Should I move from Long Beach to the Westside or South Bay? Or not at all?

[thelopez2]

If you want to experience what LA has to offer, you'll need to be where "everyone" else wants to be too. Which means higher rents, more transient/transplant population, tourist, traffic congestion. Community occurs where people stick around for a while. Rent near one of the train lines for a year and explore LA.

Brentwood and deep into Santa Monica will add a significant amount to drive time. Crossing downtown will also suck. Finding space for a large breed dog will also be a challenge.

If you are willing to spend $200+ a week on entertainment and eating out, a move may be in order.

[stephei2000]

Originally Posted by seanc34

Hi All!

Recently have been contemplating a move to LA proper to try out life out there- Wanted to get some input from you all.

Age: 28
Income: 145K
Status: single
Budget: $2200/mo ideally

I currently live in Belmont Shores and really love the area, however have been contemplating a move to experience "LA" while still in my twenties. I have a great landlord situation and a nice small yard right now so I want to make sure I make the right move. Areas I have been looking at are Hermosa Beach, Venice, MDR, Playa del rey and even brentwood.

I enjoy being social however do have a large breed dog so it is important that the city I choose be dog friendly (LB has been very much so). Free time i like hiking, cycling by the beach, bars with friends etc. Have not really explored much of what LA had to offer in terms of culture yet.

For work I do sales and most of my clients are in south gate, compton, downey, HP, etc. Currently it takes me an average of 45 min to get to my area for the day. Would commuting from any of these areas be better or worse than the others? I generally like to arrive at my destination around 9:30-9:45 to avoid a little traffic.

Thanks in advance!

Also, I wanted to add what type of person you are. Are you the clean-cut suburban type or more of the artsy type? If you are clean cut, I would definitely recommend Hermosa, But, if you are more of an artsy type, you might like Venice. The only laid back people I have ever in encountered in the City of LA lived in Venice.

Lastly, a great advantage about L.A is that young people live in all types of communities. It is not like where I used to live Chicago where you had to go to a certain environment for socialization even if was not for you. So the most important thing is to find a culture and community that works for you.

You definitely have a lot going on for yourself, and I believe you will be able to assess environments and situations well by the communities you picked in L.A.

For convenience for your work and socialization, I say rent for a year in Hermosa. I believe you will love it. Then take trips up to Playa Vista, MDR, and Venice for exploring since you had not had the chance to see what makes you feel good.

This would be a great compromise since I understand East Long Beach could be isolating. However, I can say with confidence forget about Brentwood. Don't even think about it! lol

[brittle_star]

My opinion: if I were you, I'd stay in Belmont Shores. It's a very nice area of LB. If I could afford to live there, I would. I'm nearly 50, work in public education and make half your salary. I live in the South Bay, but not in a nice neighborhood. I can't afford nice. I can afford lower socio-economic and a slight gang presence in L.A. on my salary. Overall, though, the South Bay is pretty sleepy and suburban, not really where you'd want to be if you're a "hip" young professional dude. If you really want to move, though, and experience other parts of L.A., try the west side, Santa Monica. That's where you'd want to be. You can afford it.

I moved to L.A. in 1997 from a small, sleepy tourist town and have lived a lot of different places around the city, starting in the San Fernando Valley. I was living *near* the westside for about a year, but made a career change and had a horrible property manager at the place I was renting, so I moved back to the SFV for the next few years, and eventually ended up in the South Bay for work. As I wrote above, there are some nice parts of the South Bay - mostly what people term the 'beach cities' - Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, etc. You could afford to live there, too. Torrance and Gardena in the South Bay are suburban and kind of sleepy.

Sharing one last bit of my personal experience: cost of living has gone up exponentially since I moved here in '97, as has the overcrowding and amount of traffic. They were bad in '97; now it's practically intolerable for me and I've been trying to find work elsewhere for a while. Right now, you can afford L.A. But in another few years, that may not be the case. Make your decisions wisely while you can.

[seanc34]

All good points- I appreciate it! Honestly I've had a little trouble making friends in LB so I appreciate the insight, although it probably has to do more with me than other people. How was MDR?

[seanc34]

Thanks for the advise! Yea Hermosa sounds like it would be a pretty good fit. Only reason I mentioned Brentwood is I want to go to grad school at UCLA and that would make my class commute easier, but better to cross that bridge when I get there!