Hangar 18 – Long Beach

I’ve been coming here for over a year now, but this is my first review for them. The staff is great and always answers all my questions. I had a membership before and to cancel all I had to do was call them. Then I got a membership again later for a student discount ($ 33/​monthly with student ID)
FIRST TIMERS:
— $ 16 for a day pass + $ 3 shoe rental= $ 19/​Tuesdays= 2 for 1 deal (mention it!)
— come in the morning & afternoon, weekends (less crowded)
— its gets real crowded at night, but if you do want help there’s climbers to help/​show you
— bring water and socks
— left corner side is the beginner wall for belay
BEGINNERS:
— buy shoes if you’re planning to get a membership (rentals suck!!) I got mine from
(oregon website aka no tax!) but there’s an Evolve Outlet store in Buena Park
— buy chalk too (they sell it for $ 2/​block)
— keep going, you’ll get better in time!
PROS:
— nice and friendly staff, good music
— memberships include yoga classes, all the gear you need (shoes, harness, grigri), 1 guest pass each month (includes rentals), and includes memberships for other Hangar 18 gyms
CONS:
— there’s no air conditioning so during really hot and humid days, it will get super hot in there even with their fans blasting
— at night it gets super crowded, but sometimes I like it since people do routes I have trouble with so watching them helps me lol

*****beware****please****do not give your debit card #**********they will continue to charge it even when you repeatedly request them to cancel your membership**** they were friendly & nice until you want to****

This place is cool, staff is friendly and warm.
A big butt (not a typo, I like puns) though, there’s no air conditioning so it gets hotter than halitosis during hot/​humid days.
I used a Groupon here where they give you an intro lesson for two individuals all for the lovely price of $ 30. Everything you need to get going is included. However, make no mistake, after one day, you won’t look like [Sylvester] Stallone in Cliffhanger, but keep at it and you just might have a sexy back like Justin Timberlake.

Great place to spend a few hours when you’re in the area. An awesome work out for your body.

My first experience at any sort of rock climbing gym.
Went on a Tuesday. It was PACKED.
Went with a couple friends, some who had been there before, some who were beginners/​first timers like me.
Had to fill out consent forms, yadda yadda.
Guy at the desk was SO unhelpful.
Took our info, asked our shoe size, charged us, then sent us on our merry way.
Maybe he thought that my friends who had been there before would just do his job for him and explain what the hell was happening at this place?
If it weren’t for my one SEMI experienced friend there, I wouldn’t know about chalk, why the rocks were all different, psychedelic colors, and what the random tags meant. Oh or which walls I would actually climb on!!! Might have been helpful info to receive from someone who was paid to help me.
And don’t be mistaken by my description of the place being packed. We were the ONLY ones at the front desk. The «packed» part were just climbers.
SO after some advice from my friend, we started climbing. It was cool. We had to wait for every wall to become available because so many people were crowding it.
Thing about the walls though. Sometimes hard to distinguish colors. A lot are very faded. Some had taken on a new color all together but the original color could still be seen. One appeared to be smeared with bird poop. My friends and I had to tell each other «That one is white… blue…light purple!» while we were climbing because there are difficult ones to distinguish.
BUT to top it all off, we’re about to leave and my friend asks how much we paid, seeing as how Tuesdays are BOGO free. I told him, thinking that what my friend and I had paid together was only the price of one, seeing as how the guy charged my friend the BOGO price a minute before he charged me. NOPE. Mentioned it to the dude man and he says «Oh that deal happens only if you mentionnnnnn it». AKA you’re new here so I’m taking advantage of you. Well after I MENTIONED it, I got half our money back. Dude. Geez. I’m just new. I’m not stupid.
So, the rocks were cool. If you’re a beginner you may have to drag a staff member out of their happy place in order to get any direction from them. If you’re down then go to this place. And make sure you MENTION the BOGO deal on Tuesdays.
Experienced climbers, this place felt very clich-​y and «in-​crowd» ish. So if you’re a member i’m sure they’ll love you. It seemed like there was a good variety of walls to climb so go for it.

Cool place. hard problems. nice people. students and local older residents frequent.

We went here on a Wednesday. We were all beginners. We used the groupon deal of two people for the price of one. It is definitely worth the deal!
Once we got there, we had to sign liability forms (ppl below 18 need parental consent which can be done online or in person). Prepare to have 15 – 20 min for that if you have 3−4ppl in your group and if it is busy. Afterwards, we got shoes which we all had to try on and a couple of us switched sizes (~10min). Then we had to wait ~20−30 min to get trained because there was only one person working that shift and he was training a group before us. Our trainer wasn’t the most welcoming, but it was probably because he was the only one working and hadn’t had his lunch break. But once he gave us all the gear and began our training, he was great! We got to try all the gear and basics of rock climbing as he closely supervised us (20−30min). Once we had the basics down, we got to rock climb freely with our group. There are lots of different walls for rockclimbing (maybe 8 – 10). Some people were bouldering as well! Overall, great experience and requires strong arms, so be ready!

Short Sum: Fun but small
Pros:
— Been to Hangar 18 twice because of the $ 30 for 2 belaying lesson. Pretty good deal considering it comes with shoe and equipment rental + belaying lesson. Took the lesson a second time for a refresher.
— Our instructor, Lynn, was extremely informative and energetic. She was a lot more informative than the previous belaying instructor from my last visit and went through every little detail. There was never a dull or awkward moment with her either. :)
Cons:
— Bouldering area looks a bit small compared to the one in the Hawthorne location.
Go back?
— Yep.

My husband loves climbing hear so I decided to join him. It was a great experience learning the ropes. Vinnie was super helpful and the atmosphere is really fun and laid back. Id definitely recommend it.

Great place for fun climbing and working out. Fun place. Nice and helpful staff. Would recommend coming here. Anytime.

This place is awesome for many reasons: Cheaper than a regular gym, but 10 times more fun. Free classes, yoga, and free weights for members. Also, a free pass to bring a friend each month.
BUt what makes this place the best is the community. I’m brand new to climbing, and to be honest, have no idea what I’m doing. What i’ve found most amazing is how friendly the climbing community is amongst both experienced and non-​experienced climbers.
After working on a climb for a while (my first V1) a guy came up to me and suggested pointing my feet differently. THis made all the difference, and by the time I got up that wall a crowd was cheering for me. I thought maybe this was a one time thing, but each time I show up I end up having a great conversation with someone else.
I’ve become so addicted to rock climbing I’m now going 4 times a week.
You have to check this place out!

I wanted to like this place more. I really did.
The main issue I have is that there simply isn’t enough space to climb around. In other words, I am used to more spacious climbing gyms in Virginia. Additionally, there weren’t many people at this establishment and developing a rapport with anyone other than the employees there would have been a trial. Later after I finish my degree, I will likely find a more stable gym hangout.

This is pretty much the cheapest rock gym you can find around LA, especially if you take advantage of their deals. Most gyms membership price are almost twice the price. $ 33 a month for student is great.
This particular Hangar 18 looks kinda old. but it’s okay. Everyone’s super nice and the routes are reasonable. I got their one month membership for 2 for tuesday. It was worth it. The bouldering sections have super thick padding all over the floor so you don’t have to move any pads. The top-​roping is good, not too many easy routes for beginners though.
Most walls are slanted out, making the climb harder than a straight wall. I like that. There’s a few easy walls for beginners, but if you just started… there’s not too many top-​roping that’s easy, just go for bouldering V0.
It’s not the cleanest gym… it’s not the nicest, but it’s big enough to get things done. Has a good variety of ropes and bouldering routes, nice padding, nice restroom. You can rent gear (shoes, harness, gri-​gri). And there’s 2 auto-​belay for people who wanna climb tall walls on their own. Worth the price, but you can find better if you’re willing to pay 50−60+ for a month of membership.

I’ve experienced better gyms than this Hanger 18.
The employees were not very tentative to my friend and I when we first arrived. The staff left us alone waiting for 10 – 15 minutes before coming back to tell us we still had more forms to fill out, wasting our time.
For students at $ 33/​month and standard membership being $ 46/​month, I find this to be rather pricey as another gym I had been to had its membership for much less than that. Although you are allowed to go to multiple locations t Hangar 18, as a SoCal girl, this doesn’t allow me much variety since most of the other locations are more inland instead of down south.
I found locating the paths of the climb paths to be difficult many times. Although I am a beginner, I found the V0 climbs difficult to climb.
One area of this Hanger 18 is still being renovated when I went last week, which made the bouldering areas pretty crowded on a Tuesday. The top roping walls were mostly free, but I did not get to try out the top roping.
I would not come here again if it wasn’t for the free pass my friend gets with his membership once a month.

Fun place to spend a few hours. I’m a complete beginner and had a great time. It was way harder than I imagined it would be.
Parking is tight, the gym gets hot.

I got their Black Friday deal, which was $ 5 for one month membership (fyi, you give them a credit card # and they’ll start charging you reg monthly membership price after the promo month, unless you cancel in writing). I’d never been to this gym before I got the membership, but since my trusty friend Hannah E said it was all right I decided to give it a try. So far I’d have to say it’s not bad. It’s close and convenient, which has been motivating me to go 1 – 2 times a week (something I’d definitely have to keep up to make it worth my while once the regular membership kicks in at $ 48/​month). The facilities are decent and the monthly membership is some of the cheapest around for a climbing gym (compare to the $ 79 for Sender One in Tustin, which, admittedly, is an amazing place).
Plus, I get access to other Hangar 18 facilities, and I’ve been meeting up with Hannah and some of her other friends at the Hawthorne location, which is better than this one. I have yet to take advantage of their classes or the friend pass, but hopefully all in good time. In the meantime, I’ve been enjoying the challenge of becoming a better climber and getting a workout that complements my running.
Some things to note:
— I’ve learned the basics of top rope climbing at other places so I wasn’t a total n00b coming in here, which is good. It seems seriously understaffed here all the time, so depending on how many people are needing instruction/​help you might have to wait a while
— related to above: they don’t require a belay test or anything so they just assume you know what the hell you’re doing if you don’t ask.
STEPH JUDGEMENT: A decent climbing gym if you already know what you’re doing.

I’ve been to this place twice. My friend and I used a groupon deal. Initially when we walked in the staff wasn’t very attentive. It took a while for them to notice us standing in front of them at the front desk. After a good 5 minutes they had us sign some waivers. My friend and I had a great time trying to conquer these walls! This is such a great workout and it doesn’t even feel like it. I’ll probably come back sometime again.

Hangar 18 is a typical indoor rock climbing gym that offers some lead routes, top rope (some with auto belay), and boulder problems.
The gym equipment seems basic, but the bathroom is massive. Good padding in the boulder area. The staff offers free belay lessons, which is nice.
However, some of the holds were so worn that I couldn’t distinguish the color on the route, which may have made the climb harder than it is. There are some fun features on the wall that you can incorporate on the climb, which is kind of different. There are 2 auto belays in the gym and usually by the easier routes, good for warm up and waiting for your partner to join you.
Not better or worse than other gym, but this gym is pretty spacious and not crowded when I went. Good deal if you live close and use the groupon.

CEASE & DESIST! They’ll keep charging you after you tell them you quit!
They’re extremely nice and helpful until you cancel. I was completely alienated by the employees at this location on multiple occasions and will never step foot in any Hangar 18. Interesting business model that makes ending your contract impossible over the phone unless you threaten to sue them which I actually did with a notarized cease and desist letter.

They’re doing a great deal for college students — $ 28/​month for a membership, with all rental gear included & a free guest pass once a month so you can introduce your friends to the world of climbing!
Hangar bought this place from The Rock Gym, so a lot of the holds on top-​rope section are old and it gets really hard to tell what color is yours when you’re climbing. Both the top-​rope and bouldering sections are small, but they have good routes and fun boulders where you’re sure to find a project to work on. They only have a couple auto-​belays set up if you want to top-​rope without a partner.
They have yoga classes in the evenings, and if you have a membership, you’re welcome to check out any of the other Hangar 18 locations for free!
TIP: Expedite the process if it’s your first time coming in, and fill out the liability waiver online before you come in!