Eastside Long Beach - Long Beach, CA Area Guide

Eastside features several smaller, historic neighborhoods. When looking for apartments in Eastside, you'll discover areas filled with bungalows dating back to the pre-WWII era as well as newer houses and apartment communities. No matter where you choose to live in Eastside, you'll enjoy a unique blend of restaurants, exciting celebrations, and a variety of traditions.

The Museum of Latin American Art provides a cultural experience in Eastside. This museum is dedicated to expanding knowledge of Latin American Art through exhibits and educational programs. Downtown Long Beach hosts a variety of annual events, such as the Long Beach Sea Festival. Closer to home, MacArthur Park hosts a community dance festival.

Eastside neighborhood residents have a long list of options when it comes to restaurants, but locally-inspired cuisine is a clear winner for most. Being so close to both Mexico and the ocean, this neighborhood has a wide variety of Mexican and seafood restaurants.

Rivera's won't disappoint with its Mexican food and incredible staff. The walls are decorated with Spanish art, and as soon as you are seated the wait staff brings out fresh salsa and chips. Locals love the pezole, loaded with plenty of meat and vegetables and combined with the perfect amount of spices. Rivera's also grills their fish dishes instead of frying them, so you get more of a fresh fish flavor.

39 Degrees offers some of the best sushi in the Long Beach area. They host a "Happy Tummy Hour" where fresh sushi is heavily discounted, but be sure to get there early since the wait can get long. The most popular dish on the menu includes the salmon sashimi that has a rich, fresh flavor with seven pieces. To satisfy your roll craving, try the popular Ashley Roll. This roll has spicy tuna, jalapeno, and avocado on the inside all wrapped in soy paper and topped with mango.

If you're in the mood for some pizza and some asian-inspired bites, be sure to stop in Dean's Pizza. The restaurant offers both traditional Italian slices and Thai food for those that like to dabble in dual cuisine delights. Dean's prides itself in unique menu items such as the Thai curry chicken pizza.

Nightlife in the Eastside neighborhood remains active and busy throughout the week, especially with crowd-pleasing downtown Long Beach so close by. For cheap drinks, stop in Joe Jost's. As one of Long Beach's oldest establishments, residents hail it as the go-to for cheap drinks and a social atmosphere. This bar even brews their own root beer with a variety of sweet, spicy, and fruity flavors.

Along the popular Anaheim Street sits Alex's Bar. This bar has live entertainment, is easy accessible by foot, and offers great live DJs when there aren't live bands. On Monday nights they offer a trivia night where they also serve free pizza. The bar has a photo booth inside for residents to enjoy and take silly Facebook-worthy photos with their friends.

The main streets for transportation include Anaheim Street, Pacific Avenue, and Pacific Coast Highway, also called State Route 1. Most residents walk around or take the various public transportation options available.

For the most part, public parking remains free but many of the homes in the area do not have a garage, so the street side parking can get crowded.

For public transportation, the LA Metro Transit Authority Blue Line runs through the middle of Eastside for residents to travel. Other options for transportation include Uber, Lyft, and local taxi companies.

There are two wonderful parks within the Eastside neighborhood - Orizaba Park and MacArthur Park. You'll also find Recreation Park just on the Eastern outskirts of the neighborhood, which offers residents a recreation center, playground, baseball field, casting pond, dog park, golf course, and picnic areas. If catching waves and rays is more your style, the Pacific Ocean is only a few short blocks away.

You might think your Eastside apartment will cost you -- but even though it is close to downtown LA and downtown Long Beach, Eastside is still relatively affordable. One-bedroom apartments average about $1,390 a month. To travel from Eastside to Los Angeles costs $1.75 for a one-way trip. The typical price of a beer at a local pub costs from $2 to $3 with the gas price sitting 1.5% above the national average.

Anaheim Street showcases some of the most popular small businesses in the area. Eastside has risen as a popular neighborhood for small businesses to thrive. One of the standouts among Eastside's small shops is Linne's Boutique. This small store offers women's clothing and accessories. Dresses for both casual and fancy events are the predominant clothing offered here, but the owner works hard to pick the dresses with quality material so they last a long time.

Anyone looking for the perfect food gift for someone will love Edible Arrangements. This store sells clever "bouquets" constructed out of carefully-cut fruit layered on skewers to enjoy. They also offer several sizes -- a perfect choice for a birthday or anniversary gift.

Local grocery stores include Riverside, 77's, Saritas, and R&G Grocery, among others. While there are no farmers' markets in Eastside proper, neighboring Long Beach hosts quite a few, such as the one on Fridays in downtown Long Beach.