Meant to clarify, Venice is not uniformly grimy. Abbott Kinney is like a Bohemian Rodeo Drive, and the girls there during the day are pretty fine - walk into the restaurant Gjelina and take a gander. Too bad reservations are required... But it varies a ton, street by street, like nowhere else on the Westside. One street has A-list celebrities while another's got crack addicts and gangsters. Some people will ignorantly tell you Venice is affordable, but that's only if you want to live in the shittiest place possible, and possibly live next to gangbangers. Unlike Culver City, Venice is a world destination - for those who dig its style, it's #1 in the country. It doesn't have as many bars though.
I recommend against the South Bay - unless you're dialed in to a strong social network there. I know you already dropped it from consideration, just in case you had any doubts.
A lot of it depends on your budget. The higher your budget, the closer you can live to the hotspots. Still, between Beverly Hills and the ocean, there's a fairly wide range.
I was talking to a girl last night who lives in West Hollywood. She said she wants to move to the Westside because of the constant traffic, and WH's lack of proximity to the freeways. WH is also chock-full of aggressively homosexual men - I went to my chain gym there once, and it was a total gay pick-up joint, weird stuff like a dude standing next to me and staring at me for 60 seconds straight while I'm doing cable pulldowns.
I hear Pasadena nightlife is getting pretty good, but I've never been, and I don't trust mainstream hype.
I know little about real estate, but it seems like property prices in rich areas are much safer bets.
There's also Marina Del Rey, which is nice, mostly condos though and an older, sleepier crowd. Silver Lake, Eagle Rock, Highland Park area has lots of young artsy hipster types, I believe, don't know them well.
I recommend against the South Bay - unless you're dialed in to a strong social network there. I know you already dropped it from consideration, just in case you had any doubts.
A lot of it depends on your budget. The higher your budget, the closer you can live to the hotspots. Still, between Beverly Hills and the ocean, there's a fairly wide range.
I was talking to a girl last night who lives in West Hollywood. She said she wants to move to the Westside because of the constant traffic, and WH's lack of proximity to the freeways. WH is also chock-full of aggressively homosexual men - I went to my chain gym there once, and it was a total gay pick-up joint, weird stuff like a dude standing next to me and staring at me for 60 seconds straight while I'm doing cable pulldowns.
I hear Pasadena nightlife is getting pretty good, but I've never been, and I don't trust mainstream hype.
I know little about real estate, but it seems like property prices in rich areas are much safer bets.
There's also Marina Del Rey, which is nice, mostly condos though and an older, sleepier crowd. Silver Lake, Eagle Rock, Highland Park area has lots of young artsy hipster types, I believe, don't know them well.