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I have the OPPOSITE questions..going from the valley to NYC

Do you know where you'll be working? If so, I recommend you live someplace close to work.

LA isn't set up the way New York is, with public transportation lines converging on the key business districts. LA is very spread out, and freeways are no fun.

"inglewood, always up to no good" -2pac.

Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to address my question. The possibility of relocation is in its infancy, but you gotta start somewhere, right?

Much appreciation!

I live in Koreatown/Harvard Heights. It's close to the silverlake/hollywood area, but has it's own distinct feel. I, personally wish I lived closer to Wilshire, because it's a grapevine to the west side, downtown and right in the middle of south la and hollywood to the north. It's a bit crowded and the rents have been inflated because it's becoming more popular to move into, but it's great.

I would look at potential places to work first and base my decision on that. You don't want to live in the Valley then work near the airport. My motto is, if you have to take the freeway to get to work, it's too far. Do you want to take public transit?

As for the heat. When it's hot, the valley is hell. Majority of los angeles is gross hot too, but not as bad as the valley. The only place I find pleasant in the summer is the beachy areas. It was always nice to get on the Blue Line in LA, where it was 80 at 9 in the morning and getting off in a cool misty Long Beach.

Personally speaking, although I would factor in where you'd work, I would never use it as the determining factor of where I'd live in Los Angeles. I used to have to drive over an hour commuting from Venice to Westlake Village, and though the drive was long, my life was happier living in a hood that appealed to my lifestyle. Conversely, I was miserable when living just 15 minutes away from work in Encino.

We live in Silver Lake right now and my girlfriend Emily takes the bus to and from work to The Getty where she works. It can be done, with many people now taking public transportation also; wouldn't be as much of a shock to a New Yorker committing to the bus.

Same idea applies: what type of person are you - what interests you? I'm a transplant whose lived in Manhattan for 17 years so I can share my experience/perspective. What is the impetus for your move?

On the flip side of Lisa's comment, if you change job a lot (as most of us in the film industry do) it's best to find the neighborhood you love and suffer through the different commutes you'll have.

I live in Silver Lake as well and absolutely love it. I agree that it's a good transitional area for NYCers.

first and foremost do you have work lined up out here..? if you are going to have to commute to an office, i'd factor that in HIGHLY when choosing an area to live.
if you're more flexible or don't know yet, i'd still suggest not living too far from freeways..
i live in eagle rock and LOVE it. moved there from silver lake this summer. I spent 5 years in silver lake, and while i loved it there too, i realized after 5 years that i loved a lot of things i never actually DID. silver lake has clusters of great things, but i found those clusters to be too spread out, and parking too difficult, to regularly enjoy them. in eagle rock i can walk to everything! everything you could ever want is on Colorado, from trader joe's and pilates, to great coffee shops and restaurants, to Target just a few more blocks down. tree-lined streets and a great neighborhood feel helps things feel a little more 'normal' and east coast as well.. something to consider as you'll be an east coast transplant. :)
also, Eagle Rock is nowhere NEAR as far as people seem to think. my commute time to hollywood is literally the SAME as when i lived in Silver Lake. mostly b/c of my great freeway access.

I thought there once was a post that listed neighborhood equivalents in different cities. Does anyone remember this or know the link?

North Hollywood Arts District (NOHO) is up and coming and has markets, coffee, restaurants, parks, galleries, theatres, dance studios, etc... all within walking distance. We moved in about 11 years ago and at the time the plans were in place for all of the gentrification that has taken place and once they put in the Metro and Starbucks... bam! It is great and affordable and close to Hollywood as well as other parts of the Valley.

If you need a gradual, slow-drip transition from NYC, Silver Lake, Los Feliz and the Loft district Downtown will keep you on urban hipster life support. But even those places will never suffice for a real N'Yorker. So if you want to avoid constantly comparing NYC and LA and really want immediate SoCal immersion, try the South Bay, at least for a little while. The only people who wear neckties are the Jehova's Witnesses. Aloha shirts and flip flops are acceptable business attire. Not a lot to offer in the area for design enthusiasts, as faux Mission stucco McMansions mushroomed in the past decade. But thirty seconds at the beach will restore your inner aesthete to health. Plus, the yard sales and thrift stores are great: These people have NO idea grandma's fiberglass rocker thingie is a Herman Miller Zenith with an Eiffel Tower base. My neighbor picked up an entire Saarinen dining table and chairs for $400!

And the neighborhoods are generally very neighborly. Block parties abound. We're outside so much, we're bound to run in to each other eventually and strike up conversations and invite each other over and so on. My neighbor next door is a native New Yorker and she explains it this way: She was having trouble with the telephone in her NY apartment and the phone company asked her if she could try something at a neighbor's apartment. She replied, "This is New York. There are lots of people who live here, but I have no neighbors!" Here, in the South Bay, she has neighbors. Borrow-a-ladder kinds of people.

Another plus is that there are several areas in the South Bay where all shopping can be done by walking from one independent shop to the next. No car necessary, which is almost an oxymoron in this county.

Oh...and the weather...330 out of 365 days a year are between 75 and 85, breezey and sunny. No smog. No bugs. That alone makes me overlook a LOT of stucco'ed doodads.

But the South Bay is kind of isolated from many of the major freeways. Except Manhattan Beach, which has the highest housing prices in CA. But if you can do it, go for it.

In my digging around the internet, Silverlake has been cropping up as somewhere we'd be interested in, so it's nice to hear that people enjoy it. Same goes for Venice.

Lorettalynn: If we relocate, it will be for my partner's job (attorney). Right now offers are on the table in both NYC and LA, so it's a matter of which is the right fit. We have both travelled and lived in various countries, and are looking to make a permanent move/decision in terms of settling down.

I prefer to love where I live first, and be close to work second, but that's a lot easier to do in NYC than LA. I'm glad to hear that some people find the traffic bearable enough to live in their personally preferred neighborhood.

Back in April my wife and I moved from Chicago to Los Angeles and found ourselves asking many of the same questions. We've been documenting our travels and experiences on our blog (cartersblog.wordpress.com).

There is currently a lot of activity downtown with the conversion and new construction of "lofts". As a one car family we took the location of my wife's work into consideration and decided to live in the heart of the city. Rents have come down considerably in the area over the last year and many of the units are new or relatively so, meaning amenities and finishes in the spaces are updated.

I will echo the comments about the transportation being less than desirable here in LA. It's nothing like the wonderful system in NYC or the comparable CTA in Chicago. Trains and fares are not the problem, rather the layout of the system.

You've got some great resources here and if I can be of any personal help in sharing our recent move please let me know.

Best of luck!

one book: Jonathan Gold's Counter Intelligence: the fabulous world of eating ALL over LA, a great snapshot of the place from a particular point of view: really good writer too

come out for a week

expect nothing

you'll know

I does help A LOT to factor in where you are going to be working. You will go crazy with a long commute. I have lived in Hollywood and the Santa Monica/West LA areas. live in West Hollywood now, and, to me, it's so perfect and central. My boyfriend commutes to Santa Monica, and it's less than 30 mins. I like that nowhere in LA seems far: downtown, Korea town, Hollywood Hills, Beverly Hills, and the beaches are all nearby. I've always thought this area seems clean too. It's not the cheapest rent around, but, to my friends and I, it's worth it for the great neighborhoods and buildings, and being able to walk to go to dinner, the movies, or shopping :)

I second the comment about living near work, especially if your partner is a "big firm" attorney. With the hours I find it makes a big difference to be able to drive home in 15 min. as opposed to commuting far away. In addition to the public transportation being horrible after normal business hours, I found that construction tends to crop up in the most inconvenient spots late at night.

I live in Silverlake now and work downtown and love it. The neighborhood is great and the commute is freeway-free and very short.

I second Eagle Rock. Has some of the same qualities as Silver Lake but it's more chill. Nice tree-lined streets. I don't have kids but I hear the schools are good (if that's in your future).

If you're into the club scene, Silver Lake is better. Eagle Rock is close to Hollywood and Silver Lake. Very easy commute to downtown which may be where you work as an attorney. If you're into urban living and don't need a yard, downtown is great. Venice is cool too but you will be on one side of the city and not as centrally located. Los Feliz is nice if you have the $. Los Feliz is like a combo of Silver Lake and Eagle Rock. Most of the music and art activities run from Hollywood (LACMA) to downtown.

Where you from fool? .... Compton!

I have to give a nod to Old town Pasadena. It's a great place to live.

DON'T DO it!!!
I'm a born and raised New Yorker that moved out here six years and I'm ready to slit my wrists, I can't begin to tell you how much I hate LA it's people, DON"T DO IT.
The sad part is I can't afford to move back home so I'm trapped out here. If you do decide come out to LA please don't give up your apt... sublet, sublet, sublet, you’re going to want a place to live when you move back home.

Go to http://www.walkscore.com/ when you start to look at actual addresses. I moved to LA from a big East Coast city 8 years ago and being able to walk places made the transition easier.

I live in Echo Park. There are a lot of apartments and it can get pretty noisy but there are lots of fun places opening up and it's so close to all these freeways that it makes going anywhere else a snap.

As a former NYC attorney who has lived in both Manhattan and Several Neighborhoods in LA, I would argue that the best mix of california and NY lifestyle can be found in the area stretching from Larchmont (on the east) to Fairfax (on the west) and north of Third St. past Beverly Boulevard to the north. Really, this is a pedestrian friendly-area with generally short drives to all amenities. Hancock Park (and the neighborhoods around it) have giant mature trees (and some streets have gas lamps). Quite a bit of charm in this area.

If you have dogs and really enjoy hiking with them, getting nearer to runyon canyon may be a good idea.

If you really want a somewhat sophisticated (sometimes uppity) beach community, Santa Monica north of Wilshire is not a bad option. Quite pedestrian friendly. Never need to wish you had AC. Ocean Park walks on weekends are a great way to spend part of your saturday morning.

Venice if you want beach nearby, but require more flavor and less homogenization. When you think of beach cities, you may conjure images of actually spending time on the beach. Fun to think about, but quite unlikely you'll spend much time ON the beach. Beaches are nice because they lead to stable, pleasant temperature.

Of course, the real beach cities--Manhattan, Hermosa, Redondo are poo-pooed by most true LA folk, but are very nice in their own right if you want to spend time on the beach for real.

The further inland you go, it get HOTTER in the summer, so be very aware of that. Pasadena and south pas are really charming, but 105 in July with humidity to boot is a real deal killer.

As far a driving...anywhere you end up living, get used to traffic. Have a nice car with comfortable seats, a really fantastic radio setup, and window tinting. You will come to pride yourself on the fantastic back-street short-cuts you discover.

All in all, I prefer LA to NYC.

I'd say Mid-Wilshire/Miracle Mile, Culver City or Silverlake/Echo Park. Or, if you can afford it, live as close to beach as possible. :)

Los Feliz is great for a walkable neighborhood, and easy access to the Red Line. On that note, I would also recommend South Pasadena, or anywhere in LA along the Gold Line (Highland Park, El Sereno, Heritage Square). Either of these would be great - especially if you can commute via rail to work, and don't like driving.

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I was born and raised an Angeleno and lived in various parts of the country, including New York for a number of years (lived in Brooklyn by Prospect Park and worked in Manhattan right by Grand Central). I have returned to L.A. and the adjustment has difficult, mainly because of transportation issues - no surprise there. I know L.A. very well, but when my boyfriend and I were looking for a place we drove to a neighborhood, got out of our car and walked it to get a real feel for what the neighborhood is like and what would be available to us. We had two major criteria: 1. We must live by a metro station because I must be able to take the metro to work and 2. We had to be in a neighborhood that we would want to walk around in which have shops and restaurants available to us (many neighborhoods without these amenities feel very suburban). I work in a law office downtown and I love my neighborhood and I love my very short commute. I am and have always been an eastsider when it comes to L.A. and many people have already mentioned some good neighborhoods so I won't expand upon that. Alot, if not all of the entertainment law firms are in Century City which is adjacent to Beverly Hills and Westwood. If that is the area you would be working in, I suggest you look into Culver City not only because of its proximity to Century City, but alot of art galleries are concentrated there and you would be close to my favorite museum, The Hammer. I have always been an advocate for Los Angeles, but the transition from NYC to L.A was difficult even for me, a native Angeleno. My best suggestion is to really take the time explore your potential neighborhood and read all the comments here.

you really need to plan a trip and visit some neighborhoods in person that you're interested in. you will not regret it. walk around them, drive around them, try the commutes during rush hour to see if you can really take it. besides commuting to work, you'll be commuting to fun much of the time. what are your interests? hiking, museums, bars? remember, in LA, you need a designated driver or your plans revolve around what is very close by (which gets old pretty fast).

as for the heat, LA is air conditioned. even if your apartment isn't, your job will be. and there isn't that much 100 degree heat. and as they say, it's a dry heat. it's not that bad.

and hey, if you pick a place and it isn't the perfect fit, you can always move.

you and your PARTNER? I will infer from this that there is the possibility that this is a same-sex partner. If not, I apologize, but as a gay man myself, I find that I am most comfortable living in or around Hollywood/West Hollywood (more central), Silverlake/Los Feliz (more personality in certain ways) or Santa Monica/westside *(more expensive).

Regardless of lifestyle or tastes, I highly suggest checking out http://www.walkscore.com

Thank you to everyone that took the time to offer suggestions. Keep 'em coming.

I would just say in terms of living close to work - that you have to decide for yourself. I left LA becuase the commute was killing me. I seriously CANNOT be in a car for that long. Maybe if I had lived close to my job I could have made it! But that's clearly a personal issue, as many people here don't seem to mind an hourlong drive. Also, keep in mind that an hourlong drive is really not that far in distance in LA traffic.

I moved here from New York.

I've lived in Koreatown/Mid-Wilshire for three years and, frankly, wouldn't live anywhere else. I'm able to walk to anything I need -- grocery, bank, post office, etc. There are plenty of good, weird bars, none of which are especially trendy or expensive. It's about as 'urban' as you'll find outside of downtown and has really helped the transition. To ween yourself off the subway, the red/purple line snakes down Wilshire and is slowly proving to be a godsend.

Bottom line, the neighborhood is cheap, convenient, and as New York as it gets.

Best of luck to you guys! It's a sad and beautiful city.

P.S. The rumors are true -- You'll never find a decent pie, bagels, or a single Dunkin Donuts location in all of Southern California. Fortunately, in their stead, we have In-n-Out Burger, Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

Living in Silverlake and taking the bus to the Getty sounds like my idea of hell, but whatever.

Pasadena is its own city, easy to walk around, easy to get to freeways, and depending on your POV, reasonably priced. And if you're working downtown, subway is possible. Not fun, but possible.

Culver City, BH below Wilshire, Larchmont, Hollywood, Los Feliz is very easy for downtown--all are worth checking out as all have different populations, vibes, amenities.

And not to be negative, but if someone tells you someplace is a scruffy neighborhood, believe them. You don't want to end up being the renewable resource on your block.

If you don't speak any Spanish--well, life is a whole lot easier if you do.

Palmetto: it's not easy, but my girlfriends doesn't drive and receives other forms of compensation for her use of public transportation. Not very "LA" perhaps, but then again, I don't own a cell phone so we make an unusual Angeleno couple.

"And not to be negative, but if someone tells you someplace is a scruffy neighborhood, believe them."
I have to disagree. People were telling that same thing when I moved back to Silver Lake years ago, calling it ghetto, dangerous, etc. I know some people who think anywhere east of the 101 is "the hood" :D

Haha, please note the plural use of "girlfriend" above was unintentional. Emily, I swear (you too, Genevieve, Sabine and Latoya).

I would think a New Yorker would feel right at home in my 'hood - the vicinity of Wilshire and Fairfax. You can walk to just about anything you'd need in your day to day life - groceries, museums, cinemas, shopping.

That's why the first person singular is your friend. I wasn't thinking of Silverlake as a scruffy neighborhood (but I've been here for a long time), but rather, oh say, those parts of Atwater Village that have gang shoot outs, or south of USC, bordering on Inglewood--like that. I should amend my caveat to listen to what long time Angelenos consider scruffy. But at least they've caught those gangbangers in Silverlake, right? I live down by the 7th street bridge, so scruffy is my beat.

VENICE! Definitely Venice. Born in LA, I moved to NYC after college and fell in love with the city. I forced myself to move back to LA to give it a chance, since my parents are still out here. After living in Hell's Kitchen and Gramercy, the only neighborhood I could stomach was Venice. And it's on the beach - which is something you don't get in NYC!

If you live in Venice, live as close to Abbot Kinney as possible, and make sure you get a parking spot. Parking isn't too bad, but gets impossible in the summer months.

Venice is cute, charming, and actually has soul/personality which I think a lot of neighborhoods in LA don't have. In fact. most of the neighborhoods aren't even "neighborhoods" in the true NYC sense.

I'm moving back to NYC the first chance I get, because despite how awesome Venice is, I'm just a NYC girl at heart -but you should definitely give Venice a chance!

One tip I'll give to supplement the "consider your commute" comments is do NOT use a map to consider your commute. Distance and time are not related!

A 35 mile drive to downtown could be faster than a 15 mile drive depending on where you are coming from.

I'm a New Yorker who goes to LA for work (months at a time). For me, the best part about LA are Hollywood Hills. Maybe because they're such an LA thing, so different from anything in NYC. I love the air up there, I love Mulholland Drive, I love the trees, the views, Runyan Canyon at sunset...

I absolutely hate the flats (grids). That whole area around Fairfax (except for those few blocks on West 3rd street) is ugly and depressing to me. I don't care that I can walk around, there's nothing to see, no views. A friend said that a lot of that area reminds her of Queens (the ugly parts).

If you like to walk everywhere...I live in Franklin Village--a sub neighborhood (if that exists) of Hollywood, technically Hollywood Hills (almost directly below the Hollywood sign). It's perfect. It's in the middle of everything, a drive to Zuma Beach in Malibu is 45 minutes, you can walk to the metro station in 15 minutes (which takes you to downtown, Dodgers games, Pasadena, NoHo, Long Beach (if you so desire), and you can walk to lots of Hollywood shops, restaurants, jobs, the like. It's also within walking distance of the farmers' market on Sundays. At the end of my street is the Hollywood UCB (Upright Citizens Brigade), a newsstand, a few restaurants/bars, a sushi place, a bookstore, a boutique and a coffee shop. It's located in a neighborhood setting with some houses and some apartment buildings (the Scientology Celebrity Centre is at the end of the street--don't be scared--and it's gorgeous). If you want a house, a three bedroom runs about 3950/mo. but you could also get an apt. like mine which is 2b/2b for 1600/mo. This area is cheaper than West Hollywood but cleaner/prettier than Silverlake, Los Feliz, or Silverlake. I highly recommend the area. Most people lovingly say, "it's very Hollywood but it's not." Take that for what you will.

Representing the South Bay woot woot!, which includes Manhattan Beach/Hermosa Beach/Redondo Beach/Torrance/Palos Verdes. I like the low-key laid-back vibe of the South Bay. It's definitely not "Hollywood" or "trendy" or anything like that, so if that's what you're looking for then its not for you, but has everything you'll ever need and most people who live here usually don't ever leave.

What is your $$ situation? Most of the above mentioned spots are super pricey y recently gentrified.

I like living and working in different areas of LA.
I work in Silverlake and live in the “Beverly Hills-adjacent” area of LA (lower rent but the neighborhood safety and eateries of BH). My commute time is around 30 minutes but I need that time to get focused for the day and to wind down at night. I love both neighborhoods and am glad I get to experience 2 very different faces of the same city.

I was just thinking the same thing as SydneyBristow. Most of the comments here seem to assume money is no object. I would say pick the place where your car is less likely to get stolen, which really comes down to picking the most expensive place you can afford. Oh and you will need a car. You can't escape needing one here unless you plan to have no social life.

By the way, if you enjoy Central Park, Prospect Park or any park in NY enjoy it while you can because you just don't have that here. There is Griffith Park, but its more about hiking. L.A.'s true parks are its beaches. I really miss picnicking in those beautiful Olmstead and Vaux greenspaces.

I have lived in Pasadena (the Playhouse District) for about five years and *LOVE* it. My Walk Score is ~95. I disagree with Jordan Jennings' comment above that you won't find decent pie here. The olallieberry pie at Pie n' Burger in Pasadena is delicious! I think there is good pie at Apple Pan, too, in West LA.

I work in Burbank, and the commute to/from Pasadena is usually only twenty minutes. Traffic is generally light on that particular freeway, the 134. (It did once take me two hours to drive home, but that was because an airplane had emergency-landed on the freeway.) Pasadena is only about 13 miles from Downtown, which is where - I think - many of the big law firms are. It's a very old freeway - LA's oldest, CA-110 - and the drivers are aggressive, but I'm totally used to it by now. Pasadena does get unpleasantly hot in the summer (as does the San Fernando Valley), but I just turn on my window AC unit and my floor fan and I'm good to go. I much prefer it to the Westside, which I find crowded and stressful, although the weather stays cooler close to the ocean. Plus Pasadena has the beautiful Huntington Gardens, the Norton Simon museum, Caltech (yay for Skeptics Society lectures!) and Old Pasadena, which is crazy gentrified (Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, the Gap, gelato shops, etc. etc.). Lots of lovely architecture in Pasadena, too, especially Craftsman. There is even a middle-class neighborhood called Bungalow Heaven! If I were looking to buy, that might be the neighborhood I would choose.

move to Santa Barbara...not LA! LA sucks

I agree about living close to where you work. The commute is BRUTAL out here even on surface streets. I used to live in West Hollywood and work in Santa Monica. It would take me a 1/2 hour to go less than a mile because i'd pass 2 on ramps to freeways, then another 1/2 hour to get home. It should not take over an hour to go 8 miles! I now work and live in the same neighborhood and my commute is all of 5 minutes, if that. I also love the Miracle Mile neighborhood, LA in general is no longer cheap but you get more for your money than you do in NY(space wise that is....)

If your partner is an attorney he/she will likely work in Century City or Downtown. For Century City, Beverly Hills (own city) are West Hollywood are very close. The have better city services than the City of Los Angeles. Both will get you anywhere you want to go. For lovely old school glamor, Hancock Park (and/or Korea Town HP-adjacent) have great houses if you can afford them. Third Street/Fairfax are nearby and are have good walk-ability plus some old LA style. Excellent restaurants and shopping. A variety of pricing in apartments. Lots of good condos. Expensive houses.

Many of the suggestions above (Silverlake, Echo Park, Pasadena) would work well for Downtown only.

I like up north. Y'know. San Francisco.

*runs away before untimely murder*

I don't live in L.A. but I really love the south bay cities. I also have had some amazing times in Hollywood, Eagle Rock and Silver Lake. I also have a few friends in affordable Korea Town which is in the middle of everything!

Really it depends where you will be working. Anywhere is a commute really, so visit a lot of areas...
maybe just for a short time rent and then decide later for the long term!

I personally love Mid-Wilshire/Koreatown. its so central to.. everything!

not to bash on any neighborhoods, but unless you can handle 100-plus degree weather, avoid the San Fernando Valley. It's UNBEARABLE in the summer months. and rent is not all that much cheaper than much cooler parts in LA!

I'd make proximity to work your first priority, there are lots of things to love about L.A.'s different neighborhoods.

We personally loved Koreatown but the 7 mile commute that averaged 40 minutes each way was torture. We live in West Hollywood now and I walk to work! Tons of great restaurants and bars here in West Hollywood but I really miss the taco trucks in K. Town.

My favorite area of LA (besides the one we live in, Downtown) is the area between Highland and La Cienega/Olympic and Melrose. On the map above I guess it would be called Mid-Wilshire, although I don't think of it that way. There are so many beautiful old bungalows and Spanish cottages, especially in Carthay Square and Circle, plus such great restaurants and retail, especially in the Fairfax/3rd/Beverly neighborhood. And it's a great jumping-off point for all of the areas shown in the map above. Hope that helps!

So sad that no one mentioned my neighborhood! It's this little island tucked between, Silverlake, Los Feliz and Glendale called ATWATER VILLAGE! I love it here!

Atwater has everything you can ask for, cute spanish style homes, great restaurants, pilates/yoga, farmer's market every Sunday, art shows and you can always find parking! You are close enough to everything but far enough to get away from Hollywood's madness.

I