Moving near Cerritos, CA from New England (Long Beach, Huntington Beach: for sale, real estate)

[ceilia]

Hello Everyone, we're a lesbian couple moving from New England (the nearest city is considered "The Big City" with a population of about 60k, to give you an idea of our area) to somewhere near Cerritos (work-related transfer). We don't have kids, so aren't concerned about schools, but would like to live somewhere safe (for women, gays/lesbians, and in general). I used to live in the SF Bay Area, but it's been years, so I'm not acclimated any more, and don't know Southern California well. Any recommendations?

From other discussions, it sounds like Long Beach, Seal Beach and Fullerton are good places. What I remember from work-related travel through these areas is neighborhoods can change from lovely to reasonable to frightening quickly. Now that I've coaxed my better half to flee the winters here, I don't want us to wind up somewhere she'll hate.

Thank you in advance!

[Charles]

Originally Posted by ceilia

Hello Everyone, we're a lesbian couple moving from New England (the nearest city is considered "The Big City" with a population of about 60k, to give you an idea of our area) to somewhere near Cerritos (work-related transfer). We don't have kids, so aren't concerned about schools, but would like to live somewhere safe (for women, gays/lesbians, and in general). I used to live in the SF Bay Area, but it's been years, so I'm not acclimated any more, and don't know Southern California well. Any recommendations?

From other discussions, it sounds like Long Beach, Seal Beach and Fullerton are good places. What I remember from work-related travel through these areas is neighborhoods can change from lovely to reasonable to frightening quickly. Now that I've coaxed my better half to flee the winters here, I don't want us to wind up somewhere she'll hate.

Thank you in advance!

Looking to rent at first?
WHat budget?

https://www.padmapper.com/ is a great tool for renting.

Real Estate, Homes for Sale, MLS Listings, Agents | Redfin is the best real estate tool

And this is great for mapping school performance, California School Performance Maps

Traffic can be a huge challenge so become familiar with traffic patterns using Sigalert.com Irving Traffic Map

That's a good start

[Sondeera]

I've never seen a frightening part of Seal Beach, honestly. Long Beach, yes. Fullerton, yeah but not at Long Beach level. All three are great places to live, but vary widely. Seal Beach is small town feeling life at the ocean. Long Beach is larger and more culturally diverse, but so close to Seal Beach you could pop over or vice versa. Fullerton has one of the largest colleges in California, and it's a commuter college, with lots of kids living off campus or commuting from elsewhere. It's also not coastal and is pretty inland (read: hotter). The old town has been revamped and offers plenty of nightlife (as do LB and Seal Beach).

Of the three, Long Beach is the LGBT hotspot. If you are looking to make like-minded friends and to hang at gay bars, etc. Long Beach is where it's at. Both Long Beach and Fullerton have fairly decent access to mass transit to L.A. although the train hours are dismally short on weekends.

I second OP - your budget is going to say A LOT about where you move.

[Joe Van Fossen]

I would agree with the above. Any of those three cities could work well for you.

[goozer]

Regarding Long Beach, I would definitely look at the Belmont Shore neighborhood. It's on the water, essentially between downtown Long Beach and Seal Beach. Definitely the coolest place to live in LB.

[DinsdalePirahna]

Yep. Belmont Shore in Long Beach. Best choice, and very gay friendly.
The only real issue is getting to the main roads or freeways.

Seal Beach is just a very friendly, laid back community. You will probably like the area on the west side of PCH, but has many posters have indicated, there really isn't a "bad part" of Seal Beach (although if you decide to live around the leisure world area except to find many businesses and lifestyles patterns adjust to the senior citizen demographic)

The Huntington Harbour area of Huntington Beach is also a good choice, and generally a 15 minute drive to Cerritos.