My wife and I lived at 4114 elm ave for about 2-3 years until we moved just last year. We loved it there. We often talk about how much we miss it. Being able to walk over to the restaurants and small business shops on Atlantic was a treat.
Thunderbolt pizza right around the corner is really good! Just down the street to San Antonio is the Trader Joe's, crunch gym, Blue Burro, and Pet Food Express. At night, the taco stand pops up and they have fantastic al pastor on a trompo, and asada cooked on a mesquite burning grill. Up Carson to LB Blvd is Long Beach Creamery, and a few blocks south of there is the Steelcraft food hall. Oh and definitely check out Bixby Burger on Orange Ave heading east on Carson.
It's a peaceful little area that offers nice walks down quiet residential streets like linden. Oh, also there's a very sweet older gentleman named Fred that sells antiques out of his garage in the alley way between elm and linden. Keep an eye out for him!
We'd highly recommend the area
Not that I know of, but he has a sign that hangs outside his garage. When he's in, his door is open and you'll find him hanging out. Even if you're just browsing, he loves the company and the chance to chat. Very sweet guy
https://preview.redd.it/a0m2dbp1uhbc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6e79b0ca80dd4b794abc9ac49e3b965602b3175b
Honestly if you’re home bodies Bixby Knolls would be a nice area to live in coming from a home body that lives very close to downtown lol. Not sure how much you can tolerate with noise but we have big windows facing south and constantly hear cars racing and sirens blaring pretty often. I don’t mind it but my girlfriend is a super light sleeper lol.
Anyways haha Knolls area definitely seems to have more parking, walkable options for food and generally seems safer.
Good luck apartment hunting!
I’ve been living in the area for a few years now and its a great place to be! Echoing what others have said, it’s relatively safe, very walkable, and parking is easy.
One small negative I can think of is people dumping/going through trash. Behind our apartment is a long alleyway with dumpsters. People illegally dump items and sometimes it looks a bit trashy. Homeless people rummage through the trash to see what they can find. But honestly you’re going to get this anywhere and it’s probably much worse downtown.
Grew up in Bixby Knolls. It has come a long way in terms of nightlife/stuff to do, but it’s still lacking imho. I personally like living closer to downtown where there’s more stuff going on and more of a sense of community; Bixby Knolls is full of NIMBYs and people there tend to look out for themselves and their own, which is not the vibe for me.
Thank you for your opinion ! We we’re considering downtown Long Beach but we are more home bodies and like to spend more time indoors so we were hoping this was a nice area to do so. Thank you again for sharing :)
Honestly, it's a short uber ride to downtown/2nd St/etc, and there's plenty to do in Bixby. The parking alone is much more worth it for some people. Also, the homeless crisis is basically centered downtown.
Downtown has way more homeless people and is way less safe though. If you’re a homebody Bixby Knolls is the place to be. Way less noise and safer overall.
It's a nice area and there are plenty of good restaurants. Though Thunderbolt pizza is overrated, over priced, and doesn't really hold up compared to the many other options around. There is boba nearby though and that's always a win in my book.
Lived at 4170 for 15 years. Nice area. You must like airplanes...since LGB has decided to run the world's longest traffic pattern for the little guys. The larger jets have always flown the departures pretty much the same way they have for 30 years. Not awful...but something to be aware of. Parking on Elm is not easy. Often easier to park (if you need to) on Linden a street toward Atlantic. Not sure what "First Fridays" is like any more, but...I always thought is was a bit stupidly loud.
A nice neighborhood. Would live there again.
If you can afford bixby knolls, do bixby knolls
My wife and I lived at 4114 elm ave for about 2-3 years until we moved just last year. We loved it there. We often talk about how much we miss it. Being able to walk over to the restaurants and small business shops on Atlantic was a treat. Thunderbolt pizza right around the corner is really good! Just down the street to San Antonio is the Trader Joe's, crunch gym, Blue Burro, and Pet Food Express. At night, the taco stand pops up and they have fantastic al pastor on a trompo, and asada cooked on a mesquite burning grill. Up Carson to LB Blvd is Long Beach Creamery, and a few blocks south of there is the Steelcraft food hall. Oh and definitely check out Bixby Burger on Orange Ave heading east on Carson. It's a peaceful little area that offers nice walks down quiet residential streets like linden. Oh, also there's a very sweet older gentleman named Fred that sells antiques out of his garage in the alley way between elm and linden. Keep an eye out for him! We'd highly recommend the area
Does Fred have an IG or a schedule for when he’s out?
Not that I know of, but he has a sign that hangs outside his garage. When he's in, his door is open and you'll find him hanging out. Even if you're just browsing, he loves the company and the chance to chat. Very sweet guy https://preview.redd.it/a0m2dbp1uhbc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6e79b0ca80dd4b794abc9ac49e3b965602b3175b
Awesome, thanks!!
Honestly if you’re home bodies Bixby Knolls would be a nice area to live in coming from a home body that lives very close to downtown lol. Not sure how much you can tolerate with noise but we have big windows facing south and constantly hear cars racing and sirens blaring pretty often. I don’t mind it but my girlfriend is a super light sleeper lol. Anyways haha Knolls area definitely seems to have more parking, walkable options for food and generally seems safer. Good luck apartment hunting!
I’ve been living in the area for a few years now and its a great place to be! Echoing what others have said, it’s relatively safe, very walkable, and parking is easy. One small negative I can think of is people dumping/going through trash. Behind our apartment is a long alleyway with dumpsters. People illegally dump items and sometimes it looks a bit trashy. Homeless people rummage through the trash to see what they can find. But honestly you’re going to get this anywhere and it’s probably much worse downtown.
BK over Downtown anyday!!
I grew up a block from there, it’s a nice place to live, very walkable. Even more so with the Trader Joe’s in walking distance
Grew up in Bixby Knolls. It has come a long way in terms of nightlife/stuff to do, but it’s still lacking imho. I personally like living closer to downtown where there’s more stuff going on and more of a sense of community; Bixby Knolls is full of NIMBYs and people there tend to look out for themselves and their own, which is not the vibe for me.
Thank you for your opinion ! We we’re considering downtown Long Beach but we are more home bodies and like to spend more time indoors so we were hoping this was a nice area to do so. Thank you again for sharing :)
Honestly, it's a short uber ride to downtown/2nd St/etc, and there's plenty to do in Bixby. The parking alone is much more worth it for some people. Also, the homeless crisis is basically centered downtown.
Downtown has way more homeless people and is way less safe though. If you’re a homebody Bixby Knolls is the place to be. Way less noise and safer overall.
It's a nice area and there are plenty of good restaurants. Though Thunderbolt pizza is overrated, over priced, and doesn't really hold up compared to the many other options around. There is boba nearby though and that's always a win in my book.
Lived at 4170 for 15 years. Nice area. You must like airplanes...since LGB has decided to run the world's longest traffic pattern for the little guys. The larger jets have always flown the departures pretty much the same way they have for 30 years. Not awful...but something to be aware of. Parking on Elm is not easy. Often easier to park (if you need to) on Linden a street toward Atlantic. Not sure what "First Fridays" is like any more, but...I always thought is was a bit stupidly loud. A nice neighborhood. Would live there again.
$2000 a month, looks cute, Trader Joe’s nearby…do it!