[AlexF]

I was looking into the Ifly system because they have them at the places I usually go, then I saw the prices, and now I look at them from afar afraid I'll kick up a pebble and scratch the paint.

As for what everyone is saying about traffic: it's true, traffic in L.A. sucks. If you are going to do your commuting to the same places at the same times, then it dosn't matter a whole lot on where you live because you will be able to fit your work around the traffic. However, if you are going to different places in different times, then there's a different story. Then you may want a location with close access to various freeways. For instance, living near CSULB you can have close access to the 405, 605 and 22. Same with north torrance/west carson you have the 110, 91, and 405. While some other areas like west torrance/redondo beach can take a sizeable chunk of time just to drive through the city just to get to the freeway. Then again, if it so much as sprinkles over here, most drivers will freak out and crash therefor it dosn't matter how close you are to any freeway cause they're all carbon monoxide emmiting parking lots.

Long Beach is a real great area and has some nice places then again, there are some "less then desierable" places to live as well. Either way, they have an abundance of police with an abundance of ink and tickets who are there if you need them. Nice areas (and expensive) over there are belmont heights, bixby knolls, signal hill, belmont shore, naples and then some other areas that arn't named but part of L.B.

And as a reminder, don't forget to plan for a higher cost of living. Everything from food prices to gas to insurance will go up (and don't forget to get uninsured motorist coverage too!)