I agree with the above that DT is closest; but the drawbacks is there is nothing to do there; if its a weekend, it will be easy to get around but dead; if its a weekday; the nights are pretty dead.

Long beach is a choice although not one I'd make but it could be worse

LAX/manhattan Beach are choices I like better as it puts you near the nice beaches (as opposed to LB).. I do this all the time and its a 20 minute ride to campus without traffic.. 45 ish at rush hour.. it all depends when you are going

Careful of the construction on Exposition as its eliminated a lot of parking on the street which in turn has just moved on campus.