Hi, I'm looking for Hawaiian Gardens info (Long Beach, Orange: real estate, apartments)

[MrVo]

Hello,
I'm planning to buy a property in Hawaiian Gardens but I really don't know much about the area. Have you lived here before? Please give me some insight in Hawaiian Gardens neighborhood.

P.S. The area where I'm planning to stay is the corner of Joliet Ave & 226th St.

Thanks!

[bhcompy]

Hawaiian Gardens is a primarily hispanic place.

It used to be very bad but has cleaned up a lot since the Hawaiian Gardens Casino opened and provided a huge influx of capital to improve the city and afford a stronger police force.

It's about 1mile square. The major arteries are Norwalk and Carson. Bloomfield is the eastern boundry and Pioneer/605fwy is the western boundry. Lakewood starts a few residential streets above Carson, not really extending to Centralia too much, but some places are considered Hawaiian Gardens on the southern side of Centralia(like the Post Office at Norwalk and Centralia). The southern border is 226th.

The area you are looking at I'm not too familiar with(my wife's family lives on other side of Norwalk on Britain and Belshire), but you're on the southern end close to the church/drive thru dairy and Long Beach basically starts at the church. The Long Beach portion is primarily insulated from the Hawaiian Gardens neighborhood though. Anyways, the area the should be one of the better ones(not great, just better) and you are walking distance to the drive thru dairy, a liquor store, donut shop, etc on the corner of 226th and Norwalk.

There are 4 shopping centers(one on each corner) at Norwalk and Carson: 2 discount supermarkets(one is a Food4Less, other is Valu+ or something), Hollywood Video, some banks, 99c store, CVS, some food, etc.

The casino is at Carson and Pioneer, which is to the West. Long Beach Town Center is on the other side of the 605 west of Pioneer and has a Sams Club, Walmart, movie theater, sporting goods, etc.

On the whole, it is the second to last most south city in the southeast corner of LA county. Cypress and Los Alamitos border it to the east and south and are Orange county.

Anyways, to sum up, the area used to be fairly bad and has cleaned up some. It's not longer a slum, but the housing is primarily older compared to the surrounding areas and the residents are primarily mexican/hispanic.

[the one]

co sign what BH said. the hardest part about describing this area is that it is so small so it is bounded by many different other/nicer areas. it is right next to north long beach which has lots of nice areas, many houses with pools and such (a friend of mine lives off armordale), but thats NLBC. another friend of mine lives on the HG side on Juan st. and well its not the prettiest place. tru one can easily slide over to the long beach towne center or to cerritos mall for fun and distraction, but you still have to return to HG. (i prefer the towne center for dinner and a movie)

HG has had a rep for being a lil ruff, but it is supposed to be changing.

one of the down sides is that it is far from the city center of los angeles. and unlike other neighboring areas, HG feels more urban than the surroundig neighborhoods. the houses are closer together, smaller yards, more apts. etc. other local cities have the more suburban feeling. but you will be closer to orange county, and you will be surrounded by nicer places like lakewood and cerritos and eventually this small area will revive itself with the casino money its getting... but really who knows.

it might be a place to invest in property, but i think its still quite a gamble.

if you want, mapquest the adress and click the satelite view and you will see the difference between the surrounding areas and HG. its almost a different world once you are south of 226. you can also check zillow.com for real estate prices, but i think HG home prioces didnt go up like other demographically similar cities.

[bhcompy]

some homes have gone up in value. a lot of the lots are long and thin, so many of them have front houses and backhouses, similar to the los alamitos apartment row area. this helps out property values by a good amount as they're desireable due to rental potential and property developers have been buying them up in bunches to put condos in, which has happened a lot just off of carson east of norwalk past the food4less. this will die down now, but it will come back and happen again sometime in the future

[sgvkev]

That's not a great area... go south a block and you're in a great area. Like has been said, the area changes completely once you enter Long Beach.

[MrVo]

Hi,
I drove by the place twice the other day. It's closer to the corner of 226th and Joliet.

The area is still old. I tried to not judge the neighborhood too much but it did give me a sketchy feeling driving through it.

I did my own research and read a lot about HG and it's really a mix feeling for Hawaiian Gardens. Some people said it's very bad and it's all gang-related, but some said that they have lived there for over 10 years and it's not as bad as it sounded.

Well, what is it? Anymore insight from any of you?

[JTGJR]

I do believe that there was something on the news this past weekend about a double-homicide in Hawaiian Gardens. So, there are still some issues in the area.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by MrVo

Hi,
I drove by the place twice the other day. It's closer to the corner of 226th and Joliet.

The area is still old. I tried to not judge the neighborhood too much but it did give me a sketchy feeling driving through it.

I did my own research and read a lot about HG and it's really a mix feeling for Hawaiian Gardens. Some people said it's very bad and it's all gang-related, but some said that they have lived there for over 10 years and it's not as bad as it sounded.

Well, what is it? Anymore insight from any of you?

I find people who live in bad areas and say "its not that bad" tend to overlook things others wouldn't tolerate. Things like hearing gunshots at night, having the side of their house tagged (oh, but its only once a year), having things stolen from their yard, etc. HG has been a well-known bad area for decades. I've been through there as recently as a couple of years ago it doesn't look good. Any time you have crappy apartments with guys in wife-beaters standing around all day watching cars pass, you're going to have trouble.

[bhcompy]

its not nearly as gang infested as it once was and typically you'll at worst be left alone/ignored as part of the neighborhood if you stick out(ie if you're white). i just wouldnt walk to the liquor store at night or start fights with your neighbors.

Any time you have crappy apartments with guys in wife-beaters standing around all day watching cars pass, you're going to have trouble.

pretty much the whole southern end of hawaiian gardens are houses, not apartments. homeowners are a different type of people than renters in poor areas.

basically its a place to live. i wouldnt want to raise a family there but i would be just fine living there as an adult

[EricJess123]

EWWW.. Hawwian Garbage