Bellflower is one of the places I am "from"
I lived there from 77 to 80 and then again from 98 to 01
It had gone "down hill" as many saw it between those years, but remained a good place to live freeway access wise and is very affordable rent wise.
I would not suggest anyone new to Socal move to
Long Beach
there are patches of it that are alrite, but you really got to know exactly where they are, because other parts are truly dangerous, I mean for real
as in it takes a long time for the cops or an ambulance to come
Canoga Park & North Hollywood are in the San Fernando Valley
if you are going to move to Socal, dont bother moving to places like that which are really "L.A." adjacent on the map, but frequently require you to spend way too much time sitting in traffic just trying to get "over the hill" one way or the other
West Hollywood is the over priced part of "Hollywood" one can go further east and find more affordable places to live that are not too dangerous.
The key is knowing the specific little community you would be living in.
I suggest if anyone is going to live in that part of my hometown to move to near the Fairfax district, where the Orthodox Jewish community is based
just look for the red rope
Gardena and Hawthorne are South Bay but inland, no point to that really
if you are gonna do the South Bay, you should live in one of its beach cities like Redondo, Manhattan, or Hermosa
Having said all that, seriously, check out San Francisco before moving to L.A.
I miss L.A. every once and a while, but then I go down for a visit, spend way too much time in a car, spend way too much time dealing with utterly shallow & vacuous people who are always in a hurry to do absolutely nothing and prone to a level fakeness that is just truly staggering to comprehend
So even what you think you might like about L.A., you gotta remember, its all pretend, still, I think everybody should live there for at least some part of their life maybe
then come to your senses, get real, and move up here like so many of us Angelino have