I will be in the LA area June and wanted an affordable place to stay with some of the following attributes:
-near the beaches
-not too far from long beach airport (have flight to LV early)
-not too far from Santa Monica / Beverly Hills

Does anyone have an opinion of this property? Thoughts?

Regarding this property: mid-level Best Western, commercial part of Redondo Beach without charm, a couple of miles from any beach. You will be at least half an hour from LGB. You are also at least half an hour from Beverly Hills, and maybe 45 minutes from Santa Monica. Scratch this one off your list.

Based on your desired property attributes, I must assume you have never been to the Los Angeles area in your life. The metropolitan area is larger than many countries. This is what I would recommend:

-- Bite the bullet and stay in Santa Monica. There is a surprisingly nice Best Western right on Ocean in that city. Beverly Hills is 20-30 minutes away; go ahead and rent a car.

-- The last night, move to the Marriott at the corner of Lakewood and Spring in Long Beach. It's basically around the corner from LGB and not a bad hotel at all. Note that it takes between 45 minutes and 1 hour (depending on traffic) to get from Santa Monica to Long Beach.

Stan: listen to rjw. That's his back yard. Good advice there.
May and June offer the fewest cloud-free days during the warmer months of the year in the LGB/LA area (June gloom, as it's called). Doesn't mean you can't enjoy the beach, though.

gplimpton: Pshaw! Just tryin' to help...!

My druthers would be to stay down in Huntington Beach and enjoy the PCH schlepps down to Newport and Laguna, then run up to Santa Monica and BH-- OR just stay in Beverly Hills (beaches on day trips), then the last day at the Marriott in LB.

I checked into hotels in the SM area and they are out of the budget (>$120). I would have gotten the BW for $70/night. Do you guys have any other suggestions? Are the only properties in this price range around LAX which most people on this board say to avoid? On one evening we will be going to Anaheim for an Angeles game as well. We will have a car while in the area before heading off to Las Vegas.

Look, you just have to understand that hotels near any beach in the LA area are going to cost more. That Best Western is in a, shall we say, "transitional" area of Redondo Beach-- parts of which are VERY nice and other parts of which are quite rough.

You might look into bidding with Priceline, although you may have difficulty at this late date.

Hotels in the Long Beach area go all over the map, and just about none on the beach. The downtown Long Beach Hyatt is OK, and there's a nice Renaissance Hotel in downtown LB. You could also go for offbeat and stay on the Queen Mary. The problem there is, you're then stuck needing a car and having to drive the 710 freeway to get anywhere (it's the main truck route in and out of the Ports of LA and LB).

Your other choice would be to look in Anaheim, which at least has beaches and LA "freeway-close". It also is only about 20 minutes from LGB.

I think the poster that said this hotel is in a "transitional area" is right on. I would not choose to stay there. You might check into rates at the Holiday Inn Express in Hermosa Beach. It's a very nice hotel, a short drive to the beach and it's in a decent area. Anything anyplace near a beach in Ca is going to cost more then "inland" will, it's just a fact of life. I've lived in southern CA so I know what I'm saying.

Lori: Well stated. There are lower-cost hotels here and there that aren't too far from the beaches, but they will still be a bit pricier than staying in, say, Fullerton.

I know a Radisson that's maybe four blocks from the shore in Seal Beach (a nice little town), two blocks from Main Street, and it's quite reasonable. Still, you would need to know about it to try to get a room there.

Another thing: staninnyc, your handle suggests that you live in NYC-- a major metropolitan area. You sound surprised that hotel rates are what they are in the LA area-- another major metropolitan area. Would you expect to find a nice room in a nice hotel in Midtown for $70 a night?

Thanks Lori for the suggestion, I will look into it.

Rjw,

I am not surprised by the prices at all, I have been checking around. I?m not so ignorant to believe I could find a place ?within a stone?s throw? from the ocean. I was only hoping to be somewhat near it (a mile or 2). I don?t mean to disrespect LA by suggesting $70 would fetch a top flight room. I?m just constrained by my budget and thought I saw a good deal without knowing the area (never been to LA). I appreciate your suggestions for some other parts of town.

stan: No problemo. It does seem that a lot of people get sticker shock when it comes to LA hotels-- and they're not even that ridiculously expensive!

The dirty little secret of LA is that it's not laid out for the convenience of tourists. It's sure not laid out for the convenience of its citizens. So some allowances for travel need to be made.

I do think that Priceline could help. Check out biddingfortravel.com to see if they have advice for the LA area. You can find surprising deals in the Beverly Hills area. In Santa Monica itself, there is a Holiday Inn and a Four Points Sheraton that are not too far from the shore. Actually, there's a mid-size Best Western down in the Venice Beach area that could be lots of fun.

You might also try this: Go to travelocity.com or expedia.com, put in a place name (i.e., "Santa Monica CA" or "Beverly Hills CA"), then get the resulting properties listed on a map. Look at the rates shown, look at the user ratings (travelocity's are especially honest)-- then hone in on a few properties and make a few calls. Rack rates are a starting point for negotiations; you might get a deal from the actual reservations desk at a given hotel for the days you want. If you act NOW.