Depends what you like and how much you like to drive. I enjoyed living in Long Beach - it's quiet and LA is still accessible. Living in Koreatown close to Western is also good becuase it's relatively cheap.
The beach cities (hermosa, manhattan, redondo) are expensive, but if it's the beach you want then these are great. Santa Monica is a good place to be if you have some money to enjoy the area.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.