LA Associates: Where to live? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Where would you recommend that young associates should live? Not short term during an SA but while working at a firm when starting? Office in CC.

[PDaddy]

"CC"?

Studio City...nice places. Beverly Hills, Westwood...

[Anonymous User]

Can we discuss Orange County here or is it just assumed that everyone will live in an apartment owned by the Irvine Company?

[PDaddy]

You are talking Century City, right? Isn't orange quite a ways from there?

[Anonymous User]

Santa Monica, if you want to be near the beach. Culver City a little more affordable. The Valley even more affordable (but further away). Depends really on where you are working (Century City or downtown).

[Anonymous User]

For downtown offices, I think Silver Lake, Los Feliz, Hollywood, and the Downtown area itself are all pretty good places to live and have lots of options at different price points. FWIW I am inclined towards finding a place downtown or very nearby (maybe out near Little Tokyo or something) but I might be crazy for wanting to live there.

[Anonymous User]

Sorry, I meant that can we also discuss places to live in Orange County, for those working BigLaw in Orange County. And also have the thread open to LA associates to discuss living. Or we could start another OC thread.

[okinawa]

.

[Anonymous User]

You are talking Century City, right? Isn't orange quite a ways from there?

OP.

I want to talk Century City area. I'm not OC poster.

[desertlaw]

You are talking Century City, right? Isn't orange quite a ways from there?

OP.

I want to talk Century City area. I'm not OC poster.

If you want to have a great summer, do Santa Monica and spend some money on a beach house/condo. You'll have more time to party and hang out this summer than you would when you start working after graduation.

Not sure what would be a better long-term option though.

[Anonymous User]

I've heard it's difficult to sublet in century city for the summer--true or false? I guess there is always the UCLA area, which is bound to have summer vacancies.

Yes, difficult bc century city is basically all office buildings. You would likely have to go west for best living options -- Westwood/UCLA area (yes, likely to have vacancies - might even want to contact UCLA housing directly - their grad student housing will have summer vacancies), Santa Monica, Culver City.

[UCLAtransfer]

A lot of people working in Century City live in Brentwood, Westwood (south of Wilshire), and Santa Monica. These are the pricier/more upscale options. Culver City, especially along Culver Blvd is also relatively nice, w/a lot of bars and restaurants within walking distance, etc., and it is also significantly cheaper in a lot of cases than some of the other areas.

[Anonymous User]

I've heard it's difficult to sublet in century city for the summer--true or false? I guess there is always the UCLA area, which is bound to have summer vacancies.

The UCLA students have their summer mid-June through late-September. There's almost no sublease in that area starting late May or Early June.

This past summer, I got a sublease near USC and drove to Century City for work every day.

[Dustin.]

+1 for Santa Monica.

[Caligoblue]

Santa Monica all the way. I live there and I wouldn't live anywhere else in the entire world. Certainly no where else in the LA basin.

[zomginternets]

Either Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Century City or West Hollywood (pockets of West LA are ok too). Avoid: Hollywood (basically anywhere east of La Brea), Mid-Wilshire, and anywhere below the 10 fwy that's not Culver City.

[Anonymous User]

Any suggestions for rental sites/brokers? Would prefer to hopefully find someone's condo through a management company/broker than a big-box rental place like avalon/archstone.

[Anonymous User]

For those of us from east coast schools who are spending the summer in LA - Do the firms help you with long term car rental?

[Anonymous User]

I hate the West Side and if you have to work in Century City, you will too. Although you technically would have a reverse commute since the gridlock is usually in the opposite direction, the traffic is still awful and its just so boring over there. I personally like the area from like La Cienega to La Brea (east/west) and 3rd to Santa Monica (north/south) as its not a terrible commute to either Century City (with traffic maybe 15 min) or downtown (20 min) and there is a lot of great stuff in the area within walking distance. Other good areas are Los Feliz and Silverlake (for downtown offices), WeHo, and parts of Beverlywood and Culver City are cool too. I wouldn't recommend living IN Century City itself as its both expensive and boring.

[Anonymous User]

For those of us from east coast schools who are spending the summer in LA - Do the firms help you with long term car rental?

Your firm should send you information on discounted monthly car rental rates.

Any suggestions for rental sites/brokers? Would prefer to hopefully find someone's condo through a management company/broker than a big-box rental place like avalon/archstone.

Westside Rentals.

Where would you recommend that young associates should live? Not short term during an SA but while working at a firm when starting? Office in CC.

Associates at my firm last summer lived in Santa Monica, Culver City, Westwood, Beverly Hills, or Miracle Mile area. A few lived more south in the Manhattan Beach area.

[Lieut Kaffee]

I'm pretty set on subletting downtown for my summer associateship (work in downtown office). I really want the convenience of no commute, plus it will be a good 3-month trial basis to see if downtown is worth all the "zomg it's so up-and-coming" hype. In talking to attorneys at interviews, it's definitely a minority who live downtown... but all those who do absolutely LOVE it.

[StyrofoamWar]

if you want the real LA experience (aka a commute in traffic), Manhattan Beach is a money place to live. But, you're looking at a solid commute (45 mins-1 hour each way to CC)

[Anonymous User]

I'm pretty set on subletting downtown for my summer associateship (work in downtown office). I really want the convenience of no commute, plus it will be a good 3-month trial basis to see if downtown is worth all the "zomg it's so up-and-coming" hype. In talking to attorneys at interviews, it's definitely a minority who live downtown... but all those who do absolutely LOVE it.

This. I will be downtown as well and definitely plan on grabbing a loft for the summer. Long-term I will probably live in West LA since my girlfriend will be working in CC and we want to live somewhere in between. If I was single though I would totally live downtown.

[Anonymous User]

Where in downtown can you actually live other than the one company that has like 4 mega-complexes (I'm forgetting the name of them)?

My architect friend told me why downtown LA isn't like a mini-Manhattan. Essentially, the biggest reason was because there are no "eyes on the street." Because people don't actually live there in the downtown/business areas (like Manhattan), then the nightlife is non-existent, the crime is higher, and there's just not as much to do.

Maybe they are changing that with new lofts or condos downtown, but it seems like most attorneys I've talked to would rather have a home in a nice neighborhood a bit outside the city and just deal with the commute.

[Lieut Kaffee]

btw, egregious abuse of anonymous posting ITT...