Could you imagine how expensive orange county would be... (houses, live)

[flo2900]

Originally Posted by NaplesRes

Those homes are not my cup of tea. I'll never understand the allure of living in a cookie cutter house especially where you have to drive to everything. And the things you drive to are cookie cutter malls. I guess the open space is nice in the photos though.

I agree!

[NewportBorn]

Yeah the Open Space is what I was aiming towards....

The houses aren't much, but I thought seeing open space in O.c. was a nice change of pace!

[antibes]

Originally Posted by NewportBorn

If it all looked like this?

? You lost me.

An ugly freeway and rows of identical tick-tack homes. And? How would that make OC more expensive? Would make it cheaper if you ask me.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by antibes

? You lost me.

An ugly freeway and rows of identical tick-tack homes. And?

Me too! Those same hills would be brown and depressing in the middle of summer; providing, of course, you could even see them through the smog. Cookie cutter/tick-tack is right Unfortunately, you can find that almost anywhere in California anymore.

In my day, Orange County was aptly named and full of orange groves. I'm not sure there's an orange tree left in all the concrete and roof tops.

[antibes]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Me too! Those same hills would be brown and depressing in the middle of summer; providing, of course, you could even see them through the smog. Cookie cutter/tick-tack is right Unfortunately, you can find that almost anywhere in California anymore.

In my day, Orange County was aptly named and full of orange groves. I'm not sure there's an orange tree left in all the concrete and roof tops.

I moved to Laguna Beach first time almost 20 years ago. The surrounding hills were protected wildlife areas. The gays had just started moving out because of aids scares, and people were scared to even have them in jobs, etc., in case they would catch a disease from them (yes, that's how homophobic it was only a few years ago!).

Then the Irvine Company - truly the devil of corporations, the GW Bush of business - started ruining the whole region. Greed is their number one business, although they pose with the faux name "property developers". This s*** hole of a company forced their corruption monies on one department after another so they could build on protected land, and now there are tick tack homes everywhere. They forced mobile home owners from the beaches near the entry into Laguna to move, and scrapped their homes to the ground. They tried to sue but could, of course not, battle the devil of companies who has so much influence and monies. They are very unhappy of having to lose their homes.

Then they forced the other mobile homes in south Laguna out of the way so they could build that hideously ugly hotel (The Montage). I could vomit on manipulative companies and hope they go belly up. The Montage doesn't even have the architecture to fit in the area and look completely out of place! How do they plant a structure looking like it belongs in the woods of Lake Arrowhead, in Laguna Beach??? There is no more protected areas, and the animals have nowhere to go so cayotes pick up small cats and dogs for dinner. Mountain lions are now more frequently found attacking people.

I recently met a French lady whoms daughter was born in California. I asked her if she had dual citizenship since she had the option to, according to U.S. laws (as the child was born there). She said no and didn't want to; California had changed so much over the years she was no longer interested to live there. Her observation was that California is now flooded with too many muslims, and asians, and this had deteriorated the regions local culture so much it was barely recognizable anymore.

In addition to that, the green areas are disappearing by the minute. You can feel weather changes too, when green belts are leveled out and filled with concrete homes. Its much, much hotter in the summers now than it was 10 years ago. Ten years is a very short span to create such drastic changes in weather.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by antibes

Then the Irvine Company - truly the devil of corporations, the GW Bush of business - started ruining the whole region. Greed is their number one business, although they pose with the faux name "property developers". This s*** hole of a company forced their corruption monies on one department after another so they could build on protected land, and now there are tick tack homes everywhere.

I would have to agree with this. In my day it was Irvine Ranch and the lands were used for cattle grazing. I think OC would be a much better place to live it it was still a working ranch and not a development company.

Ah, greed! What's happening in this country has all too many parallels to The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. I guess that's simply human nature and more's the pity!

[Mach50]

The Irvine Company is an out of control monopoly, and they build some of the most hideously architected crap I have ever seen.

You should see what they build up here in NorCal...there will be neat old buildings with classy architecture, then here comes IAC with their stucco Spanish-revival/Faux-Tuscany style blah:




One sure way to make an area look bland and boring, is to hire the Irvine Company to build there.
Just take a look at Irvine, CA and its 3 hues: beige, brown and white.

[bhcompy]

big deal, i happen to like stucco

[Woody7]

I get that the South West has all of these cookie cutter stucco homes,but go back East and the City's their are full of old style cookie cutter homes . I'll take the West Coast any time.

[Arkadin]

Originally Posted by Woody7

I get that the South West has all of these cookie cutter stucco homes,but go back East and the City's their are full of old style cookie cutter homes . I'll take the West Coast any time.

Well go into some midwestern cities..you have "cookie cutter" homes of the 1930's..ugly wood sided bungalows with super small lots (like so cal) packed together...low ceilings. small bathroooms...some have cool wood paneling..the past is dead...live with it