"the urban-suburban hood I call home"

This exactly captures why I love living in Silverlake. I spent most of my life in NYC and to be happy I must have easy access to urban life -- shops, restaurants, galleries, bars, etc. But I love that my home is in the hills on a quiet street. Even though I can walk to Sunset Blvd. in five minutes, when I arrive at home I'm in a sanctuary surrounded by trees and beautiful gardens. Also, I work downtown and have a 20 minute commute. That really cuts down on my stress level and allows me to spend more time with my husband.

The downside is we'll likely never own a home, but I'm willing to make that tradeoff.

I'm in between neighborhoods. I just moved cities (and countries) I loved my old neighborhood's and am seeking a similar connection in my new city. In the meantime, I'm renting and doing my research...

viva Highland Park!

ill move whenever i decide to buy a house and/or have a family...but i love love love the east side of LA!

I love living in W.Hollywood/Hollywood. If I could afford more, I'd live in the same vicinity, but higher up in the hills: the Bird streets/upper Sunset Plaza, Outpost, the LA side of Hollywood Hills and Laurel Canyon. I'd probably consider Benedict Canyon but wouldn't go as far east as the Los Feliz hills. Nor would I go west of Robertson, for that matter. Different areas: different mindset. When it comes right down to it, I guess I'm a cheeseball Hollywood kind of guy--and not at all a westsider or eastsider.

i live in a victorian village. it's a historical district that neighbors the arts district. i just spent most of the afternoon walking. it's great to be downtown & still see grass & trees. everyone here fills their tiny yards w/ flowers & fountains. it's really relaxing. i went into a few tiny shops, had lunch at cafe, walked through the park, & picked up some things at the drugstore.

i may be a city girl, but i grew up in wv. so, it's nice to get my nature fix.

i would only move w/in the city if i were still in this village or i could no longer afford it. as for other cities, who knows, but love my HOME.

Studio City is exactly this kind of neighborhood - I can walk to anything/everything within a block or two, from bookstores to Trader Joes to a fab bakery and an extensive wine shop. I even have one of the best cheese shops in LA around the corner! It is really the idea of being able to have access to all of this and know the shop owners in my neighborhood that you don't have a lot of other places. I would love to move further up Laurel Canyon into the hills, but I don't think I could leave this neighborhood. I would not go north of the 101 though, or west of the 405. I would live in WeHo because it seems to have the same local community vibe, but the parking and general crowdedness is not something we have to deal with here.

Unfortunately it is changing. They are tearing down all of the pre-war apartments and building condos, condos, condos. The whole feeling of the neighborhood is being ruined - in fact I don't know the neighbors in the new buildings at all, and I used to know everyone. The people in the condos seem to have a different attitude of being locked in their buildings, where the people in the old apartments are always out in our courtyards or in the front yards talking to each other, playing with our dogs. If it continues to change I will be forced to leave and that will break my heart.

And while it is just a bit more relaxed than the other side of the canyon, but I hate to break it to you: it is part of LA proper. We are the City of LA! What isn't LA - West Hollywood. Separate municipality, actually. Bev Hills too, and Santa Monica. But as far as LA and "the valley" - we're all in this together!

I have to say although the Valley is part of Los Angeles by definition, in reality they're worlds apart in so many ways. You just happen to live on that cusp that borders that cultural diving line I'm referring to. Being born in East LA, then growing up a Valley boy (Encino, Tarzana, Northridge), I've noted there's a distinct difference in mindset, lifestyle and aesthetic that permeates throughout the Valley I've noted since moving back over the hill .

This is not to say I dislike the Valley. I grew up loving the creeks, trails, orange groves, and chaparrals in and near Bee Canyon. I love kooky Valley institutions like Hoggly Woggly Tyler Texas BBQ, the Eichler homes in Granada Hills, the landmark Three Trees summit on the north end of LA's city limits, and the expanse of great eats along Ventura Blvd. Yet there is definitely a noticeable change in mood and lifestyle on one side of those hills opposed to the other. We might be listening to the same radio station, but it seems like people dance to different tunes on each side of the hill. That's okay...Los Angeles is all about crazy diversity. The Valley is what it is...no shame in that.

I lived for 9 years in West Hollywood – a block and a half off Sunset. I finally got sick of the transients, transvestite hookers, home invasion robberies, rapes, muggings, vandalism, drug addicts, policemen drawing their guns on people right in front of me and police helicoptors shining their lights in my windows at 2 a.m. I recently moved to Culver City and I couldn't be happier. A different mindset on the west side? uh, yeah...i'd say so.

On the next street over from my former address (same block), they've just finished a condo complex where the units are listing for 3/4 of a million dollars and up. I hope the potential buyers read the crime reports.

I just moved to the city from the suburbs and I couldn't be happier. I had lived in the city before, but moved out looking for more space for less money. What a mistake that was. I hate the suburbs, it just isn't me.

Find out what makes YOU happy and get there fast. Don't waste time trying to adapt to something you know is fundamentally wrong for you.

Whoa... I wasn't making a judgement call on neighborhoods other than mine in my comments. Just reiterating that, yes, I love where I live... Easy, people. No need to get your La Perla's in a knot. Some of my best friends are Eastsiders, Westsiders, Valley-ites, etc. Fuh realz! I've lived just off of Sunset in 3 different places. And, you know what? I like all the noise, police activity, Friday/Saturday night gridlock, all that wonderful urban mess. But I hang at gay hustler bars, trannie hooker bars and all manner of sketchy dive bars [at least the handful that are left and haven't been gentrified or overtaken by hipsters]. So, what do I know? Different strokes for different folks.

i think i fall in to the "while i absolutely love where i live now there are definitely other places i'd live if i could afford to" category, haha