Is Living in Orange County really worth the hype? (Irvine: apartment, house)

[Josh22]

Traffic, yeh, it's not great. But traffic in both LA and OC are overcrowded.. It's expensive, yeh, but you have to pay more to live in a city like that

Irvine is one of the safest cities to live in this country. Maybe it is the safest. Irvine, lake forest, mission viejo (all next to each other) are the 3 safest cities in CA themselves..

If you worried about safety, you'll NEVER have to worry about it in either of those 3 cities. Expect for car crashes as that can occur in any city, but that's about it. You can walk around with $10,000 in your hand and you probably wont even get robbed. (i still wouldnt try it though)

[bbluv]

I have lived in Southern CA my whole life but recently moved to NYC. It's hilarious that people would even call a place like that a city. There are still cow pastures and the smell of manuer in the Turtle Rock hills. Life is so BORING in Orange County. Everyone is the same...they dress the same, they talk the same (surfer slang = "yo, dude"), they eat at the same chain restaurants. On top of that, the races don't mingle there. It's like the twilight zone, the way people just exist but never acknowledge other cultures i.e. Mexican food is an exotic concept. If you want a boring life where you'll never learn about anything that's non-American, by all means, move to Irvine. You couldn't find a more conservative, Republican niche. For a better "life experience", try a real city like NYC or even San Francisco.

[keyboardkitten]

I have been in Irvine since 1975 and can no longer handle the traffic and congestion. My nerves simply can't take it any more. I find myself a prisoner in my house or very immediate neighborhood.

Yet I have friends who get in their SUVs, feel perfectly safe on the freeway and thrive on pollution. It is all a question of tolerance and I for one would like to find a place in CA away from freeways with enough infrastructure for the daily needs in life (hospital, good school system, decent shopping, etc.). I am 64 and do not need to live with 110,000 other people. I do not need redundancy. Our nearest shopping center has TWO tofu restaurants! Less is best.

If any of you out there know of a place in CA with 30 to 40 thousand people away from congestion, please write in!

Keyboardkitten

[nevercoldcall]

Originally Posted by bbluv

For a better "life experience", try a real city like NYC or even San Francisco.

The quality of life in those cities is awful. I'm from the NYC area and have no desire to ever return. It's filthy dirty, smelly, and I can only take so much of being bumped into and shoved trying to walk down the street without ever hearing someone say "excuse me." And not to mention the fact that you pay 3x the cost of a house in OC to live in a tiny apartment where you can't sleep thanks to the sound of cars beeping their horns at 4am. Not to mention the fact that everything is SERIOUSLY overcrowded - far worse than OC - and I prefer not to waste my life away standing on lines and waiting for trains.

No thanks.

[newportbeachsmostwanted]

Originally Posted by bbluv

I have lived in Southern CA my whole life but recently moved to NYC. It's hilarious that people would even call a place like that a city.

So huge sky-scrapers, homeless people, lack of parking, and crack heads are needed to be classified as a city?

I agree with nevercoldcall, NYC's quality of life is almost junk compared to the O.C. Just try walking down the street without people running you over! And you wonder why the skin on New Yorker's faces is falling off!

[BengalForLife]

I have been reading threads for a few days now about moving to California. Currently I live in Cincinnati and was recently offered a job in Newport Beach. The job sounds great, and I love the area, but being a single guy in my mid twenties I am concerend about meeting other young professionals in the area, along with having a social life like I'm used to in Cincinnati. When I was in town, I looked in Huntington Beach for apartments but it is tough to know the good areas when you aren't from Southern California. So, I need some info on various places around Newport Beach to live - I will be by myself, so I understand rent will be high but I can't afford $2,000 a month.

[newportbeachsmostwanted]

Originally Posted by BengalForLife

I have been reading threads for a few days now about moving to California. Currently I live in Cincinnati and was recently offered a job in Newport Beach. The job sounds great, and I love the area, but being a single guy in my mid twenties I am concerend about meeting other young professionals in the area, along with having a social life like I'm used to in Cincinnati. When I was in town, I looked in Huntington Beach for apartments but it is tough to know the good areas when you aren't from Southern California. So, I need some info on various places around Newport Beach to live - I will be by myself, so I understand rent will be high but I can't afford $2,000 a month.

Hey buddy, there are no bad areas in Huntington Beach. It's not the type of environment that criminals thrive on.

Balboa Penninsula in Newport(18th through 45th st.) has huge forth of July parties and is close to young bars like Sharkees.. Lots of young professionals.

Huntington Beach is a pretty young and hip area. I think almost all the apartment buildings near the beach will cater to the younger crowd. The median age in H.B. is very young-35 or so. You'll have no problem finding other people to interact with.

1BR rents go from $1,000 to 1,200/month. Search craigslist.org. Find some places. Feed me any address(es) you're curious about. Good luck.

[isoucie]

The weather is great. However, the beach is super crowded on the weekend in the summer due to parking (imagine looking for a space for 30-45 minutes). Don't even try going to Newport Beach on 4th of July. You'll never find a place to park.

The people here have little to no substance. I have two masters degrees and I can't find two people to have intelligent conversation with. Most people seem to just want to go out to party and get drunk on expensive cocktails.

Work in Irvine, live in Lake Forest (cheapest, safe neighborhood you'll find near Irvine).

Laguna Beach has a great artist community. Very open minded, spiritual, and "gay-friendly".

Air quality often feels icky to me unless you are right at the beach. Horizon often looks dirty, smoggy.

Most people who move here mention that everyone is "plastic".... not a lot of substance, not a lot of interesting people. We're starting to see a lot more of the rich, trashy type out here. Kids out here are ridiculously out of control; have no respect, no manners, no class. Heavy, heavy drug use in beach cities.

I moved here as a kid and it was a major cultural shock to me. This isn't the kind of place you bring kids to who aren't extremely savvy, street smart and 10 years beyond their actual age.

If you want to fit in, you'll want to hit up a Mercedes dealership and South Coast Plaza as soon as you get here. God help you if anyone sees you in Levi's.

[newportbeachsmostwanted]

Originally Posted by isoucie

The weather is great. However, the beach is super crowded on the weekend in the summer due to parking (imagine looking for a space for 30-45 minutes). Don't even try going to Newport Beach on 4th of July. You'll never find a place to park.

The people here have little to no substance. I have two masters degrees and I can't find two people to have intelligent conversation with. Most people seem to just want to go out to party and get drunk on expensive cocktails.

Work in Irvine, live in Lake Forest (cheapest, safe neighborhood you'll find near Irvine).

Laguna Beach has a great artist community. Very open minded, spiritual, and "gay-friendly".

Air quality often feels icky to me unless you are right at the beach. Horizon often looks dirty, smoggy.

Most people who move here mention that everyone is "plastic".... not a lot of substance, not a lot of interesting people. We're starting to see a lot more of the rich, trashy type out here. Kids out here are ridiculously out of control; have no respect, no manners, no class. Heavy, heavy drug use in beach cities.

I moved here as a kid and it was a major cultural shock to me. This isn't the kind of place you bring kids to who aren't extremely savvy, street smart and 10 years beyond their actual age.

If you want to fit in, you'll want to hit up a Mercedes dealership and South Coast Plaza as soon as you get here. God help you if anyone sees you in Levi's.

I agree with all of your points. Just want to point out one thing. Did you expect to find people in O.C. to be unconcerned with their image? I mean, it's kinda a given. Good looking environments generally attract good looking people.

[isoucie]

Originally Posted by newportbeachsmostwanted

I agree with all of your points. Just want to point out one thing. Did you expect to find people in O.C. to be unconcerned with their image? I mean, it's kinda a given. Good looking environments generally attract good looking people.

Agreed. I think it is great that people take such care with their appearances, but too many people here do it for show. Since we're all running around in boardshorts and bikini tops, it's a given that we're going to take care to be in good shape, etc. I do, but I'm not obsessed with my image.

What I find are a bunch of people who can't actually afford the La Perla bikinis, Chanel sunglasses and D&B purse they're prancing around with. It's like these people put WAY too much effort and invest WAY too much of their resources toward image. It's a distraction to keep us from realizing that there is no "there there". I see a guy in a Hummer (or other huge SUV) and wonder what's more important to him; his image (he's clearly trying to prove something) or doing his part to help with the climate crisis. He's either uneducated about our environment or he has the entitlement issues of a three year old.

Not cool to flaunt or build your image at the cost of our environemnt -especially when we are on the brink of a climate crisis that can flood all those pretty beach front homes.

Anyway. There's no value to a good looking person who appears to have it together if they demonstrate a near void of substance within their pretty, perfect, expensive shell.

Sorry if this comes off as attitude.... It's actually just the passion I feel toward these topics.