Blackburn Recovery Services runs sober living homes and sober apartments for men, and all of them are on the Westside of Los Angeles. The homes are in Venice, Mar Vista, Cheviot Hills and Mid City. The apartments are in West Los Angeles. We do not have locations anywhere else in the county, and these pages never pretend that we do.
What we do have is a lot of men who come to us from somewhere else. Some grew up in the Valley, some in Long Beach, some in Lancaster or El Monte. They choose the Westside for a fresh start, for a job or a school program, or to stay near a treatment program after discharge. This section of the site is written for them and for the families who help them decide. Pick your part of the county below to see how far it is, how people actually make the trip, and what a move looks like from there.
For the apartments, schedule an apartment tour.
Two kinds of sober housing, one team
Every page in this section points to the same two options. Here is the short version.
Sober living homes
Our sober living for men is the structured choice. Residents are drug tested 3 times a week and alcohol tested daily, and the homes have medication management systems in place. We send weekly updates to families, providers and treatment teams. Residents can work full time and attend local colleges. Tours are available in person or virtually, which helps when the family is on the other side of the county.
Sober apartments
Our sober apartments for men in West Los Angeles are independent living. They are fully furnished, month to month, and include utilities and WiFi. Weekly random drug and alcohol testing is included, and that is the only piece of sober living structure that stays: no curfew and no overnight permission. Most men arrive as a step down after a stay in sober living, but the apartments are open to anyone who qualifies, not only Blackburn residents. Schedule an apartment tour, or call or text (888) 305-5422.
Not sure which one fits? That question is what the first phone call is for. Our guide to sober apartments vs sober living walks through the differences in more detail.
Find your part of Los Angeles County
The county is big, and the trip to the Westside looks very different from each corner of it. Each regional page below covers distance, transit and the specific reasons men from that area make the move. Place pages go one level deeper for individual cities and neighborhoods.
Westside
Home base. Start with the neighborhood pages for our homes in Venice, Mar Vista, Cheviot Hills and Mid City. Nearby places: Santa Monica, Culver City, Palms, West Los Angeles, Westwood, Brentwood, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Marina del Rey, Playa Vista, Westchester and Pacific Palisades.
Downtown and Central LA
Downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, Koreatown and Silver Lake, plus Echo Park, Los Feliz, Westlake and East Hollywood on the regional page.
Eastside and Northeast LA
Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles and Highland Park, plus El Sereno, Lincoln Heights, Eagle Rock and Montebello.
San Fernando Valley
North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Encino, Burbank, Woodland Hills, Northridge, Glendale and Calabasas.
Santa Clarita Valley
Santa Clarita, plus Stevenson Ranch and Castaic on the regional page.
Antelope Valley
Palmdale and Lancaster, plus Quartz Hill, Lake Los Angeles, Acton and Sun Village.
South Bay
Inglewood, Hawthorne, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach and Torrance.
South LA
Leimert Park, West Adams, Watts, Florence-Graham, Westmont, Willowbrook, View Park-Windsor Hills and Ladera Heights, all covered on the regional page.
Harbor and Long Beach
Long Beach and San Pedro, plus Wilmington, Harbor City and Signal Hill.
San Gabriel Valley
Pasadena, El Monte and West Covina, plus Alhambra, Monterey Park, Arcadia, Pomona and the rest of the valley.
Gateway Cities
Downey and Whittier, plus Norwalk, Compton, South Gate, Bellflower, Lakewood and their neighbors.
Malibu and the coast
Malibu, plus Topanga and a note for anyone coming from Catalina Island.
Los Angeles County at a glance
A few numbers help explain why sober housing matters here, and why where you live in early recovery is worth thinking about carefully.
- Population. The county had about 9.69 million residents as of July 1, 2025, down from about 10.01 million at the 2020 Census (U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts).
- Overdose deaths are falling. Public Health reported 2,438 drug-related overdose and poisoning deaths in 2024, down from 3,137 in 2023. That 22% drop was described as the most significant decline in county history (LA County Department of Public Health).
- Fentanyl and methamphetamine. Fentanyl-related deaths fell 37% and methamphetamine-related deaths fell 20% from 2023 to 2024 (LA County Department of Public Health). Adults 26 to 64 had the highest overdose death numbers and rates in the 2023 data.
- Meth is the most common primary substance in the public system. In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, methamphetamine was the primary substance for 30% of county-funded treatment admissions (LA County Board of Supervisors memo, June 2024).
- Recovery housing is growing. The county’s Recovery Bridge Housing program grew from 147 beds in 2017 to 1,735 in 2025 (LA County Substance Abuse Prevention and Control).
The decline is real progress, and it is still thousands of people every year. Stable, sober housing after treatment is one of the ways that number keeps going down.
Help that does not depend on us
If you need treatment or housing help today and Blackburn is not the right fit, the county runs a public line. The Substance Abuse Prevention and Control program’s Substance Abuse Service Helpline is 1-800-854-7771, option 2. It is a free public line. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911.
Moving across the county
A move from Palmdale or Pomona is a bigger undertaking than one from Palms. Blackburn offers sober companion support and sober transport, so a man leaving treatment or leaving home does not have to make the trip alone. Families who stay behind can still be part of things: we run a free virtual family support group every other Tuesday from 6 to 7 PM Pacific, led by a licensed therapist from Blackburn Clinical Services. See our families page for details, and our page for treatment professionals if you are placing a client.
Frequently asked questions
Does Blackburn have sober living outside West Los Angeles?
No. Our sober living homes are in Venice, Mar Vista, Cheviot Hills and Mid City, and our sober apartments are in West Los Angeles. The area pages exist for men from other parts of the county who want to move to the Westside.
Why would someone from another part of LA County move to the Westside for recovery?
The most common reasons are distance from old people and places, a job or school program on the Westside, staying near a treatment program after discharge, and the size of the Westside recovery community. Each regional page explains the trip from that part of the county.
Can I get to the Westside without a car?
From most of the county, yes. The Metro E Line runs from East Los Angeles through Downtown to Santa Monica, with Westside stops including Palms and Culver City. Metro 761 crosses the Sepulveda Pass from the Valley, the K Line connects the South Bay, and Metrolink reaches Union Station from the Antelope Valley.
Are the sober apartments only for men who lived in a Blackburn home?
No. The apartments are open to anyone who qualifies, wherever you are coming from. They are men only, like our sober living homes.
My family lives far from the Westside. How do they stay involved?
Sober living tours can be done virtually, sober living residents’ families get weekly updates, and our free virtual family support group meets every other Tuesday from 6 to 7 PM Pacific, so families can join from home.
Start with a phone call
Tell us where you are coming from and what you need. We will tell you honestly whether sober living or the apartments fits, and whether the Westside makes sense for you at all.
For the apartments, schedule an apartment tour.