City, Orange County
© McCormack's Guides
Zip Code: 90740
Three
small neighborhoods wrapped
around a large naval weapons station. The old town is on the Pacific and considered one of the choice locations in Orange County. www.mccormacks.com
Built out.
Population decreased by about 1,000 in the 1990s. According to latest state
guess, Seal Beach has 25,986 residents. Many retirees, few families. Median age
of town 54. Those under 21 make up 15 percent of the population.
The state
in 2008 counted 14,537 housing units, of which 4,699 were single-family
detached, 2,121 single attached, 7,554 multiples and 163 mobile homes. About 76
percent all housing units are owner-occupied.
Click for regional or detailed map
Kids attend
schools in the Los Alamitos district, overall state rankings in 80th and 90th
percentiles. See Schools.
Crime rate
low. Zero homicides in 2005, one each in 2004 and 2003, zero in 2002 and 2001,
one in 2000, zero in 1999, one in 1998, 1997 and 1996 and for preceding years,
three, one, one, one, zero, one, one and two. See Crime.
The first
neighborhood is located north of the weapons station between Lampson Avenue and
Interstate 405. One- and two-story homes built in the last 30 years. Small
front lawns; houses tend to take up most of the lot. Some roofs tiled. Utility
lines buried. Close to two golf courses, one belonging to the Army. Landscaped,
nice looking neighborhood, well-cared-for. Some homes butt up against freeway
but tall sound walls help the buffering. Three small parks. www.mccormacks.com
Just west
of the weapons station is Leisure World, a gated retirement community. Golf
course. Activities for the elderly. Two parks.
On the
southwest is the old town, bisected by the Pacific Coast Highway. North of the
highway the homes run to three- and four-bedroom, one- and two-story, suburban
but many custom jobs of various styles: Moorish, colonial, olde English with
gables. Nothing rundown, upscale suburbia.
Crossing
to the other side of the highway, the beach look takes over. Apartments, condos
and homes, some of the last modestly opulent, especially on the beach. They can’t
be called grand because the lots are small and this limits house sizes. But
some have been remodeled to catch the setting sun and the ocean. Level of care
high.
To keep traffic moving, the city has
turned narrow streets on the east side into one-way streets. Many of the beach
cottages are two bedroom, but color them pricey.
Main
Street is a mix of restaurants, coffee sellers, bars and art and antique
stores. Downtown ends in a park and a fishing pier. In the evening, many
residents stroll Ocean Avenue and watch the sun sink into the Pacific. An old
movie house was saved and now shows art and foreign films. Old town has four
parks, one of them long and narrow, popular for walkers and joggers. Library
and museum in downtown. www.mccormacks.com
The
downtown, boardwalk and beach attract the tourists and this may bother some
residents. On the other hand, the restaurants, shops and delis give Seal Beach
a certain charm. It's a nice town to jog or walk the dog, then settle in for a
chat over coffee and lattes.
The old
town is small (about 20 blocks by six blocks) and compact, which lends to its
friendliness. You can get to know your neighbors because you will be bumping
into them all the time.
Seal Beach
built over 50 percent of its residential units in the 1960s but the town doesn’t
have a Sixties look — the housing styles are too diverse.
Boeing
International, about 2,000 employees, is located near Leisure World. Boeing in
2006 sold surplus parcels; city wants to use land for hotel and stores.
Joint Forces Training (Air) Base to
northeast of Seal Beach but keep to narrow flight path over naval weapons
station. Helicopters at base. Check out noise. www.mccormacks.com
•
Occasional flooding in downtown following heavy rains.
• Marinas
to the east (Huntington Beach) and the west (Long Beach).
• What's a
beach without sand. The Army Corps of Engineers occasionally pumps sand on
local beaches to replenish what is lost to tides. The city has built a 750 foot wall
along the coast to slow the sand erosion.
• Military
base includes 932 acres set aside as wildlife refuge.
• Bombs
Away. Flock of herons, protected by law, are nesting in ficus trees near
Pacific and letting loose when the urge strikes. Pretty no, stinky yes, say
residents. One consolation: birds migrate for the fall and winter. www.mccormacks.com
• After
years of argument, the city council purchased 300 parking meters for the
downtown. Then the council had second thoughts and paid a fee to cancel the
meters. “Nobody wanted (them),” said the mayor. But there are meters in other
parts of town.
• In 2007,
the city was debating setting height limits on coastal homes to preserve views.
• Old
stores giving way here and there to new and different. Among the lost in 2006
was a bowling alley near Leisure World to be replaced by bakery, dry cleaner,
restaurants and shops. The alley had its fans.
Chamber of
commerce (562) 799-0179.
City web
site: www.ci.seal-beach.ca.us
