As I mentioned in another thread, jobs in my field are scarce in Whatcom County. My friend Jerry, who owns a video studio, wants to move back to L.A. He likes my camera work, and he wants us to re-open the business there as partners. As much as I like it up here, and as much as L.A. bugged the hell out of me when I lived there, I still have to make a living. I came up here because A) I like it; B) to make films with a friend of mine; and C) because I thought I was going to be married. I still love the area, but L.A. has some advantages. My friend got out of filmmaking. My fiancée changed her mind.
Anyway. Jerry can live anywhere down there. I prefer the (expensive) West Side where it’s a bit cooler, weatherwise. Ideally, we would like to find a building that provides living quarters and studio space. The living quarters should have at least two bedrooms. The studio should be large enough for an equipment room and a reception room for the clients. An actual shooting studio would be great, but not entirely necessary to start. Parking spaces would be a good thing to have.
I’ve been told that the Abbot-Kinney area (near Marina del Rey) is popular with ‘artists’, and that it’s not quite as expensive as MdR. I like Venice. I lived for 16 years in the Culver City area, and it’s cheaper than a lot of places and is not as hot in the summer as the Valley or downtown. A friend of mine had a loft/studio in a warehouse on downtown’s 4th Street, and it was rather nice.
How much should we expect to pay for rent for such a place as I’ve described, in the areas I’ve mentioned? What about other areas?
My friend wants to move his business back to L.A. It will be larger than when he was there before, and (assuming I make a positive decision) he’ll have a partner. So he’s/we’re looking for a space that we can live in (two bedrooms, living space, kitchen[ette]) and where we can receive customers. As far as ‘starting a business’, he’s got that covered. Between the two of us, we have all of the gear. He set up his business here a year and a half ago, and ‘hit the ground running’, as it were. He also ran his business for a few years down in Long Beach. So what we’re looking for is the space. We need to know (in general) how much rental would be in various areas so that we can work out the budget, and what agents we should talk to to help us get the space. The relocation will be self-funded.
Thanks for the link, BobT. I looked at it, and had a bit of difficulty finding anything when I put in what I thought were very reasonable search parameters (such as type of property, with everything else defaulted to ‘all’). When I specified an area, it kept coming back with ‘Sorry. Nothing found.’
I did, however, talk to Shayna last night. Although we’ve known each other for a few years now, I never knew that she had something to do with real estate. She said that when we get ready to set up shop, she can help us find someone who can help us out anywhere in the 405 Corridor. She suggested Torrance, which I hadn’t thought of before. Torrance is a decent location. Not too hot for me, close to a lot of communities, they build Robinson helicopters right there at Zamperini Field, and prices seem to be reasonable. I mentioned it to Jerry, and he agrees that it’s a good area. I think he might have family around there too.
Torrance is a nice place. (see Location ) Getting to a freeway can be a minor pain in the kaboose, if you’re in the southwestern portion of the area, but otherwise it’s kewl.
And the Del Amo Fashion Center has just started a massiveoverhaul/upgrade, so by next year we’ll be able to hang out at a top-tier shopping/dining/entertainment center without hiking up to the Glendale Galleria or The Grove.
My nephew lives in Torrance and I was always struck about what a pretty community it is. The drawback however is the big oil refinery. He claims it makes the air smell like fried chicken.
FWIW, in my area of LA county the standard is about $300k for three bedroom/2 bath, but that is with .5 acre minimum.
I was born in Torrance as the Little Company of Mary Hospital (someting like that, anyway), and I think we lived there for a bit, but I know nothing about it, and I usually try to deny having ever lived in California
) Getting to a freeway can be a minor pain in the kaboose, if you’re in the southwestern portion of the area, but otherwise it’s kewl.