What are the down-to-earth communities in northern OC

[dennismpat]

Originally Posted by jayolm

Bobnln:

Since you want to live 5 - 10 miles to Chapman University, that really narrows your options down quite a bit.

However, I agree with your friends who suggested you move to Tustin Ranch or Orange right near Chapman Univ. Both cities are nice places to live, and are very different from each other.

Tustin Ranch is a very nice, wealthy area with an excellent school district. But "down-to-earth" would not be the first thing that comes to mind when describing the city. Its far more materialistic than Orange.

Orange is a very down-to-earth place, very nice friendly folk. Not as wealthy as Tustin Ranch, but also not as materialistic. Downtown Orange is truly a unique place to spend your weekends. Has a very small town feel to it, with lots of mom-and-pop shops and restaurants. However, the schools in Orange are not as good as Tustin Ranch.

As one other poster mentioned, prices are dropping out here right now. The longer you wait to come out here, the cheaper your home will be to buy. As long as you don't wait past 2 years!

I agree with the original poster's friends' suggestions of living in Orange near Chapman or Tustin Ranch. I especially like the Old Town Orange neighborhood, in the vicinity of the Orange Circle.

[Alexus]

Originally Posted by bobnln

My husband and I are considering faculty positions at Chapman University. We have two children (1 & 5) and so are looking for a community with high quality public schools. My big concern, based on my read of this forum, my SoCal friends and my own biases (I grew up in the Bay Area), is how/where to raise down-to-earth children in OC? We (like most parents) want our kids to be well-grounded, kind, considerate, hard-working, humble, mature adults; but OC, with its many advantages, seems to encourage kids to be shallow, materialistic and spoiled. Hence we are looking for suggestions on where to locate to increase our odds of parental success? Also, given SoCal traffic, I want to live within 5-10 miles of Chapman. We need at least a 3bd/2bth house (prefer a bit bigger), we figure on spending $700k-$1M. I would love to be able to walk to a cafe and little shops (i.e., not an exclusively car-centric community). My sources have suggested Tustin Ranch and Orange (right near the University). Any other ideas? or evaluations of these options?

Thanks for your patience with my long post.

Reading your post, I'm sorry you left the bay area. I am interested in the responses though as I've wondered this myself.

Good luck.

[GracieJJ]

Though im not going to chapman's, i am however in the same position as the OP. We're a family with 3 kids and one of my boys will be going to St Catherine's school in Anaheim.

Although i will also hang out in the area we're interested in moving (to check if its an ok area) what do you guys know or think of Placentia? or perhaps Yorba linda?. Although our area (Santa Clarita valley) has great schools and a good place to have kids.
The Kids education is the main reason of our move and St Catherine's is a school like no other (i hope).

Thanks for any replies.

[martinez4]

Both of my children went to elementary and middle school in Yorba Linda and I was very pleased with school system there. We also lived in Yorba Linda and the city is very quaint and family oriented. Having seen it grow over a 20 year period it still retains a small town feeling.

[dakicka]

I found the original post very in-line with my current thoughts about Orange County. There has been some good follow-up to the user's post as well. I recently moved to Irvine, right next to Newport Beach, From New Jersey, 6 months ago. I'm a 26 yr. old single male and I have wonderful values instilled in me from my great parents. Values that seem to be reversed out here in Orange County. I can completely relate to the professor's concerns with living in a down to earth community as the school system unfortunately has a strong-hold and large influence on your child's upbringing, whether you like it or not.

I was raised in a Christian school with like-minded students, so my roots grew deep, when I went to public h.s. I felt like I was in a different world, and that was on the east coast. I can only imagine how many negatives there are in a public school system in MOST parts of Orange County. My professional career entails managing investments for wealthy individuals and businesses (another reason I moved here considering the amount of money). On the weekends, I work a couple hours at a country club so that I can play golf for free. Some of the kids I meet make me sick. They strut around like rotten, spoiled little children. They try to act older and mature but in reality they are snobs with low class and are quite demanding and expect everyone to drop whatever they are doing for them. I truly believe the work ethic FOR THE MOST PART in OC is lacking and most people pride themselves on the car they drive (albeit leased) and what zip code they live in. IMPORTANT priorities such as a good family, a solid relationship, nice loyal friends, a steady income, a happy life, and items such as that are little or non-existent in most people I am meeting. They just want to have money, spend money, do drugs (to probably relieve them of their emptiness), and repeat the cycle, it's disgusting.

With all the rambling I am doing what I am eluding to is that I too would like to know specific areas that may be a bit more down to earth. I moved here for the AMAZING weather, and I certainly enjoy that everyday, but too often I bump into people that make me sick with their shallow personalities, as they seem to be socially retarded and infant minded. I meet so many trashy girls out here that come across nice but are really fake and unintelligent. One of the first questions I get is "sooooo what do you do"? It's annoyed me to no end. I even had a person on 2 or 3 occassions seemingly question me instead of have a conversation with me, they questioned me as if I'm filling out a credit app to buy a new car! UNREAL out here!

So I don't plan on being single my whole life so this post can apply to me too. Where are some more REAL spots in Orange County? Any specific communities or towns? I know Newport, Huntington, Laguna, and some parts of Irvine are all the same, super-concentration of wealth for about 60% of the residents, 25% of them are fakers, and if we're lucky, 15% of the residents are good, real people! Please advise with suggested areas and specific hangouts/locations for me as a single guy trying to meet a girl with a good head on her shoulders (even church out here the people seem to be fake, its a big downer). and also suggest areas for the original poster about specific areas to reside to help raise a well-grounded kid in this shocking lifestyle and priority reversed area they call 'the oc'. There has to be a few areas here that still have more good people than not! right?!

[sfaok]

Dakicka,

Irvine has always been superficial, but I would say over the past 10 years or so it has gotten really bad. It seems like a lot of these kids have everything! I see them driving around in their new BMWs, strutting around the strip-malls in their designer Gucci glasses, with their i-phone in one hand and their Louis Vuitton bag in the other. Hopefully their parents have a trust fund to keep up their lifestyle! If not, then these young adults go looking for someone that can provide them this. This is why you have probably encountered many girls who really only care about what's inside your wallet instead of what's inside your heart.

Of course not everyone is like this. You just have to search hard for people that aren't superficial.

[YLresident]

Originally Posted by martinez4

Both of my children went to elementary and middle school in Yorba Linda and I was very pleased with school system there. We also lived in Yorba Linda and the city is very quaint and family oriented. Having seen it grow over a 20 year period it still retains a small town feeling.

I've lived in Yorba Linda for just over 20 years--and nearly ALL of my 20 years there have been spent in school! I attended Rose Drive Elementary, Yorba Linda Middle, and El Dorado High School and they were all wonderful schools with dedicated teachers. I attended CSU Fullerton (5 miles away) and now work for UC Irvine (25 miles away), so I'm all about schools in Orange County! ^_^

I also had very supportive parents who always stressed the importance of a good education, getting involved in extra-curriculars, and making quality friends. We live in a fabulous neighborhood--full of families w/ kids big and small--with a new Elementary School nearby. Yorba Linda High School is also scheduled to open its doors to students in Fall 2009, too.

If you're worried about the quality of their education, if your kids qualify for the GATE program, put 'em in.. make sure they qualify and enroll in honors classes. I was an honors kid--and I think I ended up getting a lot more education in some of my subject than the kids in the regular classes. I quit all the honors stuff the last year in high school and was a bit surprised at the difference. Most of my fellow honors kids are now in grad schools all over the country--many of them in highly prestigious universities, including Ivy League institutions.

There's also plenty of private schools in the Yorba Linda area, including a large K-8 Christian school, Rose Drive Friends Christian School (which the girls across the street from me attended), which offers their student a wide array of sports and activities. My neighbors adjusted from the Christian school to my public high school just fine--and nearly all the students from Rose Drive Friends Christian went on to excel at the public high school, being placed in honors classes and entering Varsity or JV sports teams early on.

Whatever community you decide on, thoroughly research the school district and research their crime stats, demographics, and the Megan's Law website to check your proximity to sex offenders: California Megan's Law - California Department of Justice - Office of the Attorney General.

[OrangeCountyGirl]

I think no matter what is going on in the community, if you do your job as a parent nothing else will matter. You should know this by being a teacher. 30 kids in a room from backgrounds that are very much the same, some are great, some are miserable.

Parents need to start accepting more responsibility for how their children turn out rather than blaming it on TV, radio, neighborhood, or even area.