What do I need to know about moving to West Hollywood?

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Whitney

I've settled on West Hollywood as my ideal place to live when I move to LA at the end of the summer.

Before you write in telling me how crappy LA is and be all negative, let me say this: I know LA isn't a great place to live. I know there is traffic and smog and creepy ass people and gangs (that being said I lived in Oklahoma City which has the largest gang population in the country next to LA and it wasn't that bad plus it's a complete sewer system and I can't imagine LA being anything close to OKC even with all the negative stuff I've read about it).

I'm going there to be an actress. I'm NOT going there to be famous, or to get rich and all that BS. I know it's pretty much a pipe dream and the odds of making it is rare. I have actually studied acting and film for a long time. It's my passion and I'm damn good at it and the only reason I want to move to LA is because that's where a majority of the work is. I could be happy having to work as a waitress and living in a crappy apartment if it meant I could work towards being an actor. I know about all the scams and all the stuff that happens in the industry. I'm a grown adult and god forbid, I've been able to survive on my own for a while now. I'm confident I can do it in LA.

I have a lot of money saved up, money set aside for emergency flights home, car problems, and enough to live on completely for about a year, and I will be moving with no debt. My car is paid off and my parents agreed to pay my insurance and cell phone. All I need to worry about is rent, gas, food, and utilities. I plan on finding an apartment or house with a roommate or two.

All that being said, I just want to know about West Hollywood. From what I've read it's a generally safe area and it's close to a lot of stuff, with lots of young people.

But I want to hear from people who have lived there, not just statistics from random websites and stupid negative people. Tell me about what it's like to live there. What are the great things about living there? What are the sucky things? What are the people like? How easy is it to find apartments (I've read LA is full of apartments and its not hard to find one like it would be in places like NYC). How much will car insurance run me? How much is gas up there on average? Is WeHo an ideal place to be for someone in the entertainment industry?
I don't mind people thinking I'm gay. To me that's like people thinking I'm black. It's irrelevant. Plus, I love my gays and it's actually appealing to me to be around them. And there's only 120,000 actors in SAG so as far as I'm concerned there's only 120,000 REAL actors in LA
To answer the second person's question, by the time I move I plan on having about $50,000 saved, but I will also be working. That money is just to get me going and through rough patches if I lose my job or something.
Oh! and I've been looking at a lot of roommate sites and there's lots of pretty nice places with people seeking roommates asking about $1200 all bills paid. That is ideal for me.
and to add another thing. I am from a very wealthy, expensive part of Dallas where a 1-bedroom will run you about $1000 - 1500, so nothing about the pricing of LA shocks me.

Answer
WeHo is not an ideal place for you to live. I'd recommend Studio City. It's near most of the major studios. It's right next to Hollywood, is a very nice area (lots of celebrities live here, Robert Blake shot his wife here, Britney Spears got married here), and is much more affordable for the same apartment. You can get a nice 1 bedroom for 1200 here. There are 3 supermarkets, a Trader Joe's, a farmer's market every Sunday morning, a nice mall nearby that isn't ever crowded. All the laid back people who actually work in the industry live here. Because a lot of special effects people from the studios occupy a large amount of the houses here, there are 2 areas with the best trick or treating and haunted houses in the city. So unlike WeHo, where the hipster losers who are always pimping their script or acting reel (unless that's what you want) outnumber the actual actors, you will meet actual people working in the industry here.

Since you want to be an actor you need to know the location of the major studios. CBS Studios is located in Studio City. Universal Studios is right next to Studio City. Warner Bros and Disney are nearby in Burbank. The only major studio in Hollywood is Paramount and it's in the bad part of Hollywood (yes there is a bad part). Fox is in Century City. Sony is far away in Culver City. But that's okay, because the most traveled freeway in LA, the 101, goes through Studio City.

Hope this helps you. By the way, Los Angeles probably has the most expensive gas prices in the country. The average is $3.00 a gallon here right now, while the US average is $2.54.

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Title Post: What do I need to know about moving to West Hollywood?
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