where does a 30yr old live in the OC? (Long Beach: rentals, condos)

[canadatocali]

Hello all, hoping you can help - people in this forum seem to be in the know.

I'm a single, 30yr old male professional who is moving to Orange County for the next 3 to 6 months to work on assignment in Irvine. Trying to figure out a good place to live, I'd like to be relatively close to work but can do a bit of a commute (30-45 mins?) if it means having a better social life. I don't know anyone in the LA area, and I'm big into a place having a decent night life, friendly people to meet and a good scene to hang out.

Any suggestions are appreciated, by the looks of it so far either Newport or Huntington seem to be popular?

thanks!

[newportbeachsmostwanted]

Newport and Huntington are both great choices--in fact, both cities of 100,000 and 200,000 people respectively so nightlife is definitely available. If either of these cities is too expensive you may also want to look in Costa Mesa. I would not recommend looking any further north than Huntington Beach. Long Beach may more nightlife, but the commute would become unbearable and safety is sometimes an issue(depending on the block).

Irvine is a nice place to live, but for a single male seeking nightlife, I think, Newport/Huntington would provide more fun. As far as friendliness, people are pretty friendly in both cities--more so than Long Beach(IMHO). Traffic is a breeze most of the time in HB and Newport because the roads are wide and accomodating. --It's the freeways that are the bad part.

I don't recommend looking anywhere south of Irvine. This means Mission Viejo, LF, RSM.. etc.. It's a nice area, but it's mostly families. --It's for sure NOT singles territory. Best of luck!

[shadow42]

Suggest you look at Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach. Good Luck.

[nevercoldcall]

Depends on what your scene is, and if you're 30 it could go either way:

Huntington is very much a college type scene. Early 20s, most everyone in t-shirts and shorts, etc. I'm 34 and my girlfriend is 31 and we're over that scene so I'm guessing you might be too. Definitely not a place for young professionals.

Newport, where we now live, is much more of a "professionals" type scene. You still get a bit of the young college-type thing down on the peninsula, but for the most part you'll find young professionals at places like 333, the Cannery, etc. And many older people too.

As for Irvine, that seems to be the place to be for happy hour type nightlife, which is what we like. My office is on Jamboree just north of MacArthur and there are a ton of great happy hour spots, like Houstons, McCormick & Schmicks, etc., in other words all of the upscale chain restaurants plus many independent ones that offer great happy hour scenes full of young professionals (and for me when I was single that was the best place to meet women who had brains and were not bimbos).

So I'd say Newport or Irvine, they border on one another and everything is accessible (my office is 6 miles from my home in Newport Coast) so you can't go wrong with either.

I'd strongly agree to stay away from anything south of Irvine. It's super-boring suburbia down there.

[Angel Bear]

What if you're 35 and don't ever plan on having kids and are over the party scene from college? (but you don't like the 'yuppie' scene despite your income being in that bracket LOL).

[nevercoldcall]

Originally Posted by Angel Bear

What if you're 35 and don't ever plan on having kids and are over the party scene from college? (but you don't like the 'yuppie' scene despite your income being in that bracket LOL).

Laguna Beach!

[Angel Bear]

Nevercoldcall,

Ahhh, Laguna Beach...

Hee hee! We've been there many times and love it...Laguna Beach is very cool...artsy, laidback, non-pretentious, people would be open to my spiritual work and such, and lots of cool surf shops, but the waves/breaks are a bit fast there for me LOL. Need to get used to the idea of it and well, the rocks...But, of course, San Onofre is super close and it has a much gentler surf. But, I still don't consider myself a 'real' surfer...I've leave it to hubby

I've priced condos in Laguna and well, it is a bit pricey there for us. We could afford Laguna Niguel possibly though. But, we've talked about renting first before we buy as an option...It's worth it to be by the ocean for us, even though we're not far from paying off our mortgage here LOL...It will literally be like starting over, but I'm not worried

We also liked Huntington Beach too. I've been there on a Friday night and it was pretty fun, but we're not into bars, unless there's live rockabilly music--LOL. I thought Hermosa Beach was cool at night, but that's too far

I live in the 'D' right now as in Detroit so it will be nice to get out of Midwestern Suburban Hell

[Mel2882]

I'm 25, and I lived in Costa Mesa for 5 years. There is a lot of stuff to do. I would tend to think it's a little cheaper than both Newport and Huntington, and it's right in the middle of the two. It's a nice place.

[canadatocali]

Thanks all for the great feedback. Heading to Orange County next week to check things out and find a place hopefully, and I'll definitely branch out to Laguna, Costa Mesa as well as Newport and Huntington.

I definitely like the 'pseudo-hippy-with-a-bank-account' vibe, a little old for the college scene but not so into pretentious yuppy martini bars (we have a LOT in Toronto) so it sounds like the beach spots are where it's at for me.

Thanks again to all!

[RAMFEB31]

Originally Posted by canadatocali

Hello all, hoping you can help - people in this forum seem to be in the know.

I'm a single, 30yr old male professional who is moving to Orange County for the next 3 to 6 months to work on assignment in Irvine. Trying to figure out a good place to live, I'd like to be relatively close to work but can do a bit of a commute (30-45 mins?) if it means having a better social life. I don't know anyone in the LA area, and I'm big into a place having a decent night life, friendly people to meet and a good scene to hang out.

Any suggestions are appreciated, by the looks of it so far either Newport or Huntington seem to be popular?

thanks!

Hey, U are only going to be in Irvine for just a short time. I think U should stay/live in Irvine and close to work and commute to the outlying area for the fun. Even Irvine have its charm and lots of things to do. But, if U like water sports, then there are plenty of rentals along the coast in NPB and HB. And there are lots of singles your age and younger.