We cross the border and fly out of a regional airport in Washington State. Southwest started flying out of there IIRC in 2021 and we have flown Bellingham to Long Beach a few times, our other option was Alaska to LAX and both require a change of planes.
We Uber and never have an issue getting picked up quickly, we usually stay at Crowne Plaza but next trip are trying out the Westin. We have to Uber to San Pedro anyway but thought it might be nice to try out someplace different since our arrival is around 11 AM.
FYI it did take me a few minutes to figure out where to pick up our luggage as it is outside which I am not used to but no issues.