To get around in the city in a reasonable time you need a car due to the huge city area consisting of several (sub) cities like hollywood, beverly hills, santa monica etc.
we visited Zack's place in September and at the beach were several homeless people. next bus station is a 10 minutes walk and from there about 20 minutes to the next interesting place santa monica. it is a small room in a small appartement zack is a cool and very friendly guy.