Moving to Los Angeles

When I was moving to LA back in 1998, I had no idea where to look for Los Angeles movers.

I flew by plane with three huge suitcases, and I hired a freighter to carry my Toyota Camry, with a trunk filled with dishes, my computer and some other housewares to my first home, a guest house in Sierra Madre.   I stored all my furniture in my parent’s house in Virginia, as I figured it would cost more to move it cross country than to buy new stuff.

After I became acquainted with the area, I decided to move to the Westside, and so I had to figure out a way to get all my recently acquired furniture – mostly bought at yard sales and from friends I had met here, to my new house in Santa Monica.  I wish I had known a good resource to find LA movers, as I ended up hiring two guys from the Home Depot parking lot.

The new Mexican-chic Beachwood armoire I had bought from a wealthy couple in Pasadena was the first casualty.  The movers didn’t secure the cabinet doors with the hook latch, and when they moved it, the free swinging hook rubbed against the doorway and dug a deep gash into the front of one of the doors.  The looks of my most prized piece of furniture was destroyed.

Then there was my kitschy 1950s dinette.  One of the guys set a TV on one of the chairs, poking two holes in the seat cushion.  It would cost me more than the value of the chair to have it recovered.

Lastly, the movers dragged my white sofa across the lawn, covering it with grass stains; then they set it on its side on the filthy, wet floor of the moving truck, where it soaked up blackish water, permanently staining the slip covers.  I had to replace them at $750, which was more than I spend on the move.

Next time I will certainly get an insured, permitted Los Angeles moving company with trained personnel who know how to protect my belongings so they arrive undamaged.