I was in Los Angeles for 9 days for a certification course for work and I stayed with Helen during this time. She made me feel very welcome and cooked amazing food often. This really helped out allowing me to save money on eating out fast food and eat great food at home! The neighborhood was fine, though I didn't get out much and just went from home to my course and back. Very quiet area during the week and a little noisier on the weekends but definitely nothing that was disturbing to me. The only think I didn't realize up front was there was no A/C but Helen provided a fan for me that I was able to use in my room and that really helped to keep the room cool at night. Though it wasn't that warm, it was nice to be cool at night. Overall, my experience was very good!