Los Alamitos, CA Real Estate

While not directly on the beach, Los Alamitos (“Los Al” to locals) enjoys costal climate and is a short drive to the water. The town has a suburban, yet still homey feel to it, and boasts of one of the finest school districts in Orange County, in fact its been noted that many families move here for the schools, especially its award winning high school.

The town originally sprung up around a large sugar mill that rose up from the flatlands and could be seen for miles around. Sugar beet growing declined in Orange County, but the village that sprung up around the mill continued to grow. The Bixby Ranch occupied a large tract in the southern part of Los Al and the Navy built an air station during World War II that still operates as the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base.

Except for the occasional Navy jet landing, Los Al stayed fairly sleepy until 1956, when the development of the walled community of Rossmoor began. Now home to over 10,000 residents, Rossmoor is still the largest single development in Orange County. Technically, Rossmoor is in unincorporated county territory and not part of the city of Los Alamitos, but it is included in the school district and most residents consider it another neighborhood of Los Al.

Los Alamitos High School which serves Rossmoor and Seal Beach as well is a nationally recognized high school, whose reputation has been further enhanced by its success in sports. Through the 1990s and early 2000s, its football team was consistently nationally ranked and at one point went over 45 games without a loss. Its 2005 girl’s soccer team won the mythical national championship. The school’s dropout rate is almost zero (statewide, California has a 25% dropout rate.) and consistently sends a high percentage of its grads off to college – many to prestigious east coast schools.

Los Alamitos sits between the 405 and 605 freeways, so commuting is relatively easy. It’s 19 miles to the OC’s John Wayne Airport, but only four miles to Long Beach Airport, one of the few airports in the country constantly adding new services. The county’s only race track, the 5/8ths mile Los Alamitos Race Track host thorobred, quarterhourse, and harness racing meets.

Los Al’s real estate market is heavily weighted toward single family homes, although a select few townhomes and condos are available.