It only took 6 hours, and we've found our Los Angeles apartment.
We started the morning
looking south, near the 10. It was a fairly rough area without any very close amenities. We then worked our way north, looking in the
mid-Wilshire/
Wilshire Center/
Koreatown area. We realized that a pocket of the places, mostly
near Third and Catalina, were too expensive for many reasons: they are corporately owned, they have large per-pet per-month charges, and apparently it's a very desirable area.
We then looked at a place up in
Silver Lake. There are many advantages of Silver Lake- some political reasons, some based on history. It's a hilly enclave that is less dense than the Wilshire area, so amenities are further away.
Sitting down at lunch, we realized that we had a Goldilocks situation: the 10 was too far south, Silver Lake (and even 3rd in Wilshire) was too far north, but the mid-Wilshire area was Just Right. In fact, there seemed to be a strip through 7th, a block south of Wilshire, that was really good.
After lunch, we drove to our next appointment. The place didn't look fantastic from the outside- fairly generic 1980s apartment complex. The apartment manager was friendly and the apartment had been recently renovated. While it was a one-bedroom with a tiny bedroom (no closet!), the main living area was huge. We realized it was a good tradeoff between having the space (and huge expense) of a two-bedroom apartment, and not having the space (or expense!) of a one-bedroom apartment. We looked at it and another unit in the building and decided we should take the unit.
That means by 2pm on our first day, we were done apartment shopping. Hooray! Bob, the apartment manager, is an ex-LEO and will be our next door neighbor. He's a very nice fellow.
Staying in a one-bedroom place, even one that's larger, is a tradeoff for us. We thought we'd be moving into a larger place in a suburb like Glendale or Pasadena. This means we'll still be a bit crowded and cluttered, like we are in Portland. But we're only a block from Wilshire, which has major bus lines, and we're only a couple blocks from
a Metro subway stop. The subway and buses give us very fast transportation- Tamara's school is a Metro and a bus away (40 minutes), and Ted's work is one bus away (1 hour). There are dozens of restaurants within a few blocks.
Also, the unit is on the corner and it's FULL of windows. It is really bright, and it was a really nice temperature because of the breeze blowing from the west. AC is still necessary when it's hotter, but it'll be nice to have the option of opening the window.
History buffs should note
the view out our window is the replacement for the Ambassador Hotel, which is where Robert Kennedy was shot. The area is steeped in history, but the site of the Ambassador Hotel is especially notable. The fantastic architecture of th e
Bullocks Wilshire is right around the corner.
Yay!
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