<p>My son was called at 6pm our time with the news that he has been accepted into the American Film Institute Conservatory; classes start the 18th. We are thrilled that he got in and are trying not to panic. He is packing up all of his stuff from his summer apartment and driving the 5 hours home to Pittsburgh tomorrow.</p>
<p>Our initial thoughts are for him to fly to LA and try to find a “cheap” hotel for a few weeks. I was at a neighborhood party when I got the news. Several of the neighbors said that he absolutely must have a car so he should drive out. His car is an older model that has quite a bit of work done and was good for the cross-state driving but might not be up to California standards. </p>
<p>Tomorrow my H is planning to call several of his California friends to get their opinions on logistics. Unfortunately, the really good friend isn’t close enough for S to stay with but he might be able to give some advice. </p>
<p>I agree that he needs a car in LA especially if he needs to find housing. It is very difficult to get around LA without a car. Can he purchase a newer car at home that can pass CA emissions requirements and drive to LA?</p>
<p>There are some lower price hotels near the American Film Institute Conservatory, and the metro red line is a block away (so if he finds a place near a metro red line station, he may not need a car so much). Can he fly out and rent a car and stay in a nearby hotel while looking for other housing? Meanwhile, he can also consider buying a car there or having his car shipped over.</p>
<p>California only checks cars for emissions; older cars that have non-California emissions need only meet those emissions standards in the smog checks. However, the car should not have any engine or emissions modifications.</p>
<p>My H thinks he should give him a quick course on driving a standard transmission and give him my car. I don’t want to give up my car but that is a possibility. So much to think about and decide!</p>
<p>This happened so quickly that we have not had any time to really discuss solutions, just bringing up the problems. H and I don’t know much about LA so I guess the first step will be to find where the school is located. H is computer illiterate so Craigslist is totally foreign to him. S, I am sure, will know more about computer searches than his senior citizen parents. I briefly looked at Craigslist but without knowing areas of the city, it didn’t make much sense to me. When I typed in the zip code in a google search, it came up with apartments in the 2-3k range which is not what we are hoping for. Several of S’s college friends are already in the area and have offered him a couch to sleep on for a few nights so at least I know he won’t be out on the streets until he finds a room and roommate.</p>
<p>Put “American Film Institute Conservatory” in <a href=“http://maps.google.com”>http://maps.google.com</a> to find it. You can also prefix that with "hotels near " or other things you want to see near it.</p>
<p>First of all find out if the Film institute has a housing office. He can check the facebook page for his new school and find out if anyone is looking for a roommate.</p>
<p>Our housing prices in California are outrageous and he won’t survive without a roommate, but if the school has a housing office, they will help him find a place and/or a roommate. </p>
<p>A car is an absolute necessity in California. Check his balance and rotation of tires. (After spending $400 to get my daughter’s car checked in upstate New York on the return trip home last year, we serviced and had the tires rotated at the toyota dealer, the tires were never checked for rot and they blew in Indiana. Were it not for the trooper protecting the car, we would not have made it.)</p>
<p>LA County and other counties are huge, that’s why our public transportation is so bad.
The communities within the cities in LA County are overwhelmingly large, and housing is ridiculously small; some areas are not so good, but the people are generally laidback and can be very helpful if he asks for help. (There are so many people who aren’t native Californians! We’re rare).</p>
<p>If he joins AAA, he can use the DMV at AAA instead of standing in long lines and trying to get thru to the CA DMV for smog check, registration, etc. That was one of the big reasons we had our kids join AAA. We also had them get the highest mileage towing, since things are pretty far apart in CA. </p>
<p>We didn’t have our kids have cars until their SR year in college while at USoCal, but I don’t know where your S"s U is and how conveniently to campus or wherever he will be working or interning. Our kids would have liked having a car sooner, but it is more responsibility–not getting tickets, parking, insurance, maintenance, etc. I agree he should contact the housing office at his new U & congrats to him! They should be used to helping their students get room mates and places to live, preferably convenient to campus.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions. When S arrives later today, I might be back with some more specific questions. He does belong to AAA. I have looked at the conservatory web site which doesn’t seem too helpful in terms of housing. I am hoping that S can get more info, possibly from the FB page. </p>
<p>Congrats to your son! His location is near an area called Silver Lake (which is east of the school) which is generally a little cheaper. My D had a clinical rotation at a hospital in that area and we had to find living arrangements FAST. I remember learning about the Silver Lake area and we found a bunch of listings on Craigslist.
Pasadena is pretty close to, although our experience was that those listings tended to be pricier. I agree with others that a car really is a necessity for the most part. It’s also true that rentals ARE expensive and while our D didn’t end up with a roommate, it would have been far easier financially if she had. </p>
<p>She ultimately moved to the area and used Westside Rentals which is an apartment locator service that helped her find a place, but I’m not sure if it actually services the areas closest to AFI. Might be worth checking out as well.
There’s a small fee ($75?) to use it, but there were listings in her price range which she hadn’t seen advertised anywhere else, fwiw.</p>
<p>Congratulations on that acceptance. When your son gets there, teach him how to use Craigslist. It’s a life skill in addition to lodging, he might also find furniture. And if he ever needs a new roommate or us letter, he will want to know how CL works!</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone, and keep those ideas coming; every little bit of information helps. S had summer apt. packed and was on the road at 9:30 so he should be here by 2pm. In the meantime, H is with the plumber who is trying to determine why our water bill was 3x higher last month than the previous month. I am searching online for info that I can pass to S when he arrives. We have not called any of our California contacts yet due to the time difference. I had found airbnb in my searching and found one nice looking room with reasonable rates. After a semester in Denmark and travel to 9 different countries on his own, S probably knows much more about how to research.</p>
<p>S had not planned to apply to grad school until the fall but when AFI extended the app deadline, he decided to go for it figuring that it might be easier to get in now. His unpaid internship with an independent filmmaker was not going well ( funding problems), so it was a good time to leave. We are thrilled with the acceptance and will do what we can to help out.</p>
<p>Do check for bulletin boards that the students in the area use to advertise any room openings. My son had 2 weeks to find an apt for his job and checked nearby university room share ads where he found lots of low cost possibilities. He ended up finding his own place but that was a good back up plan. He might even find a sofa to stay on with current students needing some extra $s and willing to take a paying guest for much less than a hotel would cost. These arts students often need the money. My son and apt mates “rent out” their living room for those purposes to friends, acquaintances and others coming to NYC and needing cheap digs for a short time. Help pay the utilitiy, entertainment, whatever bills.</p>
<p>If your S does bring a vehicle, be aware that he needs to register within 30 days of bringing vehicle into state, or will get slapped with a hefty ticket, especially around university areas. That was happening a lot at USoCal, so got our D to move faster than her usual glacial speed at getting things in order. He will also need auto insurance good for wherever his car is garaged in LA; for us USAA and Mercury offered decent rates and seemed easy to work with. We lined up the auto policies before the vehicles arrived in CA. They need proof of insurance and smog-checking at a DMV (or AAA that has DMV office).</p>
<p>Have heard of many folks having great success with airbnb, but no personal experience. Good luck & congrats to your S. Our D is currently filming an independent movie as assistant director in LA; she got her bachelor’s in cinema from USC. There are a ton of cinema folks in LA–good place for your S to network.</p>
<p>HImom, I just finished reading the non-resident regulations for cars. He will turn 23 next week so he has one year under the student regs. I also found the smog cert reg. </p>
<p>H is convinced that he can find a room near public transit for a few weeks to give him time to find more permanent housing. I am afraid that we can not count on H’s good friend for much more info than I can find online. H is not good about asking for help. I, on the other hand, have no problem reaching out to virtual strangers for advice. In my experience, most people like to help others, especially with sharing knowledge.</p>
<p>All I know is that D’s friends were all students and under 24 but getting tickets for their cars not being registered in CA. That convinced D and us to just go ahead and get CA reg for her car. </p>
<p>We also got her a policy all her own, which was required for a car garaged in CA anyway. Had to scramble to find insurance, since my auto carrier didn’t sell CA policies. We prefer to have her with own policy, since don’t want to have our premiums rise if she has accident or claim anyway. We have max coverage and low premiums due to low claims. </p>
<p>Our D did some couch surfing when her lease ended before she figured out where she wanted to live. She decided it was overrated and was glad to find a room in a house. </p>
<p>One thing she did use was a storage rental place for her stuff, so it was her, sleeping bag and one suitcase to couch surf. She used the free $1 for first month intro rate and was sure to find a place before the one month intro ended. Her friends would NOT have wanted her WITH all her gear in their living room. </p>
<p>Well, he has found a possible apartment/roommate within 30 minute walk of the school. We are hoping that he and potential roommate can work out the details with the potential landlord long distance so he has a place to go when he lands in LA. </p>
<p>I am investigating having his car inspected here and shipped and plan to check with AAA tomorrow to see if they know requirements for registration in CA ( I tried to read the regs online but too much lawyereese). One-way plane tix for later in the week didn’t look too unreasonable and I hope will still be doable when we get other details worked out. </p>
<p>My H has been less than helpful, in fact, at some times downright hostile, but I think I have him calmed down. He is very happy that S was accepted and has said all along that we could make it work but he doesn’t understand how things work in the tech age and has argued at each step of the process. He still thinks that S can stay in a motel until he finds something more permanent (even though I have told him that I can’t find any motels close to the school) and doesn’t understand why S thinks he needs his car ASAP. The friends that I thought could help with info have not come through. I have gotten more help from people here on CC.</p>
in addition to lodging, he might also find furniture. And if he ever needs a new roommate or us letter, he will want to know how CL works!</p>