Area Around LAX?

Anyone here familiar with the neighborhoods around LAX? Today i was basically offered a job out in LA by one of the engineers at my work. I would mainly be working at LAX and occasionally at HNL airport (Honolulu) so i would be living in LA.

I am not familiar with Los Angeles at all, but i would need to be out there in about 3-4 weeks from now, max. Can someone who is familiar with the area give me some tips on good neighborhoods to look for apartments in?

Im looking for a neighborhood that is A) fairly nice/low crime rate. B) not ridiculously expensive, so no Manhattan beach or Beverly Hills obviously and C) preferably within a 20 minute commute to the airport.

Thanks in advance to anyone that can provide advice.

I’m from Long Beach and think it’s a pretty good choice. In long Beach you can be near enough to the beach to stay cooler and be clear of most the inland smog but you don’t have to pay upity prices for rent. Relatively speaking that is. There’s a great beach culture that includes beach, dining and night life down in the areas of Belmont Shore, Seal Beach & Sunset Beach. Long Beach is also centrally located between Palo Verdes (if you are a diver or might take it up) and Laguna Beach Crescent Bay which I think is the nicest beach in Southern California. Best beach to take a chick.

The biggest downside of LB would be the commute to LAX. The 405 along that stretch is a nightmare. If you work off hours it should be alright though.

How’s it going audiogarden1? I do real estate in the area. What’s your price range and how much space you looking on getting. I currently live in torrance which is roughly 15 mins from the airport. A studio here ranges from $850-$1100.

[quote]on edge wrote:
I’m from Long Beach and think it’s a pretty good choice. In long Beach you can be near enough to the beach to stay cooler and be clear of most the inland smog but you don’t have to pay upity prices for rent. Relatively speaking that is. There’s a great beach culture that includes beach, dining and night life down in the areas of Belmont Shore, Seal Beach & Sunset Beach. Long Beach is also centrally located between Palo Verdes (if you are a diver or might take it up) and Laguna Beach Crescent Bay which I think is the nicest beach in Southern California. Best beach to take a chick.

The biggest downside of LB would be the commute to LAX. The 405 along that stretch is a nightmare. If you work off hours it should be alright though.[/quote]

I dont know the exact hours yet but its likely not going to be off-hours. What are we talking for commute?

If i really found a great deal i’d be willing to spend between 30-40 minutes one way for a commute, but that is maximum. I would prefer to keep it under 30 minutes each way.

[quote]iniseedz wrote:
How’s it going audiogarden1? I do real estate in the area. What’s your price range and how much space you looking on getting. I currently live in torrance which is roughly 15 mins from the airport. A studio here ranges from $850-$1100.[/quote]

Well the point of taking the job out there is that it should pay enough for me to sock away some decent cash, so im really not willing to spend more than 1400/month on rent. I have 2 small dogs that would be coming with too so the place needs to allow for that. I would be expecting at least some utilities to be included at that price.

Obviously the more i can stay under 1400, the better. Im looking at 1 bedrooms, at least 800 sq ft. 2 Bedroom would be great but i dont expect to find a ton of great deals on a 2 bedroom.

[quote]audiogarden1 wrote:

[quote]on edge wrote:
I’m from Long Beach and think it’s a pretty good choice. In long Beach you can be near enough to the beach to stay cooler and be clear of most the inland smog but you don’t have to pay upity prices for rent. Relatively speaking that is. There’s a great beach culture that includes beach, dining and night life down in the areas of Belmont Shore, Seal Beach & Sunset Beach. Long Beach is also centrally located between Palo Verdes (if you are a diver or might take it up) and Laguna Beach Crescent Bay which I think is the nicest beach in Southern California. Best beach to take a chick.

The biggest downside of LB would be the commute to LAX. The 405 along that stretch is a nightmare. If you work off hours it should be alright though.[/quote]

I dont know the exact hours yet but its likely not going to be off-hours. What are we talking for commute?

If i really found a great deal i’d be willing to spend between 30-40 minutes one way for a commute, but that is maximum. I would prefer to keep it under 30 minutes each way. [/quote]

It’s hard for me to say. It’s been 17 years since I’ve lived there so you would think traffic would worse now due to growth but on the other hand they did build a new freeway (I forgot what it’s called) and it takes a load off the 405 for airport traffic. LAX isn’t that far from Long Beach but it probably will take more than a half hour. I’d say there really aren’t many paces within 30 minutes of LAX that you want to live. I wouldn’t want to live in Torrance.

Downey, Norwalk, Lynwood, Compton are all solid choices /end sarcasm.

For your price range, Long Beach would be a solid choice. Especially if you’re working off hours. You can hit LAX in under 30 minutes from just about any part of LBC with light traffic or better.

Google Maps has long Beach at under 30 minutes from LAX. Looking over the map, If Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach are out of your budget I don’t see a better option than Long Beach. Maybe something up the beach further, like Santa Monica, would be good but I don’t know that area well enough to say.

The areas right around LAX fit the description you are looking for. Playa Del Rey and Marina Del Rey are particularly nice, and still close enough to the Airport. You should be able to find a one bedroom under 1400 if you are okay with not being that close to the beach.

Also, don’t rule out the part of Manhattan Beach that is more inland. Beyond that, El Segundo and Westchester offer decent neighborhoods at a good price. And you could probably look at Culver City, Mar Vista and Venice and be within a 20 minute drive of the Airport. I used to live in Venice, always loved it there, and it was a fairly easy drive to LAX.

[quote]on edge wrote:
Google Maps has long Beach at under 30 minutes from LAX. Looking over the map, If Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach are out of your budget I don’t see a better option than Long Beach. Maybe something up the beach further, like Santa Monica, would be good but I don’t know that area well enough to say.[/quote]
My brother lives in Redondo Beach and use to live in Manhattan Beach, pretty pricey areas if I remember correctly.

He also lived in Westchester for awhile. I visited him numerous times and we even went from his place there to LAX to fly out and it was very close to LAX. We actually walked part of the way there. Didn’t seem that nice of an area, but it’s an option.

Culver City is close and a nice area in my opinion. Like others have mentioned Marina Del Ray is another great option.

I wish I did engineering Q_Q

[quote]eddiealfano wrote:
The areas right around LAX fit the description you are looking for. Playa Del Rey and Marina Del Rey are particularly nice, and still close enough to the Airport. You should be able to find a one bedroom under 1400 if you are okay with not being that close to the beach.

Also, don’t rule out the part of Manhattan Beach that is more inland. Beyond that, El Segundo and Westchester offer decent neighborhoods at a good price. And you could probably look at Culver City, Mar Vista and Venice and be within a 20 minute drive of the Airport. I used to live in Venice, always loved it there, and it was a fairly easy drive to LAX.[/quote]

Good, some of the towns you listed seem to be in line with what i was finding after doing some research last night, such as Culver City and Mars Vista. Ill take another look at Manhattan beach and Redondo beach too.

[quote]optheta wrote:
I wish I did engineering Q_Q[/quote]

lol, this job is for IT infrastructure engineer for United Airlines. Its probably a little more cut-and-dry than what comes to mind traditionally when people think “engineer”

Pays good, and free trips to Hawaii on the regular so hard to complain. Job was basically just offered to me without having to do anything too lol.

Do you ride a motorcycle by any chance? That will dramatically decrease your commute.

james

[quote]atypical1 wrote:
Do you ride a motorcycle by any chance? That will dramatically decrease your commute.

james[/quote]

No i drive a fullsize pickup with a V8. Hence wanting to reduce my commute.

Vehicle size here doesn’t matter. The fact that you’re on four wheels and can’t lane share is going to be the problem. I would think about riding if I were you. It makes life a whole lot easier in that area.

james

[quote]audiogarden1 wrote:

[quote]eddiealfano wrote:
The areas right around LAX fit the description you are looking for. Playa Del Rey and Marina Del Rey are particularly nice, and still close enough to the Airport. You should be able to find a one bedroom under 1400 if you are okay with not being that close to the beach.

Also, don’t rule out the part of Manhattan Beach that is more inland. Beyond that, El Segundo and Westchester offer decent neighborhoods at a good price. And you could probably look at Culver City, Mar Vista and Venice and be within a 20 minute drive of the Airport. I used to live in Venice, always loved it there, and it was a fairly easy drive to LAX.[/quote]

Good, some of the towns you listed seem to be in line with what i was finding after doing some research last night, such as Culver City and Mars Vista. Ill take another look at Manhattan beach and Redondo beach too. [/quote]

These are good suggestions and would put you pretty close without traffic being too bad (this kinda goes without saying but Culver city, Mar Vista, and Redondo have some not so good areas as well so beware of that). IMO you wouldn’t want to do long beach or anything that would require you to take the 405 N freeway in the morning and 405 South at night, the traffic can really suck, especially on Thursday and Friday nights.

Beverly hills adjecent or the miricle mile is a decent rent price my bro bro lived there for many yrs hes in hollywood now… If its true you have a trans GF then Hollywood or West Hollywood would very comfortable for her… Not sure if you were f’ing around about that in the other thread so if you were my bad go for BH Adjacent

I have only been to LA once so I’m sure this won’t help but here goes.

Whenever, I fly into someplace I usually get a hotel room within walking distance of the car rental.

I did this on the north side of LAX off of West century BLVD and though it was only a short walk it did not seem like a good area. There were actually no people on the streets and I had to walk past these empty project looking buildings.

Only time I have been creeped out doing this and I have used this method at least ten times.