In a year or so, I will most likely be moving from the Boston area back to California--to the Los Angeles area. However, I am originally from Northern California, not Southern, so I don't know much about L.A.

The things I have heard have varied from Everyone's so sexy down there. The weather's gorgeous. I love it! It's so fun! to Everyone is shallow and treads all over you any chance they get. People are only out to make a buck. Everyone in "the industry" (film) only talks about "the industry." The smog is disgusting and I felt like I was going to die.

See why I need advice?! Those of you who have lived in the Los Angeles area, please help me out.

Where are the best places to live? (So far, I've heard I should live in Venice or Santa Monica, because they are on the coast and therefore less smoggy.)

I am not looking forward to getting a car (unless someone gives me an Audi TT for some reason!), but I understand that I will have to. Any tips?

The job market: how is it? I'm particularly interested in film production. Is the pay one earns as a Production Assistant abominable?

Et cetera. Thank you so much, in advance, if you can help me on any of these issues!!!

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

Answers

Oh yeah, and another thing. How much is rent, generally?

And are there any good resources online that I should be looking at? Thanks again!

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

I lived there for five years. I was born on the East Coast and had a hard time dealing with the need to drive long distances for any little thing, and that every single street and boulevard and freeway could be completely congested at any hour of day for no apparent reason. Average speeds of travel are under 20 MPH.

Also, there are now subways in L.A. Between downtown and Hollywood (Your likely jobs will be in North Hollywood, is my best guess) is the new Red Line, (info at http://www.mta.net/) and on the line are some very nice, relatively more affordable, walkable neighborhoods - Silver Lake, Echo Park ...

I'm not in the 'film' biz but expect to not make much as a PA. If you can avoid the expense of buying, maintaining, insuring, 'smogging' and registering a car you'll have a much better margin of error in your living expenses. Bicycle to work. Rent a car when you want to get away for a weekend. Use Taxis. Use the new subways/light rail lines and the intercity Metrolink trains. Take a bicycle on the train - it's allowed.

But now that I've said all that I know you'll still get a car. It's inevitable. I had to try.

Car expenses - (highly variable, but I'm assuming you'll want as cheap a car as possible)

Buying: $2000 or more. Less and the car needs more $ in repairs anyway

Maintaining: ~$1000 yr

Insuring: $500-$1000 yr, depending on age, marriage, and neighborhood. Uninsured motorists are a big problem in LA, make sure you're insured for the event you get hit by one of them. California doesn't do "no fault" which is beyond me - I'm used to the modern less-stupid lawyer-free method. (But that leads into the second biggest annoying LA industry: every person you run into who isn't in the movie industry is a frickin' lawyer! Sorry Beth, nothing personal...)

Smog Check: If you don't pass there's a sliding rate for the maximum amount the garage can charge you to bring your car into "compliance". 1973 cars and older are exempt. If you pass you only pay $30. Hope you pass.

Registering: $100 yr

Gasoline: What's it in LA now, $1.70/gal? It's $1.90 in Northern California

Misc: No toll roads, but lots of $$$ parking garages.

....

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

I went to college in Los Angeles, and I absolutely loved it. I would have never left except it was so expensive to live there.

I didn't have a car, but that might be easier to manage when you're in college. Grocery stores were tough, because there were none within walking distance. I had to rely on friends with cars, or else my roommate and I would take a long hike to a very expensive market in Westwood, and carry everything home. Man, that sucked.

I worked in Santa Monica and took the bus to and from work every day. I also temped for two summers and took the bus all over L.A. I never had a problem, but I was a small town girl with no experience with public transportation. I just thought it was a miracle that I could get somewhere without having to drive; I though L.A. public transport was fine because I had nothing to compare it to.

I found the people to be extremely friendly, and I'm not just talking about Westwood and UCLA -- I had temp jobs in factories, insurance companies, advertising agencies, you name it, all over the city, so I got out of my little cloistered world now and then. I think it's a much friendlier city than, say, San Francisco. It may be a superficial sort of friendliness, but generally people seem to be in a good mood. I always enjoyed riding the bus; there was a pretty broad cross section of people on most of the routes, and people were friendly. When I ride the bus in Sacramento, I'm usually sitting next to a homeless person who either doesn't talk to me, or tells me the secrets of the universe. Totally different bus riding experience.

Of course, I've recently realized that it's been ten whole years since I lived in L.A. I'm sure much has changed.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

I grew up there and visit my mom there. I love it. I can't give you specifics about rent or job stuff, though.

I think there are shallow people there, same as anywhere else. Maybe there are more, but you just have to get to know them and see how they act. Some people I know complain that folks down there are too obsessed with looks and everyone is thin and tanned, but when I visit my mom in the valley I see plenty of fat people, old people, weird people, etc.

The smog situation is much improved from when I was a child, though it may still be hard for you.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

make sure to check out www.westsiderentals.com . lots of listings for the westwood/west los angeles/santa monica/venice area.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

I just don't like it there [and I spent the first 28 years of my life in So Cal]. It's not the people who bother me as much as the filthy air and extreme over-building. LA's definitely the place where "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot".

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

The air in LA's a lot cleaner than many other places. They've cleaned it up a lot.

I'm actually enjoying LA. I wasn't sure I was going to. (I know -- stupid to buy a house here if you're not sure, eh?)

I cannot imagine you won't use a car here! Distance between two points is usually given in minutes, not miles, as in: "It's about 10 minutes off-peak, but 40 minutes during rush hour."

Very key -- try to live *somewhere* near where you work and/or go to school. Because commuting sucketh mightily here. One of the reasons my hubby and I like it so much is we don't have to commute.

When I was looking for an apartment, most of the rental prices sounded reasonable to me, but then I was coming from Northern California. Most of my fellow classmates at USC shared apartments and they seemed to do okay living near the Miracle Mile or in West Hollywood.

Yes, the pay you earn as a PA is abominable. There are lots of people here who want to work in film, so there are lots of warm bodies. If you get to know everyone and make yourself valuable, you will move on from being a PA. As with any job, have an idea of what you want to end up doing (grip, gaffer, director?) and let everyone within a 10-mile radius know about it. If you're intelligent and willing to work, you'll work.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

I'm moving to Southern California myself in two months. Picking off information from this board too. :)

I've done a lot of research for costs of living in that area. From what I'm finding, the average one bedroom apartment is going to run you anywhere from $700 to $1,200 a month. Room mates are always a good thing, especially if you aren't making that much in wage or salary.

Check apartments listings both on websites like allapartments.com or rent.com, or check the online classifieds from the L.A. Times. It will give you a better idea of what to expect.

Good luck to you!

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2000

I've lived here for going on 10 years now; moved from 22nd and Park, NYC. I've lived all over, from the hills, including Beverly, to West Hollywood -- but I didn't feel at home until I moved to Venice. Wouldn't live anywhere else because of the great mix of people, types of living arrangements from industrial lofts to beachfront stuff, not to mention, but I will -- the perfect weather and the fact that I can walk to any and all services and stores and restaurants.

Never bothered with a car, although my husband drives. There's a great network of film and web work in this part of the world, as well as apartment notices on every telephone pole. Prices vary from under a thousand to two thousand a month for an entire house.

I really, really love it here. One of these days I might even get a

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2000

I lived there for a while (not by choice) years ago and hated it, and I doubt that it's improved any over the years.

But some people do love it, and if you want to work in the film industry, I suppose that's the place to get into it!

-- Anonymous, May 07, 2000

My suggestion would be to avoid L.A., if at all possible. Traffic is awful and randomly so. Everything is crowded. There's no such thing as finding a place to get away from it all there.

But if you must go:

Learn to speak spanish. Seriously. You'd be amazed how friendly folks can be if you speak their language. Everyone I knew down there who spoke the language had an easier time.

Get used to being staring at. Everyone stares at everyone else down there. It's kind of creepy.

Listen to Metro on NPR in the evenings. It'll keep you sane.

Stay near the ocean, whatever you do. It's literally cooler. But drive around the neighborhood a little first. There's only a few blocks in Venice that are nice, most of them on the other side of Lincoln (or is it Washington? I can't remember.) Playa Del Rey is very nice and almost affordable if you don't mind the planes from LAX. Marina Del Rey is nice on the other side of Lincoln, and so is the west side of Mar Vista. WestSideRentals.com rules.

I don't know much about the industry, except from talking to workers when I went to see shows taped. I asked one guy how a person lucks into the industry. He said:

"Go to college. Get a B.A. in history and write a ton. Move to L.A. Put your conscience and soul in a box in the back of your closet. Go to work every day and kiss ass."

Finally, you can check out my wife's old journal: http://www.gawow.com/ lastories

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000