**CLAUDIA F. IS ALEX. DO NOT TRUST REVIEWS OVER 1 STAR. I posted his old comment/messages in the photos.**
Edit 8/18: The manager Alex S posted our new address publicly, threatened us, & cursed at us on Yelp, but now Yelp deleted his account (thank you!) PLEASE use a P.O box for your refund check if you move in here or are here already
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When my mom and I first moved into this apartment, everything was amazing. Our old apartment manager, Veronique, made up for the fact that we were paying over $1.5k ($1.6k when we left) for a small 800 square foot apartment (See James C's review). There was a spa (it's gone now), it was safe, it was close to everything. However, once the new manager Alex S. took over, things went downhill fast. We gave our 30 days notice because I went to school & worked over 45 minutes away and it was better for us to move closer over there. Plus, we kept hearing unpleasant stories about the new manager. And quite frankly, we had more furniture than our apartment allowed. It wasn't as if we would get our own episode on Hoarders, but it was crowded.
PROS
-Location: Universal City was 10 minutes away, so we could go to the movies whenever we wanted to. There was also a Ralphs right in front of us and it is super close to the Metro.
-Pets: It's a dog friendly street/apartment.
-Looks: It was a nice building.
-Bathroom: The bathroom was great (although according to the manager, apparently we didn't use it??). The shower wasn't glass doors, it was a really nice curved shower curtain rail.
CONS
-THE MANAGER: Enough said.
-Noise: If you're on the side that's near the freeway, you'll hear freeway traffic. If you're on the side that's on Ventura, you'll hear Ventura traffic. The first or second floor + people and their animals walking around above you = constant noise from above.
-Pets: People don't clean up after their pets. Even though it's a cute tree lined street with grass, the grass is covered in dog poop.
-Safety: There's this little park beside Ralphs on the corner on Campo de Cahuenga and Ventura. There are a lot of bushes, making it a good place for homeless people to live. Police come by sometimes and get them to leave, but most of the time they are there. I found used (uncovered) needles in the park. We have had people leave the door to the stairs open, and our last manager found someone shooting up drugs in our stairway. Someone almost got raped over there. It's not safe after dark, especially because they break the lights along the pathway.
-Bluffside Drive: No parking, lots of traffic 24/7, reckless drivers.
-The Manager: Just please don't do this, don't move in here for your own good. Love yourself.
-The "common area": A couple years ago, we had an above ground spa. They removed the spa and upped our rents. Then, they put in this little fountain covered with a gazebo. No one uses it; if you move here, you won't use it. It's awkward and echo-y.
-Size: This apartment is either a really expensive starter apartment or an apartment for minimalists. If you move in to this apartment, you need to basically throw everything you own out because it is very, very, very small. I had a queen size bed in the master bedroom against the wall. We had around 3-4 feet on two sides & 5 feet on the other side.
-Windows: The windows were really small. Even with them open, it was still dark in the bedrooms. It was like a tiny little cave.
-The owner: the only way to get in contact with the owner is when they do their (what felt like monthly) walkthroughs of the apartment or by sending a message to a PO box (which in hindsight is a smart idea when you're dealing with insane lying managers who illegally post your address online). However, we don't even know if she got all her mail: he may look through it first. This in itself is inherently annoying. An email address would have been nice. When Vero was in charge, it wasn't needed. However, when Alex rose to power, it was something we wished we had constantly.
-The Manager: We were supposed to move out on June 28 (we gave a 30 day notice). We fully moved out around noon on June 29. Alex wasn't happy with this; he rented the apartment for July 1st for some reason. I think he expected us to get out a couple weeks earlier so he'd fix it on our dime. He called my mom and screamed at her, saying we should have been out weeks ago. She was crying, and sent the owner a letter. The owner (Miriam) defended Alex, saying he was just doing his job & was upset by the "disarray" in our apt. Of course, to know this he had to enter our apt without our permission = breaking & entering. I did some Googling (his name in quotes plus apartments), and apparently he was the manager for the Lemarsh Apartments in Chatsworth. If "doing your job" means "welding a beer bottle at one of his tenants yelling Im going to kill you, and trying to break the bottle so it would be jagged and cause severe cutting" (as stated in an old review) and yelling at a woman, then count me out. read more