Long Beach, California Property Listings

Long Beach City Description

This oceanside community overlooking San Pedro Bay, 22 miles south of downtown Los Angeles has an interesting history which includes becoming the final home of the Queen Mary, surviving a major earthquake in 1933, with a magnitude of 6.3 which caused significant damage and killed 120 people and holding title to being the #1 container port in the United States, handling the most cargo tonnage. Who would have known that this multifaceted city with the busiest port on the West Coast would originally start out as a ranching community incorporated twice in 1888 and again in 1897? A popular seaside resort community, the Pike was one of the most famous beachside amusement parks on the West coast from 1902 until the 1960s. Long Beach has also been an oil, Navy and port town, once referred to as "Iowa by the sea," due to a large influx of Midwesterners.

The city is still a major player in the oil industry both underground and offshore. It also hosted a strong manufacturing industry which includes aircraft, automobile parts, electronic and audiovisual equipment, and home furnishings. As if oil production, manufacturing and a major seaport were not enough to support a strong economic presence, the City is still a major tourist center with 5,000+ hotel rooms, 1.6 million convention and 5 million total visitors per year flock to the active Marina and a variety of other attractions including the Queen Mary, Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach Grand Prix, Long Beach Marine Stadium, Carnival Cruise Lines, Catalina Island tour boats.

The City of Long Beach covers an area of approximately 50 square miles with a population of 461,564 making it the fifth largest City in California. It's connected by several freeways including the 710 Long Beach, 405 San Diego, 605 San Gabriel River and Harbor Freeways running north to south, the 105 Century Freeway running east to west and Route 1, the Pacific Coast Highway along the coastline. A light rail system connects Long Beach to Los Angeles through the Metro Blue Line and the Green Line connects the northern tip of Redondo Beach to Norwalk. Greyhound provides long distance bus service and local bus services are provided by Long Beach Transit, Los Angeles MTA, Orange County RTD and Torrance Transit. The Long Beach Unified School District which serves most of the city is the third largest school district in California and has won many awards in recent years including the 2003 Broad Prize for Urban Education as the best urban school district in the United States. The district is also known for pioneering the return to school uniforms in the 1990s. There are also a number of private and parochial schools in the city along with the California State University at Long Beach, the Long Beach City College and Brooks College, a private non-profit vocational school known for fashion design and marketing.

Long Beach Real Estate