The Official "Help me get to California" Thread

[DG films]

LA is nice to visit, but if your going to pick a place to live in CA then you must come check out the Bay Area. :D

[That Nice Guy Beck!]

stay in Brooklyn bro, we just got back from LA it sucks out there, they are both better then wisconsin though you should see the fat beer drinking hill billy mo fos by road america

[BrooklynMW]

Don't worry, I'll be back in BK sooner than later. It's my home and I can't forget that. Just doing a little bit o' exploring. Starting with LA and working my way back.

[b*saint]

Which part of Brooklyn you from anyways?

[BrooklynMW]

Park Slope. I must admit I'm a BK transplant. Originally from Manhattan, Upper West Side/Washington Heights. City boy. Didn't even get my driver's licence till I was 25.

[b*saint]

Dont need one! What did you like better?

[KirkerBezerker]

la is nice to visit, but if your going to pick a place to live in ca then you must come check out the bay area. :d

yup!!

[yobless]

Hey BrooklynMW if you're looking for an apartment just send me a PM. I manage apartments on the side, or at least I will until late November, and I can set you up w/ a network of other managers in the Westside, Hollywood, Valley...

The owner of the building where i'm at is all about credit...if you have good/great credit he'll get you in w/ half a security deposit and maybe drop the rent.

Anyways good luck w/ the trip and your stay in SoCal...don't listen to the haters.

[Irish1]

Hans Wittler's Automotive in Albuquerque, NM is a great BMW shop. They did a great job on my 95 M3 when I was building a track car and kept three E30s I had in excellent shape. Roger and Andreas Wittler and their wry Mom are fun just to be with. You can go to BIMRS.org to track down excellent other Independent BMW shops throughout the US. It's a good resource and I've had positive good experiences with the BMW shops that are part of the BIMRS group. A long road trip is huge fun, the mixture of exhaustion, whimsy, boredom, and seeing new things every moment makes a sweet journey. Sharing it with someone you care about is cool. A great way to change up your life and shift your musical perspective.

Thanks everybody. So far everyone has given great advice. I have decided to keep my car, and take it out there. Levent and I are working on the car, and making sure it's in tip top shape for a 3,000 road trip. Once I get there, I'll decide whether to keep restoring the body, or find something cleaner.

In the meantime, what I'm still looking for out of this thread is a list of service places I can go along the way incase I run into a problem, and then a new place in SD or LA I can use as a regular place. Basically I'm looking for Guten Parts' all over the country.

Also, if there happen to be any cool meets along the way, that'd be fun as well.

[accident]

Castro's Smog and Repair in North Hollywood is the ONLY shop I let wrench on my car, unless it's a super duper emergency. They're pretty heavy into the E30 scene, and Chris is a stellar guy. He is the only person I trust to work on my car when I'm not able.

Then of course there's always the guys like me who will come to you with a trunk full of tools because they need to make the extra money. ;)

As much as I like to bitch about living in California (economy, lack of jobs, too hot), I really do love it here. Like New York, it seems there's something here for everybody.

I wish you luck on your journey, and I want you to know that when you get here the vast majority of the BMW guys will welcome you with open arms. Get at me when you move down, I'll introduce you to the guys and the shop. :)

[dinanm3]

wow staying in San Diego and looking for apartments in LA thats a little far?

[b*saint]

Yea thats a shitty commute.

[dinanm3]

Yea thats a shitty commute.

i know wow thats a little much.
from La to were i'am in orange county is 40 min-1hr drive
to ocean side from here took 1 hr and sand Diego is further.
so hes looking at 2 plus hr drive to look for apartments which you can spend days weeks to do to find one.ow and crap thats one way.so just going up and back is 4 hrs depending on California traffic could be 4hrs one way.
i really recommend staying closer to LA bro if you are looking to live there!


Suggested routes
2 hours 11 mins 4 hours 0 mins in traffic
I-5 S
126 mi
2 hours 18 mins 3 hours 10 mins in traffic
I-405 S and I-5 S
133 mi

[BrooklynMW]

Wow, been away from this thread for a few days. Found some great responses. Will try to get through them all.

Dont need one! What did you like better?

Apples and Oranges. I've loved living in BK for the last 3 years. My neighborhood is great, has some great restaurants, and cheaper rent. It's also a little quieter which was a nice change from Manhattan. On the bad side, it gets a little too quiet at night, and I've been jumped twice since I moved here.

I'm starting to miss Manhattan. but if you want to live in a good area you gotta pay through the nose. If LA don't work out, we may try to go back to Manhattan. But my love for having a car might stifle city living a bit.

Hey BrooklynMW if you're looking for an apartment just send me a PM. I manage apartments on the side, or at least I will until late November, and I can set you up w/ a network of other managers in the Westside, Hollywood, Valley...

Anyways good luck w/ the trip and your stay in SoCal...don't listen to the haters.

Thanks, I may take you up on that. Although we're currently looking for a short term sublet before commiting to a lease. For all we know we may turn right around and go back to New York!

Hans Wittler's Automotive in Albuquerque, NM is a great BMW shop. They did a great job on my 95 M3 when I was building a track car and kept three E30s I had in excellent shape. Roger and Andreas Wittler and their wry Mom are fun just to be with. You can go to BIMRS.org to track down excellent other Independent BMW shops throughout the US. It's a good resource and I've had positive good experiences with the BMW shops that are part of the BIMRS group. A long road trip is huge fun, the mixture of exhaustion, whimsy, boredom, and seeing new things every moment makes a sweet journey. Sharing it with someone you care about is cool. A great way to change up your life and shift your musical perspective.

Thanks man. never knew about BIMRS.org. Great Site!

Castro's Smog and Repair in North Hollywood is the ONLY shop I let wrench on my car, unless it's a super duper emergency. They're pretty heavy into the E30 scene, and Chris is a stellar guy. He is the only person I trust to work on my car when I'm not able.

Then of course there's always the guys like me who will come to you with a trunk full of tools because they need to make the extra money. ;)

As much as I like to bitch about living in California (economy, lack of jobs, too hot), I really do love it here. Like New York, it seems there's something here for everybody.

I wish you luck on your journey, and I want you to know that when you get here the vast majority of the BMW guys will welcome you with open arms. Get at me when you move down, I'll introduce you to the guys and the shop. :)

Yes, Chris Castro has been recommended to me by multiple people. Since I found some great service guys by word of mouth, I'm pretty trusting and I'll probably make him my go to guy. I also hear he'll do a 5 spd swap for a good price, which I hope to do when I get there. (will be a shame to do the road trip in a lousy automatic, but at least I can do the road trip back in a manual.)

Thanks very much. I look forward to meeting the BMW community out there, so far I've gotten a lot of PM's from LA guys who said to ring em up when I get there for a meet. I'm looking forward to it. Although I don't have any complaints about the East Coasters either! They've been very friendly since I joined the community. (except for the occasional stupid threads I tend to start)

wow staying in San Diego and looking for apartments in LA thats a little far?

Yeah I know it's far. But it's a place to stay FOR FREE, where we'll probably also get fed so that's a plus. But my plan is not to drive up to LA aimlessly every day looking for apartments. I will make 3-5 appointments, drive up one day, spend the night at a motel if I have to, seal the deal on a place, and drive back down to SD the next day. No big deal. i may have even found a great place in Mar Vista that a friend is checking out for me.

[b*saint]

Well when you decide to visit the upper west side give me a shout. You can show me around lol.