“Yeah, Inglewood, Inglewood… let’s show these fools how we do this on that west side, ‘cause you and I know it’s the best side.” (Tupac, “California Love”)
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In the Know: Inglewood
Thinking about moving to Inglewood? Inglewood is home to roughly 110,000 people stretched out across 9.1 square miles, so you should have no problem making friends relatively quickly, and finding sugar to borrow from a neighbor should be no problem either. What? Worried about moving in to a boring city? Leave those worries behind, friend. There’s always something going on in Inglewood.
In general, Inglewood has a fairly middle-of-the-road vacancy rate, with slight fluctuations depending on which sub-neighborhood you’re looking to kick it in. If you’re not from California, the bad news is, rental property in Inglewood isn’t the cheapest in the nation. But there’s also good news! In the state of California, Inglewood claims a majority of the state’s lowest month-to-month rental housing. That deserves a high-five, right?
Neighborhoods
So your bags are packed. Now where in Inglewood are you moving? As with any city, Inglewood is broken up into smaller neighborhoods. Here’s the scoop.
North Inglewood: Trailing south of Downtown Los Angeles, this neighborhood has a few high-rise apartments available for a bird’s eye view of one of America’s favorite cities and easy access to the popular nightlife attractions.
La Brea: Quite a few residents opt for the bicycle as a preferred method of transportation, though driving is still the most popular method.
Morningside Park: Located in the eastern pocket of the city. Small apartments are the going theme in this area, and if you find one you like, be sure to snatch it up quickly as Morningside Park has a lower vacancy rate.
Sports Village: Sports Village stacks claim to some of the newest buildings in the area, dating back to the early 2000s (but they’ve still got their fair share of buildings from the 1940s-60s). You’re more likely to find medium-sized apartments in this area and you’ll enjoy having a few more attractions within walking distance from your front door.
Crenshaw Imperial: Small, two bedroom apartments take over much of the living space here. Crenshaw Imperial has a lot of character built in to it as most of the complexes and buildings were established in the 1940s.
Arbor Village:If you don’t know your trees yet, you certainly will after moving to Arbor Village. This neighborhood was founded by Daniel Freeman who took it upon himself to plant groves of trees all over in order to determine which trees grow best in the California climate. So that’s why they call it ‘Arbor Village’? Yep! Mostly small to medium-sized apartments.
City Center: This neighborhood is appropriately named and appropriately positioned, yes, at Inglewood city’s center. But aside from this geographical fun fact, City Center was also once home to America’s first chinchilla farm – now that’s something to write home about! There are nearly always vacancies in City Center, particularly for two bedroom apartments, so you should have no problem finding a new address here.
Living in Inglewood
Inglewood is a very active and communal city. It isn't uncommon for neighbors to make the average 30 minute commute to work in carpools (so you could also say the city is working on lowering pollution – go green!). Moving here will be the beginning of your obsession with Randy’s Donuts and you just might even pick up some skateboarding skills. Plus, you’ll never be too far from the ocean or too far from the city to miss nightlife in Los Angeles.
Inglewood will happily welcome you home (and you’ll rest easy knowing you’re paying nearly half the price that the rest of Southern California does). Good luck!