Moved here to Emerald West from the east coast almost a year and a half ago, and it's been an overall excellent experience. The biggest upsides to living here are definitely its location, its price, the size of the apartments, the parking and the extreme friendliness and helpfulness of the management and maintenance staff.
Location-wise, it's a stone's throw away from an Albertson's grocery store, a 7-11 and countless *amazing* local restaurants (everything from fast food to top-notch Japanese dining is within 5 minutes' walking distance), and is even accessible to the Del Amo Fashion Center mall with only a 20-minute walk or so. It's also a *very* safe area, where you can feel secure walking down the street and not have to worry about getting jumped or mugged.
Price- and size-wise, my apartment is over 700 square feet (which is pretty darned big by LA standards!) and costs me less than $1200/mo + utilities. You won't find that size for that price anywhere else -- and it's not just big, it's very smartly laid-out, too. Every last inch of those 700+ square feet is totally usable, with closet space absolutely EVERYWHERE and just about the largest living room and bedroom I've ever had.
Parking-wise, a covered space in a gated lot is provided to most residents, and there's even a fairly large storage cubby behind each space. None too shabby!
And the rental staff here is just amazing. Sam and Vern run the place, and they're very communicative -- if you ever need anything, they're just a call or an email away, and they'll bend over backwards to help you solve whatever problem you're experiencing. I don't think I've ever had a maintenance issue that's lasted 24 hours (or even 12, really!) before getting fixed, and even some of my more unreasonable requests have gone answered in no time at all -- they called in to spray for spiders when I saw one too many in my apartment, and Vern even offered to come in and fix my air-conditioner this past week. As in, MY air-conditioner that I bought, not one provided by the rental staff -- and he fixed it successfully, as it's currently running like new!
And as an additional note, this complex is one of those very Californian ones that has a courtyard in the middle, complete with swimming pool and barbecue pit. That sort of scared me at first, as I've heard horror stories of places like that getting pretty skeezy after a while, but this complex is METICULOUSLY maintained. All the foliage is constantly trimmed and pruned, the swimming pool is kept immaculately clean. It's a very inviting, pleasant sight when you step out your front door.
There are a few downsides, though -- but to be fair, most of them would apply to almost every apartment complex in this area, because most of them are a result of the building's age -- and the majority of Torrance is pretty old.
The biggest downside, for me, is the bugs. Nothing horrific, but I do find silverfish in here on a fairly regular basis, and spiders aren't too uncommon either. This seems to be common in buildings this old, especially ones with popcorn ceilings (dunno why, but it seems like every apartment I've ever been in that's had popcorn ceilings has also had silverfish!). I have a major bug phobia, so every silverfish and every spider I see freaks me out -- but the fact that I'm still living here is a testament to how much the good points counterbalance that. If you have a bug phobia yourself, this place might not be ideal, but it's still probably the best you'll find in Torrance, especially for the price.
Another downside that, again, is probably very common in this area are the paper-thin walls and floors. I'm a bit of a night owl, and I'm not used to stepping lightly after 10pm because most other apartments I've lived in have had extremely solid, thick construction. But around here, most of the buildings are from the 60s and 70s, so noise tends to travel pretty well. That having been said, the "quiet time" after 10pm seems to be fairly strictly enforced, as I rarely hear my neighbors -- but I have been reprimanded by a few of them for being too loud late at night, so if you're a night owl with loud tendencies, be prepared to rein those in a bit after moving here!
The laundry room here is always kept clean, but there are only 3 washers and 3 dryers, and they do fill up pretty fast -- so when doing laundry, you may need to plan ahead a bit!
And finally, the last downside I can think of is the pullout onto Emerald Street. Although I've been fine pulling out onto Emerald this past year and a half, it has occasionally been a bit hairy! Cars park on the street right up to the pullout itself, totally blocking you from seeing whether or not anything is coming -- and there's no mirror across the way or anything to make it any easier. You have to inch your way out, then either gun it, hold still, or back up. It can be nerve-wracking!
But overall, great place to live. The good points far outweigh the bad. Definitely recommended! read more
