Ask Curbed: What Neighborhood Will Keep Me Safe and Satiated?

A reader writes: "Please do a post on the hidden jewels of LA rentals... the pockets in LA that are still reasonable-that don't reinforce my continued self questioning of how is it that I have worked my butt off all my life, got my MBA, did everything by the book and still find myself struggling with LA rent, living in a neighborhood now exhaling its economic depression in the form of graffiti-ed walls, spiraling sounds of domestic fights, and anger and discontent and weekly shootings. I can't believe that middle America's ideals of Hollywood's glamour are really my horror, walking home briefcase in hand, witnessing a straight up drive by, pointed at MY building. I would have never imagined this is where I would be. So with that, S.O.S., where oh where (neighborhoods?) in LA, can one find REASONABLE rent without:
A) Living in a box
B) Ending up in a box
C) Paying up the box"
Readers, we don't anyone to succumb to the box. Help, please. The reader tells us she's looking for a two-bedroom apartment for around $1,200.
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