Welcome to California! Give it a fighting chance and it’ll grow on you!
I’m a little south of you, but I won’t gloat! 
Don’t get rid of the car- there is NO public transportation here to speak of. Unless it’s to speak ill of. You get the idea.
Everyone is on the 405 because they have no other option.
That’s right. The name “Pacific” makes it sound cuddly, but it’s coooold. There’s a current comes down the coast from the Bay of Alaska. I don’t think the main current gets inshore but the water around it is also cold.
Welcome to the neighborhood. I grew up right around there, my parents were both born in Santa Monica hospital, and my grandparents met and married there. I hope you enjoy it, and if you don’t, you can move up to Santa Barbara like the rest of LA is doing.
You’ll have to retest. Sorry kiddo. Parking is bad, but it’s not Chicago/Boston/Philadephia-winter bad. And, despite what Johnny-Boy says, riding a bike out here on the highway is not for the faint of heart; I’ve seen a number of lane-splittered eat pavement.
Er, what sucks about Pasadena? I mean, there’s no nightlife to speak of and corporate encroachment is slowly turning Old Town into Disneyfied Old Town, but Silver Lake/Los Feliz/Hollywood is just a short run down the 110 to the 5 or the 101 or a short ride on the Gold Line/Red Line, nice access to points north and east and west via the 210/10/134 and we actually have sidewalks here. Plus we have mountains just a few minutes away, a couple of good pool halls, and the Arroyo Seco bridge, which hasn’t fallen down yet. Santa Monica is more fun, of course, until you have to get out of there, and then you find out why the 405 is such a world-class bitch.
Anyway, enjoy. And a 'Fest soonest is in order…I propose The Good Luck Bar off of Sunset or 4100 (or maybe The Red Lion, though it isn’t within walking distance of a Metro station for anyone who’d use that mode of transport).
Stranger
Oh, BTW, with regard to car registration, hie thee onto the DMV website and make an appointment to register and test. As much as I’d like to bitch about goverment bureaucracy and such, the CalDMV seems to have their operation down to a science, and I’ve never been more then 30 minutes; in-and-out like a working girl. Yet another reason that I will never again live in Missouri.
Stranger
Hooray!
Welcome! It’s always so cool when someone new comes to town! I remember when I first came to L.A. it was so exciting! You know there are a few places you really should check out! I’ll show you around! We’ll be the best-est of . . . . I’m sorry, some better people just arrived. I’m going to go talk to them now.
Welcome to the Left Coast!
Oh, it’s not that bad! Lane-splitting can be nerve-wracking when you first try it, and it can be nerve-wracking even after you have several thousand miles under your belt (I have over 100,000 miles of motorcycle riding in L.A. traffic). But according to a rag I picked up at the shop (CA Biker, IIRC) around 1993, the CHP did a study and found (direct quote) that ‘lane-splitting is not particularly dangerous’. Full disclosure: I have been hit twice by inattentive drivers. The first one made a ‘two-lane dash’. Just ride as if they’re all out to kill you.
Nevertheless, motorcycles have advantages in L.A. that outweigh the risks. Once you get the hang of lane splitting (or lane sharing, as I like to call it ) it becomes second-nature. Parking is rarely a problem, and many places allow motorcycles to park gratis. (The parking structures in Santa Monica come to mind.) A 600cc bike will get around 50 mph. Insurance is cheap (for 600cc bikes). You can use the carpool lanes. You can ride in reasonable comfort around 300 days a year. More, if you don’t mind a little cold and wet. You can carry a surprising amount of stuff in a reasonably-sized daypack, and you can strap things to the passenger seat. Motorcycles save time. Most of all, they’re fun! 
davmilasav: I don’t know if there are ‘sigalerts’ where you come from, but get to know them. They’re named for their originator, Lloyd Sigmund, and indicates an unplanned lane closure (e.g., for a collision) that will last at least 30 minutes.
Call the freeways ‘The’. ‘The 405’, ‘The 10’, etc.
Learn your alternate routes. Sepulveda parallels the 405 for a long way. If the freeway is jammed, surface streets may be an option. OTOH, everyone knows this, so the surface streets may be as bad. Still, there are alternate routes if you learn your area. Going south on the 405 there are many times when getting off the freeway at the Sepulveda Pass is better than staying on. (I’ve had less luck when going north, and there are times when either option is bad.)
Buy a Thomas Guide.
Remember that alternate sides of the streets tend to be closed once a week for cleaning. You will get a ticket if you forget to move your car. Parking Enforcement are ruthless. Meter maids eat their young.
Some highlights of Johnny L.A.'s post:
Here is Sigalert’s webpage. They go all the way down behind the Orange Curtain, but you won’t need them for that because why would you ever go down there?
Oh, right. Disneyland. Other than that one time, though, everything you need or want is up here.
And ditto Stranger On A Train’s comment about making an appointment for the DMV. You’ll need to get insurance, and your insurance company can tell you if you need to get your car smogged for California. I suspect it is related to the age of the vehicle. Then, insurance in hand, make an appointment for your test. Written only, I should think. And register your car at the same time. And if Stranger thinks the DMV has it down to a science, I shudder to think of the atrocities to which he was subjected in Missouri. Bring a book or two with you when you go to the DMV. Maybe a lawn chair and picnic basket.
Heh. Welcome to LA. Now you know the drill. See that you don’t forget.
shrug I’ve never had a problem at the Pasadena (or maybe it’s in Monrovia…hard to tell) branch. Fifteen, twenty minutes wait. (The appointments are booked up about two weeks in advance, though, so get in the queue immediately.) In Missouri, you took the day off. In Illinois, you took two days, 'cause you knew you’d be sent to the wrong window to get an unnecessary and probably unavailable form. In New York…from what I hear, people don’t even bother with getting a license.
Oh, good. I thought it was just me and my off-putting manner that makes it so hard to get to know people. Now I realize it’s just the rest of you. 
Stranger
Warning: Anecdote follows.
When I moved back here from Texas, I went to the Lincoln Park DMV to get my license and registration. Made an appointment; stood in the “appointments” line with about a hundred other people. I had my book, so it was all good. Didn’t put on enough sunsreen, though, and the line was long enough that I was standing outside for about an hour.
As I’m waiting, there are two relevant couples standing in front of me. Directly in front of me is a black couple, and in front of them is a white couple. The white man says to the white woman, “Watch your purse,” or something like that. I didn’t start to pay attention until the black man took umbrage. He accused the white man of having told the white woman to watch her purse because there was a black man standing behind her. The white man claimed he only said it to make sure she didn’t hit someone with it. (It was a tiny purse, but maybe she had a habit of waving it around.) So seething racial unhappiness ensued for a while, with the men shouting at each other and the women trying to shut them up. (I considered offering to separate them and give them each a time out, but figured my assistance would be neither welcome nor helpful.)
After a while, they apparently agreed to go on as if the other person did not exist, so that was all the line excitement. After a couple hours, I got to the registration counter, got my car registered (I think they had to visually inspect it, too, but I’m not sure). I was then directed to the license line, and the DMV employee saw my expression. (Foreshadowing: here is where my luck changed.) After all, I had already been in line for hours. She walked me to the front of the license line, and handed me over to the employee there. That employee looked me up and found that when I’d left California ten or so years earlier, I had turned in my California license before it expired. That meant that they could treat my application as a renewal, and instead of the 100 question test, I only had to answer 15. Which, fortunately, I passed. I asked her if I could pick 15 of the 100 questions to answer, but she said no. (I got wrong the whole “what color flag do you have to fly on the chain you use when towing something” question. No, I still don’t know.)
So, a mere three hours after getting to the DMV, I emerged a relicensed Californian. davmilasav, I see two morals in these DMV tales:
Those of us in the bowels of the desert wish you welcome, too.
Hmmmm. Let’s try again. “Welcome to you from Palm Springs, center of the universe!”
Watch for a brief spate of 80-degree days in February, when it’s nice to hang out on the upper level of the Venice Bistro, overlooking the Boardwalk, and knock back a couple of beers.
It’s not consistently that warm in February, but I’ve always noticed that for some reason we have a week of such warm weather around then.
Uh, guys? Is it possible for you to register at the DMV website? Or since you’re brand new, you have to show up in person?
Welcome to LA! I live in Carson, just about 15 miles down the 405 from you; look for the oil refineries and railroad yards and lots filled with shipping containers.
You will hear Santa Monica referred to as “The Peoples’ Republic” due to its somewhat liberal politics. The ocean temperature is about as warm as it gets right now; i.e., 70 degrees. In the Spring it will get down to about 55 degrees.
Some one mentioned meter maids. They are all sadistic psycho-bitches who would have would have felt right at home in Nazi death camps. Keep a good supply of quarters and dimes in your car and USE THEM.
Welcome also to the brushfire season, which usually runs from about early September to late November. This time of year we get dry hot winds called Santa Anas blowing off the desert. These combine with brushfires to make Fall an interesting season in LA.
The Dodgers totally suck and you will be expected to join all other fans in defecating on the owner and general manager. Don’t believe any stories you hear about LA getting another NFL team. It may happen, but not in your lifetime.
On the West side you are in UCLA territory. Be careful about wearing clothes in USC colors (cardinal and gold). Get a cell phone and keep it held to your ear while you drive. People in other cars will curse you to the people they are talking to on their cell phones. Gas is expensive, but the best prices are generally at ARCO stations.
All in all, not a bad place to live. I was born here 63 years ago.
Santa Monica, my old home town.
Or, as Harry Schearer, says as the tag-line to his radio show…
“Santa Monica. Iternationally known as the Home, of the Homeless.”
I leased my car out here but for the CA driver’s license I went in on a weekday to the Glendale branch without an appointment and got all my business taken care of within an hour or so.
My insurance company required that I get the CA driver’s license…oh, incidentally, they’ll punch a hole in your old one so carry some backup id b/c I had a couple of people look at me in askance when I was walking around with my holey MA driver’s license.
Stranger on a Train…I don’t spend a lot of time in Pasadena beyond sleeping so I guess the lack of nightlife isn’t really a problem. Mostly I’m loving my L.A. Fitness and stress free and free-of-charge commute to work.
I was just wondering how it’s all shaking out. Find a job yet? I was at Hennessey + Ingalls last night and was thinking what a cool place that would be to work if I lived in that area.
Stranger
So far so good. I went to Apple One temp agency in Glendale yesterday. Found it okay but had a hell of a time getting home. Somehow I kept ending up either northbound on 5 or eastbound on 134. After half an hour and 2 gallons of gas (and lots of swearing) I got oriented and headed home. Got off at the right exit only to be thrown off by construction. I ended up in Culver City. :rolleyes:
If I get a job through them I get a weekly paycheck. YAY! They’ve sent off my resume to a place in Van Nuys that pays less than I want but what the hell, I’ve got less than $100 in the bank so I can’t afford to be choosy. The hours are 6 am to 2 pm so I’ll have all afternoon to unwind from fighting traffic.
Once I get situated I’d love to meet all you SoCal Dopers!
Davmi
looks out at cold, gray, rainy sky
sigh
(I kid, I kid! Enjoy your stay and surf an extra wave for me, willya?)