Hellobee Boards

Good luck on the interview! Gardena is in what is considered the South Bay Area of LA. It's not a bad place to be and you have decent options nearby that wouldn't be a long commute.
Any of the beach cities - redondo and manhattan being closest will give you walk ability but for a higher cost of course. Torrance is the suburb between the beach cities and Gardena and has decent neighborhoods but is very suburban and you'll want a car. Palos Verdes is the adjacent expensive area. Your best bet if you want an urban setting is Long Beach which is an easy 25 minute commute. It has an actual downtown (I loved living there before moving to colorado 18 months ago). I can give you more info if you need it. I worked in the southbay for 12 years.

@Mrs. Monkey: hmmm. It depends on who you ask! It has bad areas and good ones. And honesty sometimes it's a difference of a few blocks in one direction. The core downtown area has become popular place to live and work in the past 5-10 years. I lived there alone and then later with my husband and our LO and felt safe but wouldn't walk the streets alone at night except right in our area where the shops and restaurants were. There are also suburban parts of long beach (it's a huge city) that are ok but in that case I would suggest just staying in suburbs closer to Gardena to shorten your husbands commute.
Feel free to email me - my email is my HB user name at gmail and I can give you more info if you want.

I would look into Culver City. It has an artsy vibe, and great little downtown area with hip restaurants popping up all over the place.

https://culvercity.lanightlife.com/

One more piece of advice is to seriously consider your husbands commute. If you narrow down areas you think work in terms of what you want in a living situation I would ask around to see what drive times are like. Also if your husband doesn't have traditional hours and can go in early and leave early or late it can help a bit. Though LA traffic is horrible most hours and 7 days a week . Getting in and out of anywhere using the 405 or 10 plus if you aren't close to a freeway can easily make for an hour plus drive from the Gardena area.

Agree with the ladies above that culver city would be a fun place to live. Probably an hour commute but maybe 45 depending on exact locations. Santa Monica is too over crowded for me!

@Mrs. Monkey: if you are interested in long beach, I would look at Belmont Shore. It's s community within long beach and as safe as can be. Major walking community. But stay away from downtown long beach.