This was my first long term stay and I can truly say that I had an amazing time at Mark's place, I can definetely recommend staying with him! He really makes you feel at home! The place itself is clean, in a quite neighborhood, has a beautiful backyard and is actually quite central to several areas of the city (for me it was essentially between my workplace and the beach). It's easy to get to Santa Monica by train and there are several bus stops nearby, so it's definitely possible to get around taking public transport (I even took my surfboard to the beach by train). If you get a car, you can park in the streets, I never had an issue to find a parking spot either. Over all, I had a great summer and I hope, I'll be back one day! :-)