Long Beach: downtown or Belmont? (Los Altos, Country Club: rentals, lofts, condos)

[radioheadCA]

Hello, I'm getting closer to moving to Long Beach for a new job. Before, some very nice people recommended Belmont Shores (I think close to 2nd street) as I was looking for a place with restaurants and maybe some live music, stores for food, pubs, shops, etc within walking distance and Not in a crime-ridden, gang-type area. I'm thinking of Belmont Shores but I'm wondering about Belmont Heights (how far up or how far west is when it starts to get sketchy?) and how about downtown LB b/c I have seen some pretty nice looking soho style lofts there online but am worried about there not as much being around there for stores, restaurants, things to do, etc and a concern about crime (is all of downtown pretty bad at night say?, or which areas of dtown are bad? i'm guessing from my interview when i drove around, the further north, the worse it gets - so where is a good dividing line?) thanks a lot.

[NaplesRes]

All of Belmont Shore and Belmont Heights is very nice, safe, and plenty walkable to shops, etc.

Downtown is also nice, safe, and walkable but you need to be closer to the Ocean. Some people say that means south of 3rd. Any of those ocean front condos will do.

Basically within a few blocks of the ocean there are no bad areas from downtown to belmont shore. East of Redondo you can go much further north and be in good shape.

The shopping is not nearly as good in downtown compared to 2nd Street in Belmont Shore. The reason is downtown has only been revitalized over the last 10 years and the retail is always the last to come. Expect better retail in the next few years. As for now, there are plenty of places to eat and go out but not as much for shopping. However, you mention live music and downtown definately has more options than Belmont in this regard.

The other thing about Long Beach is the beach is a lot nicer east of the Pier. They are working on ways to deal with the LA river pollution but for now going in the water means east of the pier (belmont shore, peninsula, naples, etc.)

Finally, Belmont is much more of a combination of family and younger, single environment. The younger crowd in Belmont is driven a lot by the Long Beach State students as well. Downtown is considerably more urban so you don't really see children, etc. as much.

All that said, you could ride a bike from Belmont to Downtown along the beach path in about 15 minutes.

Hope that helps.

[dougnaie]

I would stick with Belmont Shore or Belmont Heights. These areas have what you are looking for without the problems downtown seems to suffer from. In my opinion, despite the best efforts of the city and developers, downtown will never be that chic metro area...far from it. The shore and the heights have the best that LB has to offer. You could also throw Naples into the mix - well worth investigating. I would stay east of Redondo, and south of Colorado. Check out the listings in the Grunion Gazette. I would avoid the Press Telegram when looking for rentals. Good luck!

[CESpeed]

Belmont Shore or Downtown are the only areas of Long Beach that I would consider living.

[NaplesRes]

Originally Posted by CESpeed

Belmont Shore or Downtown are the only areas of Long Beach that I would consider living.

I would include (depending what your looking for)

Naples
Peninsula
Park Estates
Virginia Country Club
College Park Estates
El Dorado
Bixby Knolls
Belmont Park
Belmont Heights
Los Altos
Rec Park

There are probably more but my point is there are a lot of great neighborhoods in LB other than just those two places.

[radioheadCA]

thanks a lot. very helpful.