Is Los Angeles Safe?

[warrior1]

I live in New York City around Spanish Harlem. We all know that Manhattan is the richest but there are no houses there. The rich people live in Manhattan but most of them live in apartments that cost at least 1 million dollars. Most live on the Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Downtown and Midtown. But there is also bad places especially in brooklyn like Flatbush and Bed-Stuy. The area around spanish harlem and Harlem doesnt look good either.

My question is how is Los Angeles? I always see celebrities in Hollywood on television and they make L.A. look like the best place in the world with all those movie stars and their rich homes. I heard this was West L.A? How is downtown L.A? But i also know Los Angeles is the murder capital in the world with so many of those gangs.

Do these bad guys ever walk around where the rich stars live or is there like a line that prevents people from even stepping foot in the rich neighborhood ? How far is the good LA and bad LA far apart ?

 

[warrior1]

Also, where is Dodger Stadium and Staples Center located? I heard both downtown L.A. But i also heard that South Central is not far away from it.

 

[bud_2005]

I don't think I would want to live there, just too many Mexi's.

 

[Nygard]

Well, for me it's very very safe, but you have to take into account I live in the middle of a warzone, so it's very relative.

Just stay away from a place called Skid Row and anything between downtown LA and Long Beach. There's absolutely nothing there anyways, most of the people in that place are not even worth meeting.

 

[HandyAndy]

Okay im from cali so ill let you in on a little.

Downtown Los Angeles, near LAX airport is not as bad as you think. When you start going into East LA, Compton, Inglewood, Watts, Crenshaw, those are mainly populated by african americans and have an extremely high crime rate. Places like Irvine (one of the safest cities in the U.S.) and Mission Viejo (another safest city in the U.S.) are nice places to live. I live in North Hollywood, it has its good and bad parts, but not alot of crime.

Your not going to go into Los Angeles and get shot. The Staples Center is not really in the ghetto ive been there plenty of times. And no, a superstar is not going to go and live where all the gangsters live. The famous stars live in the most expensive places in Cali such as Beverly Hills where income is 1 million and more. Its very nice in Los Angeles actually, its close to the beach and much cooler than the Valleys.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Los_Angeles

 

[GitFiddler]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_cities_by_crime_rate

Heres a link for crime statistics of cities. L.A. (as a whole) is not too bad. Ranked #31 for murders. The charts from 2006 . Oakland is WAY worse. Baltimore, Detroit, Saint Louis, Atlanta, are way worse too. LA cost more to live in the nicer areas than most of these other cities though.

 

[insidious]

LA is no safer or more dangerous than NY. You've got areas that are downright exclusive, gated and untouchable. You've got other areas that are poverty-stricken as hell, rundown, and in some cases, crime-ridden. In LA you also have a lot of areas that are really poor but not really affected by high crime...just poor and blue collar, ugly, but not dangerous. You have super trendy areas with Bentleys and Ferraris.

Staples Center is located pretty much in the heart of LA. It used to be a really ****ty area with really cagey characters. They have undertaken a major renovation there in the past few years...now you have the Nokia Center across the street, there is another major club going up soon, the area is unrecognizable from what it looked like, say 10 years ago.

Dodger Stadium is in Echo Park, not the greatest area, not bad bad either...thousands of people drive through there before and after Dodger games and you don't really hear about problems...no fans being shot and the like :crazy:

I will not lie, there are tons of gangs here....but LA is NOT the murder capital LOL. That's usually Detroit or New Orleans.

 

[Maxtro]

All cities have bad areas and good areas. It just takes a bit of common sense to avoid the bad areas.

I'm going to be moving to Long Beach which is #42 on that list. But after spending a weekend there I know which areas to avoid. I found myself a nice apartment in a very nice complex in a good area of the city.

It's a shame though that the bad areas become bad because of all the non-white people who live there. I'm not at all racist but it's just what I observe.

 

[War Against Betaism]

All cities have bad areas and good areas. It just takes a bit of common sense to avoid the bad areas.

I'm going to be moving to Long Beach which is #42 on that list. But after spending a weekend there I know which areas to avoid. I found myself a nice apartment in a very nice complex in a good area of the city.

It's a shame though that the bad areas become bad because of all the non-white people who live there. I'm not at all racist but it's just what I observe.

I'm not sure which part of the city you moved in, just make sure you didn't move into the east side! Long Beach is so divided between north side, east side, and west side they're basically different cities. East side is dominated by gangbanging Cambodians that every time I go there, I see at least one car getting jacked. Plus the roads are narrow as hell. Northside is pretty nice, though you might also want to look into Lakewood since they're right next to each other.

L.A. isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. Glendale is near L.A. and it's also a nice area, a new outdoor mall just opened there and it's really nice if you're looking for an alternative. If you wanna stay in the L.A. county line, Cerritos, Torrance, Belle Flower are some other good choices.

 

[Maxtro]

I'm not sure which part of the city you moved in, just make sure you didn't move into the east side! Long Beach is so divided between north side, east side, and west side they're basically different cities. East side is dominated by gangbanging Cambodians that every time I go there, I see at least one car getting jacked. Plus the roads are narrow as hell. Northside is pretty nice, though you might also want to look into Lakewood since they're right next to each other.

I'm going to be renting a room in an apartment. Located right about here. I'll be starting at CSU Long Beach in August, it's so close that I could walk there. The area looked decent. But I won't really know till I move there in a few weeks.

 

[HandyAndy]

I'm going to be renting a room in an apartment. Located right about here. I'll be starting at CSU Long Beach in August, it's so close that I could walk there. The area looked decent. But I won't really know till I move there in a few weeks.

The grass is green, the streets are clean, you'll do fine xD

 

[ready123]

I'm from LA but I'm in Washington Heights for the weekend. Walking around here makes me feel like I'm in East LA, except everyone's puerto rican or west indies instead of Mexican

Biggest differences I've seen so far. In NY, streets are still crowded at 2 am. In LA, streets get empty, probably because there's no subway. LA is the home of the drive by, something you'll never see in NY because of how packed the city is and the abundance of cops.

I was talking to a dude when I was at JFK, the guy was from Brooklyn but just moved out to LA near Hollywood. He was telling me how people were the same. If you're self aware and don't act like an idiot, people won't mess with you. If you got swagger you can't back up, people will call you on it. This is only in the hood, obviously. Walking around most of Orange County, the Valley and the other suburbs are like walking around upper westside manhattan. nobody will do anything to you

the rich celebrities live in the upscale part of hollywood or beverly hills. most of those mansions are so expensive not even a doctor can afford them. don't listen to those celebrities

If you're used to the rough areas in NY, you'll be fine in LA. Gangs are a little crazy so there are some streets and hoods you want to avoid, just like there are some streets in NY you avoid

The biggest thing I'd worry about moving from NY to LA isn't the violence. It's the fact you need a car to get around. Metrolink sucks

 

[War Against Betaism]

I'm going to be renting a room in an apartment. Located right about here. I'll be starting at CSU Long Beach in August, it's so close that I could walk there. The area looked decent. But I won't really know till I move there in a few weeks.

Near CSULB? That's a good area, me and my friends were planning on moving into one of the apartments there, but it was kind of expensive.

 

[Bible_Belt]

2 shot in bicycle drive-by outside South Los Angeles house

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bicycle16-2008jul16,0,6609897.story

This is only anecdotal; I just happened to see it in the news today.

 

[igotaplan]

I'm there often due to family members. The safety issues are as common as in any city. LA, like every city, has its good areas and bad areas. Unlike in NYC you'll be very dependent on a car. It's also a good idea to have bulletproof windows...lol. Public transportation is bad. Mostly because the sunbelt area of the US became dependent on cars and oil was cheap. Infrastructure is sprawly and suburban-like.

As for celebrities...I have seen quite a few and since most of them don't impress me at all, I don't stop my car and gawk at them. It's much more fun to watch movies being filmed.

 

[HandyAndy]

2 shot in bicycle drive-by outside South Los Angeles house

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bicycle16-2008jul16,0,6609897.story

This is only anecdotal; I just happened to see it in the news today.

South LA, thats gang infested.

If you start going toward the beaches and some parts of the valley your fine..

 

[cordoncordon]

OK here is a good review from someone who moved to CA from MI a year ago.

First, I moved to Santa Monica right by the ocean. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Clean, safe, scenery is top notch, and the women? Oh my you will never see better looking normal women just walking around. I JUST moved down the coast a bit to Marina Del Rey which is closer to the airport but has a marina, and it is great so far, but I will be doing more driving then walking, which sucks.

I avoid Hollywood. To me its a dump. See it once and move on. Downtown LA (where the sky scrapers and staples center are) isnt that bad. They have some cool places to eat and see and some great bars. Other really clean safe and gorgeous places to see are Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, Manhatthan beach, New port Beach, Beverely Hills, etc. Avoid anything south of downtown and away from the water and you'll be fine.

 

[mostwantedbabyfather]

Whats wrong with mexicans? We are laid back.

 

[TheBucketOfTruth]

This thread needs more xenophobia.

 

[r0cky]

LA is not that bad anymore, South LA still has gang issues but that shouldn't be a prob if you wear the right colors!