West Hollywood

West Hollywood is an extremely large neighborhood, but it is densely populated, diverse and spread out. There is even a West Hollywood West. The area runs from Northern part of La Brea to Doheny Drive on the West. Sunset Blvd. runs on the top and the Western portion runs as far South as Beverly Drive.

There are many apartment complexes with lower rents as you go further East towards Hollywood. West Hollywood feels mostly comprised of apartment complexes, but then you can turn down the next Street like N. Orlando or Norma Triangle and happen upon charming and beautiful homes.

The Easter part of West Hollywood feels very urban. There is a lot of foot traffic, shopping and restaurants. The area feels safe, although, I'm not sure I'd want to be walking around late at night by myself.

The community is vibrant and seems to be made up of a mix of young creative types, young families and some original residents. The location can't be beat. You are halfway between the valley and the coast. A great place to live if a nightlife is one of your priorities.

This is a single’s play land. When you think of West Hollywood, the first thing that comes to mind is all the classic nightspots—like the Whiskey-a-Go-Go, the Troubadour, the Viper Room and the House of Blues. West Hollywood certainly does not disappoint when comes to night life—it is the number one destination for singles looking to mingle whether gay, straight, bi, or undecided.

In terms of living here, you will find that WeHo, as locals call it, is basically a middle class neighborhood. It is predominantly white (4 out of 5 residents), and very single—4 of five men, and 2 of 3 women. I think, however, that if Prop. 8 is overturned and marriage is expanded, you will see the proportion of “singles” in this neighborhood go down.

Of course, West Hollywood, like everywhere else, has its problems. One problem has to do with parking. Because so many people descend on West Hollywood every weekend, and because LA is car culture, you should not expect an easy time finding parking. Not only that, but WeHo is infamous for draconian parking enforcement. If you are five minutes late getting back to your car—expect to have a ticket.

As you would expect in place where the proportion of per capita bar stools is comparable to Texas’ proportion of per capita firearms, West Hollywood would seem to be one of the most dangerous and crime ridden neighborhoods in LA. According to crime statistics, it ranks in the top thirty in terms of violence and almost in the top ten in terms of property crime like automobile break-ins. In the last six months, for example, there have been 3 murders and 5 rapes. Given that the population is only about 25,000 that seems pretty high. Of course, though, you must factor in that every night West Hollywood swells with partiers and tourists of every stripe. So perhaps the crime rate is not quite as bad as it seems at first glance. In addition, the murders are a little misleading. There have only been 7 murders in West Hollywood since 2007. The 3 recent murders turn out to all have happened during a single botched drug deal where the dealers were shot by a robber.

Finally, there are lots of older homes around here, but because of rent control many of these are not fully kept up. Landlords simply don’t want to put in the money to keep up there properties when they can’t charge as much as they might get for them. Newer buildings are plentiful but highly expensive.

Despite these drawbacks, WeHo is the place go on weekends or if you have just graduated college and want to live the good life for a while.

West Hollywood is the one of the most bustling parts of the city. This neighborhood has everything. And, it's great for the young, single demographic. There is a pretty even mixture of apartment buildings and single-family homes in West Hollywood. There aren't a ton of giant houses but the houses are really cool. Most of them don't look like much from the outside (craftsman bungalows) but the ones that I have seen are pretty spectacular on the inside. But, the little guys are pretty expensive. There aren't really any houses that go for under 1 million dollars.. . even the ones that are only about 1,000 square feet. The apartment bulidings range in size from duplexes to giant buildings that look like dorm buildings. The closer you get to Sunset Blvd the more common the huge complexes are. I lived in a big building on Martel and Melrose and I loved it. There were a lot of young people, so it could be a little rowdy at times but the building was pretty, the apartment was huge and it was really reasonable.
One is never at a lack for things to do in this neighborhood. Some of the best restaurants in the city are in West Hollywood. Village Idiot (on Martel and Melrose) is one of my favorite places to go for great food, great crowd and great food. Beverly Blvd has some great places too (Cynthia's and Koi) and La Cienega is known as Restaurant Row because there are so many great restaurants.
Shopping in West Hollywood is out of control. The Grove and Beverly Center are two giant malls only a few blocks away from each other. And, between the two of them, there isn't really a stone left uncovered. But, there are amazing boutiques on 3rd and Beverly alone. And, obviously Melrose is world famous for its shopping. And, the great thing about Melrose is that its stores cover every price bracket. So, pretty much anyone can enjoy a shopping trip in this neck of the woods.
Nightlife is pretty great in Weho too. The Dime, Snake Pit, Belmont, St Nicks, etc. all great bars in the neighborhood. There are a couple of nightclubs (Hyde and XIV) and they have a huge celebrity bottle service kind of vibe. But, there is always some sort of great hang in this area within walking distance which is rare in a city that doesn't do a lot of walking. Oh, Roger Room is great too for a dark place with great cocktails.
Weho has a lot of trees for a place that is so citied out. You can actually walk down the streets and see nature of some sort -- which is great if you have a dog (and a lot of people do around here). The cars shoot down the streets, though, so you just have to be a little careful.
All in all, I probably wouldn't live here if I had kids or was old; but, it's pretty unbeatable for young people. You never run out of things to do and it's relatively safe.