“SAFETY: 12810 Caswell apartments are located in a high crime area of the West Side of Los Angeles. This high crime area becomes even more pronounced given the fact the building is next to Venice High School and is located in a neighborhood controlled by gangs: Venice 13, Culver City 13, and Venice Shoreline Crips to name a few. The building is located on the corner of a high traffic 5 way intersection that allows burglars easy access to the building along with a fast escape route to major streets and highways. The balconies on the lower floor apartments give burglars easy access to sliding rear patio doors and entry into apartments. Because of the awkward and non traditional shape of the building there are numerous places for criminals to hide in the garage and inside the common area court yard. NEIGHBORHOOD: 12810 Caswell apartments are located in a high crime area of West Los Angeles (Mar Vista) that is controlled by several violent gangs including Venice 13, Culver City 13, Culver City Boys, and Venice Shoreline Crips. The number 13 represents the letter M for Mexican Mafia; the 13th letter in the alphabet. These gangs directly drive crime and violence in the neighborhood from residential burglary, drug dealing, prostitution, armed robbery, breaking and entering and murder. And these gangs frequently kill each other in broad daylight to keep control of their territory. Venice High School is a few hundred feet away from the apartment complex and it's frequently tagged with gang graffiti for territory marking. Windows to the apartment complex have been shot at several times. You can still see a bullet hole in one of the windows. The neighborhood is run down and has low income apartments with several families packed into one apartment. Unfortunately, these low income apartments frequently house the criminals that make the neighborhood so unsafe. The high crime in this neighborhood makes car and renters insurance at least 30% more expensive. Overpriced high rent plus high crime is an equation that does not add up. NOISE: 12810 Caswell apartments are located on the corner of a five way intersection [Zanja, Caswell and Beethoven] right next to Venice High School and two major boulevards [Venice and Washington]. More than 2,000 cars pass through this five way intersection each day with drivers honking and yelling profanity at each other. 12810 Caswell apartment sit on top of this intersection. The building is in disrepair and jack hammering takes place before 8 AM Monday through Saturday. This jack hammering vibrates the entire building. Second floor units use to have carpet flooring, these units were converted to fake cheap hardwood floors and the noise level is tremendous and disruptive. You can hear everywhere your upstairs neighbors go in their apartment; simple walking sounds like line dancing. These apartments were never designed to have hardwood floors when it comes to noise levels. The garage door to the apartment complex is always breaking down and is not maintained properly. When cars enter and exit the garage several apartments are directly affected by the floor vibrating due to the poor condition of the garage door that frequently breaks down and traps residents inside the garage. There are seven doors in the garage and people are always slamming these doors; you can hear it throughout the apartment complex and it vibrates the walls. Semi trucks from UPS, FedEx, Costco, 99 Cent Store, Los Angeles City Fire Trucks, Ambulances, garbage trucks and school buses use Zanja to avoid heavier traffic on Washington Blvd. You can smell the diesel exhaust from these trucks in your apartment in addition to hearing trucks down shifting and accelerating as they stop at the five way intersection. Venice High School is a few hundred feet away and you are subject to the traffic and noise of kids going to school in the early morning and late afternoon. During the school season you hear the Venice High School Band practicing, emergency school alarms going off at night along with various sporting activities (baseball, football etc.) 12810 Caswell apartments are located in a high crime gang area of West Los Angeles and police helicopters frequently fly overhead at night in a circular pattern for as long at 45 minutes. Culver City Police, Los Angeles Police, Fire Trucks and Ambulances use Zanja St as an alternative to Washington Blvd to respond to emergencies with sirens blaring throughout the night. Loud Harley Davidson motorcycles and high performance cars frequently drag race from the five way intersection and their thunderous roars sets off car alarms throughout the night. Several types of Los Angeles City garbage trucks (general garbage trucks, recycle materials garbage trucks and green plant recycle garbage trucks) drive through the neighborhood starting at 5 AM and this will continue throughout the morning and you can smell their diesel exhaust in your apartment. City of Los Angeles Street Sweeping trucks come through and kick up tremendous amounts of dust and noise. 12810 Caswell uses a private garbage collection service and starting at 6 AM you hear them slamming the gates to the building, slamming the garbage container into the building and creating a lot of disruptive noise. The garage is frequently broken into and you can hear thieves smashing various objects into the outside doors as they try to break in. The noise pollution is significant on a daily basis and it is extremely difficult to get a good nights sleep. This is not an exaggeration.”
— 12810 CASWELL AVE · LOS ANGELES