A part of Cali I’ve never seen before: Long Beach. Who knew…Excuse me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Long Beach a hell of a lot closer to USC than say, I dunno, The Beverly Hill Hotel? I’m surprised that BHH was your stomping grounds in college, yet you never made it to Long Beach. Three dollar beers, hot gangster type dudes to stare at, CISCO BURGER (owned by Jesse James and Sandy B) and actual beach culture?
Having gone to CSULB for my undergrad, I’ll say that aside from LB being my favorite part of SoCal, the idea that it’s only the port (seen above) is ridiculous. LB has an awesome arty cultural scene and doesn’t come anywhere near earning it’s 90’s gangster rep. Yes, every city has bad parts (even ones with “only” 500k people) but overall, The Beach is an awesome, affordable, and really cool place to spend your time. Hell, if the commute didn’t suck as much as it does, I would still live there (and did, while I was working at Warner Bros in Burbank.) It reminds me of a perfect mix of SF and LA, with enough OC to be laid back, but not vote republican.
But no, it’s not the same distance from USC as BHH. Shoot down the 10 for 20 minutes and you hit the BHH. USC to LB is 110 to 405 or 10 to 5 to 605, and either way it’s 45 mins minimum.
