If you want to read what this series of posts is all about, go here.

Disclaimer:

So I thought I’d do a pros and cons for each of the cities (NYC and LA) based on 15 categories of my choosing – i.e the kind of things that are important to me about a place that I chose to live. For example, since I don’t have any children, so you won’t see “education” on the list, but I do love to eat sandwiches, so “food” will definitely be on the list.

Keep in mind these are MY pros and cons…pros and cons that I have come to after living in LA for five years (2000 – 2005) and then living in New York for five years (2005 – 2010).  This is intended to be a fun (and funny) list, and is not to be taken seriously, but I hope some of you, especially those of you who have lived in both places (or experienced them) will enjoy it. Come back tomorrow for Round 9.

08.  LIVING SPACE

My small (approximately 450 SF) two-bedroom apartment in New York is really quite lovely with its hardwood floors and nice light, it’s also in a safe and relatively convenient Upper East Side neighborhood and has a shocking amount of storage (an unheard of four closets, plus four large overhead storage spaces).  However, it’s up four flights of narrow gross stairs, regularly smells like trash/Thai food from the Thai restaurant down below and has a kitchen with approximately 1 square foot of counter space (don’t get me started on the tiny fridge, tiny oven/stove,  and minute cabinet space).  That’s what I get for $2100/month…and honestly, for Manhattan, it’s not a bad deal.  When Adam and I looked for a new place three plus years ago brokers found out what we were paying for what we currently had and they told us we were crazy to move (we didn’t move).

In LA I shared a huge two bedroom (easily 1,000 SF) apartment with my (awesome) roommate Kyle.  We had a nice big eat-in kitchen with crazy amounts of counter space and tons of cabinets and a full size fridge and stove/oven.  We both had decent size bedrooms with closets and two big windows and the living room was large enough to comfortably house a big couch and chair, ottoman, coffee table, entertainment center, bookshelves, an aquarium, and behind a privacy screen my elliptical trainer and a massive heavy bag set up.  It was the living room that dreams are made of.  The apartment also had hardwood floors and nice light.  It was on the ground floor (no narrow stairs!) and the bathroom actually had drawers.  DRAWERS!

You know what else it had?  Don’t lose your shit New York – it had a LINEN CLOSET!  Why have you never heard of linen closets New York, why!?!?!  For that decent location in Studio City we paid $1050…even if you add a couple hundred bucks to it (since it was in 2005, not 2010) it’s still a great deal in comparison.

I also really miss having access to convenient outdoor space in NYC.  In LA, because I lived on the ground floor I could spend time sitting on the steps to our apartment, or even in the somewhat crappy courtyard, and be outside without being far from home, in NYC the closest I get to outside near home is an open window.  Sad.  Advantage:  LA