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I would love to hear from a native to the Laguna Beach area about each of the neighborhoods. What is the flavor of each beach community? Three Arches Bay...is this a nice area to live? Emerald Bay? Is it better to be near the beach or up in the hills? Why? Traffic...where is it worst and where is it better? Shopping...are you better to live within walking distance of the shops or not?
I can help you with a few of these questions, but I lived in Laguna quite some time ago. I still go there when I can and I have some friends who live just north of Las Brisas and some in the hills behind the town, so I have some familiarity.
Virtually everywhere in Laguna is nice. I cannot think of anywhere in Laguna that is not nice, except maybe some of the inland subdivisions and those are still nice, I just do not like subdivisions.
If you can afford to live in or near town or the beach that is ideal. Houses tend to be very small, but being able to walk to the beach and/or town is worth the trade off.
The hills are wonderful with great views. The homes on the bluffs hanging over the ocean in the south part of town are incredible for multi-millionaires.
Traffic and parking are basically terrible in Laguna proper. SCH is really a tough drive. I used to be able to ride my bike to Newport (near John Wayne) faster than my roommate could drive.
Parts of Laguna and especially South Laguna tend to be a haven for homosexuals if that bothers you. I lived near Aliso pier for a while and they congregated on the beach there. They never bothered me much. Once in a while some of them would yell things at me or follow me making rude comments when I walked through their area on my way to Aliso pier, but it was not very common. I am not sure if that area is still their hangout or not.
Laguna is very artsy and very liberal. It is a beautiful town to live in for almost anything. the town is quaint with loads of art galleries and pleasant shops. The bars and restaurants are nice and many are fun. The constant tourist crowds and local regular visitors from other parts of OC will make you crazy at times, especially in the summer. Your friends will not be too inclined to visit you in the summer unless you have a place for them to park on your property. Even if you have parking, traffic may keep them away.
Coming home after a hard day and walking on the beach and then having dinner in a nice restaurant or pub cannot be better.
I just moved from Laguna Beach area and can tell you everything! I actually want to go home because it turns out that I am way too liberally and artsy for the real world!
That said, each neighborhood does have its flavor. I will begin in North Laguna, which is influenced by Newport Beach. Newport Beach is extremely republican, they seem more like a credit card society, are extremely in debt due to the incredibly high cost of housing. Money is VERY important in Newport. As you begin to enter Laguna Beach, the north side has alot of high end shops such as antique shops and galleries. It feels more like the family orientated part of Laguna. Also, you have to consider the coastal crowd vs. the mountain crowd. The coastal crowd is younger, the big houses up the hill are family orientated. Nothing much goes on in North Laguna.
Downtown is where it's all at. Shops, crowds, touristas, homeless kids playing guitar on the corner for change, artists painting the tourists, galleries, bars and restaurants. The crowd is so thick in summer you can barely walk down the sidewalk sometimes. They all go home in winter tho. The boardwalk stretches along the beach where people are playing basket ball and volleyball. It's a zoo.
South Laguna is gaydom. The restaurants, the neighbors, the bars. This is their part of town and they welcome all visitors, both gay and straight with open arms. I used to eat dinner with architects, clothes designers and artists every Friday night at the local gay bar, surrounded by wonderful men who pull your chair out for ya and buy you another glass of wine with no agenda in mind. It was a lovely time.
As you leave Laguna proper, you hit Emerald Bay. This is a gated community, just houses, on both sides of the street. You cant get in unless you somebody and its just houses and the beach. No big deal.
You then come to Aliso Pier. Above it is a fancy new hotel. The pier is short but the water there is deep and strong. Down on one end there are no waves and it's where I learned to swim in the ocean. The waves tend to be shore breaks so this is the beach that the skim boarders like. It's not a surfing beach. Whales breech at the end of the pier and bring in their babies close to shore here.
AFter this you have a lovely coastal drive passing houses and Crown Valley , which leads you inland to Laguna Niguel and Mission Viejo. Continue on and you will pass The Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel and they are now building a new bunch of hotels at the beginning of Dana Point on MY beach, STrands, which was the best beach in the whole wide world and the best kept secret. Great while it lasted because now its gone.
Dana Point has the harbor, which they say they will be fixing up. The streets along the Pacific Coast Hwy are apartments, low rent, higher crime, gang stuff and drugs, young kids in their first apartment, that sort of thing. The deeper inland you go, the more track homes and gated communities you find for family living.
I forgot to tell you about Laguna Canyon ! It's a beautiful canyon drive with little houses tucked in down little roads behind trees. The art college is there, the Sawdust Festival is there. The canyon is all things art colony, really the only part of the original flavor of Laguna thats left.
And the traffic. In winter it's no problemo, but in summer it will take you 45 minutes to get thru town. The little trolley goes thru town all day long and I think if you are local there is a free taxi service to help alleviate the jam.
OH, one more thing. Top of the World is at the top of the middle of Laguna. ARch Beach Heights is the southern part of it. When June Gloom rolls in to the beach in summer, making it a cold cloudy day by 3pm, up there you are above the clouds looking down at a sea of cotton candy clouds. You are in Laguna but you are not. It's a 15 minute drive down to the liquor store and you have to replace your brakes every 6 months, but if you like that bird in the cage feeling of being high overlooking the world, you will like it up there. There is a nice park up there and the deer come out to play at night.
I'm a local and agree that Laguna Beach is quaint, artsy, and picturesque.
It is also horrendously over-priced, over-populated, and very touristy.
2 main roads access Laguna Beach:
Pacific Coast Highway and Laguna Canyon Road. Both are jammed during
rush hour, the summer, holidays, and weekends.
Art Fairs and Festivals are fun for the tourist to visit, but it gets old fast when you live here.
That's why many residents escape to summer homes in Idaho or Montana.
Laguna Beach is also very liberal (St. Mary's feeds the homeless every Sunday morning at Main Beach) and the mayor voted to keep and have the taxpayers support an illegal alien (aka, day-worker) site.
The town also has a predominantly gay population -- akin to Key West, Florida.
www.gaylagunabeach.org/
You might want to consider a more liveable option like Laguna Niguel, formerly South Laguna Beach. It's a well-planned community with great schools, parks, amenities, and it's less congested, more family-oriented
and affordable. GOOD LUCK!
I would love to hear from a native to the Laguna Beach area about each of the neighborhoods. What is the flavor of each beach community? Three Arches Bay...is this a nice area to live? Emerald Bay? Is it better to be near the beach or up in the hills? Why? Traffic...where is it worst and where is it better? Shopping...are you better to live within walking distance of the shops or not?
Laguna, all the way from the entrance sign to beyond it to Dana Point and San Clemente is beautiful. But it is the most expensive area in all of Orange County, and all of Southern California.
Three Arch Bay and Emerald Bay are the older, gated communities and unless you spend a minimum $3-5 million for a 3-bedroom purchase, or at least $20,000 a month for a rental you will have a slim chance finding anything in these two communities. These places are occupied more with older people nowadays rather than young couples. Actually, everywhere in the older areas where properties are above the million mark are more of 'old' money and tend to have less younger residents. In other words: its like living in a retirement community. Exception is Crystal Cove with brand new million dollar homes where many 'new' money live but here too you need at least $2-4 million.
Getting back to South Laguna, bordering Dana Point is a bit 'off' the track and doesn't really feel like Laguna. However, there is an absolutely stunning, large beach area where the Ritz is, just below Emerald Bay, which is extremely luxurious - more so than even Laguna itself. But these areas have only houses. There is no shopping at all, and not much but residential areas and you need a car for everything. If you have kids, you will be a chauffer 24/7.
Most people in Laguna live between North (the entrance to Laguna) and South Laguna right before you reach Three Arch Bay. And many live up in the hills, simply because its easier to find housing up the hills than near the coastline and slightly cheaper. And the views can be stunning. Nestled in the hills, you will find all levels of housing, from small quaint cottages in all conditions, to luxury housing. Even a small shack in Laguna that needs complete rebuilding, will begin at a price of at least $800,000 because of the value of the land and lack of availability.
A single, small studio will nowadays cost a minimum $1200 a month. And that's if you get a good rate. And trust me, it will be nothing but a small closet with a makeshift kitchen...
The worse thing with Laguna is that it takes so much time to get anywhere because of traffic. Traffic has gotten overbearing in the past few years, as more and more tourists flock to Laguna since they started making TV shows about it... And, the largest visitor groups are Arabs and Europeans. When I lived in Laguna it was mainly residents, but nowadays its swarmed with people visiting on weekends from other parts of SoCal. Traffic is so bad it can take you up to 40 min just to pass Laguna from one end to the other on a weekend or bad day. And bear in mind this would take you about 5-10 minute on a traffic free day! Parking is close to impossible and one of the biggest problems, especially since many buildings are not new and don't have enough parking included in the rental space.
Shopping, except for grocery shopping, can only be made by traveling out of Laguna which will take you about 1 hour. You have two roads only to exit; the Canyon or PCH. Both are crowded. Its all up to you how much you like convenience, how much you spend in one place rather than move about since this means traveling - which is a bit timeconsuming in Laguna. In the summers the city arrange free bus rides centrally in the city, during the art festivals.
I used to live closer to the beach, so I could walk even downtown (would take me about 40 minutes) or walk to the beach and be somewhat independent of constant reliance on a car.
I love Laguna. It is so beautiful and even after 20 years my heart will almost stop when I drive by the coast and get a glimps of the view... !
The artists and gays created this whole community and made it what it is. Over the years they made it into a sort of a paradise, which is now being destroyed by the rich who have all the money but no personality. Unfortunately, these people who added personality and feeling to the place but were poor are disappearing. Old restaurants and shops that were part of "Laguna culture" have all closed down as they can't afford the exhorbitant rents anymore, and what is left is plastic commercialism which is destroying the energy of the place. The city wanted to make Laguna into a 'millionairs' place meaning that they took measures to assure no building would be sold below 1/2 mil. But, as I mentioned, it killed the personality of the place quite a bit.
Shopping, except for grocery shopping, can only be made by traveling out of Laguna which will take you about 1 hour. You have two roads only to exit; the Canyon or PCH. Both are crowded. Its all up to you how much you like convenience, how much you spend in one place rather than move about since this means traveling - which is a bit timeconsuming in Laguna. In the summers the city arrange free bus rides centrally in the city, during the art festivals.
There is shopping that does not take an hour to get to.There is Fashion Island Mall, which is about 20 minutes away, the Irvine Spectrum, about 20 minutes away as well, South Coast Plaza Mall, which is about 30 mins. away. Then there are the shops at Crystal Cove, about 10-15 minutes away, also shopping in Corona Del Mar, also about 10-15 minutes away. OR you could go to nearby Dana Point, or Aliso Viejo for shopping..or you can drive to Irvine, which takes about 25 minutes, but longer in the summer months. Last but not least, there is always shopping in Laguna..nice boutiques and such. Pretty much all you need is in town. I assume if you are considering the whole round-trip then it may take an hour round trip.
I live six miles up the Canyon Road in Laguna Woods....Fall, Winter, and Spring are lovely times of the year for a quick visit to Laguna Beach...no one is around. Lunch on the patio of Las Brisas...walk around Heisler Park....drink Starbucks coffee as you walk Main Beach...it's a quick drive in and out, and there is no need to pay the incredible prices the place commands.
My wife and I also run the five mile round trip Ridge Trail from Aliso Viejo to Top of the World. It's as wild as it gets with rattlesnakes, coyotes, deer, turkey buzzards, lots of rabbits and roadrunners.
There is shopping that does not take an hour to get to.There is Fashion Island Mall, which is about 20 minutes away, the Irvine Spectrum, about 20 minutes away as well, South Coast Plaza Mall, which is about 30 mins. away. Then there are the shops at Crystal Cove, about 10-15 minutes away, also shopping in Corona Del Mar, also about 10-15 minutes away. OR you could go to nearby Dana Point, or Aliso Viejo for shopping..or you can drive to Irvine, which takes about 25 minutes, but longer in the summer months. Last but not least, there is always shopping in Laguna..nice boutiques and such. Pretty much all you need is in town. I assume if you are considering the whole round-trip then it may take an hour round trip.
Hmmm.... you can get to Fascist Island in 20 minutes during the normal traffic hours??? No way, not anymore, unless you live in North Laguna, before the Laguna bordeline and are practically in Corona del Mar!
Please clock your next trip to both Fascist Island and So Coast Plaza and tell me whether you'll reach any of them within the 20 and 30 minutes timeframe you estimate....
That was possible ten years ago, not anymore.
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