It's a fine area -- I used to live right near there (just west of Fairfax, a block south of Santa Monica) and it's a safe, highly Russian neighborhood with old retired Lithuanians. No crime, not even too many bums.

It's near the Grove and the Farmer's Market, and also the Sunset 5 area as well as plenty of good restaurants along Santa Monica, Melrose, and Beverly. And you're actually *walking distance* to Fatburger (on Santa Monica) and to all the shops along Melrose.

$3,000 for a 3br sounds a bit steep, but it's probably a really nice place (assuming the 1k per room of the 3 rooms is an even split of the entire apartment). But I think you can find 2brs to split around there for $1600-1800 if you want to save a little bit. But spending 1k is standard.

Just make sure it has parking, and you're fine.

Dilemma

Apartment A A block south of Santa Monica just west of Fairfax. 3 story townhouse. Brand new kitchen, balcony, washer n dryer in unit. I'd have the top floor bedroom and my own bath with my own balcony facing sunset blvd/hollywood sign. Room is internet and cable ready. Decent size room. Parking garage. Roommates 1 guy 1 girl both trying to be actors and work as servers..seem easy going enough.
$1000 per month rent + utilities


living room and balcony on 2nd floor

kitchen on second floor

the room i would have on 3rd floor


outside apartment

Apartment B One block south of Santa Monica just west of Fairfax, corner of Laurel and Romaine. A bit smaller room with a small window to the backyard area...not much of a view in a bit smaller ground floor 3bedroom apartment . Def not as nice and new as apartment A. Living room is pretty barren of furniture. So would spend majority of time in room most liekly given it s internet/cable too. Street permit parking, permit is already bought. Room is internet and cable ready. Roommates are two asian females who work in PR and finance...wont see them much. They never use the kitchen which is pretty small and average looking. Have my own bathroom which is pretty small. Old apartment.
Rent is $700+utilities

no pics...and wouldnt be much to look at anyways

I make around $1400 a paycheck after taxes. Work 9-7:30 M-F

Which one do i choose aghghhhh [censored] [censored] [censored]

Hahaha, this was my corner exactly. Though it must be a different building (other side of Laurel) because I didn't have a backyard area.

Um, winner? Duh?

No but seriously -- this is not a dilemma, go with A. Sure it's 300 more, but the B you described clearly isn't as nice and it DOESN'T HAVE PARKING. ZOMG. Oooh, permits, yay... trust me. I lived on the corner of Laurel and Romaine for 7 years and I am so glad I had a parking garage. If I had to tell you the number of times that I had to help my girlfriend drive around pathetically trying to find a place to park on a Friday night, well I wouldn't be able to tell you because I would have lost count. And I had a guest permit.

When will people in L.A. realize that STREET PARKING SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS. You will want to kill yourself within a month, especially after hauling the first set of grocery bags down the block to your apartment because you found a spot for your car, finally, and hung your precious permit in the mirror.

Jesus.

K thanks for advice...just have never paid more than $750 for a room for rent so the $1000 kind of freaked me out

I'll echo PJ's sentiments and say to avoid street parking in LA whenever you can. Even if it's cheaper, your car will get broken into or hit-and-run.

With your salary, though, it's a pretty close call. $400 after rent/utilities is basically being broke all the time.

That's a solid area to live in, though. El Guapo for Sunday football!

Dined at Peppone's in Brentwood last weekend.

Amazing.

Highlights included spag with filet mignon meatballs, a rich chocolate ice cream dessert, and 1990 Dominus and 1987 Mondavi Reserve basically at release prices. The wine list is insane there. +++++

He said 1400 per paycheck, not per month. I don't know about Charlie, but I get paid weekly. It sounds like he gets paid every two weeks.

yep. and 1400 is what i have after taxes.

I've seen a couple of other places that are almost within walking distance of my work Robertson/Wilshire so I may end up just flipping a coin or something.

I agree about parking but i've never lived where there is "permit" parking so wasn't sure if that made a big difference. Wish i could afford my own place ughh

The only difference between permit and non-permit parking is that when your friends visit, it's impossible for them to find a place to park. Either way, both sides of the street will be jammed at night. In the permit zones, the cars have tags hanging from the mirror. Doesn't mean there's more spots.

Dude in Westwood I pay $750 with a roommate. (i.e sharing the same room). $1000 for your own room and restroom isn't that bad, especially in a decent area.

Two exhibits coming up:
LACMA: Works of Dali
http://www.lacma.org/art/ExhibDali.aspx

MOCA: Murakami
http://moca.org/museum/exhibitiondetail.php?&id=394

Anybody have any good nightlife recommendations? I live in Pasadena, but I have good friend who doesn't drink and still likes to go out so things on the westside aren't out of the question. Also, I've started to really dig going out in the Silverlake/Echo Park area, but still don't know very many places there.

The Jazz Bakery in Culver City is a great place to see live jazz any night of the week. The tickets seem to run around $25 a person but both of the nights I've been I was very impressed with the skill of the musicians.

jazzbakery.com

Hey guys,
My dad's business partner will be in town this Saturday. He's arriving at 5 PM but leaving at 11 PM (switch flight). My dad told me to take him somewhere nice, and with such a tight schedule I honestly don't know where I can take him (Around the LAX area so he won't be late for his flight). Anyone with any recommendations?

There should be plenty of nice restaurants in Marina del Rey. I don't know any off the top of my head but check Zagat or LA Times for Marina del Rey recommendations.

I've also heard about this steak house on La Tijera (like 5 minutes from the airport), I drive by it a lot but can't remember the name -- it's some '40s old school fancy steakhouse. Supposedly cool.

EDIT: Just remembered it's called The Buggy Whip.

???

Or you could just hang out at the spaceship restaurant at LAX. It's pretty cool. If your Dad's friend likes old school fairly fine dining - try The Proud Bird near the airport. My parents love that place.

Or there are some decent places in Manhattan Beach. The Greek restaurant Petros is one of my favorites.

I've always assumed the Buggy Whip couldn't possibly be good good, I think it's funny good.

My vote for the layover adventure is hanster takes his dad's partner to have a beer and a hotdog and watch the ponies at Hollywood Park. If it were my layover that's what I'd want to do. If you don't want to hang out with the hoi polloi get tickets for the Turf Club.

Same with Proud Bird. Prepare for a lot of heavy sauce and stuff swimming in butter. But like I said, my Mom and stepdad thought it was the best place ever.

The beer and ponies might be OK but forget the hotdog.

A few years back my brother came to visit so my gf and I took him to Hollywood Park on a Friday night in part to show him a crazed poker room and see a free Berlin concert while taking in the dollar beer and hot dogs the adjoining track was using to promote horse racing to our youth.

We went early and only endured the hour wait for the absolutely pathetic hot dogs (keep in mind I say this as someone who is an advocate of mid-priced boxed wine, two buck chuck bottled wine, and low rent, "bang for the buck" living in general) as an excuse to see just how poorly things like this can be done.

Cliff notes was that about four lines of about 25 people each watched a "fast food" crew who on average were my dead grandparents age methodically assemble about one hot dog per line every ten minutes. The lines never shrank or grew much and remained about 25 people long four wide (with the attrition rate matching the hot dog served rate) as we all watched in morbid fascination.

Then again you might enjoy that sort of thing

~ Rick

Yeah the $1 beer line on Friday night is about as much fun. When it gets close the the counter the line just sort of fans out across the counter, then it's every man woman and child to themselves. Not to mention all the people constantly snaking up to get in the fan part of the line, bypassing the long tail. Pretty much as close as you can get to 3rd world chaos that I've seen in LA.

Another fun experience at Hollywood Park was waiting to cash my ticket, looking down at an adorable 7-year old girl, holding some little stuffed animal. I thought, oh that's nice, this is kind of a family place. Then I looked up at her Mom, who just had this glazed, gone, gambleholic look in her eyes. Like she was only barely aware she was clutching something in her hand that she needed to drag around with her. Then the mom drug the daughter off, and I got really sad.

You really haven't seen degeneracy until you've been to Hollywood Park, which is what makes it so awesome. I once saw Kenny Mayne there in an unwashed t-shirt with that same glazed look.

LFS,
The HP pony idea is very exciting, until Suzzer's story came up. He's coming from Shanghai, so that's not exactly what he's looking for. (ALTHOUGH it would be cool).

Suzzer,
You never disappoint me despite failing to find your 3 giggly girls handjobs place in Shanghai. Nudie bar sounds awesome but I also am trying to impress him into landing a job somewhere

I'm looking into Buggy Whip and Proud Bird at the moment. I also booked a reservation at the Palm last week but I felt it might be a tad too far for a 5-hour layover. How do you guys feel about that place?

I don't think either the downtown or West Hollywood Palms are realistic with that layover (but I do love the Palm). If you're hell-bent on leaving the immediate area of LAX (which I think is a really bad idea) stick to Venice, Marina Del Rey, the beaches, etc. I've had business dinners at the Ritz-Carlton in the marina, that would be a really safe place to go I think.

Decent idea for a thread, but you guys are still slacking!

I've lived in the South Bay by the beach for almost a year now. It's a grat place to live.

Check out the Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach. 25$ tickets - I took my gf there for the first time last week to see Joe Rogan live. Good food there too.

The beach in Hermosa is always tight in the summer. Lots of Volleyball if you're into that.

3 St. promenade was somewhat meh imo... It was neat though. Probably would have been better if I didn't go with a girl so I could actually walk outside instead of in and out stores every 2 seconds.

Botanical Gardens in Palos Verdes are somewhat nice.. (if you're a girl).

Sea Kayaking is fun. I'm sure some marinas will rent them too you. Went in Redondo and saw a bunch of seals.

The bars in Hermosa are a blast. My favorite by far is Sangria (as it's the only place you can actually move around and dance).

The Golf in LA blows unless you want to pay like 200-300$ per round or play a 6 hour rounds. Trump course was nice though and definitely worth it.

Sports games are always fun. Hopefully people with more experience in L.A. can chime in some new fun places to go.

For movie fans in LA

http://www2.variety.com/screening/la...lt.asp?show=11

note: you don't need to be in a guild to get in...u just have to be willing to wait in line. The better the movie the longer the wait.

Hm the layover part really worries me, too. When I was in Shanghai over the summer we had dinner at the Ritz-Carlton in Shanghai and it was amazing. He stated that burgers and fries will be fine so maybe take him to a nice burger joint. Also, I found out he just has to be at the airport BY 11 PM, not that his flight is departing at 11 PM, I guess that makes things a lot easier, no? And of course, I would love to have a chance to dine at The Palm on business expense . Do you recommend any particular items at the restaurant even if I probably won't make it there this time around?

CDS,
Nice. UCLA also has that kind of screening events.
http://gsa.asucla.ucla.edu/%7Emelnitz/SCREENINGS.html
They screened American Gangster a week before it came out but there were so many people cutting and I didn't get in.

I will probably check out David Finch and Zodiac again. Really enjoyed that movie. And also very am interested in seeing Charlie Wilson's War.