African Americans and beach cities. (Long Beach, Anaheim: renting, low crime, homes)

[CeeCee82]

Hubby and I are both African American and currently live in the IE. We hate it. Crime everywhere, definitely running out of decent neighborhoods. We would love to move to a beach city here in So Cal, but I'm worried about it being culturally diverse. Well maybe not so much diverse, but just accepting of other cultures should I say.

I was visiting a relative in a city here in So Cal (she's caucasian). And she took me to several stores to do some shopping. I maybe saw one other black person for hours, and for the most part the residents were very standoffish. I'd hate to have to be a part of a community like that day in and day out.

We're looking for a friendly beach city that doesn't necessarily have to have a huge minority population, but rather one that is accepting of other races and cultures. Somewhere safe to raise our kiddos. Somewhere with a wide variety of adult-only as well as family activities.

Any input is appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[Charles]

Crime everywhere in the IE?
Beach cities are expensive and dense, hard to find parking, lots of DINKS.

Where are your jobs?
Rent or buy? Budget?
Kids now? Later?

[CeeCee82]

Sorry, what are DINKS?

Hubby is an owner operator (trucking) so he's not tied down to one location for the most part.
Renting for the immediate future. We'd like to keep it somewhere in the $2000-$2500 range. Is that realistic?
Currently have 2 kids, 10 and 4 months.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by CeeCee82

Sorry, what are DINKS?

Hubby is an owner operator (trucking) so he's not tied down to one location for the most part.
Renting for the immediate future. We'd like to keep it somewhere in the $2000-$2500 range. Is that realistic?
Currently have 2 kids, 10 and 4 months.

Dual Income No Kids

Why not something a little more family oriented like a suburb with parks, family amenities, open space, low crime, elbow room, less traffic, good schools (though most beach city schools are good in most of SoCal)?

I have four kids 13 and under and I couldn't imagine living in a beach city - not only because of price/sqft but because they are really crowded and sort of "old" (old infrastructure, not master planned, older narrow streets, less open space, etc) and the homes are small.

[mrsltd]

Originally Posted by CeeCee82

Hubby and I are both African American and currently live in the IE. We hate it. Crime everywhere, definitely running out of decent neighborhoods. We would love to move to a beach city here in So Cal, but I'm worried about it being culturally diverse. Well maybe not so much diverse, but just accepting of other cultures should I say.

I was visiting a relative in a city here in So Cal (she's caucasian). And she took me to several stores to do some shopping. I maybe saw one other black person for hours, and for the most part the residents were very standoffish. I'd hate to have to be a part of a community like that day in and day out.

We're looking for a friendly beach city that doesn't necessarily have to have a huge minority population, but rather one that is accepting of other races and cultures. Somewhere safe to raise our kiddos. Somewhere with a wide variety of adult-only as well as family activities.

Any input is appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

I'd go for the southern and eastern LA County cities or north Orange County suburbs.

(Cerritos, Lakewood, some of Norwalk and Artesia, Downey, Whittier, La Habra, Fullerton, etc.)

Not as expensive as the beach cities but perhaps better for crime than some of the IE.

Where in the IE are you? Cities there vary in crime rate as well.

[Count David]

At that price point, you should be fairly well insulated from "all the crime" in the IE.

What you view as "accepting of other cultures" will be mostly personally anecdotal. For example, my mother grew up with this guy in Huntington Beach, a place not particularly viewed as a hotbed of accepting diversity (especially not in the 1970s). My mother's impression was that he got along fine.

You could always move to Long Beach, but I'd personally just look for somewhere I could see me/my family happy. Diversity does not = acceptance, and lack of diversity does not = minorities not welcome.

[Alpha_Dog]

Most of Torrance and the nicer parts of Culver City, both very central. In Long Beach, Belmont Shores and Bixby Knolls are nice areas and would work well for your family. In O.C. -- Fullerton, Brea and Anaheim could be good options as well.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

At that price point, you should be fairly well insulated from "all the crime" in the IE.

What you view as "accepting of other cultures" will be mostly personally anecdotal. For example, my mother grew up with this guy in Huntington Beach, a place not particularly viewed as a hotbed of accepting diversity (especially not in the 1970s). My mother's impression was that he got along fine.

You could always move to Long Beach, but I'd personally just look for somewhere I could see me/my family happy. Diversity does not = acceptance, and lack of diversity does not = minorities not welcome.

Exactly, like I've said before, those percentage of group A to group B numbers shouldn't be the only thing to look at.

Maybe check out Carlsbad, Encinitas or Del Mar.

[BeauCharles]

Head north - Monterey area, particularly Seaside and Marina. Both have fairly sizable (for beach towns in CA) black populations, probably because of Fort Ord being there for so many years. I worked with a number of African-Americans over the years and they all loved the area and never mentioned that they felt unwelcome (mainly because they were locals born and raised). As close as the office was (almost like family) I'm sure they would have shared if they felt that way.

[youtubeDooD]

well, so cal has a lot of issues when it comes to race.

Mexicans seem to hate blacks more than whites. and whites in orange country and ventura aren't too
Fond of blacks either.

Norcal is a much more accepting place for all races really.