Need Advice on Move (Glendale, CA)

[Clemsonfan15]

Hey Gals and Guys. I really need some help.

I have been offered a job in Glendale, CA working for Nestle. I would start in June and go through December.

I know some of y'all live in that area so I was hoping y'all could give me some information about the area. Cost of living, cost of studio apartments, things to do, quality of living, etc... Any information would be great.

I have to reply by Friday.

It would be a big move considering I live in South Carolina, but I think it would be fun.


Thanks in advance for any information.

 

[Clemsonfan15]

Nobody?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Geolander]

Anything in SoCal is going to be super expensive. I've never lived there on my own, and I lived about 20 minutes south of Glendale, so I can't give you much advice on apartments, but know that it's all going to be pricey. Quick Craigslist search gives mostly $600+/month for Glendale, with some lower for very tiny spaces. That's for rooms. Lofts/ 1br apartments are $1000+/month. And Glendale is hardly the nicest place to live in the area.

 

[Clemsonfan15]

I figured it might be more expensive than I'm used to. What is the cost of a movie or a decent dinner?

I think I'm going to be living in a studio apartment, but I'd rather have a roommate or two.

Luckily I only have to pay $500 a month for housing no matter where I live. I think they choose the location though. What are some nicer areas around Glendale?

What's the weather like? Humid?

 

[JohnsD90]

I figured it might be more expensive than I'm used to. What is the cost of a movie or a decent dinner?

I think I'm going to be living in a studio apartment, but I'd rather have a roommate or two.

Luckily I only have to pay $500 a month for housing no matter where I live. I think they choose the location though. What are some nicer areas around Glendale?

What's the weather like? Humid?

Weather shouldnt be a real big change there. Cost of living is a bit more, other than like $0.40 more a gallon of gas and maybe 10% higher on food at most, its not so bad considering you have housing covered. I say do it, i wish i could afford to go to a school out in SoCal. Pacific Palisades is nice, but a bit out of your budget lol.

I hear the apartments a little cheaper in compton too!

 

[VTOL_Yoda]

DISCLAIMER: I do not live in this area.

This summer I have spent a lot of time (60 hotel nights) in the Glendale area for business. The downtown area where Nestle is located is very nice. My favorite pub is Jax, which is about .5 mile walking distance from Nestle. There is a lot to do in the area with some interesting old town establishments to hang out ( Sierra Madre, Monrovia, etc). Griffith Park is close by, Hollywood, and the beaches are about 45 to 60 mins out, depending on traffic.

Cost of living will be very expensive as compared to your South Carolina. Because of intense LA area traffic, I recommend strategically locating your quarters to the immediate north or to the west. Morning traffic on 210 W heading to LA is crazy and opposite for evening traffic coming out of LA.

There are some nice apartments directly north of Nestle on N Central Ave, and there is a Ralph's located close by them. There are downtown apartments as well, which means walking to work. I recommend staying at the Embassy Suites and spending a week getting to know the area before locking into a rental. Also, the area is very demographically diverse with specific nationalities settling into individual towns (Armenians in Glendale, Taiwanese in Arcadia, etc). If this is a short term gig, you could score a winter roommate rental in Huntington Beach which would be a 45 minute commute up the 605...or kick it in Santa Monica with a back-door commute through Topanga canyon to 134 to 210 to Central / Brand.

I don't have much else to offer. Good Luck.

 

[Clemsonfan15]

Weather shouldnt be a real big change there. Cost of living is a bit more, other than like $0.40 more a gallon of gas and maybe 10% higher on food at most, its not so bad considering you have housing covered. I say do it, i wish i could afford to go to a school out in SoCal. Pacific Palisades is nice, but a bit out of your budget lol.

I hear the apartments a little cheaper in compton too!

I didn't mean "bad" weather. More like averages. I'm not a big fan of hot weather.

I agree that housing probably makes up the biggest difference and luckily a good portion of mine will be covered.

The big decision is if I should take the 4Runner out there.

 

[Clemsonfan15]

DISCLAIMER: I do not live in this area.

This summer I have spent a lot of time (60 hotel nights) in the Glendale area for business. The downtown area where Nestle is located is very nice. My favorite pub is Jax, which is about .5 mile walking distance from Nestle. There is a lot to do in the area with some interesting old town establishments to hang out ( Sierra Madre, Monrovia, etc). Griffith Park is close by, Hollywood, and the beaches are about 45 to 60 mins out, depending on traffic.

Cost of living will be very expensive as compared to your South Carolina. Because of intense LA area traffic, I recommend strategically locating your quarters to the immediate north or to the west. Morning traffic on 210 W heading to LA is crazy and opposite for evening traffic coming out of LA.

There are some nice apartments directly north of Nestle on N Central Ave, and there is a Ralph's located close by them. There are downtown apartments as well, which means walking to work. I recommend staying at the Embassy Suites and spending a week getting to know the area before locking into a rental. Also, the area is very demographically diverse with specific nationalities settling into individual towns (Armenians in Glendale, Taiwanese in Arcadia, etc). If this is a short term gig, you could score a winter roommate rental in Huntington Beach which would be a 45 minute commute up the 605...or kick it in Santa Monica with a back-door commute through Topanga canyon to 134 to 210 to Central / Brand.

I don't have much else to offer. Good Luck.

That's actually really helpful.

Good call on looking for a good location. I'm not sure if I will fly out there, if they will fly me out there, or if I will just let them pick my housing. I'm also not sure if they own housing that they let the Co-ops use. They said it would be fully furnished.

I think traffic might be the hardest thing to get used to. The worst traffic I encounter on a daily basis is a three minute stoplight. Ha.

I like the idea of thinking outside the box on housing too. I wouldn't necessarily have to live in Glendale.

What is Ralph's?

 

[JohnsD90]

I didn't mean "bad" weather. More like averages. I'm not a big fan of hot weather.

I agree that housing probably makes up the biggest difference and luckily a good portion of mine will be covered.

The big decision is if I should take the 4Runner out there.

If you feel you can live without the truck then its a good idea not too take it IF you have to pay for the gas to and from cali. If your parents will pay for you to drive it there then i would take it, and if your rooming with a someone from home then you could drive there and split the gas and not pay plane ticket. But if you would have to flatout pay for gas to and from you would have to work out if it was worth it for YOU.

 

[SCRunner12]

What's the weather like? Humid?

Humid, haha this made me laugh. No humidity like the east coast.

I would definitely take that job. Might as well live across the country for 6 months and during some of the nicest times of the year. The weather will be hot in the summer and nice during the fall. Traffice sucks balls in LA no way around that.

There are a lot of nice places around Glendale, especially if you have a car. The housing will be expensive, but it's only 6 months. Plus I'm sure some of the SoCal guys would take you wheeling or meet up at times. Definitely take the job is my advice.

Also Ralph's is a grocery store, just like Safeway.

 

[Geolander]

I figured it might be more expensive than I'm used to. What is the cost of a movie or a decent dinner?

I think I'm going to be living in a studio apartment, but I'd rather have a roommate or two.

Luckily I only have to pay $500 a month for housing no matter where I live. I think they choose the location though. What are some nicer areas around Glendale?

What's the weather like? Humid?

Movies are about $11.50 (or they were the last time I went to one there - about a year or so ago), less if you can find a place that still does student discounts or a discount theater. There's one not far from where I grew up that does older releases for a couple bucks. Restaurant prices are pretty much the same as anywhere else. Grocery stores are maybe slightly cheaper because most things don't have to be shipped very far. I know rice was cheaper in SoCal than when I was living in Flagstaff, for example.

I don't know Glendale well enough to recommend a good area nearby, though it doesn't look as bad as I remembered it. It's definitely not as bad as the majority of LA.

Weather is nice. Very mild winters - the locals start freezing if it hits 50. Summers can get up to the 100s, but they mostly tend to stay in the 80s. It can be a little humid at times, but it's probably nowhere near as bad as South Carolina. Windy in the fall.

Smog is kinda nasty. I'm not sure how bad it is in Glendale, but parts of SoCal can be pretty disgusting when the weather's just right for it, and the air quality is never very good. My skin always breaks out whenever I visit my parents.

 

[Beakerbox]

Glendale is right by Pasadena and Burbank - there's plenty of nice areas within a short commute! Parts of Glendale and Burbank can be kind of industrial but it's well facilitated with lots of good places to eat. Food is great in that area - lots of fantastic restaurants and plenty of nice safe areas to live in. Pasadena would be a good place for apartments - lots of businesses and 3rd level schools such as Cal tech in the area so there's plenty of apartments to house people coming and going. There's also plenty of places to eat that are very reasonable and excellent food. Yelp is a good resource to find the best places close to you.

There's no reason you shouldn't come out to a new city for a few months, you might love it - there's lot of great things about living in the LA area so don't let people scare you off with horror stories. My advice - take every opportunity to experience new places and new ways of living. You don't know if the shoe fits till you put it on. I done it many years ago and didn't stop - I've lived and worked on 3 continents over the last 10 years.

Someone mentioned Compton for cheap rent - i'm not sure if they were serious or not but Compton has some seriously nasty areas you don't want to be without some heavy armor and even then you still don't want to be there.

Should you bring the 4 runner.. Hell yes. San Bernadino mountains and plenty of fun trails. You gotta bring your truck if you come here - lots of great places to explore and go off roading. There's no shortage of outdoor activities in SoCal. Don't come here without your truck or you'll regret it. One thing in LA you cannot really depend on is public transport - there are busses are trains but the city is just too big and the service areas are limited.

 

[RS Dude]

Welcome the the 3rd World! The best part is that you will only have to live here for 6 months.:boink:

 

[Clemsonfan15]

I really appreciate the comments guys. Nothing like first hand experience.

I officially accepted the offer today, so I'll be out there in June.

I should be getting housing information sometime soon. I'm not sure if I will get to pick or what.

The way they are doing the vehicle is this:

Option A: Fly me to California and give me a car for my entire stay. I'm not sure what kind of vehicle it would be.

Option B: Give me $0.55 per mile to drive to California and back. This way seems pretty nice up front, but gas+wear and tear+ insurance and everything else adds up.

I'm still not sure which option I'm going to pick.

 

[SCRunner12]

Congrats, you made a good decision. Regarding the car, drive your 4runner out. You will make money off of the drive. For a one way trip: Lets figure you average 19 mpg for the whole trip. It is roughly 2500 miles to drive. .55x2500=$1375 and gas will be 2500/19=131 gallons. 131 gallons X ~$3.70/gal= $486. That will leave you roughly with $880 to put towards lodging food and anything else along the way. This will fluctuate based on your mpg as well. Plus you can drive across the country and see a bunch of sweet sites.

I'm sure some members would extend a couch to you, so you don't have to pay for lodging. It could be a real cool trip. I was planning on doing it when I was going to go to the east coast for school. Plus you could do some light wheeling along the way and have your 4runner out there. Granted you will put some miles on the 4runner, but wear and tear isn't that much since you will probably be driving only 7500-8k miles during this whole trip and job stay.

Just some food for thought.

 

[Clemsonfan15]

Yeah. I was working the numbers as well.

One BIG plus was using some of the left over money to work on the 4Runner. New LBJs, radiator, etc...

Do you know if I'll have to get a California driver license? Would I have to register my 4Runner out there?

I feel like my 4Runner wouldn't pass inspection and I'd have to take off all the tint.

 

[SCRunner12]

No need to register or get a Cali license. You won't be staying long, so it will all stay SC stuff. Also you will be in LA, so the tint will blend in.:

Yeah you could make about 1k off the there and back trip if you don't run into any unforeseen problems. If my daughter hadn't came along, I would have driven from California to Baltimore for school. It would have been a fun trip.

 

[Beakerbox]

Yea I think six months is the limit. Any longer and you have to register and get a CA license.

 

[4RBuddha]

ClemsonFan,

Your moving into my neck of the woods, welcome! Glendale is hit or miss when it comes to apartments, there are some nicer areas than others, I'd say that the average rent for a single bedroom is $1000 plus or minus. Since your only here for 6 months, I'm surprised Nestle doesn't put you up in a hotel for your stay. Edit: I see they are subsidizing your housing, they probably have a decent place set up for you....

If your looking to rent a place, check out the Montrose neighborhood (which is technically Glendale). Nicer area, only 10mins (if that) from downtown Glendale, and closer to Angeles forest, which has a trail or two (if they are open). I haven't rented in over a decade, but you *might* have an issue finding a place that doesn't want to do a 1/2 year. Just check with the landlords, they might swing you a deal on a month to month.

In the city of Glendale, just look for the newer apartment complexes, they generally have their own on-site parking (do get, you have to pay for a permit otherwise in some areas).

Don't worry about your license, your only going to be here a few months, I think the CA DMV requires a change, 3 months after you arrive. Just tell the olice: "I just flew in, and boy are my arms tired!" :hatsoff: Same applies to your truck. Edit: Just checked the dmv's website; http://dmv.ca.gov/newtoca/newtoca.htm should have the info your looking for. Make sure your tags, insurance and drivers license are valid, and I don't think your going to have an issue if you don't register your car in CA.

Weather wise, things here are pretty mild, and you'll probably finding your self wearing shorts most of the time. Smog is bad...I'm not going to kid you. I generally don't exercise outdoors during the day, only at night or real early morning.

People wise, most folks here are friendly, but you will find many that are not. Driving-wise, You will probably hit traffic, and you probably will find drivers are a lot more agressive.

Let the Socal section know when your in town, I'm sure we will put some trips together for you!!!

 

[JohnsD90]

ClemsonFan,

Your moving into my neck of the woods, welcome! Glendale is hit or miss when it comes to apartments, there are some nicer areas than others, I'd say that the average rent for a single bedroom is $1000 plus or minus. Since your only here for 6 months, I'm surprised Nestle doesn't put you up in a hotel for your stay. Edit: I see they are subsidizing your housing, they probably have a decent place set up for you....

If your looking to rent a place, check out the Montrose neighborhood (which is technically Glendale). Nicer area, only 10mins (if that) from downtown Glendale, and closer to Angeles forest, which has a trail or two (if they are open). I haven't rented in over a decade, but you *might* have an issue finding a place that doesn't want to do a 1/2 year. Just check with the landlords, they might swing you a deal on a month to month.

In the city of Glendale, just look for the newer apartment complexes, they generally have their own on-site parking (do get, you have to pay for a permit otherwise in some areas).

Don't worry about your license, your only going to be here a few months, I think the CA DMV requires a change, 3 months after you arrive. Just tell the olice: "I just flew in, and boy are my arms tired!" :hatsoff: Same applies to your truck. Edit: Just checked the dmv's website; Information For Persons New To California should have the info your looking for. Make sure your tags, insurance and drivers license are valid, and I don't think your going to have an issue if you don't register your car in CA.

Weather wise, things here are pretty mild, and you'll probably finding your self wearing shorts most of the time. Smog is bad...I'm not going to kid you. I generally don't exercise outdoors during the day, only at night or real early morning.

People wise, most folks here are friendly, but you will find many that are not. Driving-wise, You will probably hit traffic, and you probably will find drivers are a lot more agressive.

Let the Socal section know when your in town, I'm sure we will put some trips together for you!!!

The truck can be out of inspection (as long as the truck is outside the state its registered in), and he most certainly does not need to change his lisence, its legal to be in cali for as long as he wants, so long as he "lives" in SC, I stay in NY for 10 months a year but i "live" in CT and my truck is in NY for 10 months a year but my truck and i are allowed to be in NY as long as we want.

I have friends that "live" in NY but spend just shy of 6 months a year in Cali, with no issues and thats with a NY registered vehicle out there that hasnt been inspected in many years...if the vehicle comes back to NY it needs to be inspected within 2 days as its expired.