When we first moved to Los Angeles, we didn’t know anyone and went through an agency called “Roommate Matchers”. We were still in Berlin and got a call from a guy who had a house with five bedrooms and rented them out.
We accepted and it was pretty cool.
A huge, two story house with great architecture, owned by an attorney and his lover who had the bedroom downstairs. We had use of the kitchen and living room, dining room, backyard, etc.
There were two bathrooms and four bedrooms upstairs, and the bedrooms were quite big - enough room for a bed, sofa, desk and our room even had a great balcony overlooking the Hollywood Sign.
The house would have occasional parties, and you were required to have your room in tip-top shape. These were semi-formal parties, with lots of interesting people showing up - even some celebrities.
So no - it was not a “boarding house” in terms of someone cooking for you, but it was far more than just renting a bedroom; it was a great house filled with some interesting and creative people.
I will admit, the attorney turned out to be an asshole towards the end and refused to give us our deposit back, but other than that - it was a great experience and we lived there for about six months until we got our own apartment. But it gave us time to get our bearings in LA and not just take the first apartment we found.
