Where is a good, nice, and safe place to live in Los Angeles?

Culver City would be just about perfect. It is safe, there's been a lot of build up over the last few years, tons of restaurants, movie theaters, grocery stores etc. It's an odd shaped neighborhood though. You want to be SOUTH of Venice Blvd and just east of Overland Blvd. Sony Studios and Culver City Studios are right in that area. You can type in either one on googlemaps for a reference point. Plenty of 2 bed/2 bath units in some fairly new buildings in that area. Expect rents to be anywhere from 1650-1895.00 depending on floor. Alcole properties has a building in the area that a friend used to live in. He recently swung back to NYC but the building went through a big upgrade. http://www.alcoleproperties.com/ http://www.alcoleproperties.com/_studio/available_units www.westsiderentals.com Santa Monica puts you too far west and though you can sort of snake your way over to the airport the backdoor way, getting in and out to get over to Hollywood can be a pain in the butt.

It depends on how much you're willing to spend for rent - the average rent for a 2 bedroom apartment in the L.A. area is about $1700/month. In my opinion, it seems as if the nicer, safer neighborhoods tend towards the more expensive, but if you're looking for close to the average I mentioned, you can try Culver City/Mar Vista, may be some affordable places in Westwood. Mid Wilshire/Miracle Mile is a toss-up - some areas are nice and safe, others a little sketchy. Websites: losangeles.craigslist.org (Free) www.westsiderentals.com (you have to pay to access listings, though much more comprehensive and no spam.)

LA is very expensive to live in, you basically have to pay for safety. try torrance, it's next to LAX and a fairly nice city. that's about the cheapest you can get in that area and even that is considered fairly pricy.

Santa Monica and around that area isn't too expensive apartment wise, from Santa Monica to Lee Strasberg Theatre Inst it is about a 20 minute drive.

No such thing.

We see this every day in this forum: Everyone wants to move here, and is looking for “cheap/affordable and safe". However, such a place just doesn’t exist; the two terms are mutually exclusive. It's all about supply and demand: If it's in SoCal, then it's not going to be cheap to begin with. If it's a safe area, then it's more expensive. If you want to live here and enjoy the weather, then you have to pay for it. You put up with the smog and the traffic, enjoy the weather and pay your rent or mortgage. My advice is to start checking out craigslist, rent.com, and apartments.com if you are looking to rent. You’ll quickly see that the minimum rent for a non-war zone is about $1,000-$1,200 per month for a studio or 1BR. A 2BR goes for about $1500 per month, give or take. Really nice areas (like the West LA area) easily run $3,000 or more. Want to live near the beach? Expect to pay a premium. "LA" is such a big place, there are so many neighborhoods/cities where you can live. Of course, even within a city or neighborhood, there are safer sections and less-safe sections. In Los Angeles, some nice sections are West LA, Brentwood, Westwood, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey, Los Feliz, Silverlake, and Eagle Rock. Palms and Mar Vista are pretty good, too. In the Valley(part of LA), you have Encino, Tarzana, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Granada Hills, Woodland Hills, Sherman Oaks, West Hills, and Chatsworth. Glendale and Burbank are good places, and are incorporated cities of their own. To the east: South Pasadena, parts of Pasadena, Altadena, Arcadia, Monrovia, Glendora, San Dimas, Laverne, Azusa, Rancho Cucamonga. Along the beach: Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Torrance, Palos Verdes, Rancho PV. In Orange County aka "The OC": Seal Beach , Huntington Beach , Newport Beach , Corona Del Mar , Laguna Beach , Dana Point , Capistrano Beach , San Clemente , Brea, Yorba Linda, Orange, Tustin, Irvine, Laguna Hills, Rancho Santa Margarita, Lake Forest To the west: Agoura, Calabasas, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Simi Valley, Moorpark. This is not an all-inclusive list, but it's a start. Check out westsiderentals.com and craigslist.