launch points near Long Beach - characteristics?

[oredith]

Wife and I are ready to try to launch on our own this weekend. No fishing - yet. more paddling and getting used to the setup.

we're looking for suggestions for launch points. some of the things we're concerned about are:

• crowd - we're trying to learn in less crowded environment
• interior waters vs. open sea - preferably somewhere where we start in calm water and can get some sea/waves in to get both
• parking - preferably free/cheap, but for now, kinda tertiary
• ease of launch - this is probably going to be the biggest hurdle, aside from getting the kayak on and off the car.

thanks for the suggestions!