<p>My daughter is up for a summer internship in LA – Beverly Hills. When I do a google search for LA intern housing, all I get is UCLA housing.</p>
<p>Some questions:</p>
<li>Are there other short-term housing options where students doing internships stay? Anyone know anything about the UCLA option?</li>
<li>Is a car absolutely necessary – and if yes, how on earth does a college student get a car for 3 months?</li>
</ol>
<p>Any other suggestions/comments would be welcome.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance! We don’t live on the West Coast, and it’s hard to imagine figuring all this out.</p>
<p>I don’t know whether the UCLA dorms are an option or not but adjacent to UCLA is ‘Westwood’ which has a lot of apartments largely populated by UCLA students. Some of the students sublet during the summer so your D should be able to find a place there.</p>
<p>Beverly Hills is just to the east of UCLA with Bel Air across the street to the north, Westwood to the south (right up to the campus), and Brentwood and then Santa Monica to the west. All of this is a pretty nice area.</p>
<p>Once you figure out where she’s staying you can check the bus system to see if she could use that for her transportation. A lot of the buses stop on the UCLA campus and go up and down Wilshire blvd between UCLA/Westwood and Beverly Hills.</p>
<p>Here’s the link for Summer Housing site posted by UCLA. It doesn’t appear that the UCLA dorms are available to non-UCLA students, but there are short-term roommate and sublet situations listed in Westwood and adjacent areas (including Beverly Hills). [Private</a> Housing in the Surrounding Community](<a href=“http://www.housing.ucla.edu/housing/chosummr.htm]Private”>http://www.housing.ucla.edu/housing/chosummr.htm)</p>
<p>Wow, coincidentally I’m in the same boat. Just received an internship in downtown L.A. From NY and currently in CT, so I’ve never been to the west coast before either. I’ve had a crash course (supplemented by Google Map and numerous message boards) in learning about the neighborhoods.</p>
<p>From what I’ve read, close to Beverly Hills you should check out Westwood, Brentwood, and West Hollywood. Lots of UCLA students are subletting their off-campus apartments. Places to avoid are North and East Hollywood. Anything west of La Brea is considered generally good (north of the 405).</p>
<p>The tricky thing about L.A. is the area changes quite quickly from block-to-block, so it’s hard to draw guidelines about where to live. </p>
<p>Check out sublets/temps on Craigslist. They’re furnished and rent for short terms. Also invaluable has been this site:</p>
<p>I personally am going to live in Silver Lake, but I think the commute may be too far for your daughter.</p>
<p>I plan to rent a car for two months. But since I’ll only be 22, the under-25 fees are ungodly expensive (will double the price!). For three months, expect to spend $3000. Many places won’t even rent to anyone under age 21.</p>
<p>L.A. does have a car culture–I hear public transit leaves a lot to be desired, in both geographic restrictions and safety. However, if she lives close enough to her site, it may be possible to bike or walk. Also check out the MTA website for L.A.</p>
<p>Our son had an internship in Pasadena two summers ago. He was traveling from the east coast so housing had to be arranged on line. He used craigslist and got a nice room in a house occupied by grad/prof students. And it was cheap too.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info so far. Unfortunately, the links haven’t been too encouraging – it looks like it will take some effort to find a place to live – there just aren’t the same range of options as DC, for example. </p>
<p>There’s no way she can afford to rent a car and an apartment, on top of the transportation costs of flying out there. I worry about her being in LA without a car – everything I know about LA is that it would be very difficult to do.</p>
<p>She really can manage without a car. There is excellent bus service along Wilshire Blvd, the main street running through the Beverly Hills business area. The vast majority of businesses will be on Wilshire, or walking distance from Wilshire. Check the Los Angeles MTA website for more details. Wilshire then stretches to the west through Westwood, West Los Angeles, and on to Santa Monica (and the beach!). Try checking those areas on the LA craigslist (use the westside-southbay tab). The Santa Monica bus service has numerous routes that feed into UCLA. If you’re living near a Santa Monica bus stop, you’re one transfer away from Beverly Hills. Alternatively, you could try slightly east of Beverly Hills (Carthay Circle), but I think your D’s best bet is to look to the west. </p>
<p>You can also take the Wilshire rapid bus east to the museums of mid-wilshire, downtown and connections to LA’s subway. Important for the summer, there are also shuttle buses to the Hollywood Bowl (outdoor evening concerts, essence of LA). </p>
<p>luckystar, let me correct a few nits. North Hollywood is on the other side of the Santa Monica mountains from Los Angeles’s west side. Also, the San Diego Freeway runs north/south, so you won’t be able to find housing “north” of it. Some westsiders will airily proclaim that nothing east of the San Diego Freeway can be considered the LA west side. Such people are full of it Silver Lake is a lovely area, but it would be difficult to live there and commute without a car.</p>
<p>Whoops, my bad. I meant north of the 10 (Santa Monica Freeway). And I agree with you–being east of the 405 is fine! La Brea was the informal boundary I heard for “west.” Thanks for the correction–as you can see, I’m still learning a lot myself.</p>
<p>I do think it would be possible to live in West Hollywood/Westwood, etc., without a car and commute. Personally, I’d rather spend my money on an apartment in a safe area with good public transit than be in a more dangerous one with a car. I’ve spoken to a few people who have managed the summer fine without a car and in fact were urged NOT to bring one (admittedly, they commuted downtown, but still).</p>
<p>Sorry to hijack, but can I probe everyone’s collective wisdom for a sec? The place I just rented is right near the Silver Lake Reservoir. Does anyone know much about that?</p>
<p>Beverly Hills is about three blocks deep on either side of Wilshire in terms of businesses. If you PM me the address, I can tell you the walking distance – the street number is sufficient if you don’t want to name the street. Or you can google a map of Beverly Hills and see for yourself. So it’s a short walk from the bus. UCLA dorms are also about 4-5 blocks North of Wilshire as is most of the apartment housing. So it should be completely doable without a car which, believe me, is saying something in Los Angeles.</p>
<p>Not sure where the resevoir is but you might want to check if it’s Sliverlake proper or Echo Park or right on the border. Kind of makes a difference.</p>
<p>mimk6 – we did plug the address into google maps and looked at the bus route – it is walking distance. It is nice to hear that LA without a car can be done. I’m feeling better about this - thanks!</p>
<p>My kids are in LA & have no car–definitely “do-able,” no matter how they plead they HAVE to have one.</p>
<p>My S is trying to decide what will happen to his rental apartment while he’s in VA for the summer–it’s a 12-month lease but his is near USC, where he attends school. His room mate is still figuring out his summer plans.</p>
<p>If there are other kids at the internship place also, there will often be one with a car. D went on an internship to Atlanta one summer and someone was kind enough to give her a ride to work since she was on the way to work anyway. The ones with cars also drove for social events.</p>
Silver Lake is a lovely area, but it would be difficult to live there and commute without a car.</p>