I'm going throw in a shout out to Long Beach, CA. It meets every single one of your qualifications, and is a hidden gem of Southern California. It prides itself on being bicycle friendly, and I have many friends that are car free or car-lite. There's a very strong bicycling culture and it's how I made most of my friends. My rent for a nice two bedroom, two bath, two parking spot apartment is $1350/month (I split that cost with a roommate). I've also lived in this apartment for three years on a month to month lease without any rent increases. Adorable craftsmen homes are available to rent for a good price. I'm walking distance to dive bars, free/donation based yoga overlooking the ocean, restaurants, grocery stores, weekly farmer's markets, the beach, thrift stores, house roasted coffee shops, roller derby shops, vintage bike shops, etc etc. My friends all live within 3 miles of me.
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kmt88, I'm very familiar with Long Beach, as I grew up in Huntington and my family currently lives in Seal Beach. I will be there next week to visit. I agree Long Beach is great, but lacks the appeal of being somewhere new and interesting for me, plus I tend to get caught up in the consumer culture/vanity of Southern California and would rather stay away from those influences, but it certainly is a nice place to live and raise a family if you're at that stage of life. Thanks for the reminder. Glad to hear that you're loving it there.
