Orange County vs. Arapahoe/Douglas County (Denver, Aurora: transplants, real estate, apartments)

[SergeGainsbourg]

Would you consider these to be fairly similiar? The same feel, culture, lifestyle, look etc?

[2bindenver]

culture? lifestyle? look?

I think the air is breathable in both place. A/D is closer to Denver than OC is to LA. OC is closer to the ocean. A/D is closer to the continental divide.

[Scott5280]

While I would consider parts of each area similar to each other, I would consider Orange County as a whole to be much more economically/socially diverse. Orange County includes a larger lower income migrant population ...while on the opposite flip side is home to some of the nations wealthiest individuals and highest US. real estate prices.Coastal Orange County is also home to some highly reguarded art/cultural mecca towns.Laguna Beach.. Pageant of the Masters..NewportBeach Film Festival, Irvine spectrum--art exhibitions.. something fairly absent in both Douglas/Arapahoe Counties. The OC. in addition has an abundance of fine upscale dining and recreation.. They both however share a tendancy towards political conservatism, are typically more spread out geographically, and often place more social capital on their own identity seperate from their prospective surrounding metroplitan areas. Both regions share pinnacle advantages of varied natural landscape and beauty..But in my opinion having grown up here and lived in OC....the OC and Arapahoe/Douglas county are world's apart.There is a laundry list of differences, but sometimes it's just easier for Coloradoan's to use the similar thing to vaguely describe an area such as Highlands Ranch to a person moving here from Irvine. Some parts greatly similar..some parts not even close..

[EscapeCalifornia]

Douglas county in particular reminds me of south OC. It's a suburb where people live and drive elsewhere to work. OC is a lot denser though. North OC would be more like Denver and Aurora.

[Scott5280]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

Douglas county in particular reminds me of south OC. It's a suburb where people live and drive elsewhere to work. OC is a lot denser though. North OC would be more like Denver and Aurora.

Real or imagined parts of OC. such as Santa Ana, Orange, and even sections of Costa Mesa seem much more run down and dangerous with gang activity than even the rougher parts of Denver. I have only lived in upscale hoods in Coastal OC , and rarely ventured into those areas. As someone like your self (Escape California) who knows more the lay of the land than I.. what is your opinion of my observations? I feel like much of Orange County seems to be going down hill quickly. What say you?

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by Scott5280

Real or imagined parts of OC. such as Santa Ana, Orange, and even sections of Costa Mesa seem much more run down and dangerous with gang activity than even the rougher parts of Denver. I have only lived in upscale hoods in Coastal OC , and rarely ventured into those areas. As someone like your self (Escape California) who knows more the lay of the land than I.. what is your opinion of my observations? I feel like much of Orange County seems to be going down hill quickly. What say you?

Large parts of OC are indeed pretty run down and seedy. I don't have that much experience with the rougher parts of Denver or Aurora but have driven down Colfax and Federal a couple of times each didn't think they looked any worse than any of the major streets in Santa Ana or Anaheim. I wouldn't want to live there but they didn't look that bad.

So much of the county was built out between about 1960 and 1975 that it's all getting old and run down at the same time. They can keep painting 40 year apartments Earth tones to look more contemporary but it's just lipstick on a pig at this point. Major parts of the county need to be nuked and started over. It's hard to say how quickly it's going down hill when I live here. If I moved away for a few years and came back I'd probably notice more changes. I think the big shift is going to happen over the next 10-20 years as original homeowners who are in their 60's now die off or move off. I wonder how many single family homes will wind up rentals with multiple families in them. Once that starts happening, a nice neighborhood can go down real fast and take the schools with it which just accelerates the process. Before you know it, you're living in Santa Ana.

[Scott5280]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

Large parts of OC are indeed pretty run down and seedy. I don't have that much experience with the rougher parts of Denver or Aurora but have driven down Colfax and Federal a couple of times each didn't think they looked any worse than any of the major streets in Santa Ana or Anaheim. I wouldn't want to live there but they didn't look that bad.

So much of the county was built out between about 1960 and 1975 that it's all getting old and run down at the same time. They can keep painting 40 year apartments Earth tones to look more contemporary but it's just lipstick on a pig at this point. Major parts of the county need to be nuked and started over. It's hard to say how quickly it's going down hill when I live here. If I moved away for a few years and came back I'd probably notice more changes. I think the big shift is going to happen over the next 10-20 years as original homeowners who are in their 60's now die off or move off. I wonder how many single family homes will wind up rentals with multiple families in them. Once that starts happening, a nice neighborhood can go down real fast and take the schools with it which just accelerates the process. Before you know it, you're living in Santa Ana.

Yes, I can see how leaving than coming back to a place after a period of time gives you better perspective. I head back to OC fairly often to my parents vacation home, but reside in Denver. With each visit back to OC recently.. seems as though the locals are complaining more and more. I have noticed myself a trashier element of people/infrastructure in existance there now in places where that just wouldn't have occured several years back.. I am not bashing your County, but I feel I have observed a pretty downward spiral in the last few years...(over all conditions) While I am not a SO. CAL. local..I have visited and lived for at least a month of every year there since 1990. and lived in Newport/ Laguna for two years solid in late 90's. I do love the climate/coastal beauty of OC, which has been the big draw for me and the family,but Denver/Boulder IMO offers so much of a better lifestyle for a variety of reasons. Not trying to rag on your home or anything..just my opinion..

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by SergeGainsbourg

Would you consider these to be fairly similiar? The same feel, culture, lifestyle, look etc?

Not sure what you mean by the question. They're both suburban areas, and the southern Denver metro area does indeed have a lot of transplants from southern California and Orange County in particular, coincidence or not. But in terms of "look," no, not really. The architecture is totally different, it is very rare to see red tile roof/ stucco in Denver. The roads are totally different. The types of cars you see commonly on the road are different. The culture is different too, not totally different, but subtlely different. I know some people will disagree with this, but I do not think Denver or the suburbs of Denver is "west coast" in culture whatsoever. Despite having a lot of transplants from the "west coast" I think Denver and Colorado as a whole is pretty much "middle American" culturally, for better or worse. Not to mention no ocean and no balmy weather in the "winter."

I'll see if I can dig up some pictures to illustrate this, as a picture is worth a thousand words.

[EscapeCalifornia]

No offense taken. I am trying to get out myself, after all. My biggest complaints are the cost of living and the constant crowds. On out trips to Denver, we've tried to do as many things as possible that we'd do if we lived there to get an idea what life there might be like. We're amazed that we can go to Costco at 4pm on a Sunday and not need a cattle prod and a machete to get around the store. Or go to a restaurant at 5:30pm and actually beat the crowd. Driving is so much easier because there's 5x less people on the road. We feel so relaxed in Denver because the stress of feeling like a sardine isn't there like it is in OC yet it has all of the modern conveniences we're used to. I could describe Arapahoe county as OC lite in some of ways.

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

We're amazed that we can go to Costco at 4pm on a Sunday and not need a cattle prod and a machete to get around the store. Or go to a restaurant at 5:30pm and actually beat the crowd.

Did you try the Costco at Park Meadows? That one is absolutely packed on the weekend, impossible to find a parking space, huge backups while stacks of cars wait for soccer moms driving Cadillac Escalades backing up out of the space. Huge lines in that store too. Getting out of that shopping center is a nightmare, it's just like being in LA.