re: Anyone ever lived in/very familiar with Los Angeles?

Oh yes.

Chicago is #1.


And you might not even need a car. Get on train a block from house.

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Rent a place in Pasadena

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No reason to rent in Pasadena in his situation. Pasadena is awesome, but it’s expensive and too far from UCLA/Westwood. For Pasadena prices, he can be in studio city or sherman oaks and cut the commute 50%.

Other areas that offer great bang for the buck are Woodland Hills, northridge, Granada Hills and chatsworth. Basically most of the north and west valley. For $400k, you could actually purchase a decent 2br condo in some of those areas. The only issue will be the longer commute. Van Nuys and sherman oaks are closer to UCLA.

Maybe Gardena, Chatsworth, Reseda or Northridge?

The Los Angeles is BR meme is a joke that goes back to when Battle Los Angeles was filmed mostly in Baton Rouge.

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-how many hours per day are you willing to commute?

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As little as possible. The wife will be working from home, so we are not worried about finding an "in between" place for work. We really crunched the numbers and came up with a renting budget of anywhere from 2-3k/month. Westwood seems ideal for travel alone, I have found places where I could walk to work, or drive a mile or two.

But if there are more areas to get a better bang for your buck, I would be willing to deal with up to a one hour commute (one way).

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-what hours will you be working (if working some weird hours maybe commute won’t be as bad as a 9-5)?

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It will be a 9-5 type job.

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-how much space do you and your wife need?

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We don't want a studio. A 1 bed/1 bath will do. We have a golden retriever, so more space the better. But our house now is only around 1100 sq. foot, and we don't use it all as is. I'd say 800+ sq. foot would be ideal.

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-what type of area do you and your wife want to be in?

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First and foremost - a safe area. That's the biggest factor. With our dog, any area with a lot of nice space to walk around would be great. Being close to some fun areas for young people (we're 27), would be great. I'm sure that isn't hard to find, and as long as we're in L.A we will be close enough to those areas to drive to, but living in a trendy/nice area with a lot to do would be best case.

We are going to try to make the most of this experience by seeing and doing as many new things in California that we can.

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I’m born and raised in LA and work near UCLA.

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You sound like the guy for some great advice, we will be working pretty close to each other.

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20’s


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60k


Must be nice

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That's right around your standard entry white collar job salary in Chicago, if I had to guess. Bankers, attorneys, consultants, and the like will make a lot more, but kids coming right out of college can definitely get something in that range in the city for stuff like accounting, PR, marketing, engineering, nursing, a lot of random finance jobs, and just a whole bunch of different industries. I'd bet even bartenders here make around that, if not more.

It's probably closer to 75K for people in NYC, as a comparison, but I'd much rather live on 60K in Chicago than 75K in NYC.

(no message)

I'm currently in the Central Valley working in oil and gas. I almost moved to Santa Clarita last year to be more central to all of the major customers. Smaller city and housing was expensive, but not crazy like other parts of LA. You can find a decent house for 3000/mo in rent. This is about 20 minutes outside of Van Nuys.

It's been quite a few years since I've worked and lived in L.A., I do still have friends there and can offer this. $300 to $400 grand will not get a home in what most would consider a decent neighborhood. I know a fellow who bought recently and $800k yielded a small, very average, generic 1970's ranch style brick home. He was happy with the location, though. I don't feel qualified to offer advice because we are all so different in personality. Personally, I never felt like I never fit in with the LA personality and mindset...if there is such a thing.. may have been me but felt like a fish out of water for the duration. Sounds like it still could be an excellent opportunity for your future / resume, etc., even if you don't end up staying long. Just make the best of it. Good luck!

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was coming from LaJolla to LA on Thursday morning

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...jealous...How was La Jolla this time of year?? That may be closest to paradise on earth for me. Haven't been there in 6-7 years but used to visit for many summers. Still can't get over the perfect, cool, crystal blue sky summer weather.