The Wild Contradictions (and Beauty) of Long Beach, CA

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A full video examining why New York and Los Angeles are so different from one another would actually be fire.

Car-free Angeleno here!! I take Metro to Long Beach regularly and sometimes bring my bike too. I'm part of a community in LA that is advocating for car-free mobility (we worked on Measure HLA, which you should read about if you don't know about it!), and most of my friends here are either car-free or extremely car-lite. I agree with you that there are a TON of contradictions of the amazing weather here and people still choosing to spend it in metal cages, and we are working to make mixed mobility and walkability a reality here. I think that many parts of LA are in better shape, mobility-wise, than Long Beach, and it doesn't really make sense to me given Long Beach's historic grid, Metro access, and bike infrastructure. I think that a lot of it is a mentality issue that needs addressing.

It's mind-blowing that wind mills, especially off shore wind farms, are constantly hindered by being an "eyesore" but these oil drilling machinery can exist endlessly in the middle of a community

My in-laws lived in Long Beach, and I used to complain bitterly about visiting there every Christmastime. After my father-in-law died, my mother-in-law moved to Phoenix, where I discovered that I LOVE LONG BEACH!

This past winter, I went to Long Beach to meet up with a friend visiting from France. He was staying with a Long Beach resident who doesn't own a car and not because he is too poor. He happily told me about how he can get anywhere he needs to go via transit. I had no idea that was possible ANYWHERE in the LA area.

Award-winning definition of the Los Angeles River : « really only a river in the sense that it discharges liquids of unknown origin into the Pacific ocean ».

CityNerd, Thank you for limiting your grumbling about the $40 ticket price for boarding the Queen Mary. Visiting the Queen Mary when I was about ten years old set me on a trajectory that led to a degree in Naval Architecture and many years of employment in the engineering department of a large shipyard. -GV

"Indianapopolitan" here: lol we have much bigger problems than a giant racetrack two miles out from downtown. Light rail is still illegal, I'm not even kidding. We just got done fighting a senator trying to ban a new BRT line to the airport, over his insistence that a single dangerous rundown stroad remain two lanes in both directions (when there are several much more widely used ways to get downtown). We can barely get anything pedestrianized downtown, and we're not dense enough for the racetrack to even matter. Let us have our brickyard so we can get SOME enjoyment from cars going vroom here

Looks like my opinion on Long Beach is here!

I actually wouldn't be surprised if longshoremen lived in downtown Long Beach! Love it or hate it, the ILWU has quite a lot of power in west coast ports and longshoreman salaries are >$100k.

I had to pause everything I was doing to watch this!! LB is my hometown and I know it’s pointless to comment on YouTube videos before watching them but this is a historic event for me Edit: okay finished the video, you made a lot of good points I agree with. Here’s my few cents as someone who lived there from ages 3-25 (well, with one year of my 20s in another state): 1. It’s absolutely possible to live there without a car, but the ease at which you can do so will high depend on the area of the city you’re in. LB Transit is pretty okay at best, and incredibly frustrating at worst. It does not service all parts of the city equally, so depending on where you’re going it can take anywhere from 20-60 minutes on average. Certainly not always convenient but anyone who tells you it’s impossible is a liar. When I lived there I would joke I was probably the only Southern Californian without a driver’s license. Long story long, it can be done! 2. Oh god, the Blue Line. It is completely insane that it hasn’t been completely overhauled to make getting to LA faster and easier. And you’re lucky if your destination is at the end of the Blue Line, because if you need to transfer to another metro line to get to your final destination, the full journey could take anywhere from 2-3 hours. 3. Fuck the Grand Prix. Even taking your notes on it out of the occasion, it’s so damn noisy. 😂 You can hear it from miles and miles away, even if you don’t live downtown. 4. The housing/rental costs are outrageous. I know so many people in their 30s and 40s who live with roommates, not because that’s their preferred living situation, but because it’s all they can afford. I was fortunate enough to be able to live with my mom the last 6 years before I moved away, but had I wanted to stay, I probably would have left anyways because the cost of living there is astronomical. I’m sure there are other people who grew up in LB or otherwise spent a long time who have had to leave by necessity, and that’s heartbreaking. 5. The oil islands are such an eyesore. 6. You are spot-on about how much people talk about driving and parking in SoCal! Conclusion: I know it doesn’t seem like it from this comment, but I love Long Beach. The culture, diversity, queerness, food, art, and music scene…there’s a lot going for it. But there’s so much that needs improvement, too, which can feel disheartening. I’m really grateful I grew up there, but I’m very happy I was able to leave. I’m stoked you were able to visit and give us your perspective. If you ever return give the community tab a heads-up so your loyal viewers (me) can give you recommendations!

if California had walkable cities and efficient and robust transit systems paired up with its weather and politics, it would be so objectively the best state in the US, it wouldn't even be a competition edit: didn't think I'd have to state that affordability would obviously factor in.

“That means you’re gonna have beaches, especially long ones” had me weak 😂 but silliness aside, I agree.. Long Beach has a lot of potential

I live in Long Beach! Thanks for making a video about us.

We were house hunting in LA county and because it's so ludicrously expensive we were looking everywhere including Long Beach, Wilmington, and Carson. Honestly the biggest concerns we had were the health impacts. Yeah, the jacks are scary to look at, but the real concerns come from the ports and the oil refineries. Cardiovascular disease, asthma, and cancer rates are much, much higher for the populations that live downwind of those facilities than they are elsewhere in LA county. The area regularly has some of the worst air quality in the country (it was truly gnarly during covid when the ports were backed up). SB1137 needs to survive referendum. Unfortunately, though the county tried to ban new oil drilling—which would have included LB—the CA Supreme Court struck down a similar ban in Monterey county as unenforceable while the referendum is on the ballot. So the city is trying to push forward new wells while local advocates sue them to stop. It's a big mess. On the more hopeful side, there are community programs that are actively seeking to remediate the soil around decommissioned oil wells and providing resources/education for at risk communities. Even as the number of pollutants has increased, the rates of cancer have decreased. The drilling will also eventually end. Which is good, because it's a beautiful place with a great community.

Thanks for coming! I thought I'd bugged you about Long Beach before, but maybe not! I've lived here without a car for 3.5 years and got into a nice place with a 95 walkscore in 2023 (and I also work in transportation here). I think you would have liked the Zaferia and Rose Park areas much better than Downtown, and Long Beach Transit punches far above its weight (especially if you live in the right areas). I would say that of all the cities in LA and Orange counties, Long Beach is one of the most walkable and is making steps to emphasize that part of its appeal.

I lived in Long Beach without a vehicle for just about 5 years. I can confidently say that Long Beach is one of the only places in Southern California that I could live. Living within walking distance of the Line formerly known as the Blue Line opens you up to one of the best car free experiences in the country. It is very walkable, but the most frustrating thing is that Long Beach calls itself "The most bike friendly city in America" which is an absolute joke. The bike culture in LB is basically nonexistent and honestly terrifying. I think the number one thing LB shines at though is the fact that there is some of the most affordable housing in the LA area due to the preserved supply of pre-war construction.

"The expensive housing of New York with the car dependency of.. Phoenix," is so apropos.

4:54 I notice this non-stop whenever I'm out and about, it's just staggering how much of life is driving, parking, car car car. My favorite is when they complain about how far they had to park, when the bus I took dropped me off at the front door.