Moving to Belmont Shores/Heights Area (Los Angeles, Long Beach: apartments, home, safe area)

[wearedaffodils]

Hello Everyone!

My husband and I recently moved to CA and we live in Glendale. We are looking to move closer to the coast in a few months. We work from home so we can live in any area. We have family in Newport and friends in Los Angeles so we are trying to stay in between the two. We are in our early 20's and we like a laid back town, walkable, quiet.

I've heard about Belmont Shores/Heights and wanted to get advice on this area. We can afford around $1300/1400 for a 2 bedroom. I know this might be a tight budget for the area. How far can we stray from Belmont Shores before it is a unsafe area? My husband travels for work a lot so safety is very important. Any advice on this area would be great!

Thanks!!

[bhcompy]

I believe that price will work there. As far as straying from the area, stay within the neighborhood for the best results. When you stray north/northeast you get in to areas that may be less desirable/less safe. Along the coast within the first few streets all is well though.

If you find your budget not working out in Belmont Shore, you can look in neighboring Los Alamitos or Cypress. That budget definitely works in both of those cities and is still within 10 minutes of the beach, and many of the apartments are in walkable areas. Seal Beach occasionally has 2bd apts in that range as well right off Main Street, and is similar to Belmont Shore if a bit slower/more laid back.

[wearedaffodils]

Great! Thanks so much! How are the people? We were hoping to be around people more down to earth and friendly. I also teach yoga, do you know if this would be a good area? thanks again!

[BRinSM]

my wife lived off 1st street 4 or 5 years ago and paid around $850 for a one bedroom. however, that was a rarity. most 1br apartments started around $1000/month. you might be able to find a 2br in your price range, but you're probably better off looking for a large 1br.

as for the people, it's a real cool place. there isn't a lot of diversity in skin color, but as for age and socioeconomics, pretty much everything is covered. there are college students, but there are also older couples who've lived in the neighborhood for years. the one thing lacking is kids, at least on the south side of 2nd street. there are some, but not many. people are friendly and open though. they have different festivals throughout the year where 2nd st is closed down to cars and the whole neighborhood comes out. it seems like almost everyone there has a dog as well. most of the shops even leave bowls of water out on the sidewalks. there's also a noticeable lesbian population in the area, so i think it's safe to assume that the people are pretty open minded.

overall (if you can't tell), i'm a big fan of belmont shore and would move there in a heart beat if i got a job in/near long beach. it definitely has the classic california beach vibe (minus the surfers) that can't really be found in LA proper anymore.

[bhcompy]

Belmont Shore has the most laid back new age vibe of any other city in the vicinity, so yoga fits right in. Pretty much the entire beach area from Long Beach on down through Oceanside is very very laid back and down to earth(granted there are some ritzy areas along that route, but even that is fairly subdued). You'll find the area friendly enough and very live and let live

[wearedaffodils]

Sounds great! Thank you all so much for your help, I really appreciate it. Belmont Shores it is

[wearedaffodils]

How about Orange, CA near Old Town? What is this area like? Thanks!