Best place to live in Calif. (for poker)

[sternroolz]

Im a white guy who grew up and went to school in Montebello, Monterey Park, Rosemead, and East LA and I am telling you that those areas are not that bad.

Sure they are not gentrified OC or Santa Clarita Valley(ie boring as hell), but they contain a lot of very quiet neighborhoods(except much of East LA).

The problem arises in that rents and property values in the areas I listed are no longer all that cheap. With home prices in East LA pushing $300-400K and in Montebello pushing $400-700K, it makes sense to live in a nicer area for roughly the same price rent. But still some bargains can be found in the "less desirable" neighborhoods.

[Rick Nebiolo]

Most of Cypress is very nice with reasonable rent and close to HG and about a half hour from all the other clubs.

~ Rick

[J.A.Sucker]

Northern California is generally even more expensive than LA, but Pacifica, on the coast near San Francisco, is a great little town, and it's not as expensive as some the other spots. 20 minutes to various spots.

[vegasforest]

How about Compton. It is home to Crystal Park Casino and near several others. The rents are pretty cheap too.

Of course, Compton is the gang capital of the world, so there is that to consider. But I say again, "the rents are pretty cheap."

[sternroolz]

Sigh,

Speaking with no knowledge.

South Central is worse than East Rancho Dominguez is worse than Compton is worse than Inglewood is worse than East LA is worse than Pico Rivera is worse than Montebello.

Of course if you grow up in gentrified white flight neighborhoods, you might lump all of the above communities together. But really the difference is this:

South central - a white guy walking around at 10 pm on any night at say Vermont and MLK for 30 minutes will get robbed and mugged. It is not a possibility, it is a certainty.

Compton - you really shouldn't walk around here at night, but most likely nothing much will happen if you do. If you live in the area, and people know you, nothing is gonna happen most of the time. Still, you need to be constantly aware of your surroundings.

Inglewood - genuinely nice neighborhoods in parts of this town. A responsive police force and much community awareness on the parts of citizens. Lots of middle class people living here. Still, there is a larger negative element than in most cities and many of the crimes are very serious or deadly in nature.

East LA - 50 years ago this was starting to become a bad area. It is now improving. Lots of working class people, but also lots of gangs. Still, the gang problem is very diminished from where it was 10 years ago. Far more nusiance type crimes like graffiti, intoxication, and theft than violent crime.

Montebello - The area north of Beverly from about Atlantic to the Pico Rivera border is just fine and no different from a middle class part of Temple City or La Habra. The area between Olympic and Beverly is mostly older small box houses built in the 50's. Still a clean, quiet area that is improving in looks due to rising home prices.

The area south of Olympic is more industrial with quite a few apartments mixed in with the 50's box houses. There is more crime here than the rest of the city. Nonetheless, if you live in this area and people know you, no one is gonna mess with you.

[Ethan G]

When you're in compton, please send a shout out to my homies Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and MC Ren!

Ethan

[The Dude]

If poker is one of your main reasons for moving down here, you'll be sorry if you live too far from Commerce. Oceanside is nice, and I like Ocean's Eleven, but it's no Commerce.

You might try East LA county. Somwhere around, say, Glendora or San Dimas. It's a 25 minute drive to Commerce, and housing isn't actually that bad. (When I looked at Condos in that area, there were 2 story, 1500 sq ft condos w/ 2 story garages for $1500/mo. There were also 2500 sq ft houses in good neighborhoods for $2100/mo.

It's far enough out of LA to feel a bit suburb-ish, yet still pretty close to everything.

[turnipmonster]

if you live in this area and people know you, no one is gonna mess with you.

very true of almost any "bad neighborhood". people aren't going to mess with you if you see them at the ghetto mart everyday.

--turnipmonster

[snakehead]

pacifica is a great place. what do you mean by "not as expensive"? examples of home prices, please.

[Analyst]

[ QUOTE ]
pacifica is a great place. what do you mean by "not as expensive"? examples of home prices, please.

[/ QUOTE ]

The keyword is "as" - a quick search of a couple of realtor's websites reveals little availability and nothing under $500k, even for 2 bedroom houses. Still, these seem to be less expensive than most BA locales, where housing prices still defy gravity and decades old, 1500 square feet 3/2s in decent-but-nothing-special neighborhoods go for $600k+.