I recommend a condo in West Hollywood. I see listings advertised from $125,000 and up. The area would be centrally located for your niece (it's just east of Beverly Hills and would be in the middle of the studios and casters that she'll hopefully get appointments with. It's also near many acting workshops and equity waiver theaters).

The area is well maintained and a single girl should be safe there. Most of the condos have security parking and other measures to insure her family confidence. A drawback is that it's about a 20 minute drive to any freeway.

Edited to add that I recommend your niece start subscribing to Backstage West - also available online. It's the only actor's trade paper (Variety and Hollywood Reporter being industry trades) and it will give her most of all of the information she'll need. It also runs special sections specifically geared to stuff to know if you're new in town - including recommendations of where to live and breakdowns of neighborhoods. I bet you can get their recent one online.

Hope this helps and hope your niece "breaks her leg"!

[This message has been edited by sk3 (edited 04-21-2003).]

[This message has been edited by sk3 (edited 04-21-2003).]