Irish people living in Los Angeles

pb032

Hi guys,

I have just applied for the year long graduate visa to the US. Two of my friends and I are moving to Los Angeles in August. We've all got degrees in BBS & Marketing. I've heard that there isn't many Irish people living there. Is this true? It's just that we have very few contacts in LA and would love to get chatting to some Irish living there at the moment. Thanks!

duckmusic

Look up the Wild Geese GAA club on facebook and reach out to them there. It is the best way to meet other Irish people, as there isn't really an Irish area like other cities. They are always looking for players, and even if you don't play/ have no idea what you are doing its worth training with them to meet people... and you will mostlikely still make the team :P

brenchy

Hey, I have also applied for a graduate visa and am planning to travel to LA the end of Aug/early Sept. I'm travelling on my own but at least 3 others are flying over on the same visa in Nov. I will deffo look up this GAA club!

pb032

sweet thanks I just added them on facebook

pb032

brenchy wrote: »

Hey, I have also applied for a graduate visa and am planning to travel to LA the end of Aug/early Sept. I'm travelling on my own but at least 3 others are flying over on the same visa in Nov. I will deffo look up this GAA club!

Where are you planning on living in LA? also have you looked for jobs? its pretty tough looking for jobs this far away!

JONJO THE MISER

Be wary of what part of L.A u live in, a lot of the areas are a no go for white people.

brenchy

I'm not sure yet which part. I've tried applying for a few jobs but pretty much all of them require an address within the U.S. I think it's best to get one while over there or at least have accommodation sorted first. How are you going about looking for accommodation? I've been just scanning through craigslist!

pb032

brenchy wrote: »

I'm not sure yet which part. I've tried applying for a few jobs but pretty much all of them require an address within the U.S. I think it's best to get one while over there or at least have accommodation sorted first. How are you going about looking for accommodation? I've been just scanning through craigslist!

Havn't had a proper look yet. Just waiting until I have the visa secured first then the job hunt and accomodation search will properly start. What kinda work u looking for?

pb032

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

Be wary of what part of L.A u live in, a lot of the areas are a no go for white people.

Really? I was in Orange County last year and they were saying that LA has become very mexican in parts. I hear manhatton beach, Marina Del Ray and west hollywood have all got nice neighbourhoods. Downtown, Compton and east LA are the dodgiest to live in are they?

brenchy

I have a degree in microbiology so i'll be looking for work in labs. There are a lot of pharmaceutical companies located there so fingers crossed i'll get a job. Do you know yet what part of LA you might be living?

pb032

brenchy wrote: »

I have a degree in microbiology so i'll be looking for work in labs. There are a lot of pharmaceutical companies located there so fingers crossed i'll get a job. Do you know yet what part of LA you might be living?

Ideally it would be Marina del ray or Hermosa Beach but accomodation is expensive. We may live in Orange County if we can sort jobs before we go. But I'm not sure, the most affordable, safe places in LA are apparently Hollywood.

InTheTrees

I've never lived in LA but I've been there numerous times from the Bay Area. Stayed with friends all over, stayed in hotels, stayed for extended periods for work, etc.

Take a look at a map. The dodgy areas are directly east of the airport. As a huge massive generalization I'd avoid living anywhere south of the 10 and north of 91.

Santa Monica or Venice would be first choice. Except if you're looking at anything techy I'd say you'd want to be more inland.

Cars? I would certainly plan on getting a car as soon as possible. LA was purpose built for cars, it is intentionally spread out over a very wide area, public transport is difficult in those circumstances. In twenty years plus in the USA i've never met anyone who commutes by public transport in LA, so if you are planning on that I'd certainly take look at bus schedules because that may determine where you can live.

InTheTrees

brenchy wrote: »

I have a degree in microbiology so i'll be looking for work in labs. There are a lot of pharmaceutical companies located there so fingers crossed i'll get a job. Do you know yet what part of LA you might be living?

Those sort of companies tend to cluster together so I'd try and identify the area that is most convenient to them and look for accommodation there.

InTheTrees

pb032 wrote: »

Really? I was in Orange County last year and they were saying that LA has become very mexican in parts.

Quick history lesson.

California was originally part of Mexico. Then it was an independent country for twenty five years. Then it joined the USA in 1850.

So best not to call hispanic people "mexicans" unless you know they're actually from Mexico, They're californians and they've probably been there longer than the white people and dont consider themselves mexicans.

Yes, there's a major problem with Illegal immigrants coming over the Mexican border but those people have come from throughout central and south america, they're not all mexicans.

pb032

InTheTrees wrote: »

I've never lived in LA but I've been there numerous times from the Bay Area. Stayed with friends all over, stayed in hotels, stayed for extended periods for work, etc.

Take a look at a map. The dodgy areas are directly east of the airport. As a huge massive generalization I'd avoid living anywhere south of the 10 and north of 91.

Santa Monica or Venice would be first choice. Except if you're looking at anything techy I'd say you'd want to be more inland.

Cars? I would certainly plan on getting a car as soon as possible. LA was purpose built for cars, it is intentionally spread out over a very wide area, public transport is difficult in those circumstances. In twenty years plus in the USA i've never met anyone who commutes by public transport in LA, so if you are planning on that I'd certainly take look at bus schedules because that may determine where you can live.

Cool I'll look into it cheers!

TimeToShine

pb032 wrote: »

Havn't had a proper look yet. Just waiting until I have the visa secured first then the job hunt and accomodation search will properly start. What kinda work u looking for?

I was under the impression that you had to have the job sorted before you went over, is this incorrect?

I'm hoping to go next year to LA as well.

pb032

TimeToShine wrote: »

I was under the impression that you had to have the job sorted before you went over, is this incorrect?

I'm hoping to go next year to LA as well.

Hey you can go over without a job for sure. None of us have jobs sorted and I know people that went over wothout jobs before too. Have you done much looking into living and working in LA for the year? Also what month are u going over?

pb032

TimeToShine wrote: »

I was under the impression that you had to have the job sorted before you went over, is this incorrect?

I'm hoping to go next year to LA as well.

Hey you can go over without a job for sure. None of us have jobs sorted and I know people that went over wothout jobs before too. Have you done much looking into living and working in LA for the year? Also what month are u going over?

TimeToShine

pb032 wrote: »

Hey you can go over without a job for sure. None of us have jobs sorted and I know people that went over wothout jobs before too. Have you done much looking into living and working in LA for the year? Also what month are u going over?

I won't be going till June of next year at the earliest unfortunately (when I finish my masters) so I'll probably miss your crew out there! I was worried about getting sponsorship from a company and all this stuff I didn't know I could tip over that easily and sort the job out after, thanks!

pb032

TimeToShine wrote: »

I won't be going till June of next year at the earliest unfortunately (when I finish my masters) so I'll probably miss your crew out there! I was worried about getting sponsorship from a company and all this stuff I didn't know I could tip over that easily and sort the job out after, thanks!

No probs. Best of luck!