Living at USC

[jouster]

what are the spring admits doing for housing?

 

[hman13]

I am considering walking around Hollywood next week when i am in town. I understand that Hollywood, Los Feliz, all that are generally nicer/safer places, and I will be doing my walking during the day, but is there any path I shouldnt stray off of? Any other notable places to avoid. Im just gonna look at some apartments in Franklin Village/Near the 101/Near Sunset or Hollywood Boulevard for ideas of where to live and look for an in-n-out to burger to eat at.

 

[Jayimess]

Like where the bad guys are?

If it's daylight, I wouldn't worry about walking north of Sunset in those areas, though it gets a little, as the young people call it, "sketch," on Sunset east of Silver Lake, heading into Echo Park...but not like down at USC, or anything, lol.

From my place just a few blocks west and north of Franklin Village, I've walked/wheeled to Hillhurst, to Cahuenga and Yucca, to Hollywood and Highland. When ever peeps from out of town visit, I walk them around the touristy stuff on the Blvd and take em to Roscoes on Gower, and that's at night. We stumbled down to Sunset and Vine after my birthday bbq last summer and stumbled back after last call (good times), I walk to the Arclight for day screenings.

You can totally walk here! For exercise I have a route up into the hills, past the Hollywood sign and then down into Beachwood Canyon, then back up to my place, I've done it night and day.

Oh, and or some reason, Argyle's 101 overpass seems less overpass-creepy to me than the Gower one, if you're heading to or from Franklin.

Have fun, and good luck!

 

[Jayimess]

And there's an In and Out on Sunset, but it's a few blocks down, by Hollywood High, I think it's Orange and Sunset? It's past Highland, I think.

 

[96Mph]

Originally posted by Jayimess:
And there's an In and Out on Sunset, but it's a few blocks down, by Hollywood High, I think it's Orange and Sunset? It's past Highland, I think.

Yep, Orange and Sunset.

 

[jouster]

So, after what street north (and east, south, west) does the campus area start to get bad?
cause since i've never been to LA, i've been looking at university housing and most of the buildings are north... namely Centennial

 

[xavier039]

I am just going to find a couple nice places online now and then fly out to LA in July and check everything out and try to book one for school. That seems like the best plan to me.

 

[hman13]

xaiver---

thats what im doing now.....im mainly looking for something in hollywood/los feliz cause i have heard that is nice. apartmentratings.com is absolutely no help. people there write reviews about apartments, and some will say it is the greatest place, tons of fun, clean, safe, etc....and then someone says it stinks, and is full of garbage and roaches. So how can both possibly be true? You dont know if the manager of the hotel is writing the good reviews, or that the manager of the apartment across the street is writing the bad reviews or what. I got a list of about 10 places though that are within a few blocks of a red line stop in Hollywood/East Hollywood/Almost Los Feliz im gonna check out, and I can give you an unbiased opinion about them after I see them if you want.

 

[Sonia]

That's my plan, too, xavier & hman. I'm looking online at places in Los Feliz/Hollywood/parts of Silver Lake, downtown, and Koreatown. I'm flying out in late June to check them out. I guess that's the only way to really get a feel for them. I'd appreciate any accurate info you guys dig up on these neighborhoods.

Anyone have experience buying a used car in LA? I have a 19-year-old Honda Accord that barely made it through winter, and I don't trust it to take me all the way to California””and I doubt it meets emission standards. I'll probably buy a 5- or 6-year-old car when I look for apartments.

How hard is it to get a CA driver's license if you have one in another state?

 

[xavier039]

Any extra information you guys gather would be very much appreciated if passed on to me.

Sonia, why do you want to get a CA driver's license? I had no intention nor see the need for it. Does CA have something special? I know in Ohio all my out of state friends just kept their current state's license. Mine is good well past the time I graduate from USC. Just curious.

 

[KayS]

Strangest luck hit me yesterday. I posted on my facebook status the following question: If you had to move from Austin to L.A., would you sell all your furniture in Austin and buy new (Ikea/Target) furniture in L.A. or would you cram all your crap and drive a UHAUL all the way?

I got a bunch of comments to my status, and one of them resulted in this girl from my high school who just moved to LA for USC (she's getting her masters in health administration) responding. She's looking for a roomie! If that works out, I might have someone there that can check out potential places to live + she knows a lot more about LA than I do already.

I love the internet!

 

[Sonia]

Unless I'm misreading this, you have to have a CA license to get a job in CA. Maybe work-study is an exception.

I'm starting to forget how I did anything before the internet. I guess I was like 11 and didn't need to do anything.

 

[xavier039]

Interesting... Well seems pretty simple and basic if that truly is the case.

 

[Suzako]

This whole license thing seems strange to me. I don't have a driver's license. It is possible to be an American citizen and not have one. You can establish residency places without having a license. (Now if I was moving to California, I'd be getting one pronto, cause I realize driving is part of life there). My point mainly is: be careful and do your research before jumping to conclusions or taking action. USC can probably offer advice and help, I'm sure they're used to people moving to California from elsewhere.

 

[96Mph]

According to the CA DMV website, you don't need a CA license if you are a visitor. Does going to school make you a resident? Not necessarily. Paying resident tuition does make you a CA resident, but if you are paying non-resident, then i assume you can get a pass as long as your home state DL is not expired.

But I would just get a CADL. I remember getting some hassle when using my DL in other states. Seems easy enough. Complete an app, give em a thumbprint and social, pay the app fee, take a 36? test and that's it. There's a new DMV in West Hollywood and I rarely caught any lines there last year.

http://dmv.ca.gov/dl/dl_info.htm#SSN http://dmv.ca.gov/dl/dl_info.htm#SSN

 

[Jayimess]

If you don't have a driver's license, Suzako, I would substitute State ID card in this conversation...we all need ID, right?

I planned on staying an Ohio driver until I graduated because I falsely assumed that would keep insurance rates down. It did not.

Then my license expired (29th birthday) and I was too broke to head home to renew it. The Ohio ID was pain enough here when buying booze and using credit cards, so I didn't want to risk an expired one. I figured, I'm not going to move back to Ohio, so why put off the inevitable?

Among my classmates, the bag is mixed, some got new IDs immediately, some still have their old ones, even renewed them since we've been here.

My friends who don't go to school are also mixed, some are working as Ohio residents, some became Californians.

You can get really expensive tickets if you get pulled over for speeding or what not and they find out how long you've been living here. Even if you lie and say you just moved, you have to go get the ID soon after that...you're in their system now, and a friend had to notify them once she'd done it.

An '08 grad switched his stuff over to California right after graduation last year, and they charged him a TON of money for not having plated his car here all that time...it was the fees for all the time he "should've been plated" and late fees, I think it was like $800. It took many months, but he won his appeal.

I say, if you plan on living here, just become a resident and be done with it. That's just me.

And I hear you get discounts at Disneyland or something, lol.

 

[xavier039]

I'll just get a CA license and be done with it. No point in trying to do it the hard way.

 

[psufilmgirl]

I'm not in yet, but my dad was telling me when I do go to not switch my car registration because my insurance will go up, but my question is, what about when my PA registration and inspection expire? I'm not sure about CA laws and requirements, but I did by a new car in September and I purposely bought one that came with CA emissions expectations. I was totally thinking ahead, for once, haha.

 

[Jayimess]

You just transfer them over.

Ohio registrations haven't helped my roommate or me save on insurance...because where you keep it overnight is what matters...and that's LA. If you lie and say it's in PA, they can deny your claim...

Progressive honored my rate until my new six months started, and then through an error on their part, where they changed everything to LA except the zip code, I got a low rate for the next six months, but yeah, once they figured that out, I was screwed. I think they do it by where you are, not where you're registered, based on my experience. They even made me stop talking to the Ohio people and start talking to California-licensed people.

I drive a 2007, got it right before I moved out here (same as my roommate, only she has an 08) and my insurance more than doubled. I haven't had a ticket since 2001, and I've only been in two accidents, both not my fault...my car was parked for one of them.

I'm still paying out the wa-zoo...

 

[redic]

I heard this place is the best place to find rentals online

http://www.westsiderentals.com

West Hollywood by UCLA is a nice and you can find some nice student friendly apartments.

If you guys are moving from out of state. For the first month you are here I would get an apartment/hotel that is month to month or stay with a friend if you can. And use that first month to find your permanent apartment. That way you can find the place that is right for you without having pick hastily or put a deposit down for a place you haven't seen. LA is crazy because one block can be nice but one block down can be a place to avoid. So it makes it really hard to find places online.