Undergraduate Career Services
Yale in Hollywood: Guide to Los Angeles
This guide is intended to help you navigate and experience Los Angeles, but is by no means
comprehensive. For any questions not covered below, try Google, your friends from LA, Yale in
Hollywood Internship Alumni, Undergraduate Career Services, or the Yale in Hollywood Summer
Internship Committee. Enjoy your summer and we’ll see you soon!
--Aaron Kogan and Lisa Holme
Yale in Hollywood Summer Internship Committee
Finding Housing
The best place to look for short term housing in LA, assuming you don't have a family member/friend
to stay with, is Craigslist (check particularly "rooms/shared" and "sublets/temporary"). If you want to
live on the west side, westsiderentals.com is another good resource, although you have to pay a fee
to use it and it may not have as many short term options as craigslist. Oakwood Apartments runs a
bunch of corporate apartments--likely more expensive, but they can be furnished.
Where to Live
This site has a bit more info about the different neighborhoods, particularly about their respective
"personalities." The short answer is that you'll want to live not too far from wherever you're working
because a long commute through the famed traffic of Los Angeles will take years off your life. If
you're working in the valley near or at one of the studios there (Disney, Warner Bros, Universal), you'll
have an easy commute from Silver Lake, Los Feliz, downtown, Echo Park, or nearly anywhere in the
valley. If you're working on the west side, Santa Monica, Venice, Brentwood and West LA are easy
commutes. If you're at / near Sony, Culver City is close. If you're at an agency, Century City and
Beverly Hills are probably your best bets. If you're at Paramount, West Hollywood or Korea Town are
easy. It's pretty intuitive--just look at the map. West Hollywood is big, centrally located, has lots of
young people, and a bunch of bars / restaurants probably within walking distance--it's a very common
place for people to live when they first move to LA, especially if they don't know where they'll be
spending most of their time.
Maps
The Los Angeles Times has created a useful interactive city map of Los Angeles which can give you
information about the different neighborhoods: http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/
Car
The rumors are true: LA is a driving town, and it is recommended to procure a car for the summer.
While there is public transit (mostly buses and some metro) and the weather is nice enough for bike
riding, a car is by far the most convenient way to get around on your own schedule, carrying whatever
stuff you may need throughout the day.
Books to Read
Recommend books on “the industry”:
The Mailroom
Yale Undergraduate Career Services • 55 Whitney Avenue, 3rd Floor, New Haven, CT, 06510 • Online at: http://www.yale.edu/career
Hollywood 101
Save the Cat
Story
Adventures in the Screen Trade
While a bunch of these are about writing, they're also very helpful if you're going to be reading a
bunch of scripts and giving commentary on them, which is a very common activity for interns.
Websites/Industry Sources
Industry News:
- Deadline Hollywood
- Variety
- Hollywood Reporter
- TheWrap
- Film News Briefs (particularly helpful since Variety and Hollywood Reporter have gone mostly
behind the pay wall)
Other:
- Script Shadow & John August’s blog (good for writers in particular)
Financing & Credit
Unfortunately you’ve chosen an industry where paid internships are nearly nonexistent. California
state law requires that employers give interns either college credit or money. Unfortunately Yale
doesn’t give college credit and most entertainment industry companies don’t pay. There are 2 ways
to handle this. One, UCS can send a letter to the school explaining that Yale is supportive of this
internship despite not getting credit for it (and many companies are satisfied by that). Two, you can
enroll at a local college like LA Community College or Santa Monica College for an internship course
(usually costs a few hundred dollars for a term).
Many interns only do internships for part of the week so they can get part time jobs to support
themselves. The Writer’s Network is a site launched by IAC to hire writers on a 100% flexible
freelance basis to write articles on specific subjects (e.g., Home & Garden, Food, Fashion, Travel,
Finance, Parenting, etc)—email Lisa Holme if you’re interested and she can help fast track your
application. Tutoring may slow down in the summer months, but there are a variety of tutoring
companies (Revolution Prep, etc) that might be interested in Yale students. Temp agencies may be
able to place you for work only a couple of days a week (see this link for some focused on the
entertainment industry). Check out UrbanInterns.com for other ideas. Last of all; ask the people who
have interned in previous years to find out what they did!
Restaurants/Eating
Los Angeles is one of the best food cities in the world. Check out Yelp and CitySearch to research
new spots--and eat a lot while you're here!
Jonathan Gold is a food critic for LAWeekly who has won a Pulitzer. He reviews a lot of small ethnic
restaurants, among others and is a great source for where to eat, as is Eat LA and these food
blogs: http://eatingla.blogspot.com/ & http://la.eater.com/
LA Dining Institutions:
- Diddy Riese in Westwood (best and cheapest ice cream sandwich)
- Father's Office in Santa Monica and Culver City (best burger)
Yale Undergraduate Career Services • 55 Whitney Avenue, 3rd Floor, New Haven, CT, 06510 • Online at: http://www.yale.edu/career
- Umami at several locations would also give Father's Office a run for its money
- The Griddle, Square One, and Millie's are some of the best brunch spots
- Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles
- Sprinkles, Crumbs, or Vanilla Bakeshop (cupcakes)
- Pink's Hot Dogs constantly has a line around the block
- Philippe’s (French dipped sandwich)
- Tito's Tacos (cheap Mexican)
- Canter's Deli (open 24 hours)
- Scoops (most delicious and creative ice cream)
- In and Out. Of course.
- Farmer's Markets are all over LA especially on Saturdays and Sundays--get great local fresh
produce!
Entertainment
A bunch of email lists can be customized to focus on LA events (Goldstar Events, Living Social,
Groupon, Thrillist, Daily Candy, Blackboard Eats, etc). LAWeekly has up to date information about
goings on about town.
For arts & culture, check out what's playing at the music center downtown--it's a complex of 3
theaters plus Disney Hall and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion where Center Theater Group, the LA
Phil, and the LA Opera are based. The Hollywood Bowl is the summer home of the Phil and they
also host numerous other bands and performances. There is no shortage of places to check out life
theater (e.g., UCLA Live), comedy (e.g., UCB), and live music (e.g., The Greek Theater).
Entertainment Outdoors
Theme Parks:
Disneyland
Disney's California Adventure
Universal Studios Hollywood
Knott's Berry Farm
Magic Mountain
Raging Waters
Hiking Resources:
Discover LA
Modern Hiker
Movies and Theater:
Cinespia
Independent Shakespeare Company
And you’re in southern California, so you’d be remiss to not hit the beach.
Yale Undergraduate Career Services • 55 Whitney Avenue, 3rd Floor, New Haven, CT, 06510 • Online at: http://www.yale.edu/career