what's your budget? and have you ruled out Westwood?
would suck for the commute to commerce/bike but it's fun college town and obv super close to UCLA and think it's not bad getting to Hollywood park from there.

Yep. The night before was a line out the door and down the street. I haven't been in years and I almost went that night, but I couldn't bring myself to wait hours for a drink I probably didn't want. I got a ton of friends that went and took pics, so I got some vicariousness in there.

westwood definitely in consideration. just keep hearing how it is overpriced and filled with landlords that crush and exploit student types.... heard we can get more bang for our buck in other neighborhoods near there- culver city, santa monica, mar vista etc

in terms of budget.... 1500 for a 1 bedroom would be ok, cheaper better obviously

ya I have no idea about renting in Westwood, but that doesn't surprise me at all.
Santa Monica is great IMO.

I could never imagine living in Westwood as an adult personally. UCLA has bus lines that run into campus that are pretty reliable. You'll be ok within that price range, but you have to give us some info about what you want in a neighborhood.

Bars, food, grocery store, maybe not super far from beach/ucla and perhaps some proximity to a gambling venue?

I like burritos, sushi, and a bar in which to sweat the Denver broncos and nuggets...

I guess reasonable parking/rent/safety

Feel like this is all the same stuff other people want tho?

Nearest pokering to Santa Monica and estimated driving time?

i went to ucla for undergrad 1 br's that are walkable to campus range from 1600-1900 they are generally older, small, and parking is always extra ($100-125/mo).

mar vista is a great area i lived there when i was a kid tho its pricy. more of a family type of area compared to santa monica so if i had the choice id prob choose santa monica if your okay driving a bit further to commerce/bike. santa monica to commerce is prob 25-30 min w/ no traffic (but theres always traffic remember)

You really should just come here and drive around the neighborhoods and get a feel for what you like. All of these places have very different vibe.

If you want sick value Mar Vista and other areas have graduate student housing that is like 1050 for a junior 1 bedroom that includes internet and TV and 1 parking spot. Can't find the link but look at housing.ucla.edu or something like that. Not the best, but very well priced and has a bus line right from the units to Ackerman union.

The south side of wilshire, while still having a substantial student population, is very residential and very livable for adults imo. I lived there for 3 months while attending a program at ucla and loved it.

There's gonna be no place that gives each of you an easy commute, but as you said, since your time is more flexible, i would defer towards making her commute as easy as possible.

Nah just go live walking distance from Commerce. It's an up and coming area.

I honestly didn't even think of the part south of Wilshire as Westwood. I could stomach that, agreed.

South of Wilshire is the A+ choice for UCLA students. Area north-south between Wilshire and Santa Monica and east-west between Bundy and Federal. I have three different groups of friends that live in that boundary at the moment.

Santa Monica is A+ but would suck for you to go to Bike and Commerce because too far in.

Brentwood is a nice neighborhood but that's obviously out of your budget.

Culver City is on the up & up. Commute wouldn't be that bad locally. Just take Sepulveda up.

Agree with Suzzer though, drive around for a weekend and see what jives with you the best. One block can make a huge difference (see: Fairfax)

I could totally live in that neighborhood directly south of Westwood Memorial cemetery.

Not sure what it's called but I took my kids for walks through there when we were staying at one of the hotels nearby.

thats prob south of wilshire.

asking for some advice here:

i'll be going to USC for grad school starting in fall. girlfriend works in hollywood. whats the best area to live for both of us in terms of commute?

looking at los feliz, silver lake, pasadena, atwater village, ktown..

KTown would be the most convenient for both of you. Silver Lake/Los Feliz are both totally reasonable commutes though and since I like those neighborhoods better that's where I'd live in your situation.

Yay, someone asking about the right school and area. The best way to get to USC is the expo line train that literally pulls up right to the campus entrance. If your girlfriend is working near one of the metro rail stations in Hollywood, you might want to focus on living near a metro station. Downtown near 7th/fig is the most convenient area because the station is a hub for both the expo and red (to Hollywood) lines. This is where I live and I love it. Take the train to USC, to Hollywood, to Silver Lake area, and to Union Station to visit my girlfriend in Irvine (and for her to come to me) on weekends. I only drive like once a week. The area is expensive, but when I checked out places around Silver Lake and Koreatown to know my options before signing my last lease, I found those places aren't that much cheaper anymore and in some cases were even more expensive while being less convenient and walkable.

thanks guys <3

Gaddy, parking is just brutal in downtown though. she has weird hours so it's not really a good idea to take the train late at night by herself, but I wouldn't mind taking the train at all.

also 7th/fig? that's next to the medici apts right?

Yeah, definitely for guest parking it's not optimal. For resident parking, there are places that are decent. If around 7th/metro, guests can pay to park in the Target center lot. Some apartments like the Pegasus have valet parking out front for guests. If guests can take the metro in, that makes it easier. I get what you're saying about not wanting her to take the train late at night. I have taken the red line past 1 a.m. on weekends and past midnight on weekdays and haven't felt uncomfortable. Obviously I'm a guy so it's different, but there are cameras on the train and in the station. The walking to and from the station at night is probably the more dangerous part, but if you're right around the 7th/metro station it's not bad. Yes, Medici is one of the many apartments within a few blocks of 7th/metro. Is it world famous?

My wife and I are going to be visiting Southern California in two weeks for our anniversary, and know nothing about the local restaurants (other than that there are millions of them, and they're very hard to differentiate from each other via yelp). If anyone here has some expertise on LA restaurants, and can offer a recommendation for our anniversary dinner, we would greatly appreciate it. The rest of the trip we're pretty clear on, and don't need specific suggestions, but I'll be browsing this thread for ideas we hadn't already thought of.

Key things we're looking for on the restaurant:

1) French, romantic, fine dining.

2) Good wine list (and good assistance available in choosing from it - our appreciation of fine wine exceeds our knowledge thereof).

3) Open on Mondays (I've already looked at a couple that are not), and not generally booked further than two weeks out (our anniversary is July 28th, and obviously we haven't made reservations yet.)

4) Price point: we'd like a check of roughly $150 (before tip), assuming I have two glasses of wine and my wife has one. If those wine counts move to 3/2 or higher, then closer to $200 is okay, but that's pushing our upper limit.

5) Location: Ideally the restaurant will be within walking distance of our hotel (also not booked yet) so that we don't have to limit the wine consumption, so ideally there would be some kind of "touristy stuff" also within walking distance for earlier in the day before dinner, but whether that means Hollywood or the beach (or anything else in the touristy category) isn't critical, I think we could enjoy any of it. And if there's a perfect restaurant option that isn't in a touristy spot, we could make that work too, we will have our car with us for the touristy stuff if we have to drive for it.

Any suggestions are welcome. Thank you in advance!

I'm not an LA native, so take this for what it is (I frequently visit)

- Comme Ca on Melrose is pretty good, though it was closed last time I was in town

- Bouchon in Beverly Hills. I haven't been to this one, but if anything like his other restaurants, I'm sure it will be very good

- Perch in Downtown is a very cool spot, though the food is only okay

- Figaro in Los Feliz - wouldn't call it fine dining, but it's a nice little spot on a street with other good nightlife (check out the Swingers bar a few doors down). Doubt this place would be in walking distance to a hotel

I'm sure I'm missing others as I don't know all the neighborhoods very well.

Also, not French but a little place I love a lot is Pace on Laurel Canyon. Can be very romantic, lots of seafood-based dishes, and you feel like you found a hidden gem when dining there (you wouldn't expect a restaurant in its location and it's literally attached to a convenience store).

I wouldn't put too much effort into staying within walking distance of the restaurant. Just take Lyft or Uber.

I forget if I mentioned itt already, but if you've never been to Din Tai Fong in Arcadia for dumplings you should definitely go. http://www.yelp.com/biz/din-tai-fung-arcadia-5



So perfectly supple and insanely delicious. Just make sure to nibble gingerly until they cool down a little. My Singaporean-Chinese gf turned me on to it. Don't **** around and get anything other than the pork dumplings, according to her everything else blows. Well maybe get something green to balance out your colon, but that's it.