Apartment living in Long Beach (San Francisco, Irvine: apartment complex, rentals, how much)

[vism]

I'm looking for an apartment in Long Beach at around $1500 for a one bedroom. I work in Irvine, but don't want to live there. Though I do like their newer, clean, peaceful apartments, I'm just not happy living there. Although living downtown LB isn't exactly peaceful, I do prefer the more updated, nicer amenities of some of the apartments there. Some of the ones I plan to look at are Pacific Courts, Westerly on 3rd, Camden Harbor, Pine@Sixth, City Place.

The farthest north ones would be Pine@Sixth and City Place, from another thread being this far up north isn't ideal safety wise. Is it that bad or is it okay here? If anybody has any input in living in any of these places I would appreciate it. Review sites tend to be places for people to complain so I don't always get a clear picture. I value clean, modern apartments, but also peace and quiet. I understand there are more apartments in nicer areas to the east and south. I will also look there, but some of them are either too expensive or look a bit old or out of date, but I'll welcome any suggestions.

Thanks ahead for any inputs.

[phoenixmike11]

I know someone who used to live in the archstone apts in long beach on ximeno and pacific higway-its now called the Landing-it was a nice place when he lived there-it was about 1300 for a 1 bedroom.

[mayorhaggar]

Pine and Sixth is right next to one hell of a ghetto Wal-Mart. I'd look at the area around Belmont Shores, some of the areas around CSULB (some nice apartments just west of the campus in a residential area), Bluff Park and Alamitos Beach. The downtown area and the area between downtown and Alamitos Ave is ok (I lived there during most of the last year) but gets a lot of riff-raff and is really noisy especially at night. If you aren't used to living in a big city you might really get put off by that area, and to a lesser degree Alamitos Beach.

[Rubyww]

Downtown Long Beach is very nice. It is walkable and has a lot of nice restaurants. I've moved from the Belmont Shore area to DTLB because it is more vibrant. For around $1500 a month, you may be able to find a smaller one bedroom apartment in one of the high rises along Ocean Blvd. That is where I live too. I am not aware of the "riff-raff" and it is not really noisy at night.

[timtemtym]

The same post from different posters keeps popping up about renting in Long Beach. Not complaining, I just think it's interesting. I'll rehash some of the better advice...

You get way more for your money renting outside a complex in the LBC. Go with a private rental. Look on Pabst Kinney or other rental listing sites if you're not here and can drive around and call numbers on buildings. If you do want a complex, 1500 for a one bedroom will get you the Hathaway (in the traffic circle area, nice enough but no washer/dryer). If you want wash/dry in your unit in a complex, you're looking at starting around 1600 unless you don't mind a less safe area like the ones mentioned above by the ghetto walmart.

Seriously, the Long Beach experience is found in private rentals. I'm finding that out. The complexes are either people who just really want an office to complain to, or people from out of state (like me when I got here) who don't know any better.

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by Rubyww

Downtown Long Beach is very nice. It is walkable and has a lot of nice restaurants. I've moved from the Belmont Shore area to DTLB because it is more vibrant. For around $1500 a month, you may be able to find a smaller one bedroom apartment in one of the high rises along Ocean Blvd. That is where I live too. I am not aware of the "riff-raff" and it is not really noisy at night.

No riff-raff? You never went to the library and saw the 50+ homeless people lounging around in the park outside? You never went to the Wal-Mart? Never saw or heard all the drunks yelling at each other at night?

As for noise, it depends on what block you're on. I lived on Broadway near the Von's and it was just about the noisiest apartment I've ever lived in, and I've lived in places like San Francisco and Chicago. There's a ton of traffic on Broadway which means lots of annoying bikers brapping their motorcycles at all hours, and police/ambulance/fire engines zipping down the street with sirens going, and car alarms going off every few minutes even at 4AM, and pretty much every night there would be people fighting and yelling at one another in the alley. It would get quiet enough late at night (other than the sirens and car alarms) but during the day especially it was pretty noisy. Also there's a lot of clubs in the central part of downtown, and drunk partiers would walk past our place after last call around 2AM, screaming and yelling every saturday and friday night.

Yes it is vibrant and I liked living there because of how convenient it was, but goddamn was it noisy.

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by timtemtym

The same post from different posters keeps popping up about renting in Long Beach. Not complaining, I just think it's interesting. I'll rehash some of the better advice...

You get way more for your money renting outside a complex in the LBC. Go with a private rental. Look on Pabst Kinney or other rental listing sites if you're not here and can drive around and call numbers on buildings. If you do want a complex, 1500 for a one bedroom will get you the Hathaway (in the traffic circle area, nice enough but no washer/dryer). If you want wash/dry in your unit in a complex, you're looking at starting around 1600 unless you don't mind a less safe area like the ones mentioned above by the ghetto walmart.

Seriously, the Long Beach experience is found in private rentals. I'm finding that out. The complexes are either people who just really want an office to complain to, or people from out of state (like me when I got here) who don't know any better.

I suppose prices are going up but you could probably get a 2br for around $1500 to $1600. A friend of mine living in Belmont Shores just a couple blocks from 2nd is paying $900 or so for a small but nice 1br.

[timtemtym]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

I suppose prices are going up but you could probably get a 2br for around $1500 to $1600. A friend of mine living in Belmont Shores just a couple blocks from 2nd is paying $900 or so for a small but nice 1br.

Yep! It's startling how much more for your money you can get in LBC when choosing a private rental over an apartment complex! Especially when you have pets or want inside amenities like a washer/dryer, shared cable, etc... It just doesn't add up to rent in complexes other than having an office to go and complain to.

[vism]

Thanks for the comments everyone. After scoping a few downtown places, I feel like it's not really for me. I worry about the noise and hassle of downtown. I looked at some complexes in the Bixby Village and Circle area and some of them are nice and the neighborhood seems great. But as you said it was pretty expensive. I'm scanning through craigslist now to find some smaller/private ones.