...and my kid lives there now. (We live in Culver City). It's a very expensive area. Parts of North Hollywood are okay, other parts not so much. Glendale is very nice too. Feel free to DM me for more info, or even a phone call sometime.

Also, get used to driving a lot. We spend a lot of time in our cars here.

Where are you moving from? Moving to L.A. could be a big adjustment.

and LA is a great city, don't believe the horror stories. You just have to learn to manage it. A lot might depend on where you're moving from, as to whether you'll like it or not...

Moved to Florida from DC in 2018 so we know traffic. Traffic is easy here in Florida. No hills, mostly straight lines. We still avoid the
highway, however. Always find backroads to take. I assume we'll be able to do that in Cali, too.

I checked out things like insurance. It's much higher here due to hurricanes. Can't wait to get outta here. Very little culture, intelligence. We found many things like the theatre industry but I assume it'll be easier in LA/Burbank area.

I like being near restaurants, movies, theatres, jazz, library and cheap fitness place. I go to Planet Fitness everyday here. It's $11 a month.

Pam

Many spaces in Hollywood, Burbank and North Hollywood. Lot of actors here for the movie and TV industry. They use gigs in small theater to practice their craft and hope to get noticed.

We just finished up the Hollywood Fringe Festival : https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/

and looking to connect with like minded souls. I've had a few plays produced and am looking forward to
finding the theater community. I actually attended a playwrights meetup at the North Hollywood Diner
which was great.

We attended the Hollywood Fringe a couple of years ago. Loved it. I had one of my plays produced at the
DC Fringe.

I live and work here. Private message me and we can connect.

You can’t go wrong with areas near here, and Burbank is a favorite. I also like Atwater Village and Echo Park which are south of The Valley (Burbank is in The Valley). That way you are pretty close to Burbank, but you’re actually also closer to downtown Los Angeles where all the cultural and entertainment options are. Also a rail stop in Atwater/Glendale.

North Hollywood is more affordable and I think it’s nice and safe but if you have more budget, Toluca Lake is fabulous.

Great idea to between LA and Burbank. We also looked north of Burbank and found a house we absolutely
loved but had to wait til our house sold here. Just sold it yesterday. Gotta be out on August 8.

We're thinking about renting an Airbnb for a month while we look around. We'll have cash which can help
the buying process go faster.

I tried to send you a note but I haven’t posted enough on DU to be allowed to do so. Please write me and I can give you some more information. I used to work in “zero waste” production oversight where we would salvage and donate recovered production materials to theaters, artists, and other creatives.

I also have other connections in Burbank that might be of interest.

Feel like I'm breathing water. Yes, can't wait for the low humidity!

California real estate can be brutally expensive. It may take you a while to find something affordable. Good luck, and please DM me for more info if you like. I moved here from Wisconsin fifty years ago and have lived and worked all over.

I just moved out of L.A. after living there since 1988. I'm 58 now. My husband, age 70, and I just couldn't stand living in L.A. any longer. Since the pandemic everything has gone way down hill in L.A. The homeless problem, especially in the areas you are thinking of moving to, is out of control. Even after they built the tiny home villages for the homeless in NoHo, things improved for a bit but now they are worse then ever. The laws regarding the homeless suck for everyday citizens as the cops have their hands tied and really can't do anything. If enough people complain about a particular encampment that is covering the sidewalks and oozing into the driving lanes, the sanitation dept will come and move them out but they are back in a few days, usually larger than ever. I honestly don't know what the solution to the homeless problem is. L.A. is throwing a ton of money at it and it's only getting worse. The main issue IMO is that many of the homeless population don't want help since they are hooked on drugs and know they'd need to give that up if they accept the help from the city.

Driving around L.A. is like living in a Mad Max movie. People don't obey traffic laws. Tons of racing on the roads at all times of the day and night, people turning left from the right hand lane. It's a mess. Not to mention the traffic. My job was 13 miles from my home and on a good day it took me an hour each way. I'm lucky that my job is letting me work from home full time in my new location and I feel extremely thankful for that.

Interestingly, we moved from North Hollywood. We lived in a safe pocket of NoHo across from an elementary school but there are many sketchy areas of NoHo. But close to where we lived they did just build a nice multi use property with apartments, a trader joes, other stores, restaurants, a movie theater and L.A. Fitness. This definitely helped our property value and I'm grateful they made the investment on this new property. It's called NoHo West so check it out when you arrive.

I'm sure you know already but real estate in L.A., both homes and apartments, are very expensive. We're fortunate that we've owned a house in L.A. since the early 90s so we were able to build a ton of equity over the years as we moved houses. We lived in the house in NoHo for just shy of 20 years. It was a great house, old Spanish style built in 1928 which we made major improvements to over the years while keeping it's classic Spanish charm. We knew it was a special house and our sales process proved it. We were under contract in under a week of going on the market and had 8 offers and a bidding war. The house was around 1800 square feet and we were able to move into a much grander 2500 square foot house in Rancho Mirage for the same price we sold our house in NoHo for.

So, IMO, if you are younger, it will be easier to deal with all the issues L.A. has because it does offer a lot of positives, like entertainment options, awesome restaurants, great diversity, etc. But as we grow older we just wanted to move away from the issues as we prepare for our retirement in peace and quiet.

I hope it works out for you whatever you decide to do.

I was wondering about all that. We were thinking of NoHo. Good to know which area might be best.
We'll look at West NoHo. We're also looking north and northwest of Burbank.

We are older than you guys. Very aware of the housing prices.

We are both theatre geeks. I'm a playwright and my husband likes jazz and theatre. But, it looks
like areas other than NoHo have theaters. Pasadena Playhouse just won a Tony for best regional
theater. That opens me up to moving further out.

This has been very stressful. We live here in South Florida in a 4 bedroom house and rent out
a 2 bedroom condo. Selling both properties has been extremely stressful. Not done yet.

Even though both of our transactions went very smoothly, the amount of stress I felt during the process was unreal, led to heart palpatations, sleepless nights, etc. It all turned out to be worrying over nothing, but I'm a guy who dwells on the worst case scenarios at all times, probably to prevent disappointment. But I really need to change that about myself. I'm so glad both transactions closed smoothly and the move to the desert went smoothly as well. We're still adjusting to our new life here in the desert. We know we moved here at the beginning of 3 months of hell regarding the heat, and that is certainly taking an adjustment. Supposed to be up to 120 this weekend. Thank goodness for good air conditioning!

downtown, west LA, Pasadena. OC has lots of theaters too.

also lived all over the SFV. live in OC now. traffic is easier in OC but we have street takeovers and homeless (not as many as LA) too.

The Redline from NOHO to Highland was very convenient. But took the redline recently and saw lots of drugged out "nodders"

agree that LA has so much to offer regarding "things to do". I have plans to see the Keith Haring exhibit in Downtown LA soon. Dreading the metro.

Also, LA is a job center. employed people don't want to commute from way out to their job.

of time to Hollywood to see shows, but after the pandemic, I would not step foot on the Metro subway. It's too bad because had I stayed in L.A. I would have finally been able to commute to Century City via Metro within the next few years. They are trying to make it safe again but we'll see how successful they are at that. I don't have my hopes up given how much L.A. has deteriorated over the past few years.

we will see... MacCarthur park is a hub for drug sales.

the drug crisis went from Crack to Oxy to Fentanyl.

LA is still an amazing city.