Need advice on picking an in-between city (Long Beach, Irvine: home, school)

[ouiouilezizi]

Hey everyone!

So I've just been accepted to UCLA for grad school and am starting in the Fall. My boyfriend will be continuing to teach in-home music lessons in Orange County (Newport Beach- Newport Coast- occasionally in North Irvine off the 5) and is going to be inheriting all my students.

I was thinking Marina del Rey or Redondo Beach would be a good spot. He would be commuting around 2-2:30 most days and coming back home around 9pm. SO, traffic wouldn't be AS horrible as those who have 9-5.

I, on the other hand, will be having most classes around 9/10am and be done right around rush hour.

I told my boyfriend I'm willing to get a small room near UCLA and live there part-time, but he wants to stay together. BUT, if our quality of life goes down a lot because we're living in our cars I don't want to do it. My Aunt commutes from Monrovia to LMU everyday, and it's been HELL.

I'm just looking for advice on location & what you would personally do in my situation. Our budget is $1200-1600ish, and we're currently in Costa Mesa.

THANK YOU!

[R-Tistic]

Redondo and Torrance might be good inbetweens since they're both by the 405. Long Beach is a bit too far Southeast to me. Marina Del Rey is perfect for you, but a bit further for him. Really depends who's willing to compromise the most. I'm not the biggest fan of O.C. regardless, so I'd always say stay as deep inside of the L.A. area as possible. But basically, anywhere off the 405 should be good for y'all...no point in staying somewhere 10-20 min from there at all, so even if it's Redondo, make sure it's close to the Artesia or Hawthorne Blvd on ramp.

[ouiouilezizi]

OK, thank you so much!