I'm interested in spending about 10 days in LA in December to finish up some writing. I don't mind access to natural beauty or beach, but what I most like is to have the ability to walk to different writing/reading venues, mainly cafes. In other words, some street-life distractions are nice. I'm looking to rent an apartment/cottage in Westwood, Beverly Hills, or maybe Hollywood--or perhaps the South beaches (Manhattan/Redondo) or maybe Venice Beach. I'm not interested in heavily touristed areas but something more neighborhoody. My knowledge of day-to-day living in these areas is relatively limited. Advice/opinions welcome.

We know someone who has written two books on the outdoor patio of our Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in Manhattan Beach. Both books were published, and the first one was bought by diCaprio and Scorsese. Maybe the air's lucky there. It's certainly neighborhoody.

What's your rental budget?

Manhattan Beach indeed has that kind of cachet, but it is a bit out of the way from the rest of the world. Maybe you need that?

Less dreamy, more lively, is Santa Monica along the 3rd Street Promenade (a pedestrian-only stretch of shops and cafés etc.) and in the neighboring streets, although with lots of visitors and street people, too. The walks along the promenade with ocean views, and the old-timey pier, and some strolls on the sand down below could be good for a writer's creativity.

Old-town Pasadena has some lovely cafés in a small-town atmosphere, and the wonderful Norton Simon museum, in walking distance from the old-town section, will provide lots of inspiration to you, with its café, gardens, and exhibits, of course.

Forgot to warn you off Hollywood, it is the ultimate turn-off. Beverly Hills - I don't think so. Venice Beach - could do, but it's not for everybody - part crazy-bizarre, part bohemian in a nice way, but also a bit scary to some people who scare easily. Only a limited village feel, and overrun on weekends.

"The walks along the promenade with ocean views, and the old-timey pier, and some strolls on the sand down below could be good for a writer's creativity."

That could describe Manhattan Beach, too, but the two places are otherwise not much alike. SM is a medium-sized city with a lot of action and more city-type problems, like homeless people, traffic, etc. MB is 4 square miles and 35,000 people. SM is 8 square miles, 88,000 people, and a freeway runs through it.

So, it depends on how much "street-life distractions" you want.

We still don't know your budget, but I'm guessing an apartment or cottage in Beverly Hills would be too expensive and something in Westwood would be hard to find because you'd be competing with UCLA students and faculty. Hollywood and Venice are just not to my taste.

Pasadena is a good suggestion if you will have a car to be able to access that "natural beauty" you want, which would be the nearby mountains in this case. But if your 10 days include New Year's Eve and Day, forget it. Pasadena will be a zoo, albeit a fun and interesting zoo.

Coffee Cartel in Redondo Beach's Riviera Village is also known as a writers' haven. Here's a quote from one author's website:
"I take my computer to a great coffee shop in the Redondo Beach Village on Catalina Avenue. It’s called Coffee Cartel. It’s full of mismatched furniture, other writers and artists and interesting people. It’s my home away from home. My favorite table is the one in the corner next to the suit of armor!"

If you are truly "not interested in heavily touristed areas", then I don't think Santa Monica, Venice, Hollywood or Beverly Hills should be on your list. However, you might check out the Los Feliz or Silver Lake areas.

"However, you might check out the Los Feliz or Silver Lake areas."

Yep, we have lots of neighborhoody places. In fact, that's how L.A. is often described: a collection of neighborhoods.

Los Feliz and Silver Lake are near Griffith Park for your "natural beauty" fix.

Thanks, all. I'm choosing between two places--a condo on Vermont and Franklin in Los Feliz and a cottage in Silver Lake--Lyric between Hyperion and St. George. I like the out-the-door convenience of the Vermont condo, but I'm still not clear on the differences between Los Feliz and Silver Lake.

Not much difference - Silver Lake has a bit more of a village feel, with some artsy aspirations and a bit of a kaffeekultur and also gay sensibility, but not in every street - some streets just go on and there is nothing but driveways - depends exactly where you are.

Vermont and Franklin is neither nice nor not nice - just a non-descript city area with shops and restaurants of varying interest, but with little beauty if any.

I can't see either of these feed your inspiration. Silver Lake maybe if you stick by the lake...

But neither holds up when compared to Manhattan Beach, sleepy and out of the way as it is, with the seabrezes and friendly local cafés etc., or Santa Monica with its mix of city features (big stores, small stores, shopping and restaurants galore) and the ocean and a certain laisser-faire cool (sure, homeless people, too, but I don't see them as a "problem" as Jean does).

I think I'd go with the cottage in Silverlake. The location is more residential than Vermont and Franklin, which is flat as a pancake and quite developed. They're stretching by calling it "Los Feliz".

I live near the Silver Lake location you mentioned--and it's still sort of a walk to anything. Lyric and Hyperion has a community theater, a mexican restaurant, and a Collar & Leash pet food store nearby--everything else is a doable but long walk away.

Santa Monica considers the number of homeless in the city to be enough of a problem that earlier this year it adopted an Action Plan for Addressing Homelessness and launched a Panhandling Education Campaign. But, I guess this is a topic better discussed in the Lounge.