Los Angeles

[Mike]

Hey guys,

I just graduated college last semester and I’m thinking about moving to LA, but am wondering if people would recommend the move or sharing your experiences with LA. I’m 23 and currently live in Scottsdale, AZ but I want to leave before the summer and gets ridiculously hot. I like California and want a city with a great nightlife, women and mild climate, but I was wondering if LA would be it. I’m sure people have mixed feelings about LA, but NYC might be a little too expensive for me to swing. Money isn't a huge issue though.

Also, I have no attachments to any particular city or country so recommendations to other cities and countries are cool too; just not too cold (I’m from Boston so exclude it.) If you recommend the move, what areas do you suggest like Hollywood, Santa Monica, Hermosa Beach etc?

Thanks, I appreciate any feedback.

[IdEngager]

Alright I grew up in Los Angeles, and in my opinion it's a great city with a lot of culture, but I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with that, which I totally understand too, because it's not a great tourist city and it can be a hard place to break into when you first move here.

Probably the most important thing if you move here is where you live and where you work. Every neighborhood has a completely different vibe, and you'll be absolutely miserable if you have to drive 1-2 hours to work, especially if you don't know anyone. Not sure what field you were looking to work in. Downtown has your government/legal fields, Hollywood is Hollywood, Silverlake/Echo Park is artsy/hip, Westside more upper middle class. I can't really recommend a good place for you to live unless I know a bit more about you. I personally like hanging out more Eastside (DTLA/EP/Silverlake/Highland Park) than the Westside or beaches, but it really depends on you.

Nightlife: pretty varied. Worse thing is that bars close at 2, though there's afterhours spots once you know your neighborhoods. But there's a lot of different things to do, you'll never really run out of things to do. There's a club for just about every type of music, just about every concert tour comes through, there's just a ton of events. Another great thing is that you don't just need the nightlife to be social, the mountains and ocean are close, and you can spend a lot of time outdoors and actually sorta get away from the city.

Women: they look great. Ratio isn't as good as NYC though.

Weather: it's February and it's currently 70 degrees and sunny outside. Yep.

[Matty]

I've never lived in LA, only visited a few times. The only real pointer I can give you to factor in is if you like to travel and visit different cities, living on the west coast is kind of a bitch for travel. I'm from Western Canada, and it's the same problem. Living up in the American northeast (or Toronto/Montreal if your Canadian) affords you luxury of having a multitude of cool cities within a short distance. If you want to visit other cities and live on the west coast, it's really a pain in the ass. Maybe something to consider.