Irvine, Long Beach, Huntington Beach to Riverside (Santa Ana, Anaheim: apartments, for rent)

[esya]

Tell me the reasons why I could not commute (train would be great!) to UC Riverside from one of these locations.

Tell me what it would cost to rent a two bedroom in one of these locations.

Tell me whether this move would get me closer to (relaxing!) weekends at the beach.

[bhcompy]

well, looking at the metrolink website it seems that you can take the inland empire-orange county line irvine or HB into riverside. there is a downtown riverside stop, dont know where that is in relationship to UCR. starting points would be the irvine station for irvine and probably santa ana for hb

from long beach you could take the metro blue line into union station and take that into riverside on the riverside line, but that would take way too long. a better option would be to drive to the norwalk/santa fe springs station and take the 91 line

[esya]

I was looking at the metrolink and the trips all include both rail and bus and say they take 3 hours one way, at least the ones I found.

Thanks for the more helpful line info, though--I know NYC but not LA.

[ConsideringLA]

The good news is you are running against traffic to go to Riverside from the OC area. You might consider looking at an area like Anaheim Hills or Placentia, which is about 25 minutes from the beach and/or a 14 mile bike ride straight to Huntington Beach via the Santa Ana River path. This is a class 1, easy, mostly flat path devoid of cars and signals. That would put you on a direct shot from the metrolink station to Riverside without switching trains. I think the station is at La Palma and Pacificenter. You can also fall back to a car just in case with no trouble - that commute from Anaheim area would be a relative breeze given the cars are stacked up going the other way. Figure $1200 - $1400 per month for a decent 2 bedroom place in this area. Anaheim Hills has quite a few condos for rent and would be an easy bike ride to the metrolink station.

Here's a thought: consider UCI/UCLA and living close to campus. That would give you both the both the beach and the school.

The Irvine area has more palatable housing options than LA simply because the Irvine Company has a business renting apartments -- and there are a lot of them. Go to www.rentalliving.com to see Irvine Company's rates - they can sometimes be outrageous, but they are the "gold standard" in apartments.

For inexpensive apts near UCLA, check out the Venice area. Since there are rent controlled areas nearby in SM, the turnover is incredibly low.

Huntington Beach is a cool option, but not for mass transit. It's relatively inexpensive compared to most beach towns, but it is tough from a mass transit perspective to get in and out of there.

[bhcompy]

the 91 is terrible most daylight hours and some nighttime hours. i wouldnt suggest it to anyone for travelling between oc and riverside

[ConsideringLA]

Originally Posted by bhcompy

the 91 is terrible most daylight hours and some nighttime hours. i wouldnt suggest it to anyone for travelling between oc and riverside

Except if you're travelling TO riverside from OC in the morning, and TO OC from Riverside in the evening.

Everyone's going the other way because there just aren't enough jobs inland...

[NaplesRes]

Long Beach offers the most variety of options in terms of housing and is going to be the most fun for a college student in my opinion. Living near the beach for a two bedroom is going to run 1500 - 2500 most likely. The train probably takes you out there but don't know how long it takes.

[bhcompy]

Originally Posted by ConsideringLA

Except if you're travelling TO riverside from OC in the morning, and TO OC from Riverside in the evening.

Everyone's going the other way because there just aren't enough jobs inland...

i dunno, ive driven out that way many times during the day(i work in car dealerships on occassions and there are plenty in corona, riverside, san bernardino, etc) and it usually never fails to have gridlock from yorba linda to somewhere near the corona city limits.

anecdotal data for sure, but its not like the IE is empty of business and industry

[LivingLikeAGradStudent]

If you want nice weekends, live near UCR and take trains/bus/fly/drive to the beach on Saturday and Sunday. Complicating your life with a long commute while going to school seems unnecessary.

[katenik]

Originally Posted by bhcompy

i dunno, ive driven out that way many times during the day(i work in car dealerships on occassions and there are plenty in corona, riverside, san bernardino, etc) and it usually never fails to have gridlock from yorba linda to somewhere near the corona city limits.

anecdotal data for sure, but its not like the IE is empty of business and industry

the whole notion of a "reverse commute" is irrelevant throughout the LA/OC metro area. in most places, when the freeway is crowded on one side, it is only slightly less so on the other. the same is true for the surface streets that are the most common alternatives to the freeways, and the canyon roads that access the valleys. this is not the kind of metropolis where 90% of the jobs are in the city center, and 90% of the housing is in the suburbs, so that everyone is quite literally driving the same direction at the same time. "going against traffic" is something commuters like to say to make themselves feel better about working too far from home, but it has very little to do with the reality on the road.