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Old 07-01-2009, 03:21 AM
 
5 posts, read 36,535 times
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Hello there!

My husband and I will be moving down to the Los Angeles area for our clinical internships from the SF penninsula (Palo Alto). I will be working in the Long Beach area (8-5), and he will be working in Loma Linda (7:45-4:30). We are in our late twenties, enjoy walking, being outside, dining out, and exploring different neighborhoods, and don't intend to have children for a few years. Do you know of anyplace that would be a fun and safe place to live, where neither of us would have an unbearable commute? My husband is willing to do the lion's share of the driving, if it enables us to live in a more pleasant location, but hopes to not have to leave any earlier than 6:30 to get to work.

We also have several friends who live up in Culver City, West Hollywood, and Santa Monica, so we are trying to balance the fact that we will likely want to spend time with them up north on weekends.

Any suggestions that you might have would be incredibly helpful. Thanks so much for your time!
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Old 07-01-2009, 05:08 AM
 
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You both are miles apart about 70 miles apart. The cool neighborhoods are closer to your job vs. His, for example Santa Monica, Venice, West Hollywood; Hollywood and Pasadena are closer to Long Beach. Long Beach is great Downtown Long Beach with shops restaurants, clubs venues, theater and sports area parks and beaches. Belmont Shore is very popular neighborhood in Long Beach great bars shops close to Cal State Long Beach.

Alamitos Heights/Belmont Heights is great too between Downtown Long Beach, and Belmont Shores. Long Beach has historic neighborhoods, Wilmore City (older section of Long Beach from the 1880's to 1920's) Carrol Park beautiful neighborhood in Alamitos Heights spacious homes build in the early 1900's.

Long Beach has ethnic neighborhood including Central Long Beach Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Thai, and Latin American Mexican, El Salvadorean, Honduran,etc. and African American. Los Altos/Park Estates upscale neighborhood above Belmont Heights and Cal State Long Beach. Minutes from the beach, Cal State and more. Above the San Diego Frwy I-405 in Northwest Long Beach is California Heights and Bixby Knolls also upscale not as much as the Los Altos/Park Estates area good place to look as well.

Also try Huntington Beach and Seal Beach very good communities.

However, You need a community that might be halfway. Towards your husband's job is mostly suburban communities such as Rancho Cucamonga great community unfortunately it mostly families but very community oriented(Its not young single professionals.) Ontario similar to Rancho Cucamonga again families(It does have Dave and Buster's and maybe a club or two). Same for Chino, Chino Hills, Brea, Yorba Linda;Diamond Bar,and Corona great suburban towns for families.

Claremont is a college town has a good vibe however it not Pasadena or Long Beach not much of a night life. Pomona have a little night life but its not Pasadena. Home to Cal Poly Univeristy but Pomona has Gangs. Whittier is a college town; home to Whittier College family oriented but close to Long Beach than Loma Linda.

Others on this board will give you insight . I hope that helps.
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Old 07-01-2009, 11:39 AM
 
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Thanks for you help! The info on the neighborhoods within Long Beach is very useful as if we can't find a good option for a place to live in between, we may try to live there. It sounds like there would be a lot of different neighborhoods which could appeal to us.
I had a feeling that a lot of the places directly in between where we will be working would be rather suburban with less of a young and vibrant downtown area. Is this true of Anaheim, Fullerton, Orange, Santa Ana, and Cerritos as well?
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Old 07-01-2009, 12:23 PM
 
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For sake of comedy, I looked up the lat/lon midpoint between the LBC and Loma Linda. It is southern Chino Hills.

In terms of freeways, the midpoint is probably around Yorba Linda or Placencia.

The closest "cool" neighborhood in that region is downtown Fullerton.
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Old 07-01-2009, 12:58 PM
 
Location: South Bay
7,226 posts, read 22,093,996 times
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look into fullerton, in and around the intersection of harbor and chapman. there is a very nice, walkable downtown area with a number of restaurants and bars. the commute from there to loma linda will be a reverse commute (although far), but i'm not certain of the commute to long beach as far as congestion. the 91 can be slow, but i'm not sure about the 605 or 710.
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Old 07-01-2009, 01:12 PM
 
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Thanks to both of you! It sounds like I should definitely investigate Fullerton as another option. I really appreciate all of the insight into the area!
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Old 07-01-2009, 10:57 PM
 
Location: Vancouver, WA
8,175 posts, read 16,562,313 times
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I did my undergrad at Loma Linda while commuting from Torrance, CA (not far from Long Beach). The drive is a killer one - Loooonnng and Draining. I used to leave in the wee hours of the AM and arrive early at ~ 7:30AM just to beat 'some' of the AM rush hour. Then I would schedule my classes in the AM and return usually right after lunch time. Even with driving around the peak rush hour I would still hit traffic, accidents, gridlock, etc... depending on the the day. The drive could be done in as little as 1.5 hours and up to 3+ hours if there were multiple accidents (which did occur multiple times).

I strongly recommend living at least part of way out vs. Long Beach. Even if he says he is willing, don't do that to him! It will not only effect him but you as well. He'll be beat by the time you finally see him and have any time together. Why do that?

So I recommend Fulerton, Villa Park, Placentia, Yorba Linda and places in that general vacinity. He will still have a long commute, but not as long.

I was also young and married without kids at the time and all fired up to do it. So I did it. But it was hard. There were times when I actually rented a room at a hotel because I was too tired to do the drive on particular days. I even crashed on some friends floor a number of evenings. And it was a great break form the grind. Since your husband will be leaving right at rush hour it will take him much longer than if there was no traffic. He will be in stop and go traffic most of the way through Riverside and Corona. Get a reliable car. Just keep your goals in mind as it will be necessary to finish.

My 2c,

Derek

Last edited by MtnSurfer; 07-01-2009 at 11:06 PM..
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Old 07-02-2009, 11:30 AM
 
5 posts, read 36,535 times
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While I have to admit I am a bit disappointed to be unable to consider Long Beach as a place to live, since it seemed to be a better fit for us as a city, I'm glad that you knocked some sense into us Derek. It sounds like it just isn't a realistic option. I definitely wouldn't want to have a miserable husband...and I would definitely like to see him during the week...so I guess we will turn our housing search to some place more along the way to Loma Linda.
Is there anywhere other than Fullerton that we should check out? Another city that has a nice safe, walkable downtown area, and a nice community for young couples?
Anyone know what the commute from Fullerton to Long Beach is like?
Thanks to everyone who has responded...I really appreciate all of your helpfulness. It is so nice to see a community of people helping strangers on this forum. Your time is much appreciated!
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Old 07-02-2009, 12:22 PM
 
Location: South Bay
7,226 posts, read 22,093,996 times
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you may also check out old town tustin or the orange circle, both of which are somewhat similar to downtown fullerton as far as walkability. no matter which you choose though, who ever is commuting to loma linda is looking at nearly 50 miles each way.

brea might not be too bad either and a better middle point, but it doesn't have the same feel as the others i've mentioned. however, there are plenty of young people who do live in brea.
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Old 07-02-2009, 03:07 PM
 
Location: Vancouver, WA
8,175 posts, read 16,562,313 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lindzias View Post
While I have to admit I am a bit disappointed to be unable to consider Long Beach as a place to live, since it seemed to be a better fit for us as a city, I'm glad that you knocked some sense into us Derek.
I just wanted to give you a heads up and chance to avoid a hellish commute. Just out of curiosity how long are your clinicals for? Obviously this is a temporary thing. So I would just look at as that. You guys are working hard to achieve your goals. Once this part is finished you can move to your next destination - preferably with better neighborhood and commute options.

Quote:
Originally Posted by lindzias View Post
Is there anywhere other than Fullerton that we should check out? Another city that has a nice safe, walkable downtown area, and a nice community for young couples?
Anyone know what the commute from Fullerton to Long Beach is like?
Thanks to everyone who has responded...I really appreciate all of your helpfulness. It is so nice to see a community of people helping strangers on this forum. Your time is much appreciated!
I have family that lived a long time in Villa Park and really liked it. Although it doesn't have the walkability you are describing. It is more suburbia.

As far as the drive to Long Beach you will have to decide if taking the 91 or 22 is better based on the town you end up living in. Both have traffic in the AM which I imagine will be stop and go in places. But you will have a much shorter distance to go than your husband. And you may even be able to use surface streets in places depending again on where you work and live.

Derek
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