I rented in El Segundo a couple times. It's a cool little town. Sometimes hard to imagine you're surrounded by a metropolis on three sides. The beach is there but you're not ON the beach, so a tad less expensive than the beach cities. Of all the places you mention, I think Irvine would be the least expensive but farthest drive. I stayed at a hotel in Lake Forest recently when I screwed up my RV park reservations. It was nice and noticed condos were affordable. I just sold my condo in San Clemente that was a four minute walk to the beach for probably well less than it would go for in El Segundo. But LAX is a good hour drive when traffic isn't bad.