Relocating for husbands job in Downey (Los Angeles, Long Beach: to rent, house, neighborhood)

[lb74]

My husband has an offer to relocate to Downey. We are moving from out of state not familiar with California. I was hoping to get some information or advise on areas that we can commute from or if Downey is a nice area to live. We are looking to rent a place for about $2000 - $2500. We are in our early 30's, No kids so schools are not that important for now.

We are considering Orange County or possibly Santa Monica. But are concerned about the commute from there to Downey. Where do most people that work in Downey live?

One more thing we really like to play tennis so wanted to know if there are many Athletic clubs there that have tennis courts.

Thank you and any advise is appreciated.

[NaplesRes]

Belmont Shore is close enough to Downey, fun, and on the beach. Lots of eateries, shops, etc. that you can walk too. The neighborhood has a lot of character and young people like yourself love it. It's actually a great blend of young people and families.

And if you ever have kids, the schools are great in the Belmont Shore area.

You could look at Naples too but that is more family, single family house type stuff.

[bhcompy]

Downey is a family friendly town. Plenty live there. I'm not sure if it will have the facilities you're looking for though.

For your needs with athletic clubs and such, you could probably look at coastal Long Beach(like Belmont Shore, Naples, etc). The tennis courts at Cal State Long Beach and Long Beach City College are open for public use(either cost money or just require reservation). I'm sure there are some type of club options available for having preferred reservations or something. Some of the local cities(like Los Alamitos) also run municiple courts that use similar methods. I imagine area country clubs like Virginia CC, Lakewood CC, and Old Ranch CC may have tennis courts as well. Non-golf memberships are probably reasonable if they exist. Commute from Long Beach to Downey is 30min or less, especially if you choose a location near the 605 fwy.

Santa Monica would be a long drive, as would south Orange County.

Cerritos may also be an option as well. The city runs immaculate facilities and tennis is popular within the majority asian denizens. Cerritos is basically one city over from Downey for an average 10 to 15min commute.

[buckeyenative01]

Downey's close enough to the LA-OC border, but Santa Monica would be way too far away. Check out cities in Orange County like Los Alamitos, Buena Park, Anaheim and La Habra, or maybe look into Whittier in LA County.

[edwardius]

You might want to spend some time looking on this link.

LA Life - Find Your Place in Los Angeles

Downey isn't dangerous. Because its in LA , there are a fair amount of hispanics in Downey, but anywhere you go in LA, you are going to run into a fair amount of hispanics. What you are going to run into in Downey is a lot of middle class to upper middle class hispanics. Downey isn't a bad town and until you know the area better and have a sense of what your threshold for dealing with traffic in Southern California is, I would look intially at finding a place in Downey.

Downey city, California - Fact Sheet - American FactFinder

[timelesschild]

Originally Posted by edwardius

You might want to spend some time looking on this link.

LA Life - Find Your Place in Los Angeles

Downey isn't dangerous. ...until you know the area better and have a sense of what your threshold for dealing with traffic in Southern California is, I would look intially at finding a place in Downey.

Downey city, California - Fact Sheet - American FactFinder

This is really very good advice.

[lb74]

Thank you all so much for the great advice!!

One more quick question. What do you think about Newport Beach or Mission Vejo is that out of the question. Saying you up to driving an hour or so for work?

Again thank you all again for taking the time to give your advice.

[ferretkona]

A hour if you are lucky, it can grow to a few hours on bad days.

I used to live in Downey, the town is one of few with city police and city fire department, really good ones at that. If you live in Downey get as north as you can, the southwest borders on South Gate and gets seedy. The north side of town is very nice.

Cypress is a very nice reasonable town fairly close to Downey.
Don't rent anything untill you get here and drive around.

[the one]

look within downey. you can find nice housing and athletic facilities. north downey is a bit nicer. it is considered lower to upper middle class.
and the surrounding areas of cerritos, bellflower and other OC areas are also nice.

[buckeyenative01]

Newport Beach is a pain in the rear to get out of during rush hour since the only route in/out is CA-55, which eventually becomes the 55 Freeway.

Mission Viejo is about as far from Downey as Santa Monica in the opposite direction, and would be murder on your commute.