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Old 03-04-2008, 09:15 PM
 
25 posts, read 174,407 times
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I'm a female in her 20s working in downtown LA for the summer, and looking to live on the beach. Any thoughts on the best beach areas to live, and what the different commute times to downtown would be?
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Old 03-04-2008, 10:42 PM
 
Location: RSM
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long beach(which has beaches very close nearby) has a train that goes into LA and is generally less expensive than other beach cities closer to LA
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Old 03-06-2008, 05:11 AM
 
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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You do realize that rent for a place near the beach could make your bank account disappear almost as fast as your patience from the commute, which can vary from 30 mins (if you're lucky) to over an hour.

I really like the South Bay area (Manhattan, Hermosa, Redondo Beaches). They definitely have a good, young, beach-side vibe and have a lot of things to do; I'd imagine it'd be difficult to find a good place there to live. And you're looking at a 40-minute commute with no traffic, 1hr with.

Long Beach is somewhat more affordable, as its beaches are closer to the harbor. It can also get pretty hot there too, more often than other beach areas. There is the metro blue line that runs from downtown Long Beach to downtown LA, but it'd probably still be faster to drive up the 710, 30/60 minutes with/without traffic.
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Old 03-06-2008, 10:58 AM
 
Location: South Bay
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If you don't mind public transportation, there are a few express busses that run from the beach cities to downtown. I know a Commuter Express bus runs from Manhattan Beach to downtown and Santa Monica has one as well. Most employers don't seem to cover parking downtown, so this might save you even more in that aspect.
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Old 03-07-2008, 01:47 PM
 
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Anyone have thoughts about the Marina del Ray/Venice/Santa Monica areas and what the commute times are to downtown?
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Old 03-07-2008, 02:08 PM
 
Location: RSM
5,113 posts, read 19,683,410 times
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Marina del Ray is nice but very pricey
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Old 03-07-2008, 02:19 PM
 
Location: South Bay
7,226 posts, read 22,095,758 times
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Marina Del Rey is a fairly uninteresting part of town with expensive rent despite this fact. I find it quite sterile. To downtown from MDR you're looking at a 45 min to 1 hr commute each way.

Venice is about the same distance from downtown, so the commute will be about the same as MDR, but it is overall a more interesting neighborhood. Venice is much more walkable, but also is a lot shadier than either MDR or Santa Monica. Venice has its share of gangs, drugs, and homeless which might scare of a young female living by herself. It also has a lot of east coast transplants which you may like. Most reasonably priced apartments in Venice are old and run down.

Most areas of Santa Monica have easy access to the 10 freeway which runs directly downtown. I'd say the commute would be about 30-45 minutes most days. With no traffic, the drive can be done in under 20 minutes. Santa Monica is also its own city and is much bigger than the the LA hoods of Venice and MDR, therefore it has multiple neighborhoods that are very different from each other. Lots of things to do here and mostly safe and nice neighborhoods.

I don't work downtown, but I do live in Santa Monica and spend most of time between the 3 places you are interested in living. Feel free to ask me anymore questions that you may have.
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