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Places to sleep in your car near LA?
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Don't have window shades so full blown visibility while sleeping too. |
Alice H wrote: Long Beach near Belmont shore's own shore. I see people sleeping in their cars there and on the beach every morning. |
Alice H wrote: Go to 99 Cent store. Buy 5 or 6 silver reflectix window shades for .99 each. Get a pair of scissors. Window shade problem solved for less than $10. |
AndrewArroz wrote: I'm flexible on where but I'm generally on the beach side. |
Alice H wrote: The beach side has a lot of law enforcement pressure, as I'm sure you know, because it's expensive and draws a lot of homeless people. I've noticed an ongoing encampment of cars and RVs on the mountain side of PCH between Temescal and Sunset. I have a feeling that's kind of a no-man's land in terms of law enforcement. |
AndrewArroz wrote: Yeah that is South Bay for you. Cops in Manhattan and Redondo Beach don't want the riff raff. |
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When we were down there, we were recommended to stay in Malibu (lots of beachside lots). Didn't seem to have a lot of police. We stayed in the Solstice Canyon parking lot, part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation area (federal land so maybe legit?). |
Dawn Liang wrote: Only legit because the Forest Service didn't come by. Isn't the Forest Service being difficult about people car camping outside of NPS boundaries? |
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I've lived in L.A. for 15 years and I have to say, I would be scared to sleep in my car, especially exposed, especially as a woman. I love L.A. the most, but their are some realy weirdos out there! Especially near the beach! Perhaps the longer you live in the city the more paranoid you become? |
Forever Outside wrote: I agree with you entirely. The first 3 months I lived in Santa Monica there were 4 murders on the beach near my house. All different victims and perps. I love LA but if I had to live in a car I'd get very cautious. |
AndrewArroz wrote: I feel not all of LA County beaches are the same. Venice and Santa Monica are downright dirty but Long Beach doesn't look as bad, just super touristy. I guess it depends on how much the local government and police force tolerates. |
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All Walmarts offer free camping in the parking lots for rv. I'm sure that would include car camping |
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I would check out backcountry trailhead parking. Maybe not as close as you want to be but cars are parked for a few days and you won’t be hassled. Lots of these in the San Gabriel Mtns. Fair amount of free first come, first serve car camping too. You have to do some research on the Forest Service and/or BLM site. I wouldn’t feel safe sleeping in an exposed area in town like the beach. Otherwise, I’d just find a neighborhood, park and sleep. Move to a different neighborhood the next day. This has happenedperiodically in neighborhoods I’ve lived in over the years in L.A. Nobody cares if you don’t hangout outside you’re car like the guy who pulled out his lawn chair, open trunk with stereo playing. This is pretty safe imho. |
jg fox wrote: Often, what is true for the housed population is totally different for people living in cars/on the street. Santa Monica, for example, is one of the safest towns with a totally on-it police department if you're a housed citizen. But it's the wild west for people living in the rough. I suspect LB is similar. Venice is movie stars and tech billionaires and shuffling homeless people. Or, as we used to say, Where Art Meets Crime. |
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Rent a motel room. Safer and nicer. |
Dynomike Mj wrote: Its technically illegal in California to stay overnight in WalMart parking lots. They may choose to not enforce this. |
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I see alot of people sleeping on the southbound side of PCH between sunset and topanga (by mastros). You could also just drive north and sleep somewhere on the side of PCH up by leo carillo, theres cars parked there at night pretty often and I cant imagine anyone is stopping and checking |
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^^^ Those people are either sleeping in RVs (an increasing issue in LA) or homeless people camping on the beach. I'd warrant the OP does not want to mingle with either group. If you can't afford someplace to flop for the night or find some place to couch surf (and there even apps for that), I'd consider hitting one of the campgrounds up toward the Ventura County line: Leo Cabrillo or La Jolla. Both get alot of recreational RV'ers (vs. those people who live in theirs full time) and it'll probably set you back only about $20. Having said that, I've lived in LA all my life and don't think it's as unsafe as some claim, but that doesn't mean I'd want to or feel comfortable sleeping in my car. My guess is that you're coming to LA either to enjoy the outdoors, in which case camp or the like, or for some other visit where you have the option of flopping with someone. I don't know why you feel your only option is to sleep in your car. |
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There's a decent amount of campgrounds on the beach north of Malibu before you hit Ventura. They're reasonably nice, but do cost. They're also more removed from the city and everything that comes with that, which is a good thing. I'd highly recommend that over staying in the city. As people have said, many of the beach communities (Venice and Santa Monica especially) can be really sketchy down by the beach at night. Also, the LAPD really frowns upon people sleeping in their cars in many places, and I believe it was recently criminalized. I think that campgrounds up north or getting a room will be the way to go. |
Señor Arroz wrote: When I use to work in Santa Monica that's where I slept. No one ever bothered me there, as long as you have your windows covered you should be good. I was more worried about a car crashing into me while I was sleeping. It was much worse for me living in San Francisco. I saw people breaking windows to steal from cars, and on about 4 separate occasions someone tried opening my door while I was awake inside. I often wonder how many times someone tried to open it while I was asleep.. But in closing, living there and waking up to crashing waves everyday was heaven compared living in my car, in the neighborhoods of San Fran. |
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