Communities
Long Beach offers a variety of neighborhoods from waterfront luxury condominiums to hillside Spanish mansions and everything in between. Alamitos Beach fronts the ocean and has condos, restaurants and luxurious homes along the coastline. Alamitos Heights, developed in the forties has two story homes and large yards, and a public golf course. Belmont Heights is a hip community of Mediterranean, Spanish and craftsman bungalow type homes. The neighborhood has boutique shops, several good restaurants, and a coffee shop.
Belmont Shore is an oceanfront neighborhood with public pier, huge indoor swimming pool on the beach, plenty of shopping and restaurants. The area is known for its restaurants and nightclubs. Bixby Knolls, four miles north of downtown Long Beach, contains two of the most historically important neighborhoods in Southern California: Los Cerritos and California Heights. The community is predominantly residential and has close access to two main shopping corridors, Atlantic Ave. and Long Beach Blvd.
Bluff Park is Long Beach’s bohemian neighborhood. The homes are turn of the century and vary in architectural style, giving the area a charming appeal. Unique stores and local hangouts complement a nice variety of eateries. California Heights, Long Beach’s largest historic district is built in the hills where oil exploration took place at the turn of the century. The land was parceled off and developed into bungalow communities in the 1920’s. Downtown Long Beach is primarily commercial with major shopping, dining and business areas in modern office buildings, and oceanfront property including the Queen Mary attraction.
Los Altos neighborhood is located just north of the campus of California State University at Long Beach and consists of single family homes built in the 50’s and 60’s. Shopping plazas anchored by the big chain stores and restaurants are interspersed with a large variety of options for shopping and dining.
Los Cerritos is a neighborhood built on what was once a huge land tract granted by the Mexican government and then sold and split into smaller ranchos. Over the decades the cattle ranches became neighborhoods and today the original rancho sits on the property of the Virginia Country Club and is being renovated for visitors. Naples Island is a cluster of small islands located on the southern-most tip of Long Beach. Is a wonderfully watery canal living with cottages and boats lining the banks, little bridges, eclectic dining, and man made canals designed to be reminiscent of Venice. Peninsula is a mile long stretch of expensive single family homes along the road to the Long Beach Yacht Club, 76 years located here on Alamitos Bay and home to one of the top international yachting events held annually, the Congressional Cup race.
Rose Park Historic District is one of Long Beach’s oldest residential neighborhoods. Victorian, Craftsman and Spanish Colonial homes built around a park donated to the city by land developers in 1910.
The East Village is a mix of all housing types, from high-rise condos to small craftsman cottages, and people of all cultures, income levels, and professions. An unusual collection of shops and galleries provide a central focus to the neighborhood.
Little Phnom Penh (or less often "Cambodia Town" or "Little Cambodia") is the name of the area along Anaheim Street between Alamitos and Junipero avenues. The city’s large Cambodian population lives and works here, running a variety of restaurants and businesses. Long Beach is home to the largest population of Cambodians outside of Cambodia with over 50,000 living here. The city has a Cambodian embassy and celebrates the Cambodian New Year.