I am going to leave a fairly detailed review, since there is only one other review for this property and I figure it might be helpful to other travellers. Firstly, the positive!
I felt the apartment was really well located - walkable to lots of nice eateries on Wilshire and Montana, and also to Ocean Avenue and the beach. There are lots of rental bikes available in the surrounding area, and great bus service (that you’re not going to get in other parts of LA). In general, as a young woman travelling alone, I felt safe in the apartment complex and in the neighbourhood. It's hard to overstate the importance of this.
The kitchen/ dining/ living area is bright, spacious and clean. That’s where I spent most of my time and it’s a really lovely space. The wifi was reliable, the bed was comfortable, and there was plenty of storage space. The host was pleasant and responsive without being intrusive. She provided a few basics I felt were missing, and I think the apartment is now reasonably well equipped for long stays.
Next, the - well, I would not necessarily say “negative.” None of this ruined my stay. But, certainly things to be aware of.
Firstly, the apartment is surrounded by and overlooked by various other apartments. You can clearly see into other people’s apartments, hence they also can see into yours. You can also hear other people going about their daily life - as indeed they can presumably hear you going about yours! So, it’s not amazing in terms of privacy, if that’s important to you, or in terms of quiet. When the person across the hall watches tv or listens to music, every word of that can be heard in the apartment. It’s not a constant cacophony or anything like that, but you can certainly hear, on a pretty regular basis, other people chatting, moving around, and generally going about their lives.
Two particular issues are that the bedroom seems to share a wall with the bedroom of another apartment, and is also directly above the bedroom of the apartment below. The person below snores - audibly. Next door, they have an infant baby who either cries or needs to be fairly regularly soothed by a music-box-style recording of “You Are My Sunshine”! These are obviously not things that the Airbnb owners can do anything about whatsoever, but honestly I did find them wearing after a while just because they impacted a bit on my sleep.
There are about 15 steps up to the apartment - not steep or difficult at all, but just an fyi. Probably would not be a suitable property for anyone with mobility issues.
Bathroom. The good news is that this was clean, in the sense of it had been cleaned. But, it’s just in need of a refurb such that it was hard for it to really LOOK fully clean. The bath is quite badly stained and chipped - I personally would not have wanted to get in it. Equally, the cabinets were so badly stained that I didn’t want to put my things in them. The shower and toilet are okay - the shower has a faucet that is mounted to the wall and cannot be adjusted, so if you are taller than about 5’4”, then you’re going to be crouching down in order to wash your hair. Basically, it’s not by any means that the bathroom is a horror show - it definitely isn’t and I wouldn't want to give that impression. It just isn’t the sort of space you necessarily look around and think “yeah, I can totally see why I’m paying thousands of dollars a month for this.”
The final thing to note is that property has no air con. A small plug-in fan was provided which was appreciated, but honestly it doesn’t make any great difference. I stayed in the property throughout October and felt it was at times very warm. Obviously everyone has different tolerances, but I think in the height of summer, this place would be pretty hot.