall) is rented for only $2200

Where the 210/2 meet (La Crescenta, La Canada/Montrose) is a fantastic area and a hidden gem and is easy to get to downtown. Issue is, not much professionals your age, people are 35+. Additionally, most are single family, which are all $3800+ a month rental.

PM me if you need any more help.

 

San Diego ! Haha jk too far. But I'm loving it here. So much better than Santa Barbara. My rent is cheaper than sb and I get a garage, patio, tennis courts, pool, basketball court. And it's supeerrr safe

 

Yeah that's why I've always avoided areas around the major part of the city; Downtown, Culver City, Encino, Wilshire, Korea/Chinatown, Silverlake, Hollywood, etc. You could be living on a super nice street/neighborhood but if you go 4 minutes in any direction, you're suddenly in the ghetto and chances of getting mugged or shot go up exponentially (slightly exaggerating but not really). The quieter, more suburban areas are on the edges of the county line and worth the extra commute, IMO.

 

Yeah I'm from the OC it's pretty bad here too but not as bad as LA.

Still I couldn't imagine anywhere else I love it here.

 

some reference

https://www.zumper.com/blog/2016/06/mapping-los-angeles-rent-prices-this-summer-june-2016/

as much as i like living in northeast la, my first thought after reading your post was culver city/palms area, given the commute you mentioned.

 

Anything on the Westside of DTLA will eat up that budget. Commuting in LALA land sucks no matter where you drive to and work from. DTLA and 90210 is easily a 40 minute commute. Sawtelle, Culver City...... Pasadena (the nice part)...... Eagle Rock..... Glendale.....

 

Don't forget that L.A. city has rent control. Surrounding cities dont.

 

OP,
Not sure if you have decided what city to choose but couldn't help but noticed that you mentioned South Pasadena. I was born and raised there and it looks like I don't have to tell you about how nice of a city it is (someone already mentioned it). The proximity to DTLA is great, although getting to the west side can be a PITA (possible 40 minuute commute) but if it's saftey and piece of mind that you're after it's a great choice. Glendale, Burbank, Eagle Rock, La Cresenta, and Tujunga are also nice but a little further out. Be careful if you are looking into the city of Pasadena itself because there's a lot of listings in areas that are not so friendly once the sun sets but the price of rent might have mislead you into thinking it was supposed to be a friendly neighborhood. Good luck with hunt!