Avalon I'm told has a reputation for luxury and Avalon Woodland Hills I'm sure is taking that reputation down day by day. That said, at $1600 for a big 2-bedroom with a big deck and access to a heated pool year-round, it's a pretty good deal - not luxury but not crap either. I recommend it so long as you know what you're getting.

Here are the most important things a potential tenant needs to know:

1) High staff turnover. People in the office and especially at the security gate are constantly quitting or being fired or transferred. No idea why, but this impacts any important information you leave with the office - for example, when we moved in, everything was setup by a worker who transferred to San Diego - and nearly every detail of our move-in was forgotten in the process. We almost weren't able to move in as a result - not a fun way to start things off.

2) The look of luxury is faked. For example, the "tile" floors are actually a plastic sheet with a tile print on them in the bathroom and kitchen. This does have an upside: It's smoother than tile (no gaps) so it's actually easier to clean.

3) Good sound-proofing. If you close your windows and sliding glass door you can be impressively loud without anyone knowing or caring. Open your window though and you're echoing into everyone else's apartment.

4) Weird tenants. The mix here is very strange. I've seen everything from very old people treating this complex as a care facility, to your average tenant, to spoiled 20-somethings living on daddy's dime pretending to be ghetto. The very worst thing I've seen is one such 20-something had a man break in through his 1st-floor window and torture him. I heard the screams at 3am that night and saw the massive trail of blood the next morning. Apparently something to do with owing money to his dealer. Not the most secure feeling after that. But, that's LA I guess.

5) Bonehead parking. The garage is partly underground, so no ugly parking taking up space - I applaud that - but the layout must have been done by someone with a vendetta against drivers. Every space is double-stacked so there's someone blocking you in - in a 2BR that's your roommate blocking you in - hope you never get in a fight! There's 4 Visitor spots per 100 spots, or, in other words, there's 4 taken Visitor spots, so guests are kinda screwed.

That's the important stuff. Less important:

6) Nice pools. There's a big pool for doing laps that's not heated, and a heated pool that's still pretty good size - you could do shorter laps in it but finding room in it in cooler months can be a challenge.

7) Nice views. The view from the heated pool is of nice homes and mountains beyond, best at sunrise, and from the 3rd floor looking northeast is a nice view of the Valley/Chatsworth, especially at sunset. This entire complex is built into a hill, thus the views.

8) Loud garages. For whatever reason, nearly every night someone sets their car alarm off, or gets into an argument in one of the numerous car garages. These garages ECHO, and if you like to have your windows open, you're going to hear it loud and clear.

9) Maintenance climbs your deck railings. If your bedroom window overlooks your deck, this could wake you up with quite the surprise. They'll climb right onto your deck to mess with the water heater without ever knocking etc, and you wake up to several workers just outside your bedroom window. Strange.

10) Don't drive far. If you work south on the 405 or over in Hollywood at a 9-5, you should really move there instead - nothing is worse than traffic on the 405, specifically this section of the 405, on Friday from 3-7pm. Nothing.

11) Weird layout. The layout of the complex takes a long time to get used to - it's a little bit of a labyrinth. I came to really like the unusual look since it means it isn't cookie-cutter and sterile-looking, but guests and delivery people will always be baffled about how to find your apartment.

Overall I liked living here. I didn't have the above hellish commute, the staff was weird but we dealt with it, and it was a great place to relax after work, and parking aside it was a fun place to entertain guests. I do recommend living here, just know what you're getting into before you go for it.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 08/06/2007
this is totally a big lie, we used to live in avalon, it was a great place.
From: Anonymous	Date: 10/31/2007
again, a response likely from staff. the only people that visit this site is usually someone who's looking or lived here. there's no reason you'd write here if you have/had a great experience, fool.
From: Anonymous	Date: 01/21/2008
ok, i am looking for an apartment in this area, and the biggest thing that has pissed me off so far is the blatent posts by the leasing managers. The post here by SoopahMan is extremely helpful, as are most of the posts that tell the story of specific experiences. What I don't get is that a leasing manager would actually think this: "this is totally a big lie, we used to live in avalon, it was a great place." would trick me into thinking a real tenant or ex-tenant posted this comment. There is no data behind why this supposed "tenant" enjoyed the community. It actually tells me two things: 1) The leasing staff is wasting their time on the internet posting fake comments rather than dealing with tenant issues/complaints, and 2) The leasing staff cannot think of a single reason why this place is great, so it must not be. Thank you to the very helpful users on this site that have helped me decide not to pursue this complex.
From: SoopahMan	Date: 08/29/2009
Yeah... just to be clear I recommended this place. Why would you say it's a big lie? Did you read it...? I really liked living there. In fact I liked it so much I came back to consider moving in again. Unfortunately, Avalon has since torn up the big pool and replaced it with a little dinky one for show, torn up all the apartments and doubled their prices in the process. If I could move back to what it was I would, but it's not worth it now.

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