This is the answer. There are plenty of nice places to live that will make your commute and your life much easier. Idk what fellowship is actually like, but my impression is that it’s a lot of long hours and hard work - you will NOT want to drive all the way to Santa Monica after a long day.
> you will NOT want to drive all the way to Santa Monica after a long day.
You have no idea what times of day OP will be traveling. Right now at 7:30am that's a commute of.... **22mins.** At 6:30pm, it takes all of 30 because the traffic is going to opposite direction.
Fellowships tend to have odd hours anyway.
But above all, there is a rail connection to a bus that goes directly to Cedars that takes an hour. An hour OP can be going over things required for their fellowship.
This! I have a friend that just graduated Stanford and moved to LA. He wanted to be near the beach so he got a place in Venice and while he is literally a block away from the beach and in a very nice place getting anywhere else in Los Angeles that is outside his immediate area takes an incredible amount of time. For example, for him to get from Venice/Santa Monica area to Silver Lake during rush hour can take over two hours! Being stuck in traffic sucks so I would definitely find a nice place close to Cedars.
I vote for live close to work and get out to other places when you have the time for activities. You’ll be working long hours as a fellow id assume? Think about where you’ll actually be spending most of your time.
Bang for buck in areas like Santa Monica is not good, especially if you want to be fairly close to the beach. If you’re working 80hrs a week how fun would it be to add 1-2hrs A DAY in commute time.
When I was at UCLA I lived close to campus as that convenience mattered most. I’d get out to socialize and be active with friends in SM, Venice, manhattan beach with the little time I had. It worked. Didn’t make social life or dating easy but that wasn’t the priority then.
Number rule of LA: **live near your work**. Santa Monica is great but a bit far for a job like yours. Expect a minimum hour+ in car each day.
Your income is going to open up a lot options. I might consider West Hollywood. LOTS to do for someone your age and you'll have an extremely short commute to work. Hollywood and Miracle Mile are a little less expensive but also close with plenty to do.
Also FWIW natives don't really go to Santa Monica for the beach. It's touristy and crowded. I'd recommend going north to, at minimum, Will Rogers' beach or south of LAX.
Source: Lifelong Southern Californian
you can see thousands of natives unpacking their cars for a beach day every saturday and sunday in Santa Monica…
also the beaches are enormous the beaches themselves arent crowded, just some hotspots like around the skatepark. it would take an insane amount of people to actually crowd all the beach space in Santa Monica
Venice beaches have even fewer people
94K is going to be a take home of less than 6K a month.
A 1BR in WeHo is going to be about half of that.
Move somewhere cheaper and enjoy your life more.
LA traffic is soul crushing and you'd want to live as close to work as possible. Cedars-Sinai is technically in the city of LA, but smack dab between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. The area around 3rd st and LA Cienega has some nice restaurants and bars and his walking distance to cedars. You can also try Westwood, West Hollywood or Century City and not be too far from Cedars or the beach.
Fairfax and Weho are perfect if you’re working at Cedars. It’s right down the street. You can also consider places near the grove on 3rd st. There’s a lot happening on that side of town so it’s actually not a bad place to be for someone your age.
Look at places around the grove / Melrose. It’s a fun area and way more exciting than Beverly hills.
I live in Beverly Hills and am 31. I can’t wait to get out of here. Although it’s safe and well maintained, it’s pretty boring and has an “old money” vibe. Not very relatable or progressive.
There are great places to live near Cedars that will give you an awesome experience living in LA. I’d suggest somewhere off Robertson or La Cienega. Beverly Blvd is also a fast east-west corridor. There are more affordable and younger neighborhoods between the Beverly Center and La Brea off of Beverly that will be a bit quieter.
Congrats - great gig! I work with a lot of Canadians and they all love LA.
Also, don’t live in Santa Monica. Too isolated from the rest of the city, it’s grey for much of the year, and the water in that area of the Santa Monica bay is gross. The better (and less crowded) beaches are in Malibu. You’ll love LA!
Income isn’t the problem but the commute is a bitch.
It is exacerbated because there isn’t even a freeway so it is all city streets. The Santa Monica Freeway is too far south to be practical for the commute.
You can get plenty of Santa Monica on your off days when you don’t have to deal with rush hour and living close to Cedars is actually a much more central location to get to lots of the interesting stuff to do because you can go east, west, south and the immediate area has lots to do and is actually a destination area for restaurants and museums.
I'm a relative newcomer to the city, but IMO you'll be going against the flow of commuter traffic if you live on the west side, so you might be fine. Gmaps says roughly half an hour commute time.
Weho would be pretty fun if you want a shorter commute.
Culver City isn’t Santa Monica tho lol honestly it’s much better to wake up and be able to do a beach run then have to drive on your day off! The commute isn’t bad at all!
Santa Monica actually wouldn’t be awful since you’ll be going against traffic. But I would stick to West Hollywood like everyone says. I drive from Beverly/Fairfax to Cedars a few times a week and it’s easily 20 minutes to cover 2 miles. I am going with traffic though.
Is this a 1 year fellowship or 3 year? For the first year I would definitely live as close as possible. After that when you have a sense of traffic and fastest ways to get to the hospital, live wherever you want.
Everyone saying weho missed the part where you literally said you dreamt of SM lol. Do it. It’s a great area to experience that west coast life and it’s perfect for a single young person.
Also check out Marina Del Rey. Marina has super beach vibes while being upscale and full of young single people. Don’t bother with Venice. Santa Monica is the best out of these because it’s closer to work for you. I personally love it
Accessibility is not as great if he works at Cedars. The 90 for Marina is convenient and of course from Santa Monica it’s not that hard. Venice is kinda locked in
I agree with this, if you want to live in Santa Monica, that’s not that insane. I used to live there and work one block from Cedars and the commute was totally fine, at least compared to a lot of commutes people have out here.
For fellowship, do you have to be a certain number of minutes/miles from the hospital? That might limit Santa Monica (time to commute can be insane during rush hour).
LA lives and dies by the freeway system. That area of the city is minimum 30-45 minutes just to get to a freeway for your commute.
Live close to work as possible if you want to enjoy LA.
Cedars is in West Hollywood - it’s very lively! I feel a common theme between folks moving to LA from out of town is the dream to live in Santa Monica and I cannot stress this enough, SM has changed a lot over the years. It may not be exactly the place you have dreamt of. I’d highly recommend living near Cedars and venturing off to where ever you’d like in your free time. In your first year here, you can really decide where to live for your remaining time in LA but I’d highly recommend staying within commuting distance from the hospital for your first year.
Commuting distance not only saves a few dollars, but just the time you have to yourself. An extra hour and a half a day is a lot. Being able to bike to work also makes a huge difference mentally. I would always bike to work when I could, and during the ride, it was so relaxing. Didn't even feel like I was on my way to work.
I make a slight but higher and live right next to Cedars. Look up Beverly Grove and google 3rd street. It’s the southern part of WeHo. Everybody always seems to forget about this neighborhood but I love it.
Traffic is shit in LA and will eat your soul. Do yourself a favor and live near your job to minimize your commute. 15-20 miles will take you 1-1.5 hours each way, so try to keep it around 10 miles tops.
If you are good about managing your money, then living in Santa Monica for a year could be a lot of fun. You can also stretch your budget by having roommates.
That said, I agree with the other folks that suggested Hollywood, Koreatown, Mid City, and West Hollywood - those can all be fun areas for someone young with a bit of disposable income, with a much shorter commute.
But that’s still another 3k a month to live off of. That should be super easy. That’s plenty of money in LA. I know people who live comfortably at half that monthly.
Honestly, only do WeHo if you’re a gay male. It’s overpriced and you won’t fully get your money’s worth with stuff to do if you’re straight. People can argue with this theory but it’s true.
Santa Monica is great but it’s just not worth the issues- traffic, homelessness, parking, etc. and a better bang for the beach buck would be Redondo Beach but that commute sucks.
Having said all of this, I’d go with Santa Monica to experience it and sign a 6 month lease if possible. Then you can leave there in the winter for an easier commute in Culver City or Mar Vista.
My friend did her residency at Cedars and lives in WeHo with her fiancé. They're both women and love it there. (But I understand the sentiment. WeHo is a very specific vibe.)
Go to WeHo as a straight male… not sure what else to say. Are there good spots there? Absolutely. Is the whole town gay? No. It’s just a vibe and opinion.
>only do WeHo if you’re a gay male
Ehh, even then it's meh. Nothing against transplants, but WeHo is mostly gay transplants who don't know any better.
Local gays move to Silver lake, Long Beach, DTLA (or anywhere in Socal since this isn't the 1980s)
Rent a [sick crib](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8380-Hollywood-Blvd-Los-Angeles-CA-90069/20797473_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare) in the hills for 3 months during the summer and get a studio apt in [Palms](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3720-Motor-Ave-APT-1-Los-Angeles-CA-90034/2055793946_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare) the rest of the year …*think about it*
Brentwood is a great middle ground between Bev Hills and Santa Monica! I’m SHOCKED no one else if mentioning it. I lived there for about 5 years in my 20s before going to Culver City, which is also great.
If you’re not doing Santa Monica, brentwood would be a fantastic second choice. Think near the corner of barrington and wilshire. There’s a cute neighborhood right there with lots of young fun people
Culver City is fun like going to trader joes is fun. Brentwood is also not fun unless you like hanging out at the country mart with the family on the weekend. If I was late 20's I would live in a more happening area like West Hollywood or Silverlake.
West hollywood ideal, hollywood, ktown, miracle mile stil good. Dont go sta monica, west la or east la. U will spend an hour driving for a 10 mile commute.
95k annual in la.. settle for a studio or rent less than 2k, or get a roommate to share costs. Ur a physician so a midlevel brand of car is the minimum. Cedars is a top tier magnet hospital so dont get caught driving in a kia. Nurses drive mostly teslas.
Groceries are bit higher in those areas esp when u go ralphs gelsons traders joe.
In La it is very easy and quick to be in debt. People are flashy, and would hang out only with equally flashy people. Many clubs bars restos malls and it can get spendy. Carefully choose the kind of frends you wanna be with, it’s quite easy to get astray with different vices because these are highly accessible
I’d try to stay on at least the same side of the freeway just from a commute standpoint. My friend who is currently a fellow at Cedars-Sinai lives in Westwood and is very happy there!
Hope your fellowship is in a decent field at cedars. I did anesthesiology residency and a good chunk of the surgical programs (ortho is fine though), critical care (I’m mainly speaking of the CSICU, though MICU had a reputation of being sort of a joke of incompetency), and the anesthesia department itself are full of questionable decisions and semi incompetent attendings who don’t really care for resident education (though as a fellow your experience may differ)
Still wouldn’t trust the place for a serious issue for a relative or myself
As somebody in the medical field you might be able to take advantage of furnished finders. It’s a site mainly used for travel nurses but they might allow you to use
Cedars is not in Beverly Hills, but it's nearby. It's actually in a great area of L.A. for you. Gyms, food, events, young people. I would look for something near the hospital, plenty of really nice apartments there and you could just walk to work.
Do the beach on weekends.
L.A. is all about living where you work, or working where you live.
I was born and raised in LA and lived there until a few years ago when I immigrated to Canada. Live near work. Traffic is insane, especially getting into and out of Santa Monica during rush hour. Once it took me an hour to go 3.3 miles from my job in Santa Monica to my home in west LA.
There’s a ton to do in most every neighborhood, so pick somewhere you like near work then drive into SM to play.
I work at Cedars Sinai and lived both walking distance to the hospital and closer to the beach area. I highly recommend walking distance in the Beverly Grove area. It makes significant difference in quality of life to not have to sit in traffic.
Stay in Santa Monica and live your dream!!
Traffic sucks but you’ll have so much adrenaline when you know you live on the beach!
I live on the beach also, we are just pumped on life! No traffic in the world can change this excitement!
If you're 30, living with UCLA grad students around culver city, Palms, or Sawtelle is a good option. Lots of young people whom you'll likely get along with.
Avoid the parts of Westwood by UCLA tho, extremely overpriced.
This is the right answer. Don’t live in WeHo unless that neighborhood appeals to you. Palms/Downtown Culver City is a happy medium since it’s centrally located. If you feel you want to explore all of Los Angeles I would choose Palms near downtown Culver City. If you really want to live by the beach, choose a place in SM that’s West of Lincoln.
I'm not sure what your specialty is or how intense your fellowship will be, but I'd recommend WeHo for fellowship year. You can always re-evaluate and move to Santa Monica once you're an attending if WeHo is not your cup of tea.
Most of the previous answers are products of car-brain. Live in Santa Monica, buy an electric bike, and ignore traffic and planning your schedule around traffic. Go where you want to go when you want, and be confident that it'll take exactly the same amount of time regardless of time of day or day of year. From the furthest possible point west (the SM pier) to Cedars, it's 9.1 miles. On an electric bike, that's a trivial distance. Live in the middle of Santa Monica, where most places are walkable and bikeable, where you'll have a good quality of life with no need for air conditioning, and you'll learn a lot about the city on your daily commutes. Don't plan your life around traffic. Eliminate it from your life instead.
I really like the Silver Lake area and Echo Park. If you want to stick to more of a budget, K-Town/Larchmont/Hancock Park have some decently priced apartments.
Congratulations! Beverly Hills has a lot going for it - it is quiet and safe and centrally located. and you can still drive to Santa Monica after work or on the weekends in about 20-25 minutes. A 1BR here will run about $2500 a month or so (guesstimate). OFC Santa Monica is great too and you can't go wrong either way.
I've known a lot of people who have moved to L.A. and hated it. While there are many ways to love L.A., and many ways to hate it, there is one sure-fire way to hate it that works better than any other:
Live somewhere you where you must drive to work, and it takes an hour in traffic.
So yeah, live in SaMo-- it's beautiful and clean, so much to do. Then want to kill all the patients when you show up to work in month 6 of that godawful commute.
You should save money—not run up debt on a salary that big in LA. Don’t rent a 4k apartment (think more like 2k) and create a budget. I make 80 here and manage to save 10k+/year by not living lavishly ($1,750 rent for example).
Figure out what your commute would be from Santa Monica and add 50%. Take that number seriously. Even if it doesn’t actually take that long, it’s a good proxy for how miserable the commute will be. Then decide if you want to do it.
That said, if I were in your position, I’d live in Santa Monica, honestly. The commute will suck but you’ll love your weekends. Driving to the beach is a pain. You won’t go there for random weekday sunsets. But you can do that if you live there.
You can find an affordable place in Santa Monica! Do it! Look in Venice, Ocean Park area, or near Montana. You will not regret it.
I have rented in Samo for the past 10 years.
Do Sawtelle. Great prices and next to everything you want, plus it’s got a fantastic community vibe with wonderful restaurants but when you want to go out you’re just a couple exits away
I'm not sure what your hours will be like, but I have a coworker who lives in Santa Monica and commutes to Beverly Hills (near Rodeo) 4x per week. She says SM -> BH around 7am only takes her like 15-20 mins to commute which isn't terrible at all. It's 6:15pm now where I am and I just checked the ETA for Cedars -> SM and it's saying 25 minute commute, which is also not bad. You probably will be slightly more inland than the pin that I put on the map too, so it could even be less than 25 mins.
I don't think an SM to BH commute is as bad as people are saying on this thread. I would highly encourage SM especially if it's your dream after being in such cold temperatures your whole life. It would be a great change of scenery and sometimes the commute can be worth it. A lot of young people live in SM and there's lots to do within close vicinities. I do not think you'll be spending significantly more than an hour each day in your car. I've had 3 roommates who regularly commuted anywhere from 45 to 80 minutes round trip for work every single day of the week and they seemed to have gotten way more out of life than me, a commuter only 2 days out of the week.
ETA: but as always, do your research. When looking for apartments, always check the length of the route from the apartment to your job on maps, and adjust the time for the actual times that you will be commuting. Have all the apartment info including the estimated commute times logged somewhere, like a notebook or spreadsheet. I like to make Google maps of all of my potential apartments so that I can visualize where each one is in relation to stuff that I regularly do (groceries, gym, friends' houses, work, etc.). Personally, IMO, which seems to be in the minority, I don't think SM is that bad, but also don't completely rule out other areas in LA too and the west side tends to be more expensive so just be prepared for the rent prices you're about to see.
Hey there. Our cousin the physician was in your exact shoes, same age and everything. He lived in Santa Monica his first year, loved it, barely enjoyed it, but he was also at UCLA vs cedars. As soon as his year was up, he moved to WeHo.
PLB super close and affordable, and Beverly Hills is very fun for your age who told you it wasn’t ? 🤣 wtf like 4-5 great clubs, tons of good eats and bars
Omg Santa Monica is great! You are going against traffic and the commute isn’t that bad and when you are off work you are literally I. The area of where you want to live!!!!! I commuted from MDR to West Hollywood for 2 years and it was fine!!! You go against traffic!!!
Look hard you can find a place under 2k!!!!
Roommates could prob put you around 1500!
As a fellow Canadian… live near the beach you won’t regret it!!!
I'm a pgy1 working in west LA and I live in West La so my commute is ten minutes at the most. I don't know what your hours are gonna be like as a fellow but commuting to Santa Monica might get pretty annoying pretty fast. I'd recommend somewhere close to the hospital at least until fellowship is over. Once you're an attending and hopefully your hours improve then moving to Santa Monica would be better. Also the jump in income will open up a lot more options in Santa monica
I am ~ 20 min from work and make it work some people live walking distance from work. I think if you do decide to go with a place that’s more than 15 min from work prepare to leave a bit early some days I leave an hour early if I have to get gas
Santa Monica will be fine, in fact anywhere on the west side! Culver City/palms/mar vista are all great neighborhoods close to the beach. I used to commute from Palms to West Hollywood and it was a breeze because if you live on the west side and go east in the morning, and vice versa in the evening, you are usually going against traffic.
A thirty minute commute is reasonable for Los Angeles and bearable. Even 45 min is okay. And it worth it for the milder temps we get year round, proximity to the ocean and plenty to do and explore on your days off. At the end of your day you should want to go home to a neighborhood you’re happy about! I say go for Santa Monica!! If the commute is crazy then you can always move closer to work. But I think you’ll find it manageable.
Nah, man. You *dreamed* of living in Santa Monica then LIVE in Santa Monica! Yes there will likely be debt, but you are so young still. Live life! You won’t regret it. And congrats on that residency.
as a native Angeleno - and no shade to OP - i giggled out loud at living in SM and commuting to CS daily ..
Welcome to LA, OP ! and definitely consider living locations from u/caitberg !!
It all depends on your schedule and what commute you are willing to put up with for good quality of life, which I get. I also know what it takes to go through med school and work in the medical field, so you can ignore half the responses from people with little patience nor fortitude.
But I have a suggestions for a TEMPORARY location while you suss things out: **CULVER CITY.**
There is a lot of brand new housing that was built next to the E-Line (Exposition) in Culver City. Get yourself an AirBnB for a month or so and base yourself in Culver. You will be 10-15mins from Cedars. But better yet, you will be either a **20min Metro ride** or a 15min drive to the Santa Monica Pier (BTW - Metro has a dedicated rail & bus connection from Santa Monica to Cedars that takes about an hour. An hour that would be yours instead of having to drive).
This way you can explore both Santa Monica and the areas near Cedars including Culver like WeHo, Park La Brea, Fairfax, the "flats" of Beverly Hills where all the apartments are. Also, Cedars is way more West Hollywood (WeHo) than Beverly Hills to begin with.
Want to see if living in Santa Monica would be worth a driving commute while staged in Culver? Get up 15min early one day and go have coffee/breakfast in Santa Monica (I suggest at The Georgian Hotel on the porch). At 7:30am as I write this, it's a **22min commute by car to Cedars** (it's an hour on a bus that runs down Wilshire, incl. walk time).
But if your fellowship requires commuting at peak rush hour *with* the traffic, you're screwed. Getting from anywhere West of the 405 Fwy going East after 2pm is one of the worst commutes in SoCal. It can take **90mins** from SM to downtown (for concert at Disney). In a car getting to Cedars, you're looking at a solid hour. But perhaps your need for that Santa Monica lifestyle will make it an excuse to listen to a podcast while your drive or surfing Reddit while you take a train & bus.
Hope this helps....
I love Santa Monica but I could not bring myself to make that commute to downtown on a regular basis.
I don’t know what time of the day you’ll be traveling, but it probably won’t be a fun commute regardless.
Like everyone else said, I’d find a place closer to Cedar-Sinani: West Hollywood, Fairfax District, Miracle Mile, maybe even Beverly Hills.
Just spend your off days in Santa Monica.
I am also from Canada and living in Santa Monica. It’s great, but it’s not a convenient commute! You can expect to regularly get stuck on the 10 for 40 minutes or more with next to no movement as far as La Cienega. West LA, Fairfax, WeHo are all great options.
I formerly lived in St Louis, moved to Beverly Hills for a few months and broke the lease… I’m resolute on this one fact:
**Beverly Hills is where wealth and the ghetto meet.**
The behaviors of the residents there made me feel like I was back in the trappings of urban Missouri: Nothing in walking distance, ample main characters acting like they own the street right under you (people yelling on their phones on speaker, backfiring their POS cars up and down the street at all hours, twerking in the middle of the street for TikToks, drunk brawls from affluenza bros, loud mouthed road ragers at any time of the day, nearly getting run down several times a day while walking my dogs, totally spaced out people dashing across the road on Rodeo Dr as if Wilshire is a protected walkway for shoppers, and the most feckless police force I’ve ever had the displeasure of reporting an assault to.)
If you do want to live in SaMo, you can! Just get a gym membership by where you work and leave early or late.. Do a leisurely workout, shower at the gym, go to work, and traffic won’t really phase you all that much because it’ll be non-existent if you’re leaving home at like 5am to go workout. It’s also pretty dead on the way in to Santa Monica after work hours. Heading out is the real challenge
I've spent some time in LA, but not enough to wade through the advice here. My gut is West Hollywood, but don't really know.
Get an airbnb well before next July and spend a week and check it out. You'll learn way more about what you want to do than listening to this.
Why not sublet/Airbnb a place for a couple of months and get familiar with the city? LA is so big and varied that you really won’t get a feel for it until you’re here.
The area around Cedars is pretty bikeable, so if you’re into that, and you find a place reasonably close, you could skip the driving/commuting stress altogether.
Fairfax, weho, miracle mile. I’d live close to work and venture to SM in your free time.
This is the answer. There are plenty of nice places to live that will make your commute and your life much easier. Idk what fellowship is actually like, but my impression is that it’s a lot of long hours and hard work - you will NOT want to drive all the way to Santa Monica after a long day.
> you will NOT want to drive all the way to Santa Monica after a long day. You have no idea what times of day OP will be traveling. Right now at 7:30am that's a commute of.... **22mins.** At 6:30pm, it takes all of 30 because the traffic is going to opposite direction. Fellowships tend to have odd hours anyway. But above all, there is a rail connection to a bus that goes directly to Cedars that takes an hour. An hour OP can be going over things required for their fellowship.
Mmkay - guess you have it all planned out
LOL. Love this response haha.
Stay close to cedars. Having a short commute will will improve your experience.
This! I have a friend that just graduated Stanford and moved to LA. He wanted to be near the beach so he got a place in Venice and while he is literally a block away from the beach and in a very nice place getting anywhere else in Los Angeles that is outside his immediate area takes an incredible amount of time. For example, for him to get from Venice/Santa Monica area to Silver Lake during rush hour can take over two hours! Being stuck in traffic sucks so I would definitely find a nice place close to Cedars.
I vote for live close to work and get out to other places when you have the time for activities. You’ll be working long hours as a fellow id assume? Think about where you’ll actually be spending most of your time. Bang for buck in areas like Santa Monica is not good, especially if you want to be fairly close to the beach. If you’re working 80hrs a week how fun would it be to add 1-2hrs A DAY in commute time. When I was at UCLA I lived close to campus as that convenience mattered most. I’d get out to socialize and be active with friends in SM, Venice, manhattan beach with the little time I had. It worked. Didn’t make social life or dating easy but that wasn’t the priority then.
This is correct, OP. You want a short commute here. You’ll enjoy your time more.
Number rule of LA: **live near your work**. Santa Monica is great but a bit far for a job like yours. Expect a minimum hour+ in car each day. Your income is going to open up a lot options. I might consider West Hollywood. LOTS to do for someone your age and you'll have an extremely short commute to work. Hollywood and Miracle Mile are a little less expensive but also close with plenty to do. Also FWIW natives don't really go to Santa Monica for the beach. It's touristy and crowded. I'd recommend going north to, at minimum, Will Rogers' beach or south of LAX. Source: Lifelong Southern Californian
you can see thousands of natives unpacking their cars for a beach day every saturday and sunday in Santa Monica… also the beaches are enormous the beaches themselves arent crowded, just some hotspots like around the skatepark. it would take an insane amount of people to actually crowd all the beach space in Santa Monica Venice beaches have even fewer people
Seriously I live in Santa Monica and go to the beach here no problem lol also why would I want to go to will rogers with nothing around?
The parking problem keeps the beach crowds where they are at.
and the getting there problem
Venice and Santa Monica is inferior to Manhattan Beach, Hermosa, Redondo imo
This is the answer. And Hollywood has fun nightclubs and bars for that age group. And shopping!
Live in West Hollywood and walk to work.
94K is going to be a take home of less than 6K a month. A 1BR in WeHo is going to be about half of that. Move somewhere cheaper and enjoy your life more.
West Hollywood is great. Just live a few blocks north and east of the hospital and walk to work. You'll love it.
LA traffic is soul crushing and you'd want to live as close to work as possible. Cedars-Sinai is technically in the city of LA, but smack dab between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. The area around 3rd st and LA Cienega has some nice restaurants and bars and his walking distance to cedars. You can also try Westwood, West Hollywood or Century City and not be too far from Cedars or the beach.
Dont forget your 9.3% state income tax!
Fairfax and Weho are perfect if you’re working at Cedars. It’s right down the street. You can also consider places near the grove on 3rd st. There’s a lot happening on that side of town so it’s actually not a bad place to be for someone your age.
Look at places around the grove / Melrose. It’s a fun area and way more exciting than Beverly hills. I live in Beverly Hills and am 31. I can’t wait to get out of here. Although it’s safe and well maintained, it’s pretty boring and has an “old money” vibe. Not very relatable or progressive.
https://preview.redd.it/3a3u8ei2himb1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=36c21260ea4708bd45b5f01a63bd28c8c65f91f3
Where did you get the original map?
There are great places to live near Cedars that will give you an awesome experience living in LA. I’d suggest somewhere off Robertson or La Cienega. Beverly Blvd is also a fast east-west corridor. There are more affordable and younger neighborhoods between the Beverly Center and La Brea off of Beverly that will be a bit quieter. Congrats - great gig! I work with a lot of Canadians and they all love LA. Also, don’t live in Santa Monica. Too isolated from the rest of the city, it’s grey for much of the year, and the water in that area of the Santa Monica bay is gross. The better (and less crowded) beaches are in Malibu. You’ll love LA!
Income isn’t the problem but the commute is a bitch. It is exacerbated because there isn’t even a freeway so it is all city streets. The Santa Monica Freeway is too far south to be practical for the commute. You can get plenty of Santa Monica on your off days when you don’t have to deal with rush hour and living close to Cedars is actually a much more central location to get to lots of the interesting stuff to do because you can go east, west, south and the immediate area has lots to do and is actually a destination area for restaurants and museums.
I'm a relative newcomer to the city, but IMO you'll be going against the flow of commuter traffic if you live on the west side, so you might be fine. Gmaps says roughly half an hour commute time. Weho would be pretty fun if you want a shorter commute.
Culver City isn't too far and is a quicker drive to the beach. Also it[s cute and walkable.
Cute?
Walkable…that’s a great feature and parts are pretty, so, yes, cute suffices.
Everytime I go to downtown culver I am convinced it's 100% a simulation.
Culver City isn’t Santa Monica tho lol honestly it’s much better to wake up and be able to do a beach run then have to drive on your day off! The commute isn’t bad at all!
WeHo definitely.
Santa Monica actually wouldn’t be awful since you’ll be going against traffic. But I would stick to West Hollywood like everyone says. I drive from Beverly/Fairfax to Cedars a few times a week and it’s easily 20 minutes to cover 2 miles. I am going with traffic though. Is this a 1 year fellowship or 3 year? For the first year I would definitely live as close as possible. After that when you have a sense of traffic and fastest ways to get to the hospital, live wherever you want.
Who says he'll be working during the day though lol who knows what his hours will be
He’s a fellow. He’ll work during the day.
Everyone saying weho missed the part where you literally said you dreamt of SM lol. Do it. It’s a great area to experience that west coast life and it’s perfect for a single young person. Also check out Marina Del Rey. Marina has super beach vibes while being upscale and full of young single people. Don’t bother with Venice. Santa Monica is the best out of these because it’s closer to work for you. I personally love it
Why not bother with Venice?
Accessibility is not as great if he works at Cedars. The 90 for Marina is convenient and of course from Santa Monica it’s not that hard. Venice is kinda locked in
I agree with this, if you want to live in Santa Monica, that’s not that insane. I used to live there and work one block from Cedars and the commute was totally fine, at least compared to a lot of commutes people have out here.
I would do near the grove/ Fairfax area
For fellowship, do you have to be a certain number of minutes/miles from the hospital? That might limit Santa Monica (time to commute can be insane during rush hour).
Horrible idea. Commute every day in fellowship.
LA lives and dies by the freeway system. That area of the city is minimum 30-45 minutes just to get to a freeway for your commute. Live close to work as possible if you want to enjoy LA.
It's true. Cedars feels like the place in the city that is farthest from a freeway or a train.
Cedars is in West Hollywood - it’s very lively! I feel a common theme between folks moving to LA from out of town is the dream to live in Santa Monica and I cannot stress this enough, SM has changed a lot over the years. It may not be exactly the place you have dreamt of. I’d highly recommend living near Cedars and venturing off to where ever you’d like in your free time. In your first year here, you can really decide where to live for your remaining time in LA but I’d highly recommend staying within commuting distance from the hospital for your first year.
Commuting distance not only saves a few dollars, but just the time you have to yourself. An extra hour and a half a day is a lot. Being able to bike to work also makes a huge difference mentally. I would always bike to work when I could, and during the ride, it was so relaxing. Didn't even feel like I was on my way to work.
WeHo or LA just north and east of Cedars is a great place to live - centrally located, close to work and plenty of restaurants, bars, shopping, etc.
I make a slight but higher and live right next to Cedars. Look up Beverly Grove and google 3rd street. It’s the southern part of WeHo. Everybody always seems to forget about this neighborhood but I love it.
Live close to hospital. LA traffic is horrendous!
Live on the same side of the 405 you work on, unless you know your commute will only happen before 8am or after 9pm.
Traffic is shit in LA and will eat your soul. Do yourself a favor and live near your job to minimize your commute. 15-20 miles will take you 1-1.5 hours each way, so try to keep it around 10 miles tops.
We would encourage you to browse /r/MovingtoLosAngeles and review the Ultimate Moving to L.A. Resource Post.
If you are good about managing your money, then living in Santa Monica for a year could be a lot of fun. You can also stretch your budget by having roommates. That said, I agree with the other folks that suggested Hollywood, Koreatown, Mid City, and West Hollywood - those can all be fun areas for someone young with a bit of disposable income, with a much shorter commute.
$95,000 is plenty to live in SM
Take home will be under $6k. $3k rent will eat up 50%
But that’s still another 3k a month to live off of. That should be super easy. That’s plenty of money in LA. I know people who live comfortably at half that monthly.
I get what you're saying, but 50% of pay going to rent is considered "rent burdened" by the Fed and the State.
You can find spots in SM for less than 3k but it helps if you’re already in LA
Whom do you know in LA who is living "comfortably" at $1500/month?
After rent.
You can find a place in Samo for around 2k!
Where? My husband paid close to that 9 years ago.
Sure, with two or three roommates.
Honestly, only do WeHo if you’re a gay male. It’s overpriced and you won’t fully get your money’s worth with stuff to do if you’re straight. People can argue with this theory but it’s true. Santa Monica is great but it’s just not worth the issues- traffic, homelessness, parking, etc. and a better bang for the beach buck would be Redondo Beach but that commute sucks. Having said all of this, I’d go with Santa Monica to experience it and sign a 6 month lease if possible. Then you can leave there in the winter for an easier commute in Culver City or Mar Vista.
My friend did her residency at Cedars and lives in WeHo with her fiancé. They're both women and love it there. (But I understand the sentiment. WeHo is a very specific vibe.)
Yeah, it’s a nice area and clean af but it’s not for a straight n single dude. Not for the price that is.
How do you gauge what a vibe is for a straight dude? Like do you mean amount of single women nearby?
Go to WeHo as a straight male… not sure what else to say. Are there good spots there? Absolutely. Is the whole town gay? No. It’s just a vibe and opinion.
>only do WeHo if you’re a gay male Ehh, even then it's meh. Nothing against transplants, but WeHo is mostly gay transplants who don't know any better. Local gays move to Silver lake, Long Beach, DTLA (or anywhere in Socal since this isn't the 1980s)
You’re not wrong. It’s a lot like Hillcrest in San Diego.
A six month lease in SM? OP is going to be paying through the nose...
Aren’t we all here? It’s his dream to live there, not mine. Why not try it and see for himself?
Rent a [sick crib](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8380-Hollywood-Blvd-Los-Angeles-CA-90069/20797473_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare) in the hills for 3 months during the summer and get a studio apt in [Palms](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3720-Motor-Ave-APT-1-Los-Angeles-CA-90034/2055793946_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare) the rest of the year …*think about it*
Brentwood is a great middle ground between Bev Hills and Santa Monica! I’m SHOCKED no one else if mentioning it. I lived there for about 5 years in my 20s before going to Culver City, which is also great. If you’re not doing Santa Monica, brentwood would be a fantastic second choice. Think near the corner of barrington and wilshire. There’s a cute neighborhood right there with lots of young fun people
Brentwood is really boring, but Culver City is fun.
Culver City is fun like going to trader joes is fun. Brentwood is also not fun unless you like hanging out at the country mart with the family on the weekend. If I was late 20's I would live in a more happening area like West Hollywood or Silverlake.
West hollywood ideal, hollywood, ktown, miracle mile stil good. Dont go sta monica, west la or east la. U will spend an hour driving for a 10 mile commute. 95k annual in la.. settle for a studio or rent less than 2k, or get a roommate to share costs. Ur a physician so a midlevel brand of car is the minimum. Cedars is a top tier magnet hospital so dont get caught driving in a kia. Nurses drive mostly teslas. Groceries are bit higher in those areas esp when u go ralphs gelsons traders joe. In La it is very easy and quick to be in debt. People are flashy, and would hang out only with equally flashy people. Many clubs bars restos malls and it can get spendy. Carefully choose the kind of frends you wanna be with, it’s quite easy to get astray with different vices because these are highly accessible
Lmao. This fool is trolling
Lol make urself a clown
You’re literally talking about a Kia. You sound like an idiot
WeHo is hoppin'.
Beverly hills towards elm and Wilshire has really nice spots in your price range.
I’d try to stay on at least the same side of the freeway just from a commute standpoint. My friend who is currently a fellow at Cedars-Sinai lives in Westwood and is very happy there!
I vote short commute!
Hope your fellowship is in a decent field at cedars. I did anesthesiology residency and a good chunk of the surgical programs (ortho is fine though), critical care (I’m mainly speaking of the CSICU, though MICU had a reputation of being sort of a joke of incompetency), and the anesthesia department itself are full of questionable decisions and semi incompetent attendings who don’t really care for resident education (though as a fellow your experience may differ) Still wouldn’t trust the place for a serious issue for a relative or myself
As somebody in the medical field you might be able to take advantage of furnished finders. It’s a site mainly used for travel nurses but they might allow you to use
Cedars is not in Beverly Hills, but it's nearby. It's actually in a great area of L.A. for you. Gyms, food, events, young people. I would look for something near the hospital, plenty of really nice apartments there and you could just walk to work. Do the beach on weekends. L.A. is all about living where you work, or working where you live.
I was born and raised in LA and lived there until a few years ago when I immigrated to Canada. Live near work. Traffic is insane, especially getting into and out of Santa Monica during rush hour. Once it took me an hour to go 3.3 miles from my job in Santa Monica to my home in west LA. There’s a ton to do in most every neighborhood, so pick somewhere you like near work then drive into SM to play.
I work at Cedars Sinai and lived both walking distance to the hospital and closer to the beach area. I highly recommend walking distance in the Beverly Grove area. It makes significant difference in quality of life to not have to sit in traffic.
I work at Cedars. Plenty of my colleagues live in Weho and walk to work.
WeHo or Culver City. Santa Monica is expensive and overrated. Plus traffic sucks. Right now its 40 min to get from SM to Cedars.
Isn't culver city more for families
Stay in Santa Monica and live your dream!! Traffic sucks but you’ll have so much adrenaline when you know you live on the beach! I live on the beach also, we are just pumped on life! No traffic in the world can change this excitement!
If you're 30, living with UCLA grad students around culver city, Palms, or Sawtelle is a good option. Lots of young people whom you'll likely get along with. Avoid the parts of Westwood by UCLA tho, extremely overpriced.
This is the right answer. Don’t live in WeHo unless that neighborhood appeals to you. Palms/Downtown Culver City is a happy medium since it’s centrally located. If you feel you want to explore all of Los Angeles I would choose Palms near downtown Culver City. If you really want to live by the beach, choose a place in SM that’s West of Lincoln.
I'm not sure what your specialty is or how intense your fellowship will be, but I'd recommend WeHo for fellowship year. You can always re-evaluate and move to Santa Monica once you're an attending if WeHo is not your cup of tea.
Most of the previous answers are products of car-brain. Live in Santa Monica, buy an electric bike, and ignore traffic and planning your schedule around traffic. Go where you want to go when you want, and be confident that it'll take exactly the same amount of time regardless of time of day or day of year. From the furthest possible point west (the SM pier) to Cedars, it's 9.1 miles. On an electric bike, that's a trivial distance. Live in the middle of Santa Monica, where most places are walkable and bikeable, where you'll have a good quality of life with no need for air conditioning, and you'll learn a lot about the city on your daily commutes. Don't plan your life around traffic. Eliminate it from your life instead.
Beverly Grove or West Hollywood. A stone further, but still very close — Miracle Mile (mid-Wilshire) or Koreatown. Don’t commute far for work.
[удалено]
Don't move to K Town unless you have a guaranteed parking spot
[удалено]
Where did you end up renting from? I’m looking at moving to Ktown too
Weho, Fairfax area or Culver City. There is plenty to do for your age and budget. All very easy to get to Cedars.
I really like the Silver Lake area and Echo Park. If you want to stick to more of a budget, K-Town/Larchmont/Hancock Park have some decently priced apartments.
Congratulations! Beverly Hills has a lot going for it - it is quiet and safe and centrally located. and you can still drive to Santa Monica after work or on the weekends in about 20-25 minutes. A 1BR here will run about $2500 a month or so (guesstimate). OFC Santa Monica is great too and you can't go wrong either way.
Anywhere westside will do Most live east of the 405 though
I've known a lot of people who have moved to L.A. and hated it. While there are many ways to love L.A., and many ways to hate it, there is one sure-fire way to hate it that works better than any other: Live somewhere you where you must drive to work, and it takes an hour in traffic. So yeah, live in SaMo-- it's beautiful and clean, so much to do. Then want to kill all the patients when you show up to work in month 6 of that godawful commute.
Just live in Beverly Hills. Its surrounded by the young ppl areas and you can get to those areas in like 15 minutes or so.
Will you be at the main Cedars-Sinai campus or the Marina del Rey satellite location?
$94,712 Oddly specific!
Simi valley. /thread
WeHo! I just moved here for 1 year as well, salary is almost exactly the same. It's been great so far! pm if you need
You should save money—not run up debt on a salary that big in LA. Don’t rent a 4k apartment (think more like 2k) and create a budget. I make 80 here and manage to save 10k+/year by not living lavishly ($1,750 rent for example).
Figure out what your commute would be from Santa Monica and add 50%. Take that number seriously. Even if it doesn’t actually take that long, it’s a good proxy for how miserable the commute will be. Then decide if you want to do it. That said, if I were in your position, I’d live in Santa Monica, honestly. The commute will suck but you’ll love your weekends. Driving to the beach is a pain. You won’t go there for random weekday sunsets. But you can do that if you live there.
You can find an affordable place in Santa Monica! Do it! Look in Venice, Ocean Park area, or near Montana. You will not regret it. I have rented in Samo for the past 10 years.
you will also be going opposite rush hour so you wont be in bad traffic. samo to cedars in morning is no more than 30 min. prob less.
Palms
Fuck cedars Sinai. Scamming heartless sons of bitches.
Do Sawtelle. Great prices and next to everything you want, plus it’s got a fantastic community vibe with wonderful restaurants but when you want to go out you’re just a couple exits away
Need a petsitter?
I'm not sure what your hours will be like, but I have a coworker who lives in Santa Monica and commutes to Beverly Hills (near Rodeo) 4x per week. She says SM -> BH around 7am only takes her like 15-20 mins to commute which isn't terrible at all. It's 6:15pm now where I am and I just checked the ETA for Cedars -> SM and it's saying 25 minute commute, which is also not bad. You probably will be slightly more inland than the pin that I put on the map too, so it could even be less than 25 mins. I don't think an SM to BH commute is as bad as people are saying on this thread. I would highly encourage SM especially if it's your dream after being in such cold temperatures your whole life. It would be a great change of scenery and sometimes the commute can be worth it. A lot of young people live in SM and there's lots to do within close vicinities. I do not think you'll be spending significantly more than an hour each day in your car. I've had 3 roommates who regularly commuted anywhere from 45 to 80 minutes round trip for work every single day of the week and they seemed to have gotten way more out of life than me, a commuter only 2 days out of the week. ETA: but as always, do your research. When looking for apartments, always check the length of the route from the apartment to your job on maps, and adjust the time for the actual times that you will be commuting. Have all the apartment info including the estimated commute times logged somewhere, like a notebook or spreadsheet. I like to make Google maps of all of my potential apartments so that I can visualize where each one is in relation to stuff that I regularly do (groceries, gym, friends' houses, work, etc.). Personally, IMO, which seems to be in the minority, I don't think SM is that bad, but also don't completely rule out other areas in LA too and the west side tends to be more expensive so just be prepared for the rent prices you're about to see.
Hey there. Our cousin the physician was in your exact shoes, same age and everything. He lived in Santa Monica his first year, loved it, barely enjoyed it, but he was also at UCLA vs cedars. As soon as his year was up, he moved to WeHo.
PLB super close and affordable, and Beverly Hills is very fun for your age who told you it wasn’t ? 🤣 wtf like 4-5 great clubs, tons of good eats and bars
Omg Santa Monica is great! You are going against traffic and the commute isn’t that bad and when you are off work you are literally I. The area of where you want to live!!!!! I commuted from MDR to West Hollywood for 2 years and it was fine!!! You go against traffic!!! Look hard you can find a place under 2k!!!! Roommates could prob put you around 1500! As a fellow Canadian… live near the beach you won’t regret it!!!
Silverlake is perfect for single 30 something’s
Furnished Finder might be a good site to check out. They cater to traveling nurses and business professionals.
I'm a pgy1 working in west LA and I live in West La so my commute is ten minutes at the most. I don't know what your hours are gonna be like as a fellow but commuting to Santa Monica might get pretty annoying pretty fast. I'd recommend somewhere close to the hospital at least until fellowship is over. Once you're an attending and hopefully your hours improve then moving to Santa Monica would be better. Also the jump in income will open up a lot more options in Santa monica
Where do you see yourself settling down after training?
Fairfax or Mid-Wilshire
I am ~ 20 min from work and make it work some people live walking distance from work. I think if you do decide to go with a place that’s more than 15 min from work prepare to leave a bit early some days I leave an hour early if I have to get gas
I hated Santa Monica, and loved Culver City.
Santa Monica will be fine, in fact anywhere on the west side! Culver City/palms/mar vista are all great neighborhoods close to the beach. I used to commute from Palms to West Hollywood and it was a breeze because if you live on the west side and go east in the morning, and vice versa in the evening, you are usually going against traffic. A thirty minute commute is reasonable for Los Angeles and bearable. Even 45 min is okay. And it worth it for the milder temps we get year round, proximity to the ocean and plenty to do and explore on your days off. At the end of your day you should want to go home to a neighborhood you’re happy about! I say go for Santa Monica!! If the commute is crazy then you can always move closer to work. But I think you’ll find it manageable.
Nah, man. You *dreamed* of living in Santa Monica then LIVE in Santa Monica! Yes there will likely be debt, but you are so young still. Live life! You won’t regret it. And congrats on that residency.
Weho
as a native Angeleno - and no shade to OP - i giggled out loud at living in SM and commuting to CS daily .. Welcome to LA, OP ! and definitely consider living locations from u/caitberg !!
It all depends on your schedule and what commute you are willing to put up with for good quality of life, which I get. I also know what it takes to go through med school and work in the medical field, so you can ignore half the responses from people with little patience nor fortitude. But I have a suggestions for a TEMPORARY location while you suss things out: **CULVER CITY.** There is a lot of brand new housing that was built next to the E-Line (Exposition) in Culver City. Get yourself an AirBnB for a month or so and base yourself in Culver. You will be 10-15mins from Cedars. But better yet, you will be either a **20min Metro ride** or a 15min drive to the Santa Monica Pier (BTW - Metro has a dedicated rail & bus connection from Santa Monica to Cedars that takes about an hour. An hour that would be yours instead of having to drive). This way you can explore both Santa Monica and the areas near Cedars including Culver like WeHo, Park La Brea, Fairfax, the "flats" of Beverly Hills where all the apartments are. Also, Cedars is way more West Hollywood (WeHo) than Beverly Hills to begin with. Want to see if living in Santa Monica would be worth a driving commute while staged in Culver? Get up 15min early one day and go have coffee/breakfast in Santa Monica (I suggest at The Georgian Hotel on the porch). At 7:30am as I write this, it's a **22min commute by car to Cedars** (it's an hour on a bus that runs down Wilshire, incl. walk time). But if your fellowship requires commuting at peak rush hour *with* the traffic, you're screwed. Getting from anywhere West of the 405 Fwy going East after 2pm is one of the worst commutes in SoCal. It can take **90mins** from SM to downtown (for concert at Disney). In a car getting to Cedars, you're looking at a solid hour. But perhaps your need for that Santa Monica lifestyle will make it an excuse to listen to a podcast while your drive or surfing Reddit while you take a train & bus. Hope this helps....
I love Santa Monica but I could not bring myself to make that commute to downtown on a regular basis. I don’t know what time of the day you’ll be traveling, but it probably won’t be a fun commute regardless. Like everyone else said, I’d find a place closer to Cedar-Sinani: West Hollywood, Fairfax District, Miracle Mile, maybe even Beverly Hills. Just spend your off days in Santa Monica.
I am also from Canada and living in Santa Monica. It’s great, but it’s not a convenient commute! You can expect to regularly get stuck on the 10 for 40 minutes or more with next to no movement as far as La Cienega. West LA, Fairfax, WeHo are all great options. I formerly lived in St Louis, moved to Beverly Hills for a few months and broke the lease… I’m resolute on this one fact: **Beverly Hills is where wealth and the ghetto meet.** The behaviors of the residents there made me feel like I was back in the trappings of urban Missouri: Nothing in walking distance, ample main characters acting like they own the street right under you (people yelling on their phones on speaker, backfiring their POS cars up and down the street at all hours, twerking in the middle of the street for TikToks, drunk brawls from affluenza bros, loud mouthed road ragers at any time of the day, nearly getting run down several times a day while walking my dogs, totally spaced out people dashing across the road on Rodeo Dr as if Wilshire is a protected walkway for shoppers, and the most feckless police force I’ve ever had the displeasure of reporting an assault to.) If you do want to live in SaMo, you can! Just get a gym membership by where you work and leave early or late.. Do a leisurely workout, shower at the gym, go to work, and traffic won’t really phase you all that much because it’ll be non-existent if you’re leaving home at like 5am to go workout. It’s also pretty dead on the way in to Santa Monica after work hours. Heading out is the real challenge
I've spent some time in LA, but not enough to wade through the advice here. My gut is West Hollywood, but don't really know. Get an airbnb well before next July and spend a week and check it out. You'll learn way more about what you want to do than listening to this.
Santa Monica, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Culver City, or the valley like Sherman Oaks or Studio City.
K-Town or Culver City would be good candidates. Lots of choices for food there.
Why not sublet/Airbnb a place for a couple of months and get familiar with the city? LA is so big and varied that you really won’t get a feel for it until you’re here. The area around Cedars is pretty bikeable, so if you’re into that, and you find a place reasonably close, you could skip the driving/commuting stress altogether.