It’s 19 degress Farenheit where I currently live. (St. Louis area)
Today, I was offered a job in Long Beach, CA.
Sounds really, really tempting.
Can somebody tell me what it’s like there? Schools, atmosphere, riding?
If I take the job I’ll be uprooting my family (wife, girls 4yo and 9yo)
Any input would be HUGELY appreciated.
I don’t live in Long Beach but in LA, so there are some comparisons. It’s about 80 today (24C?). Long Beach has some very nice areas for housing. Public schools are about like LA School District (you can google school scores by searching California school test scores). Housing not cheap, possibly $400k and up for a condo for your family, $600k and up for a house. They have some local tris, such as the Long Beach State Backwards tri in April, and the bigger Long Beach Tri in Sept. Long Beach marathon and half marathon are very big running races. Of course San Diego is an hour south. They say 700 people a day are moving to the Los Angeles area. With housing prices down a bit, this may be a good time to look at relocating. Good luck!
Mark
like most cities, parts are bad and good. they are really building up downtown long beach. belmont shores is the next city over and is real nice. it is a real fitness oriented community. lots of events. i live about 20 miles inland from long beach and i think it is about 80 degrees outside right now so weather is usually pretty good in socal.
You don’t have to live in Long Beach. Half the people in the LA area seem to commute ridiculous distances. You have a lot of choices within reasonable range though. I’m a bit further up in Manhattan Beach so don’t know Long Beach itself that well but the touristy bits are quite nice these days. I have a friend who commutes to Long Beach from here.
LB is between two bike paths that run inland, San Gabriel River Trail (parallels 605) and the LA River/Rio Hondo trail (next to the 710). The two are separated at the beach by about 5 miles, at the top by about 2-3 miles, at Whittier Narrows. Very easy to connect to the two for about a 70-75 mile loop. Both paths continue north for about another 8 miles each for a loop of about 85-90 miles but a touch more difficult to connect at the top. I’m at the top, about 3-5 miles from each path 
There were some folks starting a triclub down there a couple years ago. Not sure what became of it.
Immediately accept the position. I live and work south of Long Beach in the OC. It’s 73 degrees right now, sunny, warm, slight breeze. This is winter!
Seriously though, depends on the kind of job you’ve been offered. Like someone else said there are good areas and bad areas, like most cities. There is definately a city, with a downtown that’s undergoing serious redevelopment. It’s turning into a very cool place to go to for a night out. It’s right on the ocean so very picturesque if you can afford to live by the beach. However, the good areas are expensive and the bad areas are expensive so, again, it depends on the job.
Public schools are not great. Some much better than others. Check the web for test results. Many people put their kids through private schools or find an area with good public schools.
Riding is outstanding. Along with the bike paths mentioned above you’ll be near Pacific Coast Highway. You can ride that practically all the way to San Diego, or jump off at several well known inland routes that will be challenging. Riding along the coast on a clear sunny day is THE BEST.
If you’re into outdoor activities it just doesn’t get any better in my humble opinion.
I live in south Orange County. Just did a 90-minute trail run in shorts and a hat. No shirt…it was too warm for that! Get over here and get out of the snow! And if you miss the snow, drive 5 hours to Mammoth and get this weather:
From the National Weather Service:
… Winter driving conditions expected for the Sierra Friday evening
through Monday morning…
The overall weather pattern is expected to change abruptly this
weekend… becoming more active… with multiple storms moving across
the region this weekend and next week. The first storm system is
expected to move into the northern Sierra by Friday evening… and
will continue through Saturday morning. The second storm will arrive
Saturday night and continue into Monday morning. Significant
snowfall is possible with these storms in the higher elevations of
the Sierra… with several inches of snow possible at lake level.
Strong gusty winds will accompany these systems and result in low
visibility from blowing snow.
Do it! Seriously, people either love or hate SoCal. If you’ve ever visited, and you didn’t mind the traffic, people, smog, lack of greenery, etc., then you’ll love it. Live either north or south of Long Beach, where there are pockets of good neighborhoods with good schools and good access to tri-infrastructure. You’ll quickly find out though, that school test scores generally correlate to real estate prices (or vice versa)! Good luck!
Ken
Hello from Long Beach. I work at the University and live about 10 miles away in Buena Park. Long Beach is a great city with plenty to do. The housing prices are average for the LA area. As someone else mentioned, you’re looking at 400k+ for a condo and 600k+ for a house. The bike ridng in the immediate area isn’t great. I find the LA River trail to be bleak and has too much broken glass and loose dogs. Pacific Coast Highway is a flat ride but urban and crowded. There’s some pretty good riding close by in Southern Orange County or on the Palos Verdes peninsula. The city rec department is great and if you’re kids like boating, there’s an excellent sailing program for kids (and adults, too). Schools are OK but nothing exceptional. Lots of good dining and cultural stuff.
I have noticed that once people live in Long Beach, they tend to stay.
I lived in Long Beach (Belmont Heights neighborhood) for 15 years until I moved to paradise (Winthrop, WA) in 2004.
As others have mentioned there are some areas to avoid. However, there are several nice places to live in east LB (Belmont Shore/Belmont Heights, College Park) try to stay close to the ocean or Cal State.
Regarding cycling, with the exception of the Palos Verdes peninsula (about 20 min away), all of the good riding is south in Orange County. I avoided the bike paths like the plague in the summer, OK but flat and boring in the winter.
Running is excellent with several organized runs put on weekly by Runner’s High in Belmont Shore. There are many places to run without being in traffic and/or concrete sidewalks. The Naples area is excellent with great scenery as well.
Swimming is also excellent with open water (protected swim area) at the edge of Belmont Shores (Horny Corner, I did not name it!) and pools at Seal Beach (outdoor) and the Belmont Pier (indoor) as well as Cal State. Most of the triathletes swim at Seal Beach or Horny Corner.
There are two good tri clubs in Orange County with Saturday group rides and track and swim workouts as well. OC Tri Club and American Interbanc Mortgage (formerly Mission Hospital) are both well established. I would say that American Interbanc is the more competitive group and OC Tri is more social. Being competitive, I joined the Interbanc group and enjoyed it very much, despite getting my ass handed to me on many group rides.
If you are going to work in LB, definitely live there. Commuting in LA is the pits. Even short distances can take forever and a day.
Good luck. I traded the weather for better scenery, less traffic, best xc skiing in North America, trail running and affordable housing.
Dean Wilson
www.anaerobiczone.com
Housing price sticker shock. Mansion in Saint Louis = 1 bedroom condo in southern california (in an o.k. area)…I don’t really know the price differences but I assume its huge.
Schools - Los Alamitos has very good schools and is close by. Lots of different cities - some with great schools and some with very bad…housing prices tend to be higher in neighborhoods with nice schools…
Weather in southern california is very nice (but boring - nice and boring.)
Traffic in southern california sucks.
Seems like a lot would depend on the job comparison…
Atmosphere? What do you mean? Its southern california…
Dave
Snoop Dogg is from the LB!
Hi! I live just south of LB in Huntington Beach. You got lots of posts on the questions you asked and a great weather report by Tribodyboarder(he gives a report before most local races). I will just say, I move form Long Island NY. in 73 and never looked back. I love the weather and we have great year round training (meaning SoCal). We have surf, Mountain, desert, snow sports. I have surfed and skied in the same day more then once. Yes there is a down side housing $$$$ and the roads are crowded… oh almost forgot Snoop Dogg. But there is a good reason more people move here then move away. By the way my wife and her family are from St. Louis area and they love it here also. It’s not for everyone but it is nice.
this is super helpful.
I am suffering profound sticker shock from home prices. a house similar to the one I live costs 5x as much in southern California.
I’m currently looking at Palos Verdes to live. The office will either be in Long Beach or San Pedro.
Does everybody in CA just take a Giant mortgage an hope for the best?
amazingly, prices are somewhat down right now. Personally, if you are relocating and want to get a feel for the area before you commit on a house, you might consider renting for a year. Rents are relatively cheap.
And yeah, people have big mortgages. Just don’t fall for the trap of doing a crazy interest-only/negative amortization type loan.
I would do it if I was you but I would live in Orange County. Long Beach is too close to LA and LA sucks. I live in San Diego and Orange COunty is a great area but LA sucks.
DId I mention that LA sucks and so do the people?
Seriously, Long Beach use to be a dump but is in the process of becoming a very nice town.
The LA area is a patchwork of smaller cities, most with their own school district and the quality of the districts varies a lot. You can scout them out and decide where to live.
The LA Tri Club has all kinds of organized rides, runs and ocean swims and many of them are near LB. Unfortunately, most of them are FAR from here.
Palos Verdes is pricey but is supposed to have nice riding. The Angeles Crest is only a 35 minutes away and the riding is GREAT. I’m still trying to get TriBodyBoarder and Longboarder to join me up there. Last Saturday I could see all the way past Catalina to San Clemente island from the top of Mt Wilson, that’s 80-90 miles. WOOWOO!
And Hell! Xantusia is only about 90 minutes away. We could sneak into the ST femmes weekend retreat. Get you coconuts and bikini ready.