SunnyMeadow

Thank you for your valuable input.
Forgive me as both me and my friend are quite naive/green when it comes to most parts of the USA and so we need to know what are crime levels/type like in this part of LA, which we are all told is one of, if not THE most violent city in the USA/world? Are guns for example a real life, daily concern and something we have to account for? How effective is Policing?

What else would you say we should take into consideration?
My friend is moving from a small city on the east coast.

I think my friend really wants this job (its in zip code 90036) but if the price (too high rent, noise, traffic, social life, the type of people who are there and crime) is just too much, then it may not be worth it.

Although my friend does realize that they are not moving to a small town in the mountains, for example, and expecting a folksy-kinda life, with friendly neighbors popping round with baked apple pie, etc, (but you never know!) they won't take to a life that is generally noisy, busy, with too much traffic and where they feel unsteady about going about their day to day life and also, one that is too expensive for little to no benefit.

Reading about life there from those who know the area is a very valuable way to assess the issue at hand for my friend and I thank all those who have and will contribute to this question.

Folinskyinla

Hi:

I looked at Google Maps and 90036 is shown right in the center of Park La Brea [LA generally has a grid street pattern -- and roads shown there are the ones within Park La Brea]. It is generally a very nice area to live and be near work.

It is not a high crime area. There are areas of the city I would not venture into but those are not all that many. [BTW, I find the movie Falling Down not to be accurate -- a white guy like me can walk through that area in fair safety -- the gangbangers really don't care about the white people].

SunnyMeadow

Gangbanbgers?
Who are they?

Do you have a response to the other aspects of living there that I mentioned and what are rent levels in this area (90036).
Would you say the area is dirty?

md95065

Let me Google that for you ...

Folinskyinla

Hi:

A "gangbanger" is a person who is a member of a gang, usually hispanic or black. I'm not sure if it is general slang but it is used in the legal and law enforcement community a lot.

90036 is quite clean. It is urban in nature.

I have no real idea of what rents are. My sister-in-law has owned her house since my she and my late brother bought it in 1975. I own also and the current house was purchased in 1995. My mother-in-law's apartment is under LA rent control ordinance and she has been in it since 1980, so her rent will not be instructive. However, L.A. rents are on the high side these days -- it depends upon what they want.

Rent will depend upon location, the immediate neighborhood and the condition of the individual building. Even on the best streets there will often be a building that has not been well maintained. Niel Dimond's I Am I Said is dated -- LA and NY rents are now comparable. The Miracle Mile area is not known for its gang activity.

BTW, the Mexican border cities are lot more violent now. The economies of Tijuana and Juarez have taken huge hits from gringos hesitant to cross the border -- and El Paso, Texas is essentially a suburb of Cd. Juarez.

SunnyMeadow

Thanks.

By the way, is LAX the nearest and recommended airport for access to Wilshire Blvd?

Folinskyinla

Hi:

PLEASE stop referring just to "Wilshire Blvd." If you want to say "Miracle Mile" fine, perhaps even "Mid-Wilshire."

LAX is the main airport for all of LA and it happens to be the closest. That said, the airport is a bitch to deal with IMHO. I try and use Burbank when I can.

I will say this -- the area is something your friend should examine. One thing about Los Angeles is that only constant thing has been change. It is only in the past decade or so that historical preservation has caught on in a big way. Also, I have no idea what your friends like [or tolerate, for that matter].

Do remember that the area is definitely urban regarding housing -- not in the sense of high rise, but is dense in the LA sense of density and it is increasing. The choice of housing will be quite eclectic. I had mentioned the Hasidic community there -- they have big families and like the big old houses. During World War II and immediately afterwards, many of the big houses were divided into duplexes [my brother's house had been converted back to a single family house, but they removed the second kitchen when they moved in]. Some of the older houses have been torn down and replaced with fairly large apartment complexes. [You almost never see a new SFR being built in the area]. Some of these buildings were built as beautiful duplexes. You even see some of the old cottage courts, but most of those are gone -- but they are neat if you find one and want a small house -- but most of those don't have on-site parking].

Also, it will be a good idea to have a car or two. Wilshire happens to be a main transportation corridor and a family could possibly get by with only one vehicle. It is also a good area to get around by bicycle if you are so inclined [I'm not kidding about this -- but some people don't like walking more than a block].

Sally Redux

I can give your friend some info about that area, mind you it is apartments and I notice they want a house.

PS and I notice Folinsky has given you a lot of info.

I would say it is almost impossible to describe an area to a person in a meaningful way, they will need to visit.

Folinskyinla

Hi:

But Park La Brea has town houses. A good friend grew up in one of those town houses and his mother lived it for over 50 years. And even the SFR's in the area and jowl to jowl with other SFR's or duplexes. The house next to us is going on the market and we told our neighbor "no rock musicians!"

A family across the street from us have teenage kids and they often have loud parties -- but they are nice enough to give us advance warning. What can you do but say "thank you" and smile? The neighbor in back of us has had loud parties and if you ask him to keep it down [e.g. my kid is sick], he was quite surly. Of course, when he wanted a variance on a remodel he needed the consent of his neighbors, which he didn't get.

SunnyMeadow

Sounds like delightful neighbors!

meauxna

I don't know if you/your friend have already done this, but if you go to google maps & put in the zip code & search, the map appears. There is an orange symbol of a little man near the zoom control; if you drag him to the street you want to look at, the map will switch to 'street view' (don't know why they haven't labeled this map the same as the others).

Street View is overlaid on the map and they literally drove around every street with a camera on top of the vehicle; it's a lot of fun to 'visit' places you are interested in. That will at least let you put eyeballs on the properties ppl are trying to describe.
I just had a nice little virtual cruise past the La Brea Tar Pits.

SunnyMeadow

Thank you and yes, I do know about this Google feature which is very useful (I always wondered how they achieved this) and which we have already used for looking at the architecture of the area, for example.

The reason for my post is that I wanted to find out about what it like living there, from those who are there now or who have lived there in the past and if the consensus was that its dreadful, perhaps my friend can take the view that its best avoided and the huge cost if it was all a mistake in moving there can also be avoided.

I am grateful to those who have contributed but I sense that this will now require a personal visit to "fill in the blanks" and get a real feel for the area.

Folinskyinla

Hi:

The feature is kind of neat. However, when I put my address in the pic will be of the two ficus trees in the median strip. If you put in the addresses of the houses on either side of me, you get a good idea of what my house looks like. BTW, this feature is incorporated into http://www.zillow.com which will not also show the location but also home values [which should be taken with somewhat of a grain of salt.].