I have friend who lived in downtown loft a while back (rented) and told me that, yes, the loft was very nice, but Downtown L.A is deserted after dark.
Once the Suits have gone home, there’s very little in the way of resturants and other social amenities – the streets are quiet but for the many, many homeless people. Not that I have anything against homless people, but tripping over people sleeping in your doorway when you come home gets a bit tired after a while.
They’ve been trying to ‘gentrify’ downtown for years now, with dissapointing results – despite a lot of lofts/condos being built/converted, the place is still basically a financial district. Like most financial districts worldwide, they’re great during working hours, but turn into ghostowns once the workers go home for the evening.
And, lets not forget the amazing amount of traffic going through Downtown every day – if your son needs to get out of the City he’s going to be fighting traffic in every direction. Most Angelinos will gladly bypass the Downtown area if they can, because they know once they near the Staples Centre on the I-10, they’re going to have to deal with the horrendous traffic going both in and out of Downtown at all hours of the day.
Cashman – where is your son going to school? L.A colleges are spread all over – is he going to USC? UCLA? Pepperdine? You might be better served by looking at the local markets nearer his school.
And, I’d echo others in saying that buying ANYTHING in L.A at the moment would be financial suicide – despite what the MSM says. Prices here are very sticky, and L.A is still has some of the most unaffordable prices in the country.
If he’s dead set on living in Downtown, despite all the drawbacks, then please persuade him to rent a loft for a year before putting good money down for a place. You never know, after a year he’ll have gotten bored with the problems, and will want to move somewhere else in the L.A area.
