Possibly Moving to LA?

How close are you friends in LA? Are they good friends?

The most difficult thing I’ve experienced from living in LA is that it’s difficult to maintain friendships in the city.

I think the transition from the Midwest to LA is actually a fairly easy one—you’re already in a car-centric culture. I think you’ll enjoy it! Where are you moving? Are your friends on the same side as you?

Be sure you have a car. And one with good brakes. Sunglasses are a must. And a respirator might not hurt.

Be prepared to live with some of the worst traffic and worst air pollution in the world.

@andrew The friends I have there and myself are very good friends, I have already talked with most of them and they all want me to move out there. I’d be living in Koreatown with a friend for a quite a deal on rent.

@Mamradpivo I commute by bicycle here and would continue to do so there, a few reasons: i like biking, i do not like sitting in a car in horrible traffic and wasting gas and paying insurance and car payments and all that, i jsut don’t want to deal with that

@PerryDolia Bicycles are faster than stopped cars. The pollution would bother me but after some time i figure id get accustomed to it.

You can moderate the pollution you’re exposed to. Stay out of the Valley, try to live in Venice, or Culver City, or Santa Monica, or anywhere by the beach except near LAX.

@wenn Good luck cycling in LA. It’s doable, but you’ll need to be very careful about living near where you work. Los Angeles is not designed for non-car commuters, and is actually pretty dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists in a lot of places.

@Mamradpivo I nearly get hit by drivers not paying attention every day here, and i’m pretty much over the danger factor of commuting on bike after doing it for 2 years now.

You have a head start with friends who are there and urging you to join them. I would suggest you start out by staying with them, if feasible, and getting your own place as soon as you are acclimated. If you can’t stay with them, at least just take a small studio or stay in a motel for a week or two.

I have family in the LA area, and when our cousin moved there, they had already found her an apartment not too far from her work.

@wenn

Bicycles ARE faster than stopped cars.

Johnny Carson had a joke, “I know there was an earthquake today. There were cracks in the air.”

You may get used to how ugly the air looks, but your lungs will never get used to the ozone and particulates. Be careful.

as far as biking goes. being that you are used to biking. i would just warn about the heat. idk how hot you are used to but in the summer time that area can reach 99 and 100 degrees. water bottle maybe?

in the winter you don’t have as much to worry about. it just tends to drizzle in the morning but the afternoon is usually pleasant.

as for going to DO things in LA, biking probably wont cut it. if you live close to something then yes. but if you want to go somewhere that is far away (and EVERYTHING is far away) you will probably need to drive there. Public transportation is not great (OK in some instances, but really bad in others).

LA has a lot to offer once you beat some of the hurdles.

i would suggest eating at as many different kinds of food places as you can! you can find food from every corner of the world! It is amazing! Here are just a few that come to mind:

Mexican (obviously). There is one on every corner, you will probably be a ‘regular’ at one once you have lived in LA for about a month.

Obviously Koreatown will have some really good stuff.

and little tokyo for japanese. but you can find really good sushi ALL over LA!

artesia is the place to be for indian food.

and little ethiopia (near LACMA, and the Brea Tar Pits) for an authentic eating with your hands ethiopian food place.

one of the best thai places i have EVER eaten in my whooooole life is in whittier. it is called golden triangle. the area it is in also has shops and is a nice place to walk around maybe for a date or something. i always get the green curry baked right in the coconut shell!

the museums often have free days so look on their websites. like the 1st monday of the month or every wednesday. it varies. the getty is always free (but you definately cannot get there on a bike).

if you like to bike in your free time, not just as a commuter. griffith park. and the area near the park called los feliz. it is a “hip” little area. coffee shops, book stores, fusion cuisine, french pastry shops and so on…

also in that area the griffith observatory. i have never been but it seems really cool.

one of my favorite bars is called medusa’s lounge. a place to see mostly underground types of music is called “the echo” (i think in echo park).

hollywood blvd, and sunset strip are over rated. check them out, but don’t expect much but tons of tourists, horrrrrible traffic and $10 parking.

old town pasadena is a very nice place to walk around. but it is very expensive.

actually, might biggest warning about LA is that almost everything will cost you and it won’t be cheap. So get used to dishing out cash

ok i have exhasted me LA knowledge for now. hope that was helpful.

It is incredibly expensive to live in LA. Be sure to do some research and have a good handle on what kind of expenses you can realistically expect.

The air pollution in LA is totally overblown, IMHO. My asthma has been better since I’ve been in LA. Traffic is also overblown—unless you work a 9 to 5 and are reliant on the freeway.

Biking is doable, especially if you live in K-Town. The bus system is also really good in LA. But my guess is that you’re going to want to get a car sooner than you think.

It’s gonna be a hard transition. I’ve been to Minneapolis many times to see my relatives and it seems like a farm in the middle of now where compared to Los Angeles.

@alive I’m from Minnesota, i go from to –30ºF winters to 100ºF+ summers, and everything inbetween, rain, snow, slush and sleet. So i’ve no worries about weather in the slightest. and im not very fond of public transport in the US so i rarely use it. Thanks for all the tips on places to check out.

@SuperMouse im really good at not spending money on unneeded things. as for right now as long as i have a place to live and can put food in me im pretty content.

@andrew a car is not a financial doable for me as of right now. and probably not for quite a while. and even though somedays i would like to drive, i say whatever and hop on my bike.

@wowy123 one of the reasons right at the top of my list is just that. I love city life and 95% of the time Minneapolis is too dull for me and too much of the same. Im tired of it here and ready for something new.

Do it, otherwise you’ll regret not taking the chance. I am surprised at the negative comments.

LA is not hot. August is much more comfortable than the midwest, average 85 F and it isn’t humid. . The Valley and Pasadena are often 10 degrees F warmer than Koreatown. The beach towns can be 10 degrees cooler. In the winter temps average high 60s F.

You’ll do fine bicycling in LA, you are an experienced bike commuter. Things are really spread out though, so hopefully home/work/school are all within your personal biking limit. When you want to drive, ZipCar car sharing is available around USC, which is 3 miles from Koreatown.

If you like the outdoors, California is AMAZING. You have the ocean, the desert, islands, mountains – it’s unbelievably great. Just one example, Mt Baldy is a 10,000+ ft. hike-able, ski-able mountain about 1.5 hours drive from downtown. It’s all pine forests and cabins, you’d think you were in the Rockies.

Compared to other big cities, only real estate is a lot more expensive. And somehow rents are not. I moved from Chicago to LA and found a great place cheaper than my Chicago apartment.

LA is a great city. Go check it out.

@jaytkay i agree!

@wenn do you have a hob lined up…or just using money you have saved?

the job market in CA right now. esp. LA, is unbelievable bad. I graduated with the class of ‘09 in may, and many of these college grads went somewhere outside of CA for work. Just a heads up.

(also, universal studios city walk is free and fun to see at least once. and diddy riese will change your life! it is in the westwood area.)

diddy riese!!!

:)

@jaytkay my commute is 20 miles every day and used to be 40 miles every day last year on bike so im fine with things being spread out. and yes i really want to leave.

@alive I work in he web design field and although i know the job market is not great out there right now, ive been searching for web jobs and there is a hell of a lot more out there than there is here in minneapolis. with my current plans ill have about $7,000 to fall back on until i find a decent job, hopefully wont take too long and won’t have to spend to much of that savings.

oh and if anybody knows of any web/media/design associations like AIGA or MIMA(minneapolis thing) out there could you let me know?

thanks

@jaytkay The negative comments are because the LA area includes a huge expanse of very undesirable places to live, and extremely unpleasant traffic patterns 24/7. The air quality is the worst in the country and near the top of the list world wide. These things cannot be ignored, but not all of “LA” is like that. There are many decent areas as well.

Public transportation is useful in the downtown area and in parts of hollywood.

Meters are free after 6pm and all Sunday except in Santa Monica. Watch out for street cleaning times and other times it is illegal to park. Some of them are rediculous. Don’t drive through the hills in residential Hollywood or Echo Park if you have a stick, the streets are narrow and steep. Figure out how you need to get from the 110 to the 101 or 5 before you get in the car.

The bars in west hollywood are overpriced, there’s lots of other options all over.

You can catch a cheap double feature at the New Beverly. There are three cool consignment shops in walking distance from Canters which is open 24 hours. The Pantry is open 24 hours too. There is a roller derby league, downtown art crawls every thursday, and free booze at art openings. Pinks makes the best hots dogs and you can have pie and coffee at the counter in the Apple Pan.

Skid Row is on Los Angeles St. but the bums are free-range.

Check the LA Weekly or Metromix to find out what’s going on. There’s always something going on.

@fundevogel Some great links. thanks