Santa Ana - 20th and Santiago (Orange, Santa Clara: crime, houses, neighborhoods)

[velozo]

I did a previous search and found that the area of Santa Ana along Santa Clara is fairly nice. I took a drive down there and found it was pretty nice. But, I didn't venture around south of Santa Clara near 20th and Santiago. Can anyone from around there tell me if this area is decent? Is it mostly home owners who take pride in their yards/homes?
Thanks,
Dean

[cobmw]

Yes that immediate area is nice. But there are some downsides. I think you may hear freeway traffic from the 5 (depends on the weather - overcast days carry the sound the most) and you will hear the train to the east. We have friends who live in the same area but north of Santa Clara. That area is even nicer but expensive. They don't hear freeway noise, but the trains are loud at their house.

For shopping you will travel to the east towards Orange to get out of Santa Ana. If you want to stick with the nicer areas look east of the 55 for housing. That's the boundary between nice and not so nice.

[velozo]

Thanks, cobmw. That's great info. As much as I would like to be in a nicer neighborhood, my $300k budget says otherwise. I have to search long and hard for that one gem. The place I'm going to take a look at is on 20th/Santiago. It's listed at $299k.

I'll take an overhead look at the proximity of the tracks. Are they commuter trains? If they are freight, I would assume they're not that frequent?

[cobmw]

I think both commuter and freight. The Santa Ana passenger train terminal is just south of your location. So those tracks are used by commuter trains. I know that they blow the whistle in the early morning hours (4:00am). We hear it at our house on the west side of Main St. That's much farther away than Santiago. But there are lots of folks living closer than us. Guess they get used to it.

[velozo]

Hmmm...I guess I'll have to think long and hard about that one. Thanks for the info. I appreciate the help!
Dean

[Coldjensens]

That is part of Park Santiago. Park Santiago is a pretty nice nieghborhood. It does not get through traffic, so it does not have as many problems as some other neighborhoods. It is pretty quiet when I have been there. Send me a direct message and I will give you the name of someone who lives in that neighborhood and they can tell you what they think.

You are looking right on the fringe of Park Santiago neighborhood. There is a busy gas station and a Chevy Dealership on the corner of 17th. I would not want to live too close to those. If you are at least a block or two back into the neighborhood, it should be ok. By the way, I do not recommend using the repair shop at the dealership, even if it is convenient.

There is a nice little park just of the north of the neighborhood. Bike trails lead to Hart park in Orange. Use common sense if you go into the park at night. Parts of it are secluded and could be risky. We regularly rode our bikes through the neighborhood, through the park and out to hart park. WE also attended picnic in the park several times. It is reasonably nice.

Park Santiago neighborhood is almost walking distance to mainplace mall and the new area accross the street from main place. If you are a healthy walker, you could walk to both. Some decent places to eat there. (corner Bakery, California Pizza Kitchen, McCormic's & Schmits, Pat & Oscars etc).

Where you are looking is pretty close to the freeway. You will hear the freeway. It will sound like a dull roar in the background. After a while you probably will not notice it, but your guests might. If you are really close, you may get exhaust fromt he freeway as well. I have never heard any Park Santiago residents complain about exhaust though. (maybe they just do not complain). When I visit Park Santiago at night I always note the crickets chirping. You cannot hear that in too many places in central OC.

There are a couple of really neat historic homes right in the area that you are looking. One of them was owned by a president's sister. The president spent a summer there recuperating from an illness. It was long ago I think that it might have been Taft, but I do not remember. Contact the historical society if you are interested.

You will definitely get Some train noise. Both passenger and freight. They blow their horns when they cross 17th. They may do it again at some of the smaller streets. When we lived a bit to the south of there (French Park) we did not notice it, but sometimes guests commented on the trains. We said "What trains?" It will probably be more noticeable in Park Santiago. We had a friend who lived at the corner of Lincoln and Larchmont. Trains were pretty loud there. They were right in her back yard. However she did not mind. The sound wall kept out the worst of it. She was a realtor and certainly could have found a different place to live if it were intolerable. We have another friend that lives near the center of park Santiago neighborhood. I have never noticed train noise there while visiting, even when we were outside. I guess we just blocked it out.


Schools in Santa Ana are generally bad, but there are some good options. Hoover Elementary school in Park Santiago is not a very good school, but you are not far from John Muir which is a decent elementary. There are two good middle schools. Our Kids were going into Orange ****y High School for the arts (OCHSA) which is an execellent high school. Kids have to be talented in some form of arts to get in. We had one in for singing and another with a choice between singing and creative writing. I would not recommend the other high schools. However Santa Ana High is reportedly well segregated between the honors type students and the banger types, so it is my understanding that kids can do pretty well there despite the presence of some pretty bad kids. The two groups just do nto mix, or so I am told. I was not going to risk it with my kids though. It was OCHSA or private school for them.

For groceries you can go East on 17th to either superior market or Albertsons (17th and Tustin). Albertsons is much nicer. There is a Stater Brothers on 17th if you are cost conscious. There is a Northgate market to the south. It is a very HIspanic oriented market. You can buy some really neat unusual items there. There is also a small market (Ranch Market) just south on Main street. It is good for a quick stop to pick up staples, but check the dates. I have gotten some outdated food (spoiled milk) there.

For cheap general shopping Target on 17th and Grand. For better shopping and dining - mainplace mall and the two areas across main street from Mainplace. Home Depot is quite a way away. One in Orange, one in Santa Ana (but pretty far away) and one in Tustin. The closest Cosco is in Tustin.

If you have a problem with Hispanic Americans ("Mexicans" to some people), you may not like it there.

People from South Orange county will look at you and say " You live in Santa Ana? Are you nuts?"
It really is not as bad as people who do not live there make it out. We lived there for 9 years and never had any major problems. The police did chase a guy into our back yard once. That was exciing, but not terribly frightening. We never found out what they were after him for. Car theft is Santa Ana's biggest crime issue. (Or at least it was for the past several years).

Santa Ana is a city and it does have crime. Some neighborhoods are gang infested. (I do not think gangs really hang out in Park Santiago). The City is something like 80% Hipsanic. Some of your neighbors probably will not speak english. If that bothers you, stick to south county. One thing we learned once we got to know our neighbors - in general, Hispanics throw far better parties than stuffy white folk. Even a kids brithday party can be a blast. Go meet your neighbors and be nice to them even if you do not like them at first. We had some bad neighbors at first (appeared to be selling drugs). We called the police regularly and quickly drove them away. We ended up like most of our neighbors a great deal and we are still freinds with many of them.

If you pay attention to the City government, they will probably tick you off. It is not as bad as some places, but there are some things going on that will make you shake your head, or scream and wave your arms around depending on your personality. Most people seem to prefer to ignore the CIty government and not know what is going on.

Santa Ana is a great community if you are the kind of person who gets involved. There are a lot of opportunities to participate in government, social, and charitable activities.

You will be very nearby Orange which is a great town.

You could also look in French Park which is less secluded but still a pretty decen neighborhood (awesome oldr homes there), Floral Park (Santa Clara on the other side of Main) which is really nice, but more expensive. You may find houses in your price range in Orange. If you live wihtin walking distance of the range circle, Orange is a terrific place to live.

Crime goes up and down in Santa Ana. Part of the time we lived there, it was in the the top ten safest cities of its size on the FBI list. Now I think that it is in the middle. You can get statistics by zip code from the police department. Ask neighbors in the area what it is like. Do nto rely on policemen. They will either tell you nothing, or they will have a jaded viewpoint (remember they only see the problems).

I return to OC for work about 15 weeeks of the year. I live in Santa Ana (French Park) when I am there. I like it there. Not everyone does.

[Coldjensens]

On eother thing. Santa Ana had a Farmers market down on 4th street every EWdnesday. It was small, but really neat. Great breads, Olive OIls, Honey, Flowers and vegetables.

[velozo]

Thank you all for the great information...it is very, very helpful. Now I know for sure I'm gonna take the drive out there, spend some time and check the neighborhood out.

[buckeyenative01]

To add on to what a previous poster said about Hart Park in Orange: Its a nice, spacious park that's great for biking an easy trail, but once the sun goes down, its bum central.

[Coldjensens]

Opps made a mistake above. Stater Brothers is on Tustin north of 17th, not on 17th