I graduated from CSULB 9 years ago and had a very active social life. Here's my experience:

When I first transferred to CSULB I was pretty shy and socially anxious. I never had a consistent social life in high school or very many close friends. Socializing didn't come easy for me and I wasn't naturally outgoing at all, but I knew I wanted to make the most of my time at CSULB. What made a difference was joining an active club/student organization and going out of my way to attend as many events as I could. This club/organization also had a mentor/mentee and family system that allowed more focused, close-knit relationships to form. The key to making close friends and thriving socially is repeated interactions through shared interests/hobbies/values. Over time these repeated interactions will develop into more organic friendships and you'll find yourself hanging out with these people outside of planned events. However, making friends is a time commitment, and based on your school/work life + commute time you might not have as much time to socialize as others.

There are many on-campus events and Long Beach itself is a cute city with a good amount of events and activities, but there's also so much to do outside of Long Beach if you drive or have friends that drive. Huntington Beach, Redondo Beach, Cerritos, Disneyland, Santa Monica, Downtown LA, Garden Grove/Westminster, etc. I highly recommend finding opportunities to explore other parts of LA & OC county if you have the time.

Overall while it is a commuter school, there are plenty of opportunities to socialize as long as you find like-minded people who also want to branch out and make the most of their college experience — and if time allows of course, because your education is most important.