Irvine vs. Sacramento (Fresno, Folsom: how much, high school, live)

[saibot]

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

Yes, those exist and you can get to them pretty easily from Irvine. It’s not disingenious [sic] to say Irvine doesn’t have much of an arts and music scene as most of that is outside of Irvine.

You are splitting hairs. If you have spent any time in Orange County at all, you know it makes no difference to anyone if a certain amenity is within one city's boundaries or across the street in the next city. Who knows or cares where the boundaries are anyway?

Saying Irvine has no arts is like saying Irvine has no airport. Strictly speaking, that is correct. There is no airport in Irvine. But the airport is literally ACROSS the STREET from Irvine in Santa Ana.

I have no idea if the arts scene is better in Sacramento than Irvine. Perhaps it is. But the problem, if there is one, is not that Irvine "has no arts and music" because the Performing Arts Center is 2 miles on the other side of an invisible city boundary line.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by saibot

You are splitting hairs. If you have spent any time in Orange County at all, you know it makes no difference to anyone if a certain amenity is within one city's boundaries or across the street in the next city. Who knows or cares where the boundaries are anyway?

Saying Irvine has no arts is like saying Irvine has no airport. Strictly speaking, that is correct. There is no airport in Irvine. But the airport is literally ACROSS the STREET from Irvine in Santa Ana.

I have no idea if the arts scene is better in Sacramento than Irvine. Perhaps it is. But the problem, if there is one, is not that Irvine "has no arts and music" because the Performing Arts Center is 2 miles on the other side of an invisible city boundary line.

I have spent a lot of time in Orange County, and Irvine specifically, and I go back once or twice a year and have friends and family who live in Irvine.

I get what you're saying and the argument over what's within reach. I think the difference in a topic that specifically says Irvine vs Sacramento rather than, say, Orange County and Sacramento County, is the idea of what's there (in the city), what's accessible and to what degree (from those respective cities), and what place has a neighborhood you'd live in and how life would be like from there. I'm using the boundaries of the cities as the starting point and everything else is reasoned with the proximity to places elsewhere, but weighing a bit more heavily what's actually within the city.

The perspective I'm using is what you get from choosing a place to live within the two respective cities including what you can get access to outside of the city, and within Sacramento, I'd choose downtown/midtown as that has an arts and music community that is larger than anything in Irvine and a lot more accessible from within the city.

Irvine does have a limited arts and music scene and so does a lot of the area surrounding Irvine that you will drive to. Much of that is simply because it's difficult with those housing prices to make a living doing so. In addition to that, there is less local support for such whereas Sacramento as the state capital does provide quite a bit of support. From Irvine, places like downtown LA, parts of Westside LA and Hollywood where a lot of the arts and music scene of the metropolitan area is can be accessed and is far more varied than that of Sacramento, but it's kind of a haul for a concert or a gallery opening, etc. wouldn't you agree? And if it's a haul to go there for performances and galleries, then where are the performers and artists going to be who essentially need to be somewhere close by? Mind you, this wasn't always the case as parts of Orange County did use to have a very vibrant music scene (I grew up going to quite a few concerts in Orange County and Los Angeles County) and the traffic within Orange County wasn't nearly as bad in the past so it was also more accessible. I think there's some kind of at least qualitative difference between driving out and finding parking for a half hour or walking out for fifteen minutes.

I'm not the poster who seems to just straight out hate Irvine, because I don't. Instead, it's a matter of personal preference to me and so I'm listing out what the advantages of Sacramento are. As stated, lower cost of living, historic architecture, more events and arts and music culture, and more of these are accessible due to transit from within the city and having much of that located in a walkable downtown/midtown area. Irvine gets you cleaner streets and just generally a bit more upscale everything such as shopping malls in Irvine and in its vicinity, it also gets you a better variety of East Asian cuisine plus greater access to beaches.

[saibot]

Yes, I do understand what you're saying. Irvine has been developing very rapidly but it's still far less of a standalone city than Sacramento. (It's also not by any means my favorite Orange County area.)

I also agree that living in South Orange County and trying to go to events in downtown LA/Hollywood with any regularity is kind of a disaster. I'm not a concert-goer; I enjoy the Laguna art galleries and art museum, and the Bowers Museum, but once a year for each is about enough for me, and that's doable. People who want to attend such events frequently are better off living elsewhere.

[MrJester]

Originally Posted by saibot

Yes, I do understand what you're saying. Irvine has been developing very rapidly but it's still far less of a standalone city than Sacramento. (It's also not by any means my favorite Orange County area.)

I also agree that living in South Orange County and trying to go to events in downtown LA/Hollywood with any regularity is kind of a disaster. I'm not a concert-goer; I enjoy the Laguna art galleries and art museum, and the Bowers Museum, but once a year for each is about enough for me, and that's doable. People who want to attend such events frequently are better off living elsewhere.

Orange County has a full fledged art scene of itself, an art scene at least as vibrant as Sacramento.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by MrJester

Orange County has a full fledged art scene of itself, an art scene at least as vibrant as Sacramento.

Santa Ana, and Fullerton to a lesser extent, have some interesting stuff going, but it's pretty tame overall. I don't know where you got the impression it's as vibrant as Sacramento's. Part of the issue is that the hubs in LA sort of suck the oxygen out of elsewhere and the other part is that Orange County isn't cheap.

I think you did a good job initially nailing down the advantages of Irvine.

[MrJester]

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

Santa Ana, and Fullerton to a lesser extent, have some interesting stuff going, but it's pretty tame overall. I don't know where you got the impression it's as vibrant as Sacramento's. Part of the issue is that the hubs in LA sort of suck the oxygen out of elsewhere and the other part is that Orange County isn't cheap.

I think you did a good job initially nailing down the advantages of Irvine.

It doesn't get any more artsy than Laguna Beach. The entire economy is based off of art galleries, art schools, pageant of the Masters, etc. The town was founded as an artist's colony. It's the birthplace of California style oil paintings.

And the Pacific Symphony is an absolutely world class symphony with a world class concert hall designed by a world class architect, Cesar Pelli, same guy behind the Petronas Towers.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by MrJester

It doesn't get any more artsy than Laguna Beach. The entire economy is based off of art galleries, art schools, pageant of the Masters, etc. The town was founded as an artist's colony. It's the birthplace of California style oil paintings.

And the Pacific Symphony is an absolutely world class symphony with a world class concert hall designed by a world class architect, Cesar Pelli, same guy behind the Petronas Towers.

Oh, I argue it gets much more artsy than Laguna Beach at this point. Laguna Beach certainly has the history, but at this point has priced out a lot of its artists and warded off a continuation of that community except for some old-timers and occasionally wealthy dilettantes. However, you do get some buyers there so exhibiting at shows there is a thing, but working out of the area, aside from one of the few residencies there, or having a primary gallery that represents you there is not really a thing.

Cesar Pelli is a great starchitect. This means little in regards to the arts community there, but does signify a good degree of wealth.

That being said, I'd probably take living in Laguna Beach over Irvine.

[saibot]

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

That being said, I'd probably take living in Laguna Beach over Irvine.

I would too, but only IF I was retired and could just walk everywhere I wanted to go or take the bus/tram. Having to commute away from town for work would be an absolute deal-breaker.

[WizardOfRadical]

UC Irvine is a major source of culture and arts in Irvine.

To say Irvine has no culture, is odd.

Makes me wonder if folks are smoking sherm.

[Radical347]

This is an odd comparison. Mid-sized city vs large expensive suburb in a gigantic metro area. I’d prefer Sac since I prefer cities (and it’s much cheaper). Irvine is too expensive, too OC, and just far enough away from LA to not be accessible on a regular basis.