The husband and I have been thinking about moving from Philly to Los Angeles for a few years. My husband has always wanted to live there, and since I promised to move to the West Coast once I was done with my degree…now I have to fulfill the promise.
We’ll be moving toward the end of the year as soon as one of us gets a job. Which will be at around October or November. Which means when we move in May/June this year we will be signing on a temporary lease or taking over someone else’s.
I think it will be interesting to live in L.A., mainly because I think it will be very entertaining (when you don’t have a TV, you look for alternatives). Also there is the beach which I don’t care too much about, but my husband does. However, the interesting part will be whether we can live there car free and rely on bicycling and public transit as we do here in Philly. There are a handful of individuals who do live car free in L.A. and have written about their experiences…that is, it can be done. Then there is the weather. Its apparently nice for most of the year. So I could possibly have locally grown, organic oranges. Which will be nice.
But reading message boards about L.A. is not very informative. Most posters own cars…which skews one’s perspective on everything. Most of the posters who complain about how dangerous L.A. is lived in small towns and white-only areas prior to moving to L.A. How is the city dangerous? Are there shootings on the bus? Are there hoodlums hanging around the corner of certain neighborhoods harassing people? Are there rapes? I am more interested in the likelihood of getting hit by a car when crossing the street (like I could if I cross Roosevelt Blvd. at night here) than this vague dangerous descriptor used for everything. How wide are the shoulders and bike lanes? Since the city streets are so wide, will I get room to bike? Will I have to deal with an attitude problem if I lock my bike up to a pole? Will I be fined if I ride on the side walk because I am scared of riding on the street with cars driving over 40 miles per hour?
I’ve ridden through North Philly ghettos by myself, and while its spooky, its fine during the day. How does North Philly ghettos compare to L.A’s?
L.A. has everything the both of us need. So I am not worried about being bored. But its hard to narrow down potential neighborhoods we could live in when the noise about how horrible L.A. is, is really loud.
We have both opened up to the idea that if it is really impossible to be car free, we will get a car. We will probably sign up for a car sharing service rightaway to make the transition smooth, but I am hoping we won’t need a car.
Anyway…I am researching the city. I am really ready for a change and I think L.A. will be as much of a change as I can imagine.
Beanie
Based on your previous criteria for where you hoped to live, I don’t know if LA would be the best choice. I reread an older post and saw that you wanted a place with low cost of living and a healthy biking community. I think LA is one of the most car necessary cities in the country.
Of course not everyone has cars. I have a friend who doesn’t, but I can’t say it is easy for her. Now that she lives in a area where she can actually walk to places, she’s much happier, but such places are pricey.
Anyhow I don’t mean to discourage you, I hate when people badmouth my goals and plans and I hope it doesn’t seem like I’m doing that. I just recall your mentioning moving before and LA seems really dift. from what it seemed you were looking for.
Maybe the criteria has changed though for you guys? I really like LA, it has a lot of very pretty areas, as you said more than enough to do for probably any type of person, the beach, mild weather, diversity in many forms, and much more. I have lots of close friends who have lived there or live there now and have been down there a bunch of times over the years I’ve lived in CA and from what I’ve seen it seems harder to live down there than it does where I live. I’d suggest if you’re interested in Ca maybe looking into N. Ca. too. Of course it could just be bias on my part and blind pride in where I live but I think a lot of what you’ve said you want in the past is more available here than in LA.
Still, I’m sure you can make it work down there too, and I think that city has A LOT to offer. Besides, just about anything can be done if one really wants it and puts a lot of effort toward it. People say it’s so expensive and hard to live here too, yet there are people who manage to live cheaply and well (depending on one’s definition)–myself included. So LA may very well be the place for you–I wish I knew it better so I could give you more specific suggestions for areas and have more knowledge on some of you areas of concern . . . If you ever think of coming up here, then by all means I will be able to share my info. if you would want it . Good luck wherever you go!!
Comment by m — February 4, 2008 @ 7:34 pm
There is only one reason we’re moving to Los Angeles: my husband has wanted to live there for the past 10+ years and couldn’t for a variety of reasons. Now that nothing is holding us back, we decided to give it a shot where my condition is that if I absolutely hated it, we would move to San Francisco (which I am in love with). So I may just be asking you for some advice in 2009!
I actually narrowed down which city we would move to (based on as much of my original criteria as possible) for med school. They are in order of preference:
1. Portland, OR
2. Chicago, IL
3. Tucson & Phoenix, AZ
4. Washington D.C.
5. Minneapolis, MN
6. Rochester, MN
7. Worcester, MA
8. Springfield, IL
9. Stony Brook, NY
10. Piscataway, NJ
Although I am hoping that my husband will give up this med school idea (which is not an idea, but he’s been wanting to do this also for about 10 years).
I too have read and heard that L.A. is the most car oriented city. But I’ve never been there and there are loads of people who can’t afford a car who seem to be getting along (and those who can and choose not to). When my husband spent the week there he got along fine without a car or much money.
But then again, except for my husband and I, none of my friends are car free here. And Philly is a compact and very walkable city.
Another reason I want to give L.A. a shot for at least one year is because it seems very weird. When I was in SF, I felt instantly at home and wanted to move there immediately…the same is true for certain sections of NYC. I haven’t done anything weird or goofy (no college misdemeanors or crazy stories to tell) and this will be my weird thing that I do: living in L.A.
Really…if this is my husband’s biggest dream, it seems simple enough to fulfill.
And I didn’t take your comment the wrong way…the decision does seem to be the exact opposite of what I originally wanted. But since there are no kids or anything else that will be holding us back, why not give this a shot?
Comment by Beany — February 4, 2008 @ 8:35 pm
Beanie
Totally agree with you. What kind of life would it be if we didn’t try to fulfill some of our strongest dreams and pursue our most longstanding passions when we had the chance?
I’ll have to look at some of the cities on your other list, bc some of them are ones we’ve considered so I’d like to see if the others are places, or near places, we might like too.
In LA I think the key is to live near your job or school. If you do that, I think it’s much easier, otherwise you could be faced with crazy traffic. My understanding is public transit isn’t super reliable, but it could vary based on area, I really don’t know. We have walked a lot when we’ve been in LA, too, and I really enjoyed it. Just writing about it is making me want to go down there for a visit!
I think it would be awesome if you move, I love LA, and the main reason we ruled it out is bc of the need for driving (I really need and want to be in a city where I can rely on public transit) so much, so I’d love to hear about your experiences there and of course it will be fun to be somewhere new and dift. and for your husband to live out his dream.
I check out the forums on city data from time to time. They are searchable so if you are looking for more specific info you could go to the l.a. section and then search for your topics of interest.
What I like about it is you get input from other people, many of whom actually live in the places you’re interested in. You have to take quite a bit of it with a grain of salt but I still find it somewhat useful, though time consuming. Anyway if you haven’t checked it out before, you might wan to take a look.
Any idea what areas you guys might be considering? Where is the school he might want to go to?
Comment by m — February 4, 2008 @ 10:34 pm
I’ve been lurking on city-data for awhile now, and I agree the information there is not terrible. I like reading about the poster’s personal experiences. But on the LA boards, most posters who grumbled seemed to be those that didn’t make it after years of trying to get into the industry. So their thoughts and opinions really muddied the water.
All the cities on my list have med schools with tuition under $30,000 for non-residents which was how I first eliminated cities from my big list. But CA med schools could come under consideration once we become residents of CA…but the competition is stiff to get admitted.
When researching cities for our move I came to the conclusion that there aren’t cities in the US that really match my criteria. So we’ve been talking about moving outside the country either temporarily or permanently to see what else is out there. Amsterdam tops the list because of the bike friendliness. And its in Europe so there is the possibility of biking across Europe for vacations. But here its money that is holding us back. To move to the Netherlands we needs all sorts of insurance and other paperwork plus cash…which we are short on now. On the bright side almost every country needs accountants and medical professionals like nurses and doctors…
My husband was going to apply to all schools in the list of 10 I posted above. Based on where and how many places he gets accepted into - we’ll make our final decision.
Comment by Beany — February 5, 2008 @ 7:52 am
Beany,
There are a lot of people who do manage in LA without a car. Here are my suggestions of neighborhoods to check out:
Los Feliz
West Hollywood
Miracle Mile
Santa Monica
Westwood
Culver City
Venice
It all depends on where you are planning on working as M said, but public transit isn’t terrible in LA. I have had a ton of friends without cars. That said, there are pockets of LA that have terrible public transit. (I happen to live in one.) So you do have to be careful where you live. Los Feliz is a pretty good choice because you’ll have access to the subway as well as the buses, and Los Feliz kind of reminds me of Greenwich Village in New York. But, it can be expensive especially if you want a nice apartment.
As for it being dangerous? It’s really not. Sure there are areas I wouldn’t want to go to at night (Watts, Compton etc) but by and large, it feels pretty safe. It’s like any city. Yeah, things do happen, but by and large, I never feel scared or at risk. Anyway, I’m happy to give you any more information you need so feel free to email me whenever.
Comment by arduous — February 5, 2008 @ 1:05 pm
arduous:
Thanks for the neighborhood list! I have been marking various things via google maps and so far I have marked out (approximately) the ghettos, the super rich neighborhoods and the farmers’ markets (which is incomplete).
We’re willing to live in small places such as a studio for awhile. So we’ll see where we actually wind up. Also there is the issue of getting a job. We’ll see how that works out.
Comment by Beany — February 5, 2008 @ 1:13 pm