A House-to-Townhouse Move from 11th Street to Stanford Street in Santa Monica

Recently we moved a household from a single-story house with a front yard to a townhouse. 11th Street runs north-south through the middle of Santa Monica. It's mostly filled up with flat residential blocks and single-family houses, sometimes small apartment buildings. Some parts of the street are full of older low-scale houses, while other blocks have newer multi-family buildings. Stanford Street is also primarily residential, but near Santa Monica Boulevard this street has more traffic. The drive between these two locations was the easy part, but the carry distance at the destination took much longer.

The client booked the move for early September. They were moving from a rental to a townhouse. Most of their belongings were already packed, but they asked us to carry the boxes, handle the clothing and larger pieces. Since the load was relatively small and Stanford Street hadn't much room to park, we sent our 18-foot box truck, the smallest in our fleet. This time I took Alim with me.

Job at a glance:

• Pickup: 11th Street, Santa Monica
• Destination: Stanford Street, Santa Monica
• Property type: House to townhouse
• Crew: Two movers
• Inventory: Wardrobe cartons, a mattress, about 12 medium boxes, several furniture pieces

11th Street Pickup

When we arrived, we parked the truck in the private driveway to load directly from the door. The client had cleared the entryway for us to safely move larger furniture. We started by putting down floor runners inside and then carried what had been already packed from the rooms into the truck. The client was prepared and gave us all the disposable materials, such as tape and stretch wrap. The clothes were still in the closets, so we quickly transferred all of it directly into our wardrobe cartons. That way the clothes stayed on their hangers, the way they had been in the closets. We labeled them, taped them shut and moved them outside while keeping upright.

Alim and I wrapped a small dresser, a few chairs, two nightstands, and a TV stand in moving blankets and stretch wrap to protect them before loading. While I was carrying the mattress, Alim packed a big TV inside of its original cardboard box, stood it on its side and secured it against the truck walls. Alim brought the wardrobe boxes outside and strapped them together, while I loaded larger pieces of furniture and positioned them along the truck walls. We then placed remaining boxes between furniture so they wouldn't shift during the drive. The mattress and lighter boxes were loaded on top and secured with straps.

Stanford Street Drop-off

There was a legal spot at the curb when we arrived, right behind another parked car. We parked and set an orange cone at the back of the truck. The cone marked the back of the truck for passing cars while we worked the long walkway. The townhouse was at the back of the complex and could only be reached from the street by a long concrete walkway. It ran between a row of beige stucco townhouses with lattice fences and the two-story building next door. After I wheeled the first wardrobe carton on a hand truck inside, we realized that the carry was flat, but it was going to be the main part of this delivery. Alim started with the smaller boxes and I unloaded larger furniture. We kept the wardrobe cartons upright and took them down the walkway one at a time. When carrying the dresser and nightstands, we had to slow down as the walkway became narrower. For the dresser, we turned it slightly sideways so it would get past without touching the walls.

The client showed us around the townhouse and explained where each item should go. We placed the small dresser, mattress, most of the boxes and the two nightstands in the bedroom, and the chairs, the TV and the stand in the living room.

During the final walkthrough the client was pleased with how everything went. They had been nervous about the furniture corners getting bumped, and appreciated that we didn't damage anything.

Planning a move in Santa Monica? See our Santa Monica movers page for rates, local tips and answers to common questions.

Kostya · Senior mover

Sep 28, 2026 3 min read

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