LONG BEACH, N.Y. – Most people’s idea of Long Island living doesn’t involve cycling on a boardwalk between luxury beachfront condos and miles of white sand peppered with surfers peeling off wetsuits. Long Beach, however, is not your average Long Island city, and shares more with California than just a name.

“Long Beach attracts people who are interested in exercise and good health,” said a 12-year resident of Long Beach, Patrick Clark. “In many ways, it’s similar to Manhattan because it has a diverse population of people who live harmoniously in one town which is only a few miles long.”

About 20 miles and 50 minutes from Manhattan on the LIRR, Long Beach is a self-sufficient city of 36,000 that offers a healthy balance between seaside and urban living.

Like many Long Beach residents, Debbie Cheatham, 36, commutes to Manhattan, where she works as a producer at Channel 5 News.

“I love the fact that when I leave my office in the summer and come home, it really feels like I’ve left the city behind. I can smell the ocean when I step off the train, and that really helps separate my work life from my home life,” Ms. Cheatham said.

Her fiance, Chris Lang, is an avid surfer who appreciates having only a 10-minute hike to the beach from their one-bedroom apartment.

“There are more people here in the summer, and it’s younger, too,” said Ms. Cheatham, who has lived in Long Beach for about five years. “But it’s not like the Jersey Shore, where you have to search for a space in the sand – there’s always room,” she said.

Long Beach hasn’t always been New York’s answer to Santa Monica. In the late 1960s and ’70s, rundown buildings lined the boardwalk, and the city garnered a reputation for racial problems, crime, and failing schools.

“There was a time when there were boarded up buildings and vacant lots. Now if you go anywhere, you won’t see any type of lot without a contractor’s sign,” Mr. Clark said.

Development is picking up indeed. In April, the City Council of Long Beach approved the long-delayed super block project. The 6-acre oceanfront development will include a 140-unit hotel, 250 condominium apartments, restaurants, a health club, and a spa.

Manhattan-style eateries and businesses abound, and the city reportedly has one of the lowest commercial vacancy rates in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Most people feel safe walking the boardwalk late at night, which might shock anyone who hasn’t visited Long Beach since the mid-1970s, when it had more in common with Coney Island than the hot dog stands.

Although home prices in Long Beach have skyrocketed over the past several years, they’re still well below other Long Island South Shore beach towns, which might explain why Ilene D’Addona and Mary Peri of Coldwell Banker Beach West Realty have been so busy lately.

A quick search will uncover properties like a 500-square-foot co-op in fair condition steps from the beach for as little as $110,000. However, Ms. Peri said that most of her clients are spending between $500,000 and $700,000.

“Long Beach is going through the roof right now, in terms of prices,” Ms. Peri said. The better deals are in the West End, she said, where small bungalows that were once used only as summer rentals have been converted into year-round homes. They are selling in the mid-$300,000 to $400,000 range.

Ms. Peri has a 725-square-foot, one bedroom condo listed for $275,000, just across the street from the beach. “It’s cute and comfortable with a communal courtyard,” Ms. Peri said.

Ms. D’Addona is marketing a three bedroom, three-bathroom colonial with den, first-floor marble floors, second floor hardwood floors, granite countertops, one-car garage plus a side driveway, and a Jacuzzi in the master bathroom. The asking price: $759,000.

“[It’s] just steps to the beach. You can smell the ocean, if you sleep with the window open,” she said.

Jean Sondergaard of Century 21 Petry Real Estate on West Beech Street spends her mornings cycling along the boardwalk.

“Long Beach is so diversified in terms of property. I just sold a 3,700-square-foot historic stucco house with pool for around $1 million, but then I just sold a co-op for $289,000,” she said.

“For $419,000, I could put you in an adorable two-bedroom house in the West End of Long Beach. It’s got a brick front porch, a sunroom, a vaulted ceiling living room with fireplace, two bedrooms, a loft, new kitchen with separate dining area and skylight. It’s very close to the beach, too,” Ms. Sondergaard said.

For anyone thinking of unfolding their beach chair for good in Long Beach, she has a little advice:

“Make the first step and buy something, but know that parking in Long Beach is worth about $50,000, and that it’s not all about houses here. The appeal of Long Beach is the commuting distance to Manhattan and the five miles of beautiful ocean beach – it’s like being on vacation all the time.”