Long Beach Gay Scene

Large gay community, almost 20% but not evenly dispersed, most live within a few block of the ocean, inland if for breeders and gangs. There are half a dozen bars in the gay ghetto, but more of a bedroom community than a party town. More ethnically divers than any other place I have seen. Laid back beach town kind of feel. Mayor is openly gay, city embraces diversity. The men are more friendly, down to earth and will talk to you than say West Hollywood where they tend to be more pretentious, materialistic, judge you by your job or the car you drive.

What are the better areas of Long Beach r1? And which are the scarier ones?

The better areas of Long Beach:

Naples - The wealthiest area, million dollar homes with canals and boats like you would see in Venice or Florida.

Belmont Shore - Upper middle class, lots of young families, very beach oriented, the only area in Long Beach were people walk up an down the main street to shops and restraints. Only a few blocks from the beach but very dense housing, parking is a nightmare but safest neighborhood in LB.

Broadway corridor, winch connects Belmont Shore to Down Town. Mostly apartments, condos and houses, its where the gayeighborhood used to be. A few gay bars there but no retail or restaurants to speak of. About 4 blocks from the beach.

Downtown Long Beach - More urban, a little more gritty but going through massive gentrification, lots of new construction, condos, high-rises, restaurants. Its up and coming so a lot of gays and younger people are moving in. It's close to the marina and the aquarium.

North Long Beach - DANGER GIRL it's ghetto for real. Doesn't really look all that bad but where a lot of gangs and gun shots can be heard.

Bibby Knolls - An old school upper class neighborhood of the past. Its more inland that the other areas, some minor shopping, few restaurants, quite neighborhood. Some gays who want bigger houses live there. But there is nothing to do there.

In general, most gay people choose to live close to the water. Long Beach is patchy in terms of how nice or bad an area is similar to LA. Inland is kind of a boring suburb of cheaply built houses that were built after WW2. Boxy houses with big yards but total Breeder Ville.

Thanks r3

Thank you R3. That is very helpful. I've been eyeing Long Beach as it seems like a more affordable option for Southern California and still close enough to get to LA if you need to.

What a hideous city. Long Beach Long Island Ny is nicer. But less gay.

Long Beach NY is one the straightest places you will ever live. Not a gay town in any way. Divorced dads from Long Island. And ridiculous taxes.

R3-- what would you say the dividing line is between North and South-- there's usually a street where things turn.

Thanks again.

It's hard to say there is an actual dividing line since most of LA goes from million dollar houses to ghetto with in a few blocks of each other. It's like a checkerboard of wealth distribution. I would say in Downtown, anything past 4th street or high numbers it starts to turn bad. If you can afford it, Ocean Blvd is where all the gays live and where the parade is every year...over 100,000 people attend annually.

All of Belmont Shore is good, all of Naples is good. Signal Hill is nice but the bottom of it starts to get doggy. Anything north of the 405 Freeway is more low rent to moderate in terms of people and housing. Only know one gay couple who lives there. Kind of no man's land of houses and not much else.

So basically 90% of things to do from dinning, entertainment, shopping all are near the water either downtown or Belmont Shore. Even if you are not gay its the most desirable area to live.

Naples Long Beach, CA.

2nd Street Belmont Shore

Downtown LB

I live in the Belmont Heights area of Long Beach. It's just above, and west of Belmont Shore.

I've grew up here in SoCal, and have lived in Long Beach for 16 years. I can't live anywhere else - I love it here. I've had commutes to Santa Monica, Burbank, Pasadena, Downtown LA, and Silverlake. I still won't move.

It's going through some changes though. We seem to have a higher concentration of homeless. Partly due to gentrification, and partly due to drug addicts - mostly heroin and meth. We're also competing to be the bike theft capital of the US. I think we have a shot to be #1 this year!

I walk or ride my bike to most places locally. We're a very bike friendly city, much to the chagrin of the NIMBYs.

As far as the gay scene goes: I don't frequent the bars, but most gays around here are way more friendly than those in the WeHo area. I don't think I've met one "influencer" or "content creator" around here yet.

The city is VERY liberal with the exception of Naples and Alamitos Heights which voted Republican in the last two general elections.

R13, a Long Beach to Burbank commute sounds grisly. Yikes!

Thanks again all.

Google Maps indicates two neighborhoods along the ocean in between Belmont Shores and Downtown.

One is called Bluff Park (closer to BS) and the other is called Alamitos Beach (closer to DT). Are those the "gayborhood" you all were referencing?

There's also an East Village, which, as a NYer, is sort of charming that's in that general area.

Interesting thread.

[quote] people walk up an down the main street to shops and restraints.

So it has an active BDSM community?

R15 I lived in Alamitos Beach for 13 years. It's definitely the Gayborhood. If you plan on moving there, GET A PARKING SPACE. Parking is absolutely awful. Bluff Park is alright, but there's a bit of criminal activity and a few homeless encampments at Cherry park that borders Alamitos Beach and Bluff Park. Go there only during the day. East Village is cool and walkable, again no parking. Close to the Blue Line train that takes you up into LA and connects you with all the other rail lines.

R14 I was lucky enough that I could leave my place at 9am and stroll in the office around 10. Same with my Santa Monica gig.

Thank you again R18!

Any info on Rancho Estates ?

R7, if Long Beach, NY is “one of the straightest places you will ever live,” why is it the site of a weekend-long gay pride fest?

R20 Yes. Lots of very cool Mid-Century homes including a Case Study home, a Cliff May, and a couple Eichlers.

I enjoy the cooler weather of Long Beach.

Rancho Estates is not that well known in LB. It's right across from El Durado Park. Very quiet straight suburb if you are looking for that but park has lots of events that might be a problem. Been to several straight weddings there. Some cool houses but most are the basic box style they built as cheaply as they could after the war to get people into them. Maybe 5 or 6 thousand at the time. Don't expect quality. The cool Mid-Century are going to be over 1 million in the neighborhood.

Long Beach CA attracts about 80,000-100,000 people for pride.

Long Beach NY is about 30,000 for pride.

More importantly, is daily life. Long Beach CA has about a 17% registered self identified permanent gay residents. That translates to about 80,000 GLBT people living in LBC. That doesn't even count LA which is 4 times the size.

[quote] Long Beach CA has about a 17% registered self identified permanent gay residents.

Wait -- you have to REGISTER now? Is that how you get your gay card?

Its called a census R26.

r27 No one asks you if you're gay on the census, dumbass.

R28 It's a local city survey asking about same sex relationships, they extrapolate the numbers from that Dumb Ass.

By the way Dumb Ass is two words.

2020 Federal Census Will Ask About Same-Sex Relationships

R25

Admittedly, I left Long Island years ago, but did you really mean that Long Beach NY has THIRTY THOUSAND at it's Gay Pride celebration? 30,000?

A coworker and her partner are moving to Long Beach after they retire. You'll have 2 more lesbians to add to the current numbers.