Apartment Reviews for The Madison - Hollywood

We rented an apartment at the Madison for our son and girlfriend while he spent a year attending MI. It may have some bad reviews on sites, but they had no complaints about the place. We spent 3 long days looking at Hollywood apts and were trying to keep it in the $1200 price range. The Madison was the 2nd or 3rd place we looked at decided to keep looking because at $1365, we were hoping to pay a little less. We looked at probably 20 scary, dumpy apartments in the area that we would not want our son living in. Some of them were even a little higher in rent! It became evident that the Madison was by far a great value for what we were getting. The only other apartment we saw that was as nice was several blocks away and cost over $1800 a month! They lived there almost a year and their apartment was clean and lovely. It was a studio but was huge - easily fit separate bedroom area, living area, and dining area in the one big room. The entry downstairs was secure, well-lit and very nice. The maintenance man was always very nice and helpful to them; in fact, they felt bad for him because they witnessed other tenants being rude to him and treating him like a second-class citizen because he did not speak English well. True, Bert was often not in the office, but he was a friendly, laid-back guy and they had no issues with him. The ONLY complaints: the pool was never completed (although it appeared as thought they were actually completing it about a week before they left, so maybe it is now?) and noise from the club at Hollywood and Highland behind the Chinese Theater on weekend nights. (They had an apartment and balcony overlooking the Kodak Theater) All in all, the building's proximity to the subway, Fresh 'n' Easy, MI, food and entertainment, and the quality of the place (YOU compare it to other apartments in the area and see if you can find as lovely a place for that price!) made it an excellent choice for us. One reviewer complained that she saw a model apt that was in excellent condition, then signed a lease for a different one, sight unseen, and it was in disrepair. All I can say is, don't sign a lease without personally inspecting an apt first!