It depends. It’s less variable that Santa Monica- more consistently upscale. It’s just another option.
Agree with cbreeze re: Oakwood Apartments… at least that’s my memory of them from decades ago, too. (granted more recent developments might be better)
Suggest you see if you can find either a guest house on someone’s property; or someone, like a professor, away for the summer, who is open to renting their house or condo. Not certain you could find maid service, except at a long-term residential style hotel. Easier to pay a housekeeper.
Also chuckled about Santa Monica real estate. It was the model for Raymond Chandler’s Bay City… it’s basically a beach town with historically upscale and downscale life.
As others point out, you can cast a wider net. My guess is you’re looking for an upscale place on the Westside… which could include WLA, Brentwood, Pacific Palisades, Malibu, parts of Venice…
Take into consideration transportation … traffic’s gotten much more congested even over the past year in Santa Monica … And, check when the light rail is scheduled to open.
We stayed at the Oakwood Apartments in Venice beach some time ago for a couple of months, when my kids were doing a Johns Hopkins program. It was nice, spacious, good pool—but I don’t recall any (or much) maid service, so it wasn’t like an upscale hotel. However, the price was pretty decent for what we got, a smaller apartment that we didn’t have to furnish.
Depending on where he is working Manhattan Beach might be an option.
I LOVE Manhattan Beach. Such a nice beach, great little downtown area, great restaurants, mall nearby.
We stayed in the Oakwood Apartments in Marina del Rey/Venice for 6-8 weeks for 3 consecutive summers (2005, 2006, 2007). Like busdriver said, they weren’t bad & there was a nice pool & common area with picnic tables & gas grills. We cooked out almost every night. Each summer’s experience varied depending on the rotating Oakwood clientele. One summer we had women basketball players from the Los Angeles Sparks (Lisa Leslie was a regular visitor). Another summer there were a bunch of drug dealers & Japanese businessmen learning English. Another summer there were some foul-mouthed management trainees fresh out of college who partied all night, every night in the apartment above us. (We complained to the apartment management & got them kicked out of the complex.) That same summer we also had a group of French musicians who sang us to sleep each night with lovely chansons & ballads. My point is that the Oakwood Apts are not consistently bad but they can be highly variable.
^^^^That certainly doesn’t sound like the “upscale” experience the OP is looking to splurge on. Yikes!
That sounds pretty awful! I feel fortunate that the group that was there when we were, were a number of families and corporate types, very harmless. I don’t think I would stay there, then!
Hmmm, my son spent a few months at an O Atwood complex. Nice pool area. W/d in apt., granite counters. I guess he was fortunate that there were no noisy neighbors.
I’ve done a lot of looking! It seems like I need to focus on a few specific buildings. Some of the rents are $6K/mo for a one bedroom…seems really high and for that price I would like it to be very nice with some amenities - nice pool, at least. Anyone familiar with the Charmont?
An update. After contacting and speaking to people at VRBO, Airbnb, Tripadvisor, etc., I’ve come to find out that much of what is shown on those sites is not actually available! Not to worry, these folks do a quick switcheroo and offer up other properties (always more expensive). It’s head spinning. Still haven’t found anything, but we are getting closer after weeding out the scam artists. It’s been really time consuming. I’d never use any of these services unless absolutely desperate.
Wow, keep us posted. I’ve never looked for something for the whole summer, just a couple of weeks. You are probably going to have a lot of trouble finding something since it is already May and I bet each of those rentals has at least a couple of summer weeks booked on their calendar.
Gourmetmom, I’ve used VRBO and have never had the bait and switch you are talking about. Never. Granted, not in Santa Monica, but never a problem. We have used airbnb also, with no issues.
I’ve never had the bait and switch either. Probably she is sending an inquiry to a few rentals that are managed by companies (not owners) and they are offering whatever they have available.
Here is an alternative that might work. There may be a lot of UCLA or other college students who are ’ sub letting’ their room in an apartment for the summer. This happens a lot when students are forced to sign year long leases and then are gone during the summer. You might want to focus on getting one of those sublet rooms for your college student for the internship. Try to see if you can find something on the UCLA or Santa Monica City College website.
Then, you can focus on finding something absolutely wonderful for the specific period you want to visit - there will be a lot of vacation rentals available for a shorter period in the summer.
If the internship is in Santa Monica and you want upscale and you are willing to drive, then consider
- Santa Monica, north of Montana
- Pacific Palisades
- Brentwood
- Holmby Hills
- Marina Del Rey
- Playa Del Rey (probably lots of new rental townhouse places around here)
- Century City
- Cheviot Hills
- West Los Angeles
Other places, slightly less upscale, but still very nice:
- Culver City
- Palms
- Mar Vista
For more upscale rental, you can also consider looking on Zillow and Trulia.
I lived in Pacific Palisades for 10 years. All of it is nice and will probably more likely fit what you are looking for.
Manhattan Beach, how about this one? If the internship is in Venice as I’m thinking of one company nearby.
http://www.vrbo.com/680371
Mine lives near this area and has an corner office near Venice beach so the commute is not bad. She said about 15-20 minutes.
From Venice to Santa Monica is maybe another 20 mins in rush hour. So more like 45 mins each way from Manhattan Beach to SM in rush hour. But the property looks fun. Right on the Strand. (The strand is a bike path that goes from Santa Monica to Redondo Beach/Palos Verdes. Lots of people riding bikes, rollerblading, etc on the path). Fantastic. Having parking is a big plus and difficult to get in MB. Manhattan Beach will have a younger and more athletic vibe. Pacific Palisades will have more of an older or family vibe.
I don’t know the exact place of this internship but my daughter thinks Snap chat(I’m thinking this is the company) is near Venice more than Santa Monica.
Here is another nice one for less than $5k in Manhattan Beach
http://www.vrbo.com/680372
Thanks for the help! Manhattan Beach is way, way too far. Venice Beach closer to Santa Monica up to Santa Monica for either walk or a bike ride to work. I think the bait and switch is part of the deal there because properties turn over so fast. There is actually a lot to see online, but by the time you see them, someone else has dibs. It sounds like many of those fall through, so they’re back on again. Most people just leave the properties up whether they are available or not just in case a renter falls through. It’s much easier when renting for a week or less. I’m having better luck with a local realtor who deals with apartment managers…once I decide, she’s going to put the property online just for me so I can pay securely. She mentioned that she’s going to get a ton of calls and emails about it even if it’s only up for a day.
You have to be careful with Venice Beach; most of it has been thoroughly gentrified but there are still pockets of very bad neighborhoods with gang activity, etc. Most of Venice is perfectly safe, but I’d be hesitant to rent a place there sight unseen without walking the particular neighborhood at night.