Hi,
I'm from Italy and did my commercial SE at Benbow Aviation in Torrance, just south of LAX in 2002. Nice airport (only one that doesn't get fogged out in the area), nice school and good CFI's.
I've flown all over (FL, TX, CA) and never had a problem, except when I decided to dump money in a big flight academy. DON'T DO IT! There are other schools on the field and at least a reasonably big little school in Santa Monica that might fit your needs.
Good luck
Wisepepper