DR Jeanne, the whole affordability thing is just disheartening. It's everywhere now, but L.A. is hideous.
As I think back, as much as I really liked a couple of the places I lived in, I ALWAYS wished I could be at just the next level - in size or quality or location or what have you. And that was in a whole different world! Plus, I was a renter right up till the last place when a good friend offered to help me get into an actual condo, for which of course she could cash out when we sold it. And that was wonderful. But you would cry if I told you what I paid at each place. Hell, *I'll* cry.