Cooper Arms

I have lived in the Cooper Arms for over 3 years now. It is a wonderful Historic Landmark Building from 1924 and is very well maintained. There was new management hired shortly after I arrived and they have replaced some of the security officers and use good judgement about enforcing rules.
Our building engineer Oscar is wonderful and responds very fast to any issues. The building is not responsible for water shutdowns, as that is a function of owners updating their units, but in an effort to minimize inconvenience to residents they have limited that to 2 days per month and between 9 and 4 so most of us are not affected. I have experienced only one minor leak from a bathroom sink above me being stopped up (and the resident not trying to fix it or calling a plumber). Oscar arrived at my unit in 15 minutes, called a plumber, let them into the above unit, and the issue was fixed in 2 hours!
I have an almost original unit with hardwood floors, original cabinets in the kitchen and dressing room and a small balcony with a view of the marina and cruise ships. There is a great group of people of all ages living in the building and I have made several great friends here.
I love the building and the neighborhood. The local merchants are wonderful and remember and appreciate their regulars. The building has no garage, but several nearby public garages offer secure monthly parking for about $ 100 per month. I can easily walk to fabulous restaurants, movies, hairdresser, museums and shops but there is great public transit nearby as well.
I think its a great place to live and plan to be here a long time!

I had the pleasure of touring the Cooper Arms today as part of a walking tour of the East Village by the Long Beach Heritage Society. Our guide was a man named Richard, who I believe has lived there for quite a few years.
This is a lovely, and yes, OLDER building. They have a fairly large sitting room on the first floor and I was quite surprised that no one was sitting there reading a book, as I would surely do if I lived there. We walked over to what was the original entrance with a long garden walkway from Ocean Boulevard. I forgot to ask why they use the less elaborate Linden entrance now. Anyway, we took the elevator up to the top floor where the ballroom is. It had large windows on 3 sides and offered views of the water, north and west over the downtown area.
I was happy to get back down to the first floor as the elevator was a little slow for my tastes! I’ll add some photos for you to see. My favorite part of this building is the mailboxes. Also, they have a guard /​doorman which is a great throwback to earlier times!

When I moved into the Cooper Arms, I probably would have given the building a «4». Moving into a Historical Building is always going to be an adventure to be certain, but the ambiance and the views only last for so long before the glow begins to fade.
Our of 4 doormen, 2 are great… but one of them works the graveyard shift and you hardly ever see him. As for the other two… well my momma always said if you don’t have something nice to say keep your mouth shut, and I’ll leave it at that. They don’t always tell you when you have a package, there’s no garbage disposals.
The elevators are straight out of the Tower of Terror… and one is always broken. It’s taken me 15 to wait for an elevator before, and when you live on the 11^th floor the stairs aren’t always an option. You have to rent the elevator when you want to move, and if someone else snags it, then you’re SOL.
There’s a widow that opens to an airshaft in the bathroom (and it always smells a little funky.) The occasional bugs make an appearance as well, which is something that could happen anywhere, but still incredibly gross.
The doors and windows rattle all of the time, and I’m not entirely convinced the building isn’t haunted.
Another issue is the plumbing. Apparently the building is in the process of trying to fund a multimillion dollar plumbing upgrade (or so my landlord mentioned when we moved in) and there are constant issues with the water being turned off to fix things in the building.
There are insane amounts of rules, like no walking around without shoes (and yes they hand out tickets.) No pets, no bikes above ground (meaning they slam you with an add’l 150 monthly charge to store them) just to name a few of my personal favorites.
All in all it was nice while it lasted, but I am glad I’m gone. I wouldn’t recommend the building to anyone. Ever.