The mid-wilshire district??

Could you be more detailed? How much is being asked for what type of apartment? What source are you seeing these listings in?

Unless someone's been living in a rent-controlled apartment for a long time, even less than desirable areas can be rather pricey compared to other parts of the country.

My guess is that these great deals you are seeing are in old multi-story buildings (built in 1910 or 1920) with lots of units but no parking.

Maybe these great deals you are seeing closet-sized as well.

You can definitely find 2BR apartments around LA for the same price. Look on Craigslist Los Angeles. They aren't particularly fancy but they aren't dumps either.

I'm surprised to hear that Altanta apartments are so expensive. Are the ones you're referring to right down town? For fancy new apartments in high rise buildings with security parking, the price in LA WILL be much higher. I'm pretty sure that the Swelgroup apartments don't have parking and that's why they're so affordable even though they've been renovated and are lovely buildings.

If you work near where you live, you can manage in LA without a car. Just keep in mind that LA in general isn't geared towards the carless and it's very geographically spread out. Usually people who opt for the bus have no other options. Some folks might feel intimated to use public transit in the evenings. Personally, I'm an advocate for walkable cities and use of mass transit, but LA still has a long way to go.

Are you planning to move first and then find work? Because LA is so spread out, it might be a good idea to not lock yourself into any kind of a lease in case you find a job 20-30 miles away and want to move closer. For example, the UCLA medical center and the USC medical center are 14 miles from each other. Yahoo maps says it's less than 20 minutes by car on the freeway... but that depends on time of day and doesn't account for long intersection signals or looking for parking or walking from wherever you park to the facility. Give yourself 40 minutes if it's not rush hour and you know exactly where you're going. By bus... at least an hour during non-peak hours! And probably a transfer or two as well.

Good luck!

If you have specific questions, I know the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena area best, which is just north-east of downtown LA. The farther you go from there, the less I can tell you about it! I don't have any children so I'm not too attuned to such needs.