Bristol Hotel

I would not recommend you to live in this studio apartment if you ever get another option. Yes, rent is cheap like $ 683.50. But, you will have to suffer basically 24-​hour noise, unsafe neighborhood, and dusky lighting for 13 months. There are so many constructions going on close by and they never end. Bars across the streets will never allow you to have a good night sleep. Not to mention those drunk people yell at each other at 2am.
Some people smoke weed and use drugs in the bundling or on the street. Of course the landlord will never mention any of this. They will tell you how great this place and is and push you to sign the 10ish pages lease.
Did I mention about 13-​month lease? Why not one year? The building manager basically lied to me that it’s a one year lease, but he put 13 months on paper. The worse part about the lease is even though you want to give up your deposit and leave, you will still have to pay for the remaining 13-​month rents. Read the lease agreement carefully, the build manager alway wants to trick you. They will tell you they have many applicants. But in fact, not that many and they love to take advantages of people don’t know the area well. I see people moving in and out all the time.
I should have do more research before I even sign the lease. If you read my review, lucky you.

Okay this leasing office manager «Tommy Lee» is the worse!!! I went there on several accounts DURING regular visiting business hours as stated on their emails. And everytime I come I have been dressed and groomed nicely and have been very polite and patient with this man. But everytime I come he has a stick up is butt and is always so nonchalantly and obnoxiously «busy». He’s always «Just arriving so please come back at another time» or «Just leaving so please come back another day» Like WHO has time for this?! I do not live in the area! Thats very DISRESPECTFUL of my time. I even sent my boyfriend to go in on separate days and times and he did the same to him not even knowing we are tied to each other. So when an email says to come at certain windows of operating hours the manager should be ready! And he is Literally just sitting there! How long does it take to show an apartment? Less than 5? Like really come on dude! Still, I am patient and persistent, I go in one more time this week and he says «Sorry no more vacancies» which is obviously a lie when theres still ads up online! The least he could do is answer his phone so Idont always have to come down there and face him and waste my time.

I’ve been living here for over four years! I liked it so much that I stayed. I have much nicer, quieter neighbors now than during my first review. They make for a peaceful home.
Unfortunately, the entire neighborhood has been an insanely noisy construction site for the past 2 years and will continue to be for several more. As the building on the north side of 8^th and Olive nears its home stretch, the site on the south side just broke ground. The Commercial Exchange building, which faces ours, is undergoing extensive renovation to become a trendy hotel. At some point, a 50 story tower will be built right behind it. All I can say is, shut the windows, keep the air conditioner on, use headphones!
There is a new manager as of late January 2015. He seems nice. We will see how he gets on. The building is up for sale so its future is unknown. The rent was lowered from $ 695 to $ 683 for the ‘larger’ units. We received notices stating that the rent won’t go up before January 1^st, 2016 and that the rent won’t go up before September 30^th, 2016. Huh? For the time being, Hotel Bristol is still a low-​income housing project. The minimum income required is about $ 26,000 and the maximum is about $ 46,000. I’m sorry that one reviewer disagrees. 26 – 46 grand IS low income for downtown L.A.
I was disappointed by the reviews of tenants who left due to roaches. Roaches will travel through the plumbing if allowed to. Simply cover the drains of your shower and bathroom sink when you are done using them and you will not see a roach. Believe me, I would MOVE AWAY if roaches were a problem. The low rent certainly isn’t worth that!
GOOD NEWS: Whole Foods Market is opening next door on November 4^th, 2015!!! No more 45 minute commute each way. The Trader Joe’s at Hollywood and Vine is 7 subway stops (14 minutes) from the 7^th Street Metro station. This area is always improving. New stores such as Urban Outfitters, Ross and GAP are two blocks over on Broadway. Scores of new apartment towers are springing up downtown. Four years ago, this ‘hood was urban decay. It is fast becoming gentrified.

I noticed a current listing for studio units at Bristol Apartments (b.k.a. Bristol Hotel) on
just about a week ago, so I sent an message to the email address listed. The next day I decided to call while I awaited an emailed response (with rent prices at $ 600-​$ 700, I figured I’d better act proactively and fast). The voice greeting mentioned that the property unit availability did not extend beyond October 15 (2014?), and that interested persons could/​should stop by the building office to be added to a wait list. I honestly couldn’t tell if the message was simply outdated or inviting, being that there was still a listing online. So I didn’t rule out my chances just then. I left a detailed voice message and waited.
A couple days later on a Wednesday, I received an email from a Kevin (real estate agent) whose message began by first saying that the management office was closed for the rest of the week (dates seemed very undoubtedly current unlike those in the voice mail greeting) but would be open and available for unit showings starting at 11am today, November 11, 2014. That seemed promising, so I set out this morning to pay a visit to the building office, took the morning off of work, made the 12 minute drive from where I’m currently staying and was met by who I can only assume was either Kevin and/​or the landlord. Not before I stood at the call box rather ignorantly figuring out how to place a call to the management office without looking like some riffraff transient that would be expected of the area. Luckily or perhaps unluckily, Kevin saw my confusion (possibly as a nuisance), quickly approached me, opened the lobby’s front door (which seemed relatively secure from intruders) and asked if I could be helped. Before I spoke, he reached across my line of sight and personal space to the call box in front of me (that had finally been deciphered to ring him) to stop the annoying ringing short, all while never breaking eye contact with me or allowing his expressed irritation to waver. At that point I could already tell that it wasn’t going to be a successful meeting.
He did seem quite bothered so prematurely in the process, which I can only assume stems from his previous experiences. In any case, there were no formal introductions or exchange of names, so I got straight to the point mentioning the online listing. The guy, dressed in business casual attire with a bald head looked well put together but responded that the last unit had just been rented and that there wouldn’t be another opening for at least a year. I found it hard to believe while the offices were supposedly closed for much of the time between receiving an email stating the availability of «a few» units and this morning, but what do I know about this line of business. I’m sure I’m not the only one willing to sacrifice living on a block that appears as if Lady Luck took a giant crap in its gullet for über affordability. I accepted the news and thought then to ask about the wait list. The guy, cautioned that there was no wait list for such a long term and recommended that I just check back, presumably via the online listing or voice greeting that hadn’t been updated since October 15 (2014?).
Fair enough, the universe had spoken and I listened, offering my thanks and handshake which was skeptically received by, the guy. I headed back to my car parked just outside of the building and left the street lined with fully occupied metered-​only spots where I’d paid $ 7 for and hour and thirty-​five minutes worth of time wasted. The closest lot offered monthly parking rates starting at $ 140. The neighborhood could definitely use some TLC but it neither deterred or excited me. The lure of a walking neighborhood helped me to overlook the gritty exterior. I’ve lived in lower class cities for much of my life so another year wouldn’t have hurt.
But all in all, after reading the other unforgiving reviews and experiencing the neighborhood/​management firsthand, my best guess is that I may have just dodged a bullet. I don’t have a very fair assessment of the property itself to offer since I never made it inside. My best advice to those who are as brave would be words that would’ve helped me: Be determined/​direct, grow a tough outer skin, and press «1» to dial the manager.

I was really interested in renting at this place becuase the pricing was great. I called almost everyday for amonth NO ONE EVER ANSWERED. When I was finally able to stop by the manager was quite rude. He acted like it was a bother for him to give me information on the apartments, then he told me I should work on my credit before I try to rent there. I would never want to live in a complex with a manager that is such a jerk.

–Not a good place to live because of roaches
–Very noisy at night
–Chances of you getting mugged around the area
–Manager (Alexander) is rude, tenants don’t like him
Overall, if you want a cheap rent, go rent somewhere else or rent a room with someone. Definitely, I don’t recommend.

The Bristol was fine; incredibly affordable for what you get.
If you’re wondering about what really happened to Sgt. James Doakes on Dexter: he didn’t die in the fire explosion inside the cabin. He faked his death and is now working at the Bristol as their apartment manager.

i stayed at dozens of these L.A. residential hotels because i lived in L.A. as a struggling actor, and most of them were cool, but this one — The Bristol — was one of the worst. Infested with cockroaches, hopefully this has changed. they were crawling up all four walls from the floor and into the ceiling. i killed 75 of them in two hours before i stopped counting, rolled my bed to the middle of the floor, and went to sleep. needless to say, i didn’t stay here very long. i hope and believe this has changed — some of the reviews here seem positive.

The Bristol Apartments are centrally located within the L.A. Basin and as the terms are simple $ 665-​Monthly (+Deposit $ 850.00) includes all utilities and the night life is always vibrant as the Golden Gopher (Bar) is located at the bottom of the building also within the building you can find D-​Town Burger, which is a great diner. Staples center is 5-​Blocks Away and the views are pretty decent.
Now for the actual living experience here… So for starters the crack house is located right next door to the Bristol; thus you’ll find people asking for change all night long and it gets old real fast! You’ll here bottles breaking at various hours of the night, people arguing to the point of a total beat down occurring and not to mention the street fights that randomly take place in front of the building.
More recently my unit was flooded due to a tenant above me carelessly leaving their water on in the restroom and causing mine and 5 other units to be effected with water damage… So management calls me while I’m at work and notifies me of this horrid disaster so I’m like, OK that sucks take care of it! in which the next day they hired a company to come out and vacuum seal, drill and basically dry out the dry wall that was water damaged which was great because I felt like things were getting taken care of right? I’m not thinking of the turn around time that this will actually take to dry but I was informed after the men had set their equipment up that it should take 24-​Hours in which I was okay with. Shortly after Marla, the oversight property Manager representing KM Properties calls me on my cell to inform me of this in which I already new because I was on sight with the water damage repair men; she discloses that it might be a good ideal to stay the night with family and or friends due to the high volume of sound being generated from these blowers/​de-​humidifiers etc. So now I’m a bit irked because isn’t management suppose to supply me with an alternate living arrangement for this inconvenience? I mean why should I have to go find my own place to stay for the night? I didn’t flood these units. No help from management I stay at my friends! The next day I’m hoping this mess will all be over so things can get back to normal and I can actually rest on my day off. The repair men return to check the progress of the dry walls and no can do, the walls are still soaked and I inquire to the recently newly added on-​sight Manager Alexander, that I need to have a place to stay, I have to work tomorrow and I shouldn’t have to be making accommodation’s and arrangement’s for this as I am not at fault. He simply replies «We can’t provide you with a hotel room or another unit». I am upset at this point and dissatisfied with the conduct of these property managers as they are unethical in their business practices and unwilling to take care of what matters most, the tenant.
I advise potential leaser’s to look elsewhere for somewhere to live unless you can deal with this type of living environment and shady management.
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