Gardena, CA: Top Things to Know About Storage

One City in a Group

It’s tough to talk about Gardena without involving the surrounding cities, Torrance, Carson, Redondo Beach, Compton, Inglewood, and South Gate. This is due to Gardena’s small population of about 11,000. For example, Gardena has 23 self-storage facilities. That’s more than enough for a city of 11,000, because that comes to about 12,650 individual units! Most cities have a person to storage unit ratio between 1 to 6 and 1 to 10. So, you have to look at the how the other cities fit in. Torrence has a population of about 150,000 and just 25 facilities. Carson has a population of about 95,000 residents with 14 facilities. Many of their residents rent in Gardena. While you might expect self-storage prices in Gardena to be low because of the approximately 1 to 1 ratio, they are actually high, and that has to do with the surrounding cities. You can rent a 5’x5’ unit rents for about $75 per month or a 10’x10’ for about $170. We recommend shopping around before you settle on a facility.

The Climate Control Sweet Spot

As tempting as it is to store things right by the beach, it’s not the best way to preserve the quality of your items.  Torrance is a city that’s located on the beach, meaning the things in your storage unit are affected by the humidity and high salt content in the air.  Feel free to store things that you’ll actually be using at the beach, like boats, kayaks, surfboards, beach umbrellas, and anything else that you need.  However, if you’re storing things like antiques, paintings, family heirlooms, or objects that are made out of metal, you’ll want to store more inland.  If that’s the route you’re taking, be sure to rent a climate controlled unit because for every mile you go inland, the temperature changes one degree.  Delicate items will fair better if they’re not vulnerable to the changes in temperature.

Climate Control, or No?

Along the coast of Southern California, you’re either right by the beach, or a bit inland. Those close to the beach often get the fog rolling in nights or mornings, while those a bit inland don’t.

Gardena is inland enough that you won’t need climate control to deal with that off-the-ocean humidity. As with many Southern California cities, it has mild winters and warm to hot summers, but the humidity is always about just right. Certain temperature-sensitive items, like medications or musical instruments, might need climate control, but most items won’t.

Events Around Town

While surrounding neighborhoods, especially Torrance, have their own yearly events, you don’t have to leave small Gardena to find something fun and new most months. Local events include the Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade and Celebrations, Gardena Cymbibidium Show, the Gardena Spring Craft Sale, Easter Bunny Brunch, and more. Events lead to traffic. The more popular the event, the more traffic congestion you’ll see. Hopefully you’ll be able to attend some of these events and have a great time with others in the community. However, it’s a terrible feeling when you need to get something from your self-storage unit, or you have an appointment in ten minutes across town, and you get stuck in event traffic. So, keep abreast of what’s happening around town. You can avoid much of the traffic that way, and you’ll find exciting new things to do.