Quote: (06-02-2012 10:33 AM)HeyPete Wrote:
I grew up in San Diego, but went to college in Los Angeles and stayed for a few years after. This was all in the 90's (college and the years after). I also have a ton a relatives that live all over the Southland, so even though I grew up in SD, I spent plenty of my youth in LA.
I also lived in St. Louis (3 years), Minneapolis (1 year) and Chicago (1 year), so I'll relate some things back to what it was like for me when I was in the midwest.
My first piece of advice is be yourself and don't try and change into something that is going to take to much work to pull off. I've met so many people that moved from the midwest or south or wherever and they think they have to buy into every cliche. The cliched behavior is a really small group of people and they have a tendency to be from somewhere else. It's 80% girls who do this, but I've seen dudes fall prey to it too.
Do you know where you will be working? Because it will be crucial into plotting out the neighborhoods you want to target. And realize that their are neighborhoods within larger neighborhoods that are perfectly useful and can be affordable.
$800 pretty much means you will need a roommate. But there are spots where you can make it work on your own -- especially if you can bump up to 850 or 875.
Hollywood has changed for the worse (to me) since it's second heyday in the mid 90's. There were so many good dive bars and hot spots that were overtaken by douchebags. Especially after Swingers. The decline escalated when Hollywood and Highland was developed. Still the older buildings in the area have reasonable rents.
I'll skip over college living, because that was in dorms or packed three to a room, because I had zilch dollars.
One area I lived in was East Hollywood/Los Feliz, specifically Thai Town, but some people call it Little Armenia, too. Anyway, it's apartments are an older stock, but there are lots of them and they are affordable. My old building had 16 units and over half were single chicks. At the end of my block to the south was a strip club, a thai food place that stayed open until 6 a.m. and a few bars. A few blocks west, on Franklin, was an area with two bars, a coffee house, record store etc. A few blocks east was Vermont Ave. which has a ton of restaurants and bars. A block over from there was Hillhurst -- which was the same as Vermont. At my favorite watering hole on Vermont, it seemed like every chick was the quality of those early 20-year olds on CW shows.
These places are all walkable or a small fare cab ride. There are major bus routes along Franklin (just north) and Hollywood Blvd. (just south).
If you're into spotting celebs, Los Feliz is filled with them. I used to see anyone from Athony Edwards to Forrest Whitaker to Madonna. But after two visits to the Coffee Bean on Hillhurst, I realized Lauren Graham (the mom from Gilmore Girls) would go there frequently. She was at her hottest then. If I was Roosh I would have approached. Haha.
Also, the main core of Hollywood is only about a mile or so west. Downtown is about 6 to 7 miles and Silverlake is about 3 miles. All easy bus rides or cab rides. The subway stop is about a mile south to go into downtown.
If you are into exotic women, and who isn't, this area was filled with hot Thai women. Some speak very little english, but I got a bang from a woman who lived in the neighborhood and worked for Thai Airways. There are also numerous Hungarians, Russians and Armenians. Armenian girls can be extremely hot, but most are not.
Like I said earlier my apt. bldg had a several single girls. I didn't run any game on them, because it almost felt like a work situation (don't shit where you eat). But they were all at least 6s and one was a 9, being cool to them got me access to all of their friends. They were from all over too. England, New Zealand, Minnesota, Colorado, Massachusetts, Upstate NY and Florida.
In all there are like 12 similar buildings on both sides of the street and for blocks and blocks in either direction.
If you are into hiking (I'm not. I wish I was, sluts love to hike). Griffith Park is just north which is a wilderness with 4,000-foot mountains in the middle of the city. Beachwood Canyon is also about a mile away.
There is some gang activity south of Hollywood Blvd. And you will see some Armenian Power gang members in the neighborhood, but you will be invisible to them. I always found, you don't mess with them they won't care about you.
I'm writing too much here, so I 'll start to condense.
ANother favorite neighborhood I lived was Atwater Village. It's wedged in between the LA River and Glendale. It's an older blue collar neighborhood with plenty of amenities (bars, restauarants, coffee houses, etc.). It's a couple of miles east of the first neighborhood I wrote about. It feels more isoalted from the city for some reason, but being close to Glendale you have all that suburban stuff if you need it (malls, big box stores etc.).
There wasn't as many singles, but I've heard (since it's afforable) that it is becoming more of a singles area.
I also lived in Harvard Heights which is really affordable. It's on the south end of Koreatown and really close to downtown. I lived in an old 15-story apt. bldg. There were some cute girls there, too, but some sketchy lifers who have been there when it was rent controlled and never left. If you want to know what it looks like, the building they used to show that Seinfeld lived in was actually a building in Harvard Heights.
The area is rough around the edges, but I absolutely loved Koreatown. It's a 24-hour neighborhood with a lot of activity with shit everywhere. It's definitely Korean, so if that's not your thing you might not like it. Bar time in CA is 2 a.m., but there were so many places in Koreatown that outright ignored that law it was easy to find a place to go late night. They were subject to being shutdown, but when they were two more would pop up.
Korean women are my favorite asians, but like many asians they are very insular and tough to crack. There are also numerous upscale message places where you can get a massage and happy ending from a hot Korean chick for minimal expense. They also have Chinese, Thai, Mexican, Filipina and other ethnicities working in them. On those nights when we didn't close, it was sometimes cool to roll in at 3 a.m. -- look at the board who was working, pick the hottest -- and be taken care of. Eun Mi was my favorite. She was maybe 19 and adorable as hell.
Me: "Take off your top while you work your magic."
Her: (giggle) "oohhh no. I geet in much trouble. (giggle)
Me: C'mon. It's late. No one will check.
Her: (giggle) "oooh. (giggle). No. (giggle) ok. This time I do it. I take off."
Me: "You're a bad, bad girl."
I also lived in Studio City and Larchmont. Those are more pricey, but nice. Live as close as possible to Ventura Blvd if you choose Studio City or anywhere in the valley.
After living in the midwest for 5 years, it is much, much, much easier to pull there, even in Chicago, than SoCal. St. Louis was the weakest of the three in terms of talent, but some 9s in StL let me sample the menu. If those same girls had grown up in SoCal, they would have rather shit on me than even let me peek at the goods.
Anyway, this got too long, but I hope it helps. I know a little something about most areas in SoCal just contact me if you need any help.
Oh yeah and you know those days people go apeshit over in the Midwest? That's what the weather is like about 90% of the time.
Larchmont is simple one of the hidden jewels of LA!