Howdie one and all. I'm moving up to Long Beach in the next month to take a teaching job at a school up there and I'm trying to find a good apartment with a garage for the roadster build. Any local guys have any sugguestions of places to look or even places to avoid? Thanks... Josh.
You can check out the Whittier area that I jsut moved to and is not that far from the LBC area. KNUX!
Good? You plan on paying for it on a teacher's salary too? Yea, all of it, if you want a place to build a car it will end up being in an area where the car will dissappear while you are at work. Most places that will let you do it are "iffy" areas. What Middle school? (I went to Stanford middle school, about half a century ago.) There's some tri-plexes North of PCH and just West of Lakewood that have gaages and I know of at least one rod being built there, but his power is an extension cord running from his front appartment kitchen to the back alley garage. Probably the least "iffy" area though. If you want an industrial building with a shower and ****ter, look on the West side between Anahiem and PCH. That's where Richard Graves is. You do have guns don't you? Or East of the river, between Anahiem and PCH, that's where Bluto is. I wasn't kidding, You do have guns don't you? I built my truck in the driveway in front of a one car garage on Newport, a street East of Redondo between 10th and Anahiem. We started seriously looking for a house to buy in '93 after there was a "pedal by" gun murder at the 10'th and Newport corner, a 10 year old shot and killed an 11 year old.
Hey Josh, Welcome ta EL Bee! Not all of Long Beach is jungle town. My Howtzer looks killer in hot rod black. As DR.J said, North Town and the West side are kinda tough, we lost those when LBJ was in office. The burbs have some nicer addresses, but ain't to hip to ya pullin motors at 1 a.m. There's a bunch of hot rodders and cruizers in town, and ya our share of "personalities" Snoop Dog, the PIZZ and some guy who builds bikes under a big iron cross, go figure. You workin for L.B.U.S.D.? I've been paintin their schoolhouses for the last twenty years now. S****ey Devils C.C.
I know Long Beach has some of its bad areas - most larger metropolitan areas do. I've driven around the area with some of my new fellow teachers and they gave me some tips. I'll be teaching for a private school, but that's cool that you've been painting the LB public schools. Schools need some loving, in the paint variety, too. And I've been on Craigslist looking hard for about the last two weeks - just not finding what I want, without compromising.
There's a house for sale on Stearns between Redondo and Lakewood. It's painted Primer Red too! (or Barn Red or Brick Red, I think of it as Red Oxide Red though) and a guy in the Sinners lives a block down the street and the National Guard Motor maintenance yard is a block up the street, and they're only asking $550,000.00 for it! What part of town's the school in? Being able to walk to work would be a plus I would think. Major X streets near by maybe if you want to keep annonimity. ETA Zip codes get you way different car insurance rates too. I know, they aren't supposed to but when we bought our house it was only 1 1/4 miles from where we were but in a different zip code. When I changed insurance address and added home owners the TOTAL was $300 cheaper than I was paying for just car insurance alone! So call your agent and find out what zips are cheaper. I'm in 90815 by the way.
Welcome to Long beach. If at all possible stay away form the down town area. It is way to crowed, small streets and hard to get anywhere. Not sure of your price range but look around Lakewood or the Bixby Knolls area. As long as you stay north of PCH you should be OK.
Try westsiderentals.com, I think they go south to LBC. Craig's list link above is also a good start. Good Luck.
I'm 22, so buying a house is kinda out of the options. But thanks for the tip. The school is in the Lakewood, zip code 90808. So, I'm hoping to be within a 15 minute drive of the school. www.westsiderentals.com is a subscription site. $60.00 just to get a phone number to contact a rental? Yikes. Anyone already have a membership? And I would like to move up to LB by early August. Hopefully I can get things fabbed with the Roadster so that I'm not transporting multiple parts - but more so one chunk of a rolling ch***is.
I've lived in apartments and houses in the LB area since '53 and always found them just by driving up and down the streets I'd dare live on. 30 years ago I owned a house in that zip on Parkcrest across the street from the golf course near Studebaker. If you're at Parkcrest Church, I have the 50's bent Bamboo furniture that they used to have in their youth room in my living room right now! If I was going to rent around there I'd start off checking out the "apartment row" that is Woodruff all the way from about Del Amo or South St all the way to Imperial Hwy. (Frisco's Diner, Wednesday nght cruise night, is a block or two North of Imperial Hwy on Woodruff, for a landmark.) There's also apartments around L B City College, Clark and Carson, but they are noisy and overpriced because they are near the college. There are streets of duplexes off Clark and Stearns and I used to live in a nice apartment on San Anseline, behind the Los Altos Shopping center just East of Bellflower Blvd at Stearns. There's a bunch of them just North and East of "Target" at that center.
Also, consider Bellflower and the Broadmoor district of Norwalk. But look carefully, some parts of those towns are pretty skeezy.
I know of a 2BR half of a duplex in uptown Whittier for rent... It comes with a good size 2 car garage wired for 220v. It's pretty close to Long Beach if you are interested...
I live in Stanton which is like 10 miles or so south of Long Beach. You could probabally get a rental in the condos where I am at for like 1,300.00 (2 bedroom, 2 car garage). And as long as you aren't making speed or something I don't think they care what you do. When I first moved in one of my neighbors has his garage converted to a spray booth. p.s.- You may think ownership is out but I bought my place with less money out of pocket than the first and last at my last rental! The two bedrooms here are under 400k. Probablly the cheapest in OC. FONZI
Knux, Your private message inbox is full - so I'll respond here. Thanks for the heads up on that apartment, but it's out of my price range. I appreciate the info though. Under 1K is preferred.... for a lovely little bachelor pad.
The Westside sound like a full on fire fight tonight I don't call the cops unless they switch to R&R Who says the westside is rough? We're just better arm'd than the rest a town! Find a warehouse! That's what I did for the last 20 years
For that price range? Your either in Snoop Dogg's hood, (Locust & 15th St, a block up the street from the defunct Monster Garage, and there's "sports facilities" at Locust & 14th, B-ball courts for the local homeless...) or, Look for a converted garage that still has an opening garage door and a shower & ****ter. Sleep next to your hotrod. They are around but they don't advertize in formal ads because most aren't permitted. Check the bulletin boards in the stores around where you work No, I'm not kidding.
drive around. the best deals and the hard to finds - don't advertise. they don't want to deal with the overwhelming response. same goes for the beach. or a great warehouse etc. to many credit checks for the landlord to pay for etc. etc. i'd seriously consider the warehouse thing. lived in socal for the last 15 years but did the warehouse thing in seattle. la and especially lb has a ton of warehouse spaces. none will advertise live/work but the ones that allow it just turn a blind eye. talk to the guy somebody above mentioned that is warehousing it. he'll have good contacts. but for a grand - expect a space about the size of a garage - seriously. or get a house with a garage and buy guns. and a really mean dog. as it will be in a gun area. if you know what i mean. couldn't resist posting this - i have it framed on my desk - funny and true all at the same time: RULES FOR A GUNFIGHT: Bring a gun. Preferably, bring at least two guns. Bring all of your friends who have guns. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap-life is expensive. Only hits count. The only thing worse then a miss is a slow miss. If your shooting stance is good, you're probably not moving fast enough or using cover correctly. Move away from your attacker. Distance is your friend. (Lateral and Diagonal movement are preferred.) If you can choose what to bring to a gunfight, bring a long gun and a friend with a long gun. In ten years nobody will remember the details of caliber, stance, or tactics. They will only remember who lived. If you are not shooting, you should be communicating, reloading, and running. Accuracy is relative: most combat shooting standards will be dependent on "pucker factor" then the inherent accuracy of the gun. Use a gun that works EVERY TIME. "All skill is in vain when an Angel blows the powder from the flintlock of your musket." Someday someone may kill you with your own gun, but they should have to beat you to death with it because it is empty. Always cheat, always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose. Have a plan. Have a back-up plan, because the first one won't work. Use cover or concealment as much as possible. Flank your adversary when possible. Protect yours. Don't drop your guard. Always tactical load and threat scan 360 degrees. Watch their hands. Hands kill. (In God we trust. Everyone else, keep your hands where I can see them.) Decide to be aggressive ENOUGH, quickly ENOUGH. The faster you finish the fight, the less shot you will get. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet. Be courteous to everyone, friendly to no one. Your number one option for personal security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation. Do not attend a gun fight with a handgun, the caliber of which does not start with anything smaller then "4".
haha... ive been toying with the idea of moving to l.a. one day... but after that i think i'll stay here... ive been to l.b. and l.a. and seen some wierd ****... but isnt it like anywhere, there are places you go and dont go... along with ending up in the dodgey areas i also ended up in a few gay areas... coincidence i swear!!!!!11
davertats - i live in el segundo. right next to lax. population 35,000. place is like mayberry. overfunded police department - which in other areas might be a bad thing but in la it's a GREAT thing. they have a car show here on main street. a farmers market every thursday. lots of hot rodders in town. used to be the old standard oil company town. your right - it's just like anywhere else - there is always good areas and not so good areas. la is just vast and mixed up - many many great areas and many many not so great areas all mixed up. people say "LA" but could be referring to any area that stretches out for four hours in any direction - solid city out to the deserts. lb is in orange county btw - one of the richest most republican counties in the US. you'll find it all there. good luck. 49Lincoln
Since you're a young pup you might want to try the room-mate approach. When I was your age I shared a condo with a college girl - it was great, I got the two car garage (to myself) and she got the bigger master bedroom and bathroom. We both got what we wanted in a place to live and it was cheaper on top of it. I built a 40' coupe, 57 chevy, 65 chevy pu, and various motorcycles out of that garage. Most community colleges have message boards or services hooking up room-mates, I'd check out Long Beach City College to start (also Goldenwest College, Orange Coast College, or Cypress College) LBCC is a good resource, we've hired dozens of kids from there and almost all of them have been great. Also, for the room-mate deal I'd pick one that I woulnd't get tempted to snuggle up to.
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