My girlfriend and I want to move to L.A. but she has never been there and I have only visited three times for a few days each time. I only went once as an adult and I want to know what is it like out there for those of you who live there. We were thinking of trying to move into the West Hollywood area as we hear that it is the gay part of town. We live in Seattle and hate it here, I have been here my whole life and she moved here from upstate New York five years ago. We hate the cold and rain all the time. So tell us what do you like about L.A. and where are the nice parts of town to live that aren't the super rich parts of town. And honestly how bad is the traffic there, and what is the bus system like?

We mostly ask because all of our friends (who don't want us to leave) only tell us bad things about the city, which sucks because they think we are crazy to hate it here and we don't know if they are just saying these things to try and make us stay even though we are really unhappy here.

So give us some info please and thank you. :)

-Mal-

I live in orange county, but I have been to the L.A area several times. West Hollywood is the gay district. It has tons of gay friendly store. Like any city though, you have your nice areas and the not so nice areas. You have to do your research on the good neighborhoods. As for traffic . . . HA . . . yeah it's pretty bad. At the same time though, you need a car if you live in Southern California. Everything is so far away from each other. If you go local, a bus system is your best route. I can't tell you for sure what the bus system is like though. It has to be pretty efficient. The funny part about West Hollywood is that across the street is Beverly Hills. You can see the difference by one side being super clean and West Hollywood side having trash. It's funny how one side is a different city from the other. Start liking local transportation and walking as much as you can because it's the easiest way to travel. Use your car when you necessary have to.

Yeah I am used to the bus here in Seattle which personally sucks most of the time. And I don't mind walking as long as the hills are minimal. We have hills here that are almost as bad as the ones in San Fran. The traffic is pretty bad here too. What is the weather in the winter like? If it is nice and not so wet as it is in Seattle then I really don't mind walking, hell I might loose a few pounds. lol :p Thank you for answering some of my questions.
-Mal-

New.Year.Surprise has been doing a damn good job at making me jealous these past few months. From what I've been hearing - they've had a pretty awesome summer.

Winter is warm compared to Seattle or the bay area. I'm from the Bay Area originally. The winters here are decent wear a jacket and you're good. To the socal natives it's cold though, haha. Summers are humid. I have a hard time dealing with the summers. Spring time is perfect though!

@New Year Surprise: I always think its funny to hear people from really warm states say that they're cold. Then when you ask them the temp its still in the 60s. ;D I love being able to say 'yeaaah its about -15F with the wind chill, sup?'

@Jessica, today it was 57 degrees and I was in shorts and a tank-top. Everyone here in Colorado thought I was nuts, they were complaining about the cold. They get snow here but no where near the cold of Wisconsin, I still find 57 Summer weather!

@Mindi: PFFT. 57 degrees is swimmin weather ;D Hahahaha. That happened to me in Florida. We were there one winter, and it was so insanely warm (I want to say in the 50s or 60s) compared to home. I didnt even bring pants or hoodies. I refused to. Everyone looked at me like I was on drugs ;D

@Jessica- Ahh, -15 degrees?! Now THAT is cold! I would be freezing, but then again I would be wearing the right clothing for the weather. Here in Socal I still see girls wearing summer outfits and tank tops complaining they are cold. HAHA, then wear the right clothing for winter!

@New Year: lol -15 with the chill is pretty standard here, actually. Usually only for a month or so, though. Not the whole winter. But we're below 30 a good portion of the time.

A few years ago we had city shut downs for the cold. It was like -40 or something outside. (I wasn't in school, and at the time I wasn't working. So I never left the house, thank god.) Two days in a row everything got cancelled because they didn't want anyone outside ;D

My aunt lives in LA, and here's the scoop:

It's really expensive to live there. If you can find rent controlled housing, jump on it. You won't find anything better. Live in LA, not Santa Monica... big cost difference. It's very crowded. Like, all the time. Driving sucks there, so if you can take public transit, do so. But be aware, that public transit often runs well behind schedule, will sometimes be full (i.e. buses at max capacity), and can make trips significantly more difficult. But if none of these are problems, then just go for it. I'd live in Cali if I had a job out there (but not in LA/Santa Monica), I'm not big on crowds.

girl i live in LA and the rents r expensive.. and u wanna live in west hollywood? ur lookin at atleast $1500 for a 1 bedroom!! i hate living hear b.c everything is expensive!!

I've never lived there, but when I visited I really wasn't very impressed with LA (Hollywood area). Santa Monica was lovely, but I assume it's expensive. Oh, and there is a pretty decent bus service. Even as tourists we managed to get ourselves from Santa Monica to Hollywood on the bus and it was fine.

Personally I'd much prefer to live in San Francisco. It's not as warm, but such a nice city, and my friends who live there pay similar rent for a 1 bed apartment downtown as fearlesslove says for LA (although that is also insanely expensive to me!).

Seattle is really expensive also but we are willing to pay more to be in an area that has better weather at this point and we both really just want a change in everything dealing with were we live. We have been looking at craigslist postings for apartments in West Hollywood and have seen some that are comparable to where we live now which is in Renton (10 minutes from downtown Seattle.) What is the night life like out there we don't have much of one out here everything closes so early and I am a night owl kinda girl. I have never been to San Fran but I know I don't want to live there at this point in time. My girlfriend has been there once last summer and liked it but I dunno about those hills and the weather.

See in Seattle once it gets to about 50 degrees I run for blankets and hoodies. Not to mention we will have a day like today which has a high of 83 and two days later it's going to be 64 and raining. And when it does get really hot we aren't even equipped for it. Every summer the hardware stores go nuts with people searching for an AC because it's not normal here to need it. I want a place where AC is a normal thing not just at the mall and the theater. I think L.A. would be perfect weather for me year round. I hate being cold.

Warm you say?

If you find that California is too expensive you may want to consider [the warmest states]: Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas or Florida [I'm a born Yankee and I'm telling you, I moved here young and it's TOO hot for me.]

These links should help you with knowing what to expect there, the area and all that.

Best places to live in California:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2010/states/CA.html

Relocation advice- California:
http://www.mydreamlocale.com/Relocation_California.php

Facts and Findings from The Gay and Lesbian Atlas
[Based on the US. Census]
http://www.urban.org/publications/900695.html

I tried to help. I honestly think that you and your girlfriend need to sit down and make a plan such as cost, transportation, bills and things. You should also look at other cities in California or possibly other states if you find it it too expensive. You'll figure it out I'm sure.

I'd leave Florida for anything. I love the cold. =/ It's really hot here for 6 months [Nov-April], the other 6 are at least somewhat bearable [May-October]. I love the north though, really miss it.

Thank you! I will show my girlfriend the links. We do have a plan of sorts, we want to visit first so she can see the city and see if she likes it. This forum is also part of the plan in trying to talk to others from there. Then it comes to raising money and finding work and then a place to live. The other states would be too hot for my girlfriend she looked up the weather patterns in L.A. and said they would be perfect. We were thinking about Austin TX for a moment because it's near where her mom moved to. But then when thinking about it do I really want to move to a state that all but like two cities would lynch me for being gay? I know people say that L.A. is expensive but in all honesty Seattle is too. And we don't mind paying more for convenience and in this case convenience means better weather because with warmer weather is less heating bills and more walking so less gas money/bus fare.

Austin is an awesome city,and assuming
Texas not being a gay friendly state is a sterotype. I have lived in Texas my whole life and we accept everyone! Austin though is very hilly but its the most awesome city I have ever visited!! The nightlife here in texas is awesome too! San Antionio is another awesome city its very touristy though!

Its not the actual everyday people that worry me in Texas it's the government. I don't agree with a lot of things that I hear go on in Texas like the way Texas Instruments changed the text books and basically rewrote history to their liking. I wish things were different there because Austin does sound lovely.

I'm actually originally from Los Angeles (technically the San Fernando Valley) and am now living in Seattle! I like that you're doing it backwards. I definitely don't want to end up here. The weather is just killing me (95 degrees one day, pouring rain the next? I just want a normal summer!).

So. I lived there for the first 11 years of my life, and I've gone back at least 2-3 times a year since then. The traffic is shit, I will be honest with you. The 101 is awful, during the appropriate traffic times. And Los Angeles, specifically, can be quite smoggy. BUT I absolutely love the area, aside from those things. The heat is so nice (it doesn't necessarily make you wanna die like it does here), and the culture is so different there. I love Seattle as a city, but all of Los Angeles is like Seattle in the way of city-life. Plus, you can drive to any of the surrounding cities that are aaamazing. Here, everyone drives to Seattle. Haha. I am a huge fan of Santa Monica and Santa Barbara.

I don't know if you drive at all, but one of the things I've noticed (that makes me laugh EVERY TIME) is that Southern Californians have no idea how to drive in the rain. It's ridiculous to watch.

As far as where to live, like I said, I'm from The Valley, so I'd prefer areas like Calabasas or West Hills, but that is just because it's close to where I was raised. I don't know much about West Hollywood.

I hope I helped a little and didn't just ramble!

@ -kay: HAHA, people here in socal don't know how to function when it rains. It's really funny BUT scary at the same time. I'm from the Bay Area originally so rain is nothing. It's like their brains shut off. I don't understand what is so hard about it. It's not like driving in snow or black ice!

I KNOW!! Hahahaha.
I was there in Feb and it was, like, the only day of the year that it was raining and I was going about my business and then I get on the freeway and it's like "OHGODBREAKLIGHTSBREAKLIGHTSBREAKLIGHTS! WECAN'TDRIVE! WHATISFALLINGFROMTHESKY?"

It's...Interesting. Haha.

@ -kay: I'm 39 weeks pregnant right now, due any day. The way people drive here scares me, but it scares me more knowing I'll have a little one in the back. OMG, if anyone hits me and I have my son in the car there is no doubt I will claw their eyes out! It's really NOT that hard to be more alert. Like I said, no one cares because they feel they should be first. Merging is a big joke, which is why traffic sucks. If people blended in it wouldn't be THAT bad.

And if people didn't freaking tap their breaks every two damn seconds, traffic wouldn't be AS much of an issue. It's like a domino effect. One right after the other.

I totally understand the eye-clawing. You get 'em, momma lion!

@ -kay: I would hurt someone if they injured my cat too! My cat is like my fur baby. No one hurts her without any consequences. I don't care what anyone says, animals are still living beings with feelings and emotions. They aren't property.