Where to live in OC? (Long Beach, Irvine: fit in, apartment, rentals)

[eurocali]

I might be moving soon to OC for a job opportunity in Irvine (next to UCI). I would love to have some input from locals, in order to help me find the best area for me and my family. Some background/info:

- My husband and I are originally from France and have been in the LA area for 10 years now. We've lived mostly on the Westside of LA and liked it until we had a child 3 years ago. We like the diversity and open-mindedness of the westside, but we don't enjoy the high cost of living and the constant congestion, be it during the week or the weekend (405 and 10). So, one criteria for us would be: reasonable rental prices and a short commute (20 minutes or less from/to my job).

- Which brings me to Irvine: I like the fact that it looks very safe, kid-friendly and has good schools, but would we ever fit in, being more liberal than conservative? (I know OC tends to be conservative anyway) How diverse is Irvine?

[bhcompy]

Irvine is mostly Asian, White, and Indian in my experience. It's not like people go out of their way to bring their ideologies up, but if that's a worry, I hear Laguna Beach leans more to the left, but I don't know about family neighborhoods.

If you wanted to expand the drive, you may like old town Orange, Belmont Shore/Naples in Long Beach, or maybe San Juan Capistrano? Might suit your political leanings more, but again, I don't see the issue(and I thought you wanted diversity anyways ).

[missionhome]

You might like Irvine, it depends. Check it out and see what you think. It was actually one of the few cities in Orange County that had a majority vote for President Obama and I am pretty sure the majority voted no on Prop 8 as well, so technically it is one of the more liberal cities in the county.

[eurocali]

I do want diversity, which is why I'm looking for a community that is preferably not 100% red That being said, I also don't go out of my ways to bring up my ideologies, and I'm definitely open to other ideologies. I just want our family to fit in and not be rejected (especially my kid).

Unfortunately Laguna Beach is probably out of our budget, and the other cities mentioned are too far (commute time is a VERY important criteria for me).

[missionhome]

If you live in the area around the university, I think you might find a more liberal vibe. Are you ok with Irvine being a master planned community though??? They always say any paint is fine on a home in Irvine as long as its a shade of beige.

[eurocali]

Since I will be renting for at least 1-2 years, I don't mind the beige thing It might actually be an improvement over the cottage-cheese ceiling of my old LA apartment!

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by eurocali

the cottage-cheese ceiling

Yuck. Whoever came up with that decorating trend should be purged from history.

[bhcompy]

Granted many of the homes in Irvine(and most of Orange County) are old enough to still have cottage cheese ceilings last I looked

[OC Investor2]

Originally Posted by eurocali

I might be moving soon to OC for a job opportunity in Irvine (next to UCI). I would love to have some input from locals, in order to help me find the best area for me and my family. Some background/info:

- My husband and I are originally from France and have been in the LA area for 10 years now. We've lived mostly on the Westside of LA and liked it until we had a child 3 years ago. We like the diversity and open-mindedness of the westside, but we don't enjoy the high cost of living and the constant congestion, be it during the week or the weekend (405 and 10). So, one criteria for us would be: reasonable rental prices and a short commute (20 minutes or less from/to my job).

- Which brings me to Irvine: I like the fact that it looks very safe, kid-friendly and has good schools, but would we ever fit in, being more liberal than conservative? (I know OC tends to be conservative anyway) How diverse is Irvine?

As for the affordable part, I think you will find things comparable to West LA. Irvine is by no means inexpensive, and is even pricier then the surrounding burbs in OC (x. Newport & Laguna). But for rentals, the premium you pay v. the surrounding communities is less then a buyer would, so I believe it is definitely worth it if you can swing it.

It s a good city to have young kids in. There are tons of parks, pools and association amenities for your 3 yo. I have a 3 & 5 yo and there is never a lack of places to go or things to do in Irvine.

I think you may be very surprised at how cosmopolitan Irvine is. Just on my little cul de sac I have The family of a Japanese ex pat who works at one of the car companies, a German expat family where the dad works in tech. Used to have an autralian expat in the tract, but they moved back. We meet Ex pat couples with kids from all over at the parks. Several english, many many asians of all nationalities, Indians, australians, middle class Mexicans & central americans. The Tech Corp HQ, UCI and foreign car co's in bring in lot of international talent. Irvine also has a very large immigrant community, mostly Asian with a strong Chinese flavor, but also lots of Persians/Iranians and other Middle easterners as well as OC's biggest Jewish community. It is, ethnically speaking, a very diverse city. Economically it is less diverse with mostly upper and middle income families.

Politically The city is pretty evenly split. I have never detected a dominant political flavor. So if you need to be in a heavily liberal environment you will not find that here. But you also won't find freedom fries on the menu at the local burger joint either. Mostly people here are to busy working or dealing w/ family to burn a lot of calories on politics. I've never seen any significant political activism except for the El Toro reuse issue and that was almost 10 years ago.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by eurocali

would we ever fit in, being more liberal

What do you mean by liberal? Every time I ask, I get a different answer.