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Oh yes they were. Very different. I moved to Newport Beach in 1952 and lived there off-and-on (military family and in the military on my own) until 1974. In those days it was primarily young families, zero crime, clear skies, except during June Gloom, and you could see Catalina and Saddleback the better part of 11 months out of the year. In other words, from no to very little smog. The population spoke primarily English, the streets were safe for children and gangs were something from West Side Story, even in Santa Ana.
Orange County was covered with orange orchards with two lane roads between them being your primary way around. Conspicuous consumption was not yet in the lexicon, nor were McMansions. There was more agriculture than cement and with the possible exception of Tin Can Beach (Huntington) the beaches were clean and not too crowded even during Easter Week.
You may take some exception to the OPs original post, which I think could be helpful to many, but please don't compound it by saying it's like it was 30 to 50 years ago in Orange County. That's not even close!
You completely missed my point. I was talking about the ability to afford property..! The prices were much lower, but so were the wages, so,...no difference.
Sure the landscape has changed. but you're wrong about the smog, it's much less now..! I have been here since '57, and watched the growth and seen the orange groves disappear and the different nationalities arive.
That's called progress, it doesn't bother me. Some people look forward, some like to stay the same... This ain't Mayberry..!
I was trying to read about OC and somehow the topic turned to sports? Lakers? Baseball?
I don't watch or care for any sports. I don't care for the lakers or baseball or football. I hate sports actually, I have no interest in it at all. Just wanted to say that. I could care less about who wins or loses.
LOL you're the one who made absurd assertions about EVERYONE and that there's not new housing. So, the burden of proof is on you.
However, I can offer a couple fun facts:
1) I make $48k. I live in a very nice apartment in Hermosa Beach, which is a very nice community. There are no roach issues and the crime here is among the lowest of any community in the country. So, in regards to your assertion that everyone in that income range lives in roach and crime-infested areas...you lose. Game over.
2) "Everything is 30-80 years old and no new housing" is such a worthless over generalization it's hilarious. First you'd have to support that with facts. And, for it to be relevant, said supporting facts would have to also show how OC and California have less new housing than other places. Certainly, anyone who drives through OC and down the 5 freeway would not have the impression that there are no ne houses. In fact, there is a segment of the population that thinks there is TOO MUCH new housing. For instance, many on this site have mentioned how they prefer the older, more classic San Clemente over the newer housing subdivision in the hills east of town. That's just one example.
*Oh, and I moved to California in August of 2002. And I've lived in several different places in that seven year period.
Hermosa Beach. Nice area. I am asumming that you live alone and don't have anyone who shares the rent. How big is your apartment and what percentage of your income does it cost? 40 years ago when I was young I actually looked there and couldn't afford it so I ended up in Venice. How old is the apartment building or house you live in?
As for new housing, I have been gone from the area for 18 years. The last house I owned was in Ontario and was as close as I could get to LA on my 60K income 26 years ago. Can you tell me exactly which new housing places you personally could buy on your income if you wanted to? I am planning to move to Phoenix because I want to move to a warmer climate, but cannot afford anything decent in LA. So if it exsists, I am sincerely interested.
Please believe me, I am not combating you, just trying to get those who want to move to the LA area they see on TV to look more closely at the real facts before they decide. Thanks for your input.
Hermosa Beach. Nice area. I am asumming that you live alone and don't have anyone who shares the rent. How big is your apartment and what percentage of your income does it cost? 40 years ago when I was young I actually looked there and couldn't afford it so I ended up in Venice. How old is the apartment building or house you live in?
As for new housing, I have been gone from the area for 18 years. The last house I owned was in Ontario and was as close as I could get to LA on my 60K income 26 years ago. Can you tell me exactly which new housing places you personally could buy on your income if you wanted to? I am planning to move to Phoenix because I want to move to a warmer climate, but cannot afford anything decent in LA. So if it exsists, I am sincerely interested.
Please believe me, I am not combating you, just trying to get those who want to move to the LA area they see on TV to look more closely at the real facts before they decide. Thanks for your input.
Great Post! And way to go on getting Skyway to answer some very pointed and important questions. I couldn't afford decent living in OC either and I looked in many places. I honestly believe that most people struggle with it if they were honest. But then again, if one doesn't ever go anywhere outside of the area or has never lived anywhere else then maybe they think they live well. I completely agree with your comment about TV. When I moved to Southern Cal over two decades ago I thought it would be entirely different than what it actually ended up to be. I was REALLY disappointed... Thanks for sharing...
And I would skip it or read something else, but like you, I'm trying to be helpful to those trying to make an informed decision about the state. It doesn't make sense to not reply to a thread where outsiders are being led to believe one person's experience with Orange County should be seen as the "truth" about the entire state by way of the title.
I personally have no experience with living in Orange County. But since this thread is titled the way it is, I felt the need to chime in so that people who fail to see that this thread lives in the OC sub-forum might mistakenly think that this viewpoint/opinion is common throughout the state. And that would not be accurate.
No problem Ludachris, Once again when I started the thread there was absolutely NOTHING what-so-ever about the negative side of OC. All I viewed were pretty beach pics and all these threads that made no sense to me. In fact I think I said "WHAT"? to myself because what I was reading and what I experienced made it seem like I lived on another planet and never did live in OC. Therefore, I just had to start the thread. I have had a FEW people oppose my thread and MANY that have agreed with my thread. It is only a few that have said anything about the title.
It is almost like going to the Portland forum and getting mad because someone says that it rains alot. Come on!! It does rain alot and it would be untruthful to say that it doesn't...
Therefore, I stand behind the name that I gave my thread "the truth" because compared to what I was reading at the time it was and it is... I experienced it therefore it is the truth...
Let me ask a question to all of you who would question my term "the truth". If one is in court as a witness to a crime, the first thing the judge does is say (as you place your hand on the Bible). Will you tell the truth, the whole truth so help you God? Right? Well isn't the person being questioned sharing their experience of what they saw, what they heard, etc, etc?? Well how come that witness isn't accused of only having an experience then? Because he/she is stating the truth as they have experienced or seen it. Duh????
This debate over my title is soooo ridiculously stupid it cracks me up!!! It makes no sense what you are saying and I honestly don't understand why you keep the thread alive with your ignorant replies... I only come back here to check out what others are saying and cannot believe the thread has been so contraversial with just a handful of people...LOL!!! You guys ought to make another OC movie or something so you can decieve even more people..
I have been here since '57, and watched the growth and seen the orange groves disappear and the different nationalities arive.
Ahh yes, the orange groves... When I use to work on the homes of my older customers from Downey all the way to Whittier sometimes the owners would come out and tell me about the history of there town/house as I was working.
Almost all of the owners would tell me that there home was built in a field of orange groves. Sadly, places like Downey have turned into sh%% due to all the storefronts, traffic and new homeowners who fail to upkeep the neighborhood like the generation from the 50's
You completely missed my point. I was talking about the ability to afford property..! The prices were much lower, but so were the wages, so,...no difference.
Sure the landscape has changed. but you're wrong about the smog, it's much less now..! I have been here since '57, and watched the growth and seen the orange groves disappear and the different nationalities arive.
That's called progress, it doesn't bother me. Some people look forward, some like to stay the same... This ain't Mayberry..!
sorry, 50 years ago, much of OC was just being developed (I am not talking about NewPort beach) and was tracky and cheap. There is a big difference today compared to the 50,60 and even 70s in Orange county even taking into consideration wages...It was a middle income county with some lower income properties, there are still some lower income people living there but not much in the way of lower income land or housing. All those track homes that were build near the Santa Ana freeway, they were designed for lower middle class families so they could fulfill the American dream, same as our first home in 1960 in Covina, north of the San Bernardino freeway were cheap homes, mostly starter homes or homes for the lower middle class that couldn't afford to live in Pasadena, Temple City or the like.
I am glad it doesn't bother you, yes that is progress, but not always is progress good. We have all watch various nationalities move into every state, nothing wrong with that, the problem lies in how many are legal or when all communication breaks down because of language barriors.
You hit the nail on the head when you say, 'this ain"t Mayberry" that is why so many are leaving California and most of those moving in are 1-job transfers, 2-young kids that think California will give them everything there is in the world, 3-illegals.
Hermosa Beach. Nice area. I am asumming that you live alone and don't have anyone who shares the rent. How big is your apartment and what percentage of your income does it cost? 40 years ago when I was young I actually looked there and couldn't afford it so I ended up in Venice. How old is the apartment building or house you live in?
As for new housing, I have been gone from the area for 18 years. The last house I owned was in Ontario and was as close as I could get to LA on my 60K income 26 years ago. Can you tell me exactly which new housing places you personally could buy on your income if you wanted to? I am planning to move to Phoenix because I want to move to a warmer climate, but cannot afford anything decent in LA. So if it exsists, I am sincerely interested.
Please believe me, I am not combating you, just trying to get those who want to move to the LA area they see on TV to look more closely at the real facts before they decide. Thanks for your input.
I remember when Hermosa, Manhattan and Redondo beach were almost non existant. Nobody knew or cared much about these little beach cities. The beach houses along the strand were not worth a heck of a lot, but we still enjoyed them.
No problem Ludachris, Once again when I started the thread there was absolutely NOTHING what-so-ever about the negative side of OC. All I viewed were pretty beach pics and all these threads that made no sense to me. In fact I think I said "WHAT"? to myself because what I was reading and what I experienced made it seem like I lived on another planet and never did live in OC. Therefore, I just had to start the thread. I have had a FEW people oppose my thread and MANY that have agreed with my thread. It is only a few that have said anything about the title.
It is almost like going to the Portland forum and getting mad because someone says that it rains alot. Come on!! It does rain alot and it would be untruthful to say that it doesn't...
Therefore, I stand behind the name that I gave my thread "the truth" because compared to what I was reading at the time it was and it is... I experienced it therefore it is the truth...
Let me ask a question to all of you who would question my term "the truth". If one is in court as a witness to a crime, the first thing the judge does is say (as you place your hand on the Bible). Will you tell the truth, the whole truth so help you God? Right? Well isn't the person being questioned sharing their experience of what they saw, what they heard, etc, etc?? Well how come that witness isn't accused of only having an experience then? Because he/she is stating the truth as they have experienced or seen it. Duh????
This debate over my title is soooo ridiculously stupid it cracks me up!!! It makes no sense what you are saying and I honestly don't understand why you keep the thread alive with your ignorant replies... I only come back here to check out what others are saying and cannot believe the thread has been so contraversial with just a handful of people...LOL!!! You guys ought to make another OC movie or something so you can decieve even more people..
It's not so much your thread title, it's the culmination of some things. The thread title is just going to attract more people since it's so all-encompassing.
I think the bottom line to this entire discussion is this - SoCal requires a great deal of compromise in order to live there. You have to be in love with the area and the lifestyle in order to be okay with the sacrifices you'll have to make. It's not so different than living anywhere else, with its own distinct issues. It's a unique place and it's not for everyone, just like living in a small town isn't for everyone. And it has very different areas within the region that may or may not be more or less to your liking. It's still obviously got a place in millions of peoples' hearts who choose to live there. And yet, it's made a lot of people unhappy and bitter. It's changed quite a bit over the years, but so has just about every place else.
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Thanks for sharing...
When I use to work on the homes of my older customers from Downey all the way to Whittier sometimes the owners would come out and tell me about the history of there town/house as I was working. 
