Welcome New Residents !
“La Linda Drive” is a historic little village of 35 homes built on the 10-acre site of the original George Bixby estate and formerly part of “The Rancho Los Cerritos.” The Drive roadway and the Bixby estate home, now house # 11, were built in the 1880s. The land bounded by Bixby Road, Granada Court (Alley), Roosevelt Road, and Long Beach Blvd. (originally American Ave.) was subdivided in 1922 (Recorded Nov. 4, 1922, Record of Surveyors Book 12 Page 39) and the remainder of the homes were built at various times to the present day. The roadway is narrow by today’s standards but was developed before automobiles. Its original purpose was for the operation of John Bixby’s ranch when the primary mode of transportation was horse and buggy. This history gives the Drive the charm that we all appreciate, but its age and close spacing also brings with it some special considerations.
1. The La Linda Drive Association
Our Drive and everything inside the gates are private, owned and maintained by all of us, not by the City of Long Beach. We maintain our two gates, some common areas and the La Linda Drive roadway through our Homeowners Association (HOA) called the “La Linda Drive Association.” The Association members meet once a year, in September, to vote on dues, discuss all issues of importance, and elect a Board of Directors. Meetings of the Board occur as required throughout the year and are open to all members.
Our dues are kept comparatively low because residents do most of the necessary tasks. Our elected Board of Directors and members of any special committees serve as volunteers. Your help is needed to keep things running smoothly. Please let the Board members know if you are willing to help.
A gardener takes care of Association common-area.
We usually hold four social events each year to which all residents are invited: a BBQ after the annual meeting in September, and parties at Halloween, Christmas, and Easter. For events paid for out of dues, such as the BBQ, all resident homeowners and their children are invited. There is no additional cost but please RSVP so the event committee knows how much food to order. Drive events are hosted by volunteers. Please inform a Board member if you are interested in hosting one of the annual events. We also need participating members to help with event set-up and tear-down.
2. Parking and Traffic
Roadway
Use The La Linda Drive roadway is only 16 feet wide in most places and vehicles cannot pass easily. It was built in the 1880s for horse and buggy traffic, not today’s large trucks and wide SUVs. The pavement is more fragile than public streets, so there is a weight limit to prevent damage to the roadway. Please refer to specific directives in the “Rules and Regulations.”
Safety
Non-functioning gates or lights or any unsafe conditions should be reported to a member of the Board.
Please note license numbers and descriptions of any suspicious vehicles late at night. Call 911 if you suspect foul play day or night. Your eyes and ears are our best protection, and we appreciate your alert observations and your help. Keep your doors and vehicles locked; we live in a safe neighborhood which does still experience some break-ins.
Alert your neighbors to animal sightings, such as coyotes (not unusual in our part of Long Beach) by using the Drive email distribution list. Keep access points to your basement or crawl space well screened to prevent skunks and possums from setting up households.
We have no community street lights unlike most residential streets, so the only light on the Drive at night is from our own homes. We request each home to light porches and garages to help with safety and crime prevention during hours of darkness. Lighting is a major deterrent to break-ins at night.
Parking
We have some short-term parking around our park area for overnight and guest parking, however, Drive parking space is very limited. When having a party or event at your home, please ask guests to park outside on Bixby Road and walk in if more than a few cars are expected.
Long-term parking (more than a weekend or a couple of days) is allowed along the alley (Granada Court) fence by the park. It is recommended that you notify the La Linda Dr. Association Board if you intend to leave a vehicle parked for an extended period of time. However, it is prohibited to occupy one of these spaces for more than 30 days without prior approval of the La Linda Dr. Association Board.
3. Gates, Keys and Access
The front gate on Bixby Road
The front gate has a telephone entry box with keypad for visitors. It lists all the residents by last name. The code number by your name is not your house number, for your protection; this is the number your guest must input into the keypad in order for you to be notified by telephone that they need to be let in. To let someone in who has called your phone from the gate keypad, press and hold “9” until you hear the long beep (or for some phones, “99,” or even “999”) ; the gate will open and the phone box will automatically disconnect. If the visitors don’t enter in time, the gate will close and they will have to call again. Also, the phone box allows only about 20 seconds of conversation.
Let a member of Board know your phone number so they can program the gate phone computer. It will work with any phone—wired, cellphone, PC-linked, or any other, as long as the number is within the 562 area code.
The back gate on Long Beach Blvd
This gate can only be opened by key or remote from the outside, or keypad and remote from the inside. It is not a visitors’ entrance or exit and does not open automatically from the inside. Please tell guests, delivery persons and workers not to try to exit that gate, because they can get trapped down the long narrow passage and have to back out. This is especially dangerous and difficult for large trucks, which can damage lawns, fences, and homes along the way.
Opening and closing the gates
Remote gate openers to keep in your car may be obtained from Byers and Butler, 3383 Olive, for a reasonable cost (phone 562-427-5353). They will program our gate code into the remote for you—they maintain our gates.
From outside the front gate, without a remote, you must input a series of signs and numbers into the keypad in order to personally open the gate electronically. Speak with a Board member for the gate code. In order to exit the drive by the front gate, a car must pull up close to the left hand side and the gate will open automatically. Pedestrians exit by using the pedestrian gate, adjacent to the vehicle gate.
Pedestrian gates and keys
There are pedestrian gates on Bixby Road by the front gate, and one on the alley by the trash area. A key to open these can be obtained from the Board. The first key is free and thereafter replacements cost $5. Please remember to fully close the gate when using it.
The back vehicle gate on Long Beach Blvd. can be opened with a remote, but for pedestrians not carrying a remote, a key must be used to enter the Drive, and for exiting, a code must be entered into the keypad.
4. Trash and Recycling
We have trash picked up at our trash dumpsters on the alley twice a week—on Monday and Thursdays in the early afternoon; home trash bins are emptied only on Thursdays. The city does not come onto the Drive for trash pickup or street sweeping because of the weight limitation.
Recyclables are picked up once a week, on Thursdays. Each home is responsible for their own recycling and you should have a City-issued recycling bin for your home which you can put or on the street or alley for pick up when full. There are also a set of bins located near the trash area for general community use. Volunteer neighbors put out these purple bins late Wednesday or early Thursday,
All homes may use the trash dumpsters; however, those homes which back up to Bixby, Roosevelt, and the alley (Granada Court) are requested to put out their city-issued trash bins on the public streets and alley, where the garbage trucks can pick them up. The other homes (about half our 35 homes) do not have any connection with public streets and must transport their trash to the trash dumpsters in the alley.
5. Emergencies and Contacts
Call 911 for any emergency. Be sure to describe our gate as being on Bixby Road, ½ block West of L.B. Blvd. Give the dispatcher the gate code, since sometimes new LBPD officers are not familiar with our Drive and the dispatcher sometimes forgets to give the responding officer the code. The L.B. Fire Dept. Station # 9 is one block away. L.B. Police patrol on a regular basis. We have emergency plans to help each other in case of natural disasters and it is strongly recommended that you maintain emergency supplies of food, water, batteries, medicines and any other supplies you might need to sustain yourself for up to a week.
Members of the Association Board are here to assist you. We can provide you with referrals to trades people for most things and any neighbor will be glad to help find the right one. Please make sure we have the correct email addresses for your home, as most of the communication from the Association to the homeowners is via email including meeting and event notices, and other news.
You may refer to and contact your neighbors using the Drive contact roster