Long Beach Travel Forum

Hello,

I'll be visiting Long Beach next week for 3 days and will be staying at a hotel near the waterfront. My plan is to spend 2 days in the hollywood/santa monica area and 1 day at a beach. According to the MTA website theres the 'blue line' that goes to LA and I can transfer to the 'green line' to go to Rotondo and transfer to the 'red line' to go to hollywood. My questions are: Is it safe to travel through southern LA from Long Beach, ie. through Compton and other areas. And if its not safe can anyone recommend a better (yet cheap) way to go to the places I mentioned. I'm a young female travelling alone and I don't want to put myself in any dangerous situations.

Thanks!

Though I haven't used this form of transportation, my guess is that you would be safe enough. Public transportation is usually well monitored especially through neighborhoods that tend to have more trouble than others.

Hope this helps,
Linda

On the MTA through southern LA you will be fine. There are some stops where a reasonable person does not get off ( Compton, Lynwood ), but you will be ok going through.

On the MTA through southern LA you will be fine. There are some stops where a reasonable person does not get off ( Compton, Lynwood ), but you will be ok going through.

I would personally switch to a hotel in Santa Monica ... you will save quite a bit of time and aggravation on transportation. Do take into consideration it's been many moons since I took public transportation in LA ...
Not sure why Long Beach ... Santa Monica is also a beach and you could find a place to ride bikes and ride around into Venice Beach, etc. The hotel in Santa Monica could be a bit more expensive ... but so is your valuable time commuting. And Compton is definitely an area to avoid.

Nomad

First of all, there's no need for you to take the Green Line if you're going to Hollywood from Long Beach. Take the Blue Line to its terminal in Downtown L.A. then transfer to a Red Line train going to North Hollywood. There's another Red Line train that goes to Wilshire/Western--don't take it.

Taking the Blue Line train is generally safe. As an added precaution, however, I suggest that you ride in the first car (where the driver/engineer is). Also, although it may be perfectly safe, avoid riding Blue Line trains at night.

I'm staying in Long Beach because I'm tagging along on this trip and the room is free for me. Beggars can't be choosers :) Thanks for all of the great advice!

Ah, a free trip, the best! So for the beach day if you enjoy bikes you may want to rent one - here are a couple of sites. First link made me homesick! I used to take my kids to the beach when they were little: - http://www.nearfield.com/~dan/sports/bike/beach/southbay/index.htm

VT's
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/North_America/United_States_of_America/California/Santa_Monica-755557/Things_To_Do-Santa_Monica-Beach_Bike_Path-BR-1.html

Not really sure where to rent the bike, but I remember seeing bike places along the road. Venice is also a sight to see, very typical Southern California, big icon (people really pumped iron and lived on the beach before it became so touristy).

Enjoy your trip! Nomad

i used public transport recently in both long beach and compton and felt just fine.
i even rode my bicycle through compton one day without any haslles, so i think you should be just ok.