Garden Grove/Westminster - How do you rate them? (Huntington Beach: low income, apartments)

[Curious Jay]

Garden Grove. Westminster.

In your opinion, how would you rate these cities in terms of:

1. Livability
2. Schools

Some comments:

I love having Asian and other ethnic eateries nearby- these cities are obviously good for that given their large Korean and Vietnamese communities.

I've heard some comments made in passing about the 'pressure cooker' academic environment in schools in areas of the OC with large Asian populations - these household emphasize education strongly, bumping up the academic competitiveness.

But my GF (soon wife) totally doesn't mind the sizable Asian populations in Orange County (Irvine too, except we're probably priced out of that city ), in fact she's all for it. Her argument is that their focus on education only brings the school districts' performace up, and I think there's some truth to that. It's generally a good thing to immerse your child in a scholastic environment that has a relatively high base-level of academic achievement, and that sure as hell beats sending your kid into a severely underperforming public school.

[dexter14]

Poor on both. Pretty much nothing but low income apartments, old tract housing and dingy strip malls with more signs in Vietnamese than English. Great if you like Viet coffee houses though!

[Curious Jay]

Thanks mbell75. Any more opinions on these areas, fellow CD members? I'd like a larger sample of opinions to draw from.

[RudyOD]

There are lots of great restaurants, cafes etc (foodies dream really), but from what I remember that area isn't exactly known for their stellar schools. I think you might be stereotyping and confusing Asian groups. It is East Asians (Chinese and Koreans) and Indians that tend to excel academically due to their culture, this doesn't really extend to Southeast Asians (including Vietnamese.)

Also, the Koreatown in Garden Grove has a for a while no longer been the center of the Korean community in O.C., that center of gravity has switched to the border area of Fullerton and Buena Park, and it is within THOSE school districts where you will find some excellent schools (think Troy and Sunny Hills High Schools, as well as their feeder schools). Off of Beach Blvd, passing Artesia, is where you will find the highest concentration of Korean cafes, restaurants and markets in O.C...not to mention most Korean churches are also in North OC (Buena Park, Fullerton, La Palma).

[Fran66]

Originally Posted by mbell75

Poor on both. Pretty much nothing but low income apartments, old tract housing and dingy strip malls with more signs in Vietnamese than English. Great if you like Viet coffee houses though!

I don't quite agree with mbell75, but, yeah, I wouldn't live in GG or Westminster. However, if you love Vietnamese food, you'll go back to GG and Westminster over and over again, because the food is AMAZING.

Oh, and ya gotta see The Vietnam War Memorial in Westminster! The sculptures are excellent!

And ya probably gotta go to one of the Vietnamese festivals at least once.

[rikity]

If you want to live in GG, I would suggest West GG which is west of Knott Avenue. This area is not bad at all and I grew up around there. Pretty darn good school district too with Pacifica High. Great middle class neighborhoods and it's diverse but not overwhelmingly full of a particular group. Still close enough to go to Little Saigon for the Vietnamese food but you don't have to feel like you're living in the middle those stores or traffic if that's not your thing.

[DinsdalePirahna]

The west side of Westminster and Garden Grove are surprisingly nice.

Westminster HS is in the Huntington Beach HS District, you could do an intra-district transfer to Marina or Ocean View.
Pacifica isn't too bad from what i've heard.

[Curious Jay]

This is exactly the kind of intel I've been waiting for...! Thanks so much everyone. It's especially useful to know the schools by name, and to know which ones are good and which are bad.

So the consensus is that GG and Westminster aren't exactly dream locations. I get that, and we've been bracing ourselves for that inevitability since we're looking for a starter home.

[jamsifoes]

I feel your pain. I see in you myself five years ago having to make these same trade offs when I was looking to buy a place. It's amazing how much 200,000 make in the kind of house you can buy.

[Curious Jay]

Thanks jamsifoes. Appreciate your empathy. Do you happen to have some more informatoin about Hawaiian Gardens?