Alamitos Beach

Alamitos Beach is the grid directly east of Downtown Long Beach: Alamitos Avenue on the west, Junipero Avenue on the east, 4th Street on the north, and Ocean Boulevard and the beach on the south. It's one of the densest parts of the city. From most front doors you can walk to the sand, Bixby Park, a coffee or a bar in about ten minutes, and a lot of people here don't drive much.

The housing is apartments and condos, not houses. You'll see 1920s buildings with tile and arched entries, plain 1950s and 1960s walk-ups, and a handful of towers on Ocean Boulevard. Census figures show about 78% of households in the neighborhood rent. For buyers, that means the for-sale market is mostly one and two bedroom condos, and for renters it means a lot of choice.

The landmark is the Villa Riviera at 800 East Ocean, a 16-story château-style tower finished in 1928. Its steep copper roof has weathered to green, and it stayed the tallest building in Long Beach until 1988. Bixby Park, 16.7 acres at 130 Cherry Avenue, is the neighborhood's backyard, with a bandshell, a community center and a dog park.

Broadway is the main street and the center of Long Beach's LGBTQ nightlife. 4th Street, up on the north edge, is Retro Row.

The beach sits inside the federal breakwater, so the water is usually flat, and the bike path runs along the sand from Shoreline Village to Belmont Shore. This stretch is the venue for beach volleyball at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and blind football at the Paralympics. After rain, though, water quality inside the breakwater often drops to a D or F on Heal the Bay's report card, so check before you swim.

John W. Bixby, who bought Rancho Los Alamitos with banker I.W. Hellman and his Bixby cousins, laid out the Alamitos Beach Townsite in 1886. His Alamitos Land Company named the streets and set aside parks, and the same townsite later took in what became Belmont Heights, Belmont Shore and Naples. The area was annexed to Long Beach in 1905.

Bixby Park came early. Bixby and park superintendent Nessick planted trees on the site between 1886 and 1903, the Alamitos Land Company donated the first piece in 1903 as Alamitos Park, and the city renamed it Jotham Bixby Park in February 1907. More land was added in 1938 and 1952.

Much of what stands today went up in the 1920s or in the decades after World War II. The Villa Riviera was finished in 1928 as an own-your-own apartment building, with valets and maid service, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. A few doors east, at 852 East Ocean, is the Adelaide Tichenor House by Greene & Greene. Tichenor was the civic leader who founded Long Beach's Ebell women's club, and the Ebell clubhouse also stands in the neighborhood.

As of September 2026, condos listed in Alamitos Beach asked from about $325,000 for a one-bedroom in a 1950s building to about $1.8 million for a large unit in a newer building, with about half between $400,000 and $800,000. That's well below the house neighborhoods to the east like Belmont Shore and Naples.

Price moves with the building: HOA dues and reserves, parking, the view, the floor, and how well the old systems have been kept up. Units close to the sand and in well-run buildings sell for more. Studios and buildings with deferred maintenance sit at the bottom. The best comps are recent sales inside the same building, so ask for those first.

Most errands here are on foot. The beach, Bixby Park, Broadway and Retro Row are all close, and the beach bike path runs west to Shoreline Village and Downtown and east to Belmont Shore. Downtown's Metro A Line stations are a short walk or ride away, and the A Line runs to Downtown Los Angeles, Pasadena and Pomona without a transfer.

For driving, Ocean Boulevard, Broadway, Alamitos Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway lead to the 710 and the 405. Expect to circle for street parking near the beach on warm weekends. LAX is usually 30 to 45 minutes by car, depending on traffic.