250 rooms per night would be right - after all, there are 7 (I think) flights per day to Los ANgeles out of Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane/Auckland, each with 4 tech crew & 15 cabin crew. 19 x 7 = 133. Bear in mind that there are a large number of LA slips that include more than one night, and also the fact that some slips have crew arriving at ~8am & then departing the hotel at ~10 pm the following evening, and you can quite easily see how the requirement is now ~250 rooms per night.
Dizzy - Compton is about 3 stops away on the Long Beach line (subway)...
There's an interesting article on police efforts to clean up Skidrow
here:
Crime was down across the city, but Bratton acknowledged that the LAPD still has work to do to improve some pockets such as downtown's skid row, where a fifth of the city's narcotics arrests were made in 2005. The area has a crime rate of 128 per 1,000 residents.
Although skid row is unlikely to become the draw that Times Square is, there are similarities. The drop in crime in Times Square coincided with a major redevelopment effort that brought Disney and other major corporate names to the once-seedy area. In L.A., the blocks around skid row are undergoing a revitalization, with lofts and high-end condos rising and two major shopping districts planned — one on Bunker Hill, the other near Staples Center.
[NB: Bunker Hill is 2 blocks in one direction from the hotel, while the Staples Centre is about 10 blocks in the other direction - thereby placing the hotel firmly in the 'skid row' district mentioned in the article]
Some downtown activists are encouraged by the LAPD's efforts and note that despite the improvements downtown, skid row remains a major problem. In recent months, revelations that hospitals and outside police agencies dump homeless people in the area have lead to a criminal probe of medical facilities and demands for change from political leaders.
Travel Wiki also has a few interesting things to say about
Safety in Los Angeles:
There are some areas in Los Angeles County that are considered to be less safe than others. The cities between Downtown Los Angeles and the Port of San Pedro are collectively known as South Central, notorious for the Watts Riots in the 1960s, the Los Angeles Riots in the 1990s and made infamous by many gangster rap songs. The area is roughly bounded on the east and west by the 110 and 710 Freeways although areas immediately outside of those boundaries may also be a bit rough around the edges as well. While one can generally travel safely in these areas, travellers should be wary, especially of gang activity and try to avoid the area after dark.
The area east of Downtown L.A., aka East L.A., also has a higher crime rate than other areas and has gang problems as well.