I live in a tower 2BR/2BA apartment. I'll say that the apartment itself is decent, with a huge, well lit living room and reasonable reliability. No air conditioning (it does get very hot at times), and screens cost extra, which is bothersome.

But as has been mentioned elsewhere, the little things make daily life at Park La Brea annoying, and it really does start to wear on you. Especially with a high-end rent level. Here are some of the worst aspects:

1. The two elevators in my building rarely both work. When they do work, they are exceedingly slow. With a 12-floor, 500 resident building wait times usually average 4-5 minutes. Complaints solve nothing - I'm just glad I don't live on the 12th floor.

2. Parking is a headache. I pay for a spot in a garage, which alleviates that to some degree - but getting to/leaving my spot every day takes several minutes - with PLB's maze of a complex and gates, cards and remotes. Also, PLB has a policy that if you pay for a reserved spot you cannot park elsewhere in the complex, even if there is an open space right in front of your building. I had no idea of that policy, and have gotten tickets for mis-parking.

It is also somewhat amusing that there are dozens of "patrol" and parking related employees on site 24/7. What, exactly, are we as residents paying for' It certainly does not make me feel more secure. I'd gladly take a $100 reduction in rent to get rid of all the excess policy and structure in the parking system. The complex really should just provided everyone a single assigned space, a phone number to call if someone is in your space, a general lot for visitors, and be done with it.

I should add that getting an assigned spot took a few weeks of waiting - the demand is far higher than the supply. I had to call once a week until a spot came up.

Also, it seems like they *regularly* place drastic requirements on residents for one thing or other. This week, they're washing and paving a stretch of road. Giving us a week or two notice, residents who park on the street after 7:45 am will be towed, and residents in adjacent garages can't move their cars after that time until work is completed. They fail to tell us whether we can park elsewhere, or that will incur parking tickets. I'd hate to be out of town and have my car towed.

3. Noise. First, the ceilings and walls are paper thin. It's generally not a nuisance if I'm just hanging out in the apartment, but sleeping early is a huge problem. I can hear any significant sound from the apartment directly above.

Far worse than that, though, is traffic. I live on the east side of PLB, and EVERY street noise reaches my bedroom window. I wake up to traffic at around 6:30 AM, and once or twice in the middle of the night to horns and trucks. I suppose that is something I should have realized before I moved in -- at least I can offer it as a warning to people who are considering PLB.

4. For any rent-related or other issues, the staff is absolutely horrendous. Case and point: One day, posted on our door, we had a "threat" of eviction for failure to pay rent. Posted Friday, it gave us three days to pay the rent that was due about 3 weeks ago, or else we'd be evicted. Now to be clear - we paid our rent on time, and I had a copy of the check that PLB had cashed 3 weeks ago.

But to resolve this issue, I've spent 4 days simply trying to reach someone in the "Accounting" department (the only folks who could resolve it), which apparently took 5-6 straight days off for training. I've left somewhere around 5 voicemails and not gotten a response. Today, the relevant staff member, according to the secretary, is sitting at her desk, but simply ignoring my calls.

Every other situation where we've dealt with staff (someone vandalized my car in the garage, they misticketed my permitted car, etc), while ultimately resolved satisfactorily, has similarly been a giant test of patience.

In sum, Park La Brea is a complex that runs under a rather draconian set of policies and rules, which, in large part because they are implemented terribly and the complex is so large, result in annoyance and frustration rather than the efficiency which I'm sure they envision.

Of course these are just anecdotes. But the point is when I moved in that I'd rarely experience these kinds of things, or that they're too infrequent to really bother me. I realize now that PLB is far more trouble than it's worth.

Our apartment thus far has been mostly fine, but I shudder at the thought of residents who actually do have maintenance or other problems that need significant management attention.

User Responses
From: JRFrogman	Date: 04/21/2008
There is such a dichotomy of opinions for this place. I had the same kinds of experiences in PLB. It seems nothing has really changed. If things are still like this, I can't imagine anyone defending PLB here in this forum. I still think PLB Mgmnt posts all the good reviews but you should read and decide for yourself. In my opinion, this post is a totally accurate description of life in PLB.
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/22/2008
I lived in PLB for eight years (1999 thru 2007). At first it was great, but it's true that the little intricacies of living there eventually wear on you. My biggest complaint is that PLB staff just walk into your place sometimes in the middle of the day unannounced. Communication between residents and the management and staff is practically zero, or minimal at best. Granted, it was a great neighborhood despite the extremely high concentration of people in the immediate area. I mean, leave at 8AM and it's a 1/2 hour drive to get to the 10 freeway or even longer to get to the 101. But, the available offerings in the neighborhood were convenient for shopping, entertainment, etc. All in all, however, considering the high rent there, it got to the point that it just wasn't worth the hassle. I moved to an area a block from USC and it's just as safe, plenty quiet, but half the cost for rent with no hassles at all.
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/22/2008
I had a lot of the same issues while living there. I stayed five months and broke my lease. It was HORRIBLE!! After carefully noting all the many. many things that were wrong PLB let me out of my lease with one month payment. It was worth it! We moved less than one block away to a MUCH more secure bldg. which is cleaner, includes underground secure parking (and window screens) and costs less. Imagine that! If you're not happy there I suggest you move. It will not get any better and PLB will be accountable for NOTHING!
From: plbincompetence	Date: 04/27/2008
lived here for 8 years in garden apartments. this is an accurate description of living in PLB, particularly the ignoramuses that staff the place. they now rent to more rowdy students and allow dogs (out of the blue) so it is getting worse on the noise front too. potential renters need to ask themselves why so many residents take the trouble to vent on this site.
From: Anonymous	Date: 05/05/2008
Totally accurate post. I have airconditioning in my apt, but it doesn't work when it gets hot. Apparently it overheats and just starts blowing room temp air around. We've called to have it repaired three times already. What happens is that they have someone come out like a week later. They look at it, and then they say they have to have the air-conditioning company come out and replace it under warranty, which takes another week. At that point, the temperature is usually cooler, though that won't be the case this time with summer coming up.
From: Anonymous	Date: 09/01/2008
I NEED TO GET OUT OF PLB ASAP. I KNOW THAT SOME PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DO SO WITHOUT PAYING THE "BUY OUT" COST. THERE HAVE BEEN A LOT OF PROBLEMS BETWEEN MY ROOMMATE AND I, INCLUDING THE POLICE (NOT TO GET INTO DETAIL). THE MANAGER HERE NAMED RICHARD IS A COMPLETE ------- AND IT IS BLATANTLY CLEAR THAT PLB WILL TAKE AS MUCH MONEY AS THEY CAN BECAUSE THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT THEIR RESIDENTS. SO, TO WHOMEVER WAS ABLE TO GET OUT OF HERE WITHOUT PAYING THE BUY OUT AFTER ONLY 5 MONTHS, I NEED TO KNOW WHAT TO DO ASAP. THIS IS AN URGENT SITUATION. URGENT. I HATE PLB.
From: Anonymous	Date: 10/05/2008
I have lived here for five years and while it's not been perfect, renting rarely is. I have had my upstairs neighbor flood her bathroom in the middle of the night and had maintenance here in five minutes. I had my car hit and had security racing around and tracking the guy down - they found him and held him for the police. Sure, it can be noisy but compared to NYC, it's a library. I have great neighbors who all look out for each other. Yes, the elevators are a bit slow but it is what it is. Yes, I have gotten the three day notices when accounting has lost my rent check but you handle it. I don't have a problem with them doing that as there are thousands of residents here and I don't expect a dozen fresh baked cookies and a foot massage either. I have always had good relationships with management, then again I have never had the police called on me either. PLB isn't for everyone but no place is.
From: daisy1212	Date: 12/06/2008
get me out of here!!!!!

Your thoughts? Post a response to this review. Display my response: with my username anonymously Responses appear below reviews and one response per user is permitted.

   Free estimates on moving trucks      Find apartment share/roommates