Best value for beach living: LA, OC or San Diego? (Long Beach: rentals, hotels)

[Rachel127]

Hello all!

My fiance and I are considering moving to California sometime within the next few months. I love the beach and I would love to find a studio or preferably one bed apt close to the beach. My fiance loves city life, a perfect apt for him would be a highrise style studio or loft. We are both young, (mid-twenties), and I will most likely be working at a resort or hotel, (I have a degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management), while he will be working in management eslewhere. We would both like to find jobs before we move, so what are some areas that we should consider applying in? I am interested in Santa Monica, Westside LA and Southbay. He likes San Diego area or Possibly the OC. Also, whats the deal with Long Beach? It seems like rentals a quite a bit cheaper there than elsewhere, is it not a safe area? A friend of mine also suggested looking in Ventura area, isn't that kinda far from LA? I know it has some nice beaches, but how is the job/nightlife there? Overall some things we are looking for:
1. A studio or preferably 1 bed apt close to the beach for under $1600
2. Anyplace we live MUST have parking available, we don't want to park on the street.
3. We would like to be near nightlife, restaurants, bars, clubs, and shops.
4. I prefer areas with a more "eclectic" vibe, not cookie-cutter, richie rich areas,
5. Obviously we would both like to be in a safe neighborhood.
6. I have been dying to learn to surf, what is a good beach to learn on and get started at?

Thanks so much for your help!

[NaplesRes]

Long Beach is great in my opinion. It's a big city of 500k people so there is a little of everything from wealthy to poor areas.

Belmont Shore is a place you should definitely check out based on your post. You may want to check out downtown LB as well. You get everything on your list in LB except surfing because of the breakwater but you can surf Huntington which is a 5 minute drive down PCH and that is one of the best places to surf in southern california.

[BRinSM]

i think you will find what you are looking for in just about all of the socal beach cities. the most expensive city that you mentioned will be santa monica and it will be difficult to find a 1br in the price range you mentioned anywhere near the coast. however, there are a lot of good paying jobs in LA. As for the most abundant number of hospitality jobs, SD would probably be your best bet. Lastly, LB is a cool city with its fair share of hotels, but because of the ports, there is no surf at the LB beaches.