Moving to Newport Beach (Huntington Beach, Irvine: to rent, house, find a job)
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That is on the Costa Mesa side of 'Newport', you will be away from most of the pretentious Fashion Island people.
It will probably be a bit seedy, if it is inexpensive, but more 'real'. It may not actually be that bad. Definitely check it out though, because my friend lived in Coronado on that side of Newport and it was horrible! I love his complete generalization of people in Newport Beach. Just because people here drive nice cars doesn't mean they aren't nice people. Mach, I used to live in your neck of the woods in the Bay Area and I'll take Newport over that area anyday of the week. I found the Bay Area to be much more 'stuffy,' than OC. Newport Beach IMO is one of the premier gems of this entire state.
How much is rent there?
Tanner, make your own decisions. This Mach guy consistently posts on this board and dogs Newport Beach whenever he can. Reality is that I live on this so called "pretentious" side and I find everyone I've run into to be nothing but nice.
Do your own research and don't listen to people with some sort of agenda.
Location: Grosse Ile Michigan and Sometimes Orange County CA
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Assuming that you are youngish, look in Balboa Villiage, near the end of the Balboa Peninsula. A lot of upper level college students live there in the winter. In the winter, the permanent residents (not including the college students) from kind of a small town atmosphere. If you eat and drink regularly in the area, you will get to know most or all of the active locals who are permanent residents. There are some real characters. In the summer, it is a bit of a madhouse, but it is still fun. Just crowded and noisey.
It is a fun place and lively. It is expensive, but then petty much everywhere in NB is expensive. Balboa Island is another lively place, but it tends to be an older crowd. As you get up by the Newpoert Pier, there is a lot of life but it is a lot of hardocre partiers in that area (as you move up the peninsula towards HUntington, you get into an area where there are a lot of serious drug users. You can live in that area without ever encountering them, but personally, would not choose that area to live in.
Balboa has a little bit of a nightlife as do some of the places around the Newport Pier. Not far away, there are decent nightspots in Fashion Island, Irvine, Costa Mesa, even in Santa Ana (Original Mikes). Orange has a couple of fun small pubs. Lots of decent places all over the area offer drinking and dancing either to live bands or to recorded music.
IN Newport Beach itself, dancing is not permitted at drinking esablishements. Thus, you have to get out of Newport Beach for traditional nightclub nightlife.
Much of the rest of Newport Beach is very wealthy older crowd mostly living in McMansions or real mansions. Portions or Newport beach are the most pretentious place you will ever find. However portions also include some of the niceset places that you will ever find. These parts of Newport are fine residential places for the uber wealthy to enjoy and exhibit their money, but not really what a younger person looking for nightlife would want. You are going to want to stay in the area around Newport Pier, Balboa, maybe Lido island and LIdo Peninsula and resturaunt row along PCH. Otherwise, you will be going into Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach for local nightlife; or further into Orange County for more varied options.
Orange County is a huge place and you will meet all osrts of different people. The general attitude is very openly friendly, but shallow. However there are nearly as many exceptions to that general concept as their are adherents. When we live on the Peninsula in differnet locations the biggest problem that we encountered is that a lot of the people we met were drug addicts (i.e. heroin, Meth, Coke, Acid, Ecstacy, etc.). Not an overwhelming number, but probably about 20% of the people that we met. Everyone we met were heavy drinkers, but then we hung out with a lot of boat people and boating and drinking seem to go hand in hand. At the beach, you get a huge mix of people. Everything from Lawyers and doctors to college kids, beach bums, millionaires, etc. As you get inland more (e.g. Irvine), you will find huge numbers of young professionals, recently graduated from college, it is very different from the Beach atmosphere.
You pay a premium to live at or near the beach, so if it is a deal, it is either not near the beach, or it is a junky place. Remember some parts of Newport beach are all the way up near the airport. That is a considerable distance forom the beach and not a really great area. You will find better prices in huntington. You can be near the water without the Beach prices in Costa Mesa. Santa Ana and Orange are more affordable, but then you are almost half an hour from the beach.
The Beach House I think is on Superior avenue. If it is the same place, I lived there for a year and a half. I was in three different apartments there. Despite the name, it is not at the beach. It is really more in Costa Mesa than in Newport. It is across PCH from the base of the Peninsula. Very close to Hoag Hospital. It is a short bike ride to the nearest beach (the part of the peninsula where a lot of drug addicts tend to congregate). It is a very short drive or long bike ride to the Newport Pier area and a bit more to Balboa. You will spend more time looking for parking at either place than you will driving there, better to take a bicycle.
The location is better for access than being on the peninsula. You can get to the 55 freeway pretty quickly. It is a short trip up PCH to Huntington. However it is a bit isolated. There is nothing nearby that you can or would want to walk to. There is a party store, and the cafeteria at the Hospital is Ok in a pinch. I think that there was one other resturaunt within reasonable walking distance.
The apartments are small (tiny). They have a murphy bed built into the wall. Basically, you have a living room/bedroom, a connected kitchenette seperated only by an island, and a bathroom. The walls are thin and flimsey. You can hear everything that your neighbors are doing (this can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your neighbor - for a while, my neighbor was a beautiful young lady who was involved in making some sort of pornography, or she was just very very noisily active with more than one person, and people who brought video equipment, in her apartment at a time). After a few months she was replaced by a harpy who complained constantly, and then in turn by two guys who were pretty quiet. The upper units have small balconys, the lower units have a little garden area. Various items or substances can fall or dribble into the garden area from the balconies above. Top floor would be my preference. It is quieter on the top floor too.
This is cheap near the beach housing and was populated mostly with younger and therefore pretty rowdy people. It was not terribly noisey, but it was definitely not quiet. Picture a grad school dorm. They have a decent workout facility and a pool. the apartments are poorly made, but not terrible or slummy. The lower prices are because they are small, and not ideally located.
Superior is pretty busy and you have fairly constant street noise if you are facing the street. You get some noise from PCH as well. I really enjoyed living there, but I am very flexible. Not much bothers me.
Location: Grosse Ile Michigan and Sometimes Orange County CA
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Rent a car. Also rent a GPS.
In the Balboa Villiage use Mel Fuchs realty. You wil not find anything for $1000 in Balboa. You might be able to share and find a 2 Br. for $3000 (let one person sleep in the living room)
Stay in the Best Western or the Ali Baba in Costa Mesa along Newport Bloulevard. They are close to Newport Beach in not so pricey.
Tanner, make your own decisions. This Mach guy consistently posts on this board and dogs Newport Beach whenever he can. Reality is that I live on this so called "pretentious" side and I find everyone I've run into to be nothing but nice.
Do your own research and don't listen to people with some sort of agenda.
I haven't said anything that doesn't jive with the OcInvestor and Coldjensus statements. Parts of Newport are extremely pretentious.
Tanner asked "what to expect" and I lived there, so I am giving my opinion.
BTW Yes the Bay has stuffy people as well, I agree, but nothing like Newport Beach.
That is definetly a lot of information but i appreciate all the assistance so far. I plan on doing more research before I come out saturday. I am 30 years old. i just want something simple not to fancy or crazy expensive. I am over the whole club scene anyway. I prefer things a bit more quiet, such as bars or lounges. Thanks again so far for all the advice. Appreciate it.
One more thing Tannerj, I moved to Newport from Manhattan so I think I can help with the changes you should expect. OC is beautiful, but you are in for a huge shock, many residents from NJ and NY have a hard time adjusting.
Location: Grosse Ile Michigan and Sometimes Orange County CA
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Look at Old Town Orange or if you like ruralesque, look out in Silverado Canyon (not many rentals out there, but it is in the Cleveland National Forest).
I want to stay in the Newport Beach-Costa mesa area. I am not ruralesque I am just over the whole Club scene. Living in NJ I grew up on the Jersey shore so I want to stay close to the beach. Meeting people has never been an issue for me. I understand this is going to be a big culture shock but I wouldn't be making the move if i didn't think I can handle it. Thanks again all for advice. Appreciate it.
That is definetly a lot of information but i appreciate all the assistance so far. I plan on doing more research before I come out saturday. I am 30 years old. i just want something simple not to fancy or crazy expensive. I am over the whole club scene anyway. I prefer things a bit more quiet, such as bars or lounges. Thanks again so far for all the advice. Appreciate it.
Tanner
Just wanted to throw out 2 other things for you.
1. Roomates. Given you are 30, you probably feel you're past the whole roomate phase, but in OC, particularly Newport/Irvine it is pretty common for young professionals. I moved to So Cal from Philly PA when I was about your age and when someone brought it up to me my first thought was "what kind of loser still has roomates at 30+?" Never did it myself, but I've have learned it is very common out here among single, young, established professionals (even those earning $60,70,80K annually) The COL is high enough to make it make sense, and there are alot of housing units designed for the arrangement that have 2 MBR's w/ attached baths for privacy. There is a thriving set of listings on Craigslist if you are interested.
2. If you really want to do a unique SoCal beach thing, look around Newport - Particulary on Balboa & Lido Islands or Corona Del Mar - for folks renting out a room. Many of these larger houses have "Maids Quarters" or "Mother in Law" apartments that they rent out. You may have to share a kitchen with some, but its a pretty good way to get a great location at a reasonable price. Listings for these are usually informal - Craiglist, etc. - or with a a knowledgable local realtor. Not something you may want to do for a long time, but given the time of year you are coming, could be something to try for 6-9 months before you decide on your next step.
Lastly eat as much good pizza, italian and jewish food as you can before you leave Jersey - You won't be getting anything decent from those food groups out once you live out here.
Thanks again everyone for all the feedback I have recieved I appreciate it. Does anyone know anything about Las Brisas Apt's in Newport Beach. I plan to make it one of my apt stops. Any info you can give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,
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