finding a place to thrive in los angeles

background

I'm moving back to Los Angeles. I moved to Portland, Oregon on 3 March 2021 (actually Vancouver, Washington, then Portland, then Seattle). I'm moving back on 1 June 2025 making my time in the northwest 4 years, 2 months, 30 days. There were ups and downs in this place like there were ups and downs in Los Angeles. Seattle is wonderful and the people here are lovely, I wouldn't recommend moving to Portland. I've got to let bygones be so I've got to look forward to the future and put my efforts towards finding a place to lay my head in Los Angeles.

neighborhoods (in no particular order)

• silver lake
• echo park
• rowena
• hollywood
• chinatown
• westwood
• sawtelle
• santa monica (only if i get a view of the sea)
• culver city?
• larchmont
• los feliz

constraints

• under 1800/month
• a place where i can find parking within ~5 minutes
• in a neighborhood not teeming in criminals
• in-unit laundry (super important)
• ideally a new construction (we're the 1st renters)
• ideally nice view of the sea or the city or mountains
• away from a freeway (due to the health risks)

the search (paused)

I've been looking online from 7 to ~18 May and I realized it really is best to look for apartments in person when I get to Los Angeles. I have the luxury of living there for free for a few weeks so I'll take advantage of that!