mfalber

Tall Apartment Complexes line Shatto Pl. It's not as pretty as the other side of Vermont Ave but it does offer lots of parking garages for it's residents which makes things nice. The area feels more like it's on the brink of Dowtown / MacArthur Park area rather than in Koreatown. There is also a bowling alley and a recreation center very close by and a really good Korean fusion place on the corner of 4th and Vermont just one block away.

I lived on Whitmer when I first moved to L.A. -- it's not in any neighborhood. It's on the verge of being downtown but you're not close enough to enjoy the restaurants or amenities without hopping in the car. The big advantage is that you can be on the 10, 101, or 5 within minutes of getting behind the wheel. Also the traffic is usually going in the opposite direction you are for some reason... at least it was for me. I would think most people come towards the city / downtown at the same times you'd be leaving it. Anyway, it's not pretty, in fact once I looked out my window and saw a gang of bikers beating someone up but it's convenient.

... and I don't think that it will make it. When I think of MacArthur Park, I think of dirt and concrete. I'm sure at some point in time Macarthur Lake was beautiful with it's fountains in the middle. Now, the entire park is very poorly maintained. There's always plenty of kids running around playing, it's just that instead of running on grass they run on eroded dirt. The area is also pretty impoverished -- it always scared me to be walking around here at night if I ever needed to get on the MacArthur Park Metro Stop.

The only thing Almeda is good for is going South from the Downtown area. It's void of culture and personality and actually scares me a bit at night because there are so few people around. Instead it's full of warehouses -- creepy. It's hard to believe that this would be possible in the middle of Los Angeles but there's nothing on the street that attracts people. So as with much of downtown, it can be desolate. Hopefully as the rest of the area changes, so will Almeda.

There are lots of changes occurring on Clinton St which means it might someday become more exciting. Right now it's best food offering is an IHOP. There's a big apartment building going up near here though and lots of mystery construction. It's not really a great street to drive on as there's lots of stopping and going and currently it's aesthetically bland. I maintain though that I'd keep an eye on this street particularly for good rental rates as things are starting to change.

I used to go to Westmoreland whenever I was having trouble finding a place to park my car. Their street sweeping days don't match the other streets in the area. Although, more people seemed to catch on to this -- including the parking officials who sleep in their cars on this street just to catch someone who'd been parked there over the two hour limit. The houses are in disrepair but they differ from the surrounding streets because they are houses and not apartments.

Not lots of shopping or restaurants or bars on N. Virgil. Although it's a good street to drive on if you want to reach those places. There are a few schools along the road but I really don't think it's a street I would choose to live on. There are two lanes of traffic and it lacks a neighborhood sort of feeling. Having said that, the road is very smooth and pretty nice to drive on. Remember, Silverlake as a neighborhood is full of fun things to do, so even if this street isn't the greatest, it can give you access to everything else.

I really love this street. It's got a very residential feel to it through and through with beautiful Spanish style houses and palm trees. Most of the time you need a West Hollywood residential pass to park on the street but it could be worse. Close to Melrose, Sunset and Santa Monica blvd so plenty of restaurant and shopping options nearby. Also very close to Runyan Canyon for hiking or picnicking.

You'll typically see homeless at night and fruit sellers during the day, but New Hampshire Av still has a nice neighborhoody sort of feeling to it. Though there are no restaurants to speak of on the street, you'll find some decent offerings on 6th Street or Wilshire nearby. The area is also close to the Vermont/Wilshire Red Line stop. The tenants in the Koreatown portion of New Hampshire Av include lower-middle class families, college students, and probably some migrant workers. It is very, very difficult to get a parking spot around here.