Long Beach a crime ridden city??? (San Francisco, Sacramento: real estate, condos, high crime)

[Lost Leaf]

I'm planning to move to LA/ LA county or possibly Orange County and have been researching many areas. One area that I have considered is Long Beach, yet I have found post were people state that the place has many bad areas. When comparing the crime index score from this very website, Long Beach has 28% less crime than San Francisco, almost 50% less crime as Sacramento, and approximately 70% less crime than Oakland!
I'm getting the feeling that Long Beach is really not that bad of a place and people are exaggerating the amount of crime that occurs there as well as many other places. Can someone from Long Beach or someone that has lived there recently shed some light on this??

[sarahkate_m]

//www.city-data.com/forum/searc...rchid=15619851

maybe the current threads on C-D will help you

Kate

[asielen]

There are some really bad areas in Long Beach, but overall it is a great city. Just stay on the East side and near the ocean.

[ferretkona]

Originally Posted by asielen

There are some really bad areas in Long Beach, but overall it is a great city. Just stay on the East side and near the ocean.

So correct. This is something you have to come out and see. Some really nice expensive neighbor hoods only streets away from ghetto. The people in better homes are all wired up and alarmed. You have to drive/fly here and shop homes and not trust the internet.

[NaplesRes]

LB is a really great place to live if you live on the East side, in the coastal area, or in the exclusive areas in the north (Bixby, Virginia, etx). Central and West LB are generally not nice. It is a tale of two cities. it is large (500k people) and 50 square miles so that is why you find such variety. The reason some have a bad opinion is they hear crap all the time about LB but it is almost always stuff in the western part of the city. people who do not know a lot about the city lump it all together. But to give you perspectie LB would be like combininig newport, irvine, santa ana, and costa mesa. You have to look at the specific areas/neighborhoods within LB to get a feel for what life would be like living there.

[Lost Leaf]

Thanks, I will make a trip down there soon to check it out and see for myself.

[TrueDat]

Belmont Shore and Belmont Heights areas of Long Beach are great, with easy access to OC and LA (traffic notwithstanding, of course). Though happy where I am, I miss them.

~Explore Belmont Shore~

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by Lost Leaf

Thanks, I will make a trip down there soon to check it out and see for myself.

Yep, thats the best bet. Just be aware of what has been mentioned. You will have ghetto project areas with high crime, steet walkers, gangs, etc... not far from some of the really nicer parts. Just take a drive down PCH and you'll see it first hand. Its like a little version of LA all rolled up into one city with its own good, bad and ugly parts.

Just be carefull when you are looking for your 200K condo. It will be harder to find in the nicer parts such as Belmont Shore where many ppl like to point you to. A friend of mine lived in one of the not so great sections of LB near PCH and had his home broken into a number of times. On several occasions it actually occured while his family was home asleep.

Also when you drive some of the less expensive neighborhoods during the day, especially before noon, it might not seem that bad at first glance. Thats because that is when many of the home boys are still sleeping. Its actually the quietest time in the hood. As a former LA County Real Estate Appraiser I can tell you that that was one of our secrets. When we had to drive into the hoods of LA we hit 'em early, when the homies were all sleeping like babies.

And you won't be the first looking at the lower priced condos in LB with a region as large as LA and OC right next door. Take a look at this recent thread: //www.city-data.com/forum/los-a...each-area.html

Here is a good indicator of the better neighborhoods: http://schoolperformancemaps.com/ca/. Zoom into Long Beach. Then just for kicks zoom out and look at the red parts of LA. You will notice an obvious trend.

99% of the time the better neighborhoods also have the better schools and conversly the bad neighborhoods tend to have the worst schools. The one's with the lowest rankings have some serious problems like gangs, drugs, violence, etc... So the teachers end up being not much more than babysitters and/or parole officers.

While you are out in Long Beach take a look at Los Alamitos and Cypress not too far away. There may be some deals out there as well.

Derek

[bhcompy]

Keep in mind Long Beach is the 6th largest city in the state. It's a real city, not a suburb of LA. There are crappy areas, there are urban areas, there are village type areas, there are suburban areas, there are 3 large college campuses, theres a major airport, there is a major seaport, etc etc. A city that large will have some crime issues, it's just that people blow it out of proportion. The real problem with the city, like any major city, is parking in the urban areas.

[Chowhound]

I live in LB, I think its a pretty decent city. Yes, there is some crime, but what large city doesn't. I agree with most posters that said to generally stay east or down near the water.

The very North part is pretty bad, same with the west side as well.