San Clemente, Ladera Ranch, Surrounding cities to raise kids? (Santa Ana: houses, schools)

[saibot]

Originally Posted by deshawn.bolden__

huh? lol you think I'm looking for gay people? thats can be really sad maybe even disrespectful if a real true hipster actually does live in such a place or areas.. when theres was saying cause usually like most or all the time gay communities are like in trendy and "flashy" places and those places mentioned sure doesn't fit that at all. And are unpopular, etc..

I didn't say you were looking for gay people, and if you were why would I care? It's not disrespectful to note that RSM is not a hot spot for the gay community, nor is it filled with hipsters like some of the cities closer to the coast.

But I am really not clear on what you are trying to say, anyway.

[Western Urbanite]

Laguna Beach--Yes
Dana Point--Yes
San Juan Cap--Yes
Aliso Viejo--no
Mission Viejo--no
Laguna Niguel--meh
Coto De Caza--no

You should add Newport Beach to your list.

[a333]

Originally Posted by Western Urbanite

Laguna Beach--Yes
Dana Point--Yes
San Juan Cap--Yes
Aliso Viejo--no
Mission Viejo--no
Laguna Niguel--meh
Coto De Caza--no

You should add Newport Beach to your list.

Yes to what ? No to what ?

[a333]

Originally Posted by deshawn.bolden__

huh? lol you think I'm looking for gay people? thats can be really sad maybe even disrespectful if a real true hipster actually does live in such a place or areas.. when theres was saying cause usually like most or all the time gay communities are like in trendy and "flashy" places and those places mentioned sure doesn't fit that at all. And are unpopular, etc..

Newport Beach has a large gay population but is too expensive so the areas of South OC have cheaper apartments. That's why I mentioned this earlier. You're right, those suburbs are not flashy.

[NewbieHere]

I would buy in San Clemente, much cheaper. My friend bought a huge house in San Clemente that he wouldnt possibly buy in central OC.

[saibot]

Originally Posted by NewbieHere

I would buy in San Clemente, much cheaper. My friend bought a huge house in San Clemente that he wouldnt possibly buy in central OC.

Very strange. San Clemente is a beach town and right up there with the most expensive real estate in OC. The average listing price is now over 1 million. There are some older, kinda crummy houses there, to be sure, but there is still a premium for the location. No way is a "huge house" in San Clemente more affordable than a similar house in a central OC city like Santa Ana or Garden Grove.

[Western Urbanite]

Originally Posted by a333

Yes to what ? No to what ?

Originally Posted by Western Urbanite

Laguna Beach--Yes
Dana Point--Yes
San Juan Cap--Yes
Aliso Viejo--no
Mission Viejo--no
Laguna Niguel--meh
Coto De Caza--no

You should add Newport Beach to your list.

Yes to places I would consider living. No to places I wouldn't live. Meh to acceptable but less than ideal places.

[Bert_from_back_East]

Originally Posted by saibot

Just saying, I've lived in RSM for 20 years and haven't noticed a lot of hipsters or a gay community, but I haven't been looking either.

I'm gay and live in Long Beach.

It sounds like a333 was describing the gay community in Long Beach, which tends to be plagued with high levels of apathy, complacency and despair due to poverty, vagrancy, drug and alcohol abuse, underemployment, etc.

As someone who's very familiar with the Orange County gay scene, I have not observed the same among the local OC gay community, which, overall, seems to be better educated and more gainfully employed with stronger familial support networks (since most grew up in the area) than the gay community in Long Beach.

I don't think of Lake Forest, Mission Viejo or RSM as having large communities of gay singles at all. In my experience, most gay singles in South OC are still in school, dependent on their parents and living at home. Either that, or they're successful young businessmen who are very focused on work or wealthy retirees in Laguna Beach.

Of course, there are a few gay young adults on the party circuits in Newport and Laguna Beaches who tend to live off wealthy older men and are into drugs, but that's a very small handful and not representative of the majority.

Also, there are hardly any hipsters in Orange County, especially South County. South OC is probably the most mainstream area of coastal California -- and, perhaps, on the entire West Coast, for that matter -- and hipsters don't usually fancy mainstream things such as newer, cleaner subdivisions, shopping malls, office parks, etc. Surely, you jest.

[a333]

Originally Posted by Bert_from_back_East

I'm gay and live in Long Beach.

It sounds like a333 was describing the gay community in Long Beach, which tends to be plagued with high levels of apathy, complacency and despair due to poverty, vagrancy, drug and alcohol abuse, underemployment, etc.

As someone who's very familiar with the Orange County gay scene, I have not observed the same among the local OC gay community, which, overall, seems to be better educated and more gainfully employed with stronger familial support networks (since most grew up in the area) than the gay community in Long Beach.

I don't think of Lake Forest, Mission Viejo or RSM as having large communities of gay singles at all. In my experience, most gay singles in South OC are still in school, dependent on their parents and living at home. Either that, or they're successful young businessmen who are very focused on work or wealthy retirees in Laguna Beach.

Of course, there are a few gay young adults on the party circuits in Newport and Laguna Beaches who tend to live off wealthy older men and are into drugs, but that's a very small handful and not representative of the majority.

Also, there are hardly any hipsters in Orange County, especially South County. South OC is probably the most mainstream area of coastal California -- and, perhaps, on the entire West Coast, for that matter -- and hipsters don't usually fancy mainstream things such as newer, cleaner subdivisions, shopping malls, office parks, etc. Surely, you jest.

Lake Forest, Laguna Hills, have areas with meth and crime, for both gays and straight, and they have homeless and hipsters. Once you go further south, or north into Irvine, meth is not as much of an issue, and there are fewer hipsters.

I don't really know why the Lake Forest area is having issues except that rents at Western National property mgmt are cheaper. Other property managers look down on this company.

You might run your grindr app in Lake Forest near I5. It is a huge concentration.

Ladera Ranch and Talega in San Clemente, as op asks, I'd recommended for raising kids compared to Lake Forest.

[a333]

Originally Posted by DreamingBig11

What about the surrounding cities:

Laguna Beach
Dana Point
San Juan Cap
Aliso Viejo
Mission Viejo
Laguna Niguel
Coto De Caza
ETC????

Thanks!

Aliso Viejo, which is my favorite of all of them, if I had kids since the beach is about 5 miles away, and, the foothills about 10 miles away on "essentially" the "same" road (El Toro). With other routes, too, but its between those destinations. It also has the lowest crime rate city wide says city data.