Anything good to say about OC?? (Orange, Costa Mesa: closing, living, legal)

[5FLgirls]

I've been reading this forum for three months and I get sad sometimes reading all the negativity about OC. All that sticks in my head is the housing market isn't great, the traffic is heavy, the weather's gloomy! My husband has already moved there and the rest of us are getting ready to follow from Florida next month. I am trying to be excited about moving here but some of the threads are so negative. Can people please give some positive comments about OC so that I can start getting excited about moving my young family cross country??

[snb3]

Since your on your way, just see for yourself. You'll figure there's a lot of haterade going around.

[kturbe]

I wouldn't want to live anywhere else and I have been all over the world. The weather is great (most of the time, but we do have our bad days). The traffic isn't that bad, (again we do have our bad days), but depends on where you are going to be living, etc.

You'll love like most of the people who move here!

[fpbear]

Many of the things we complain about living here in OC are not that bad, except for one thing -- the TRAFFIC.

OC traffic was ok up until around the year 1995. Since then it seems to get worse exponentially as more and more people move here. The streets cannot handle the growth. And just wait till the millions of illegals get off their bikes and get their drivers licenses.

The weather can be a bit boring since there are no seasons, but many people find it quite pleasant. There are plenty of things to do. But as the years go by the traffic will get worse and worse and the lawmakers are not taking any real steps to fix it.

It is normal life here to plan activities around traffic patterns (Head out on a road trip Saturday 2pm... and get stuck trying to leave...).

Don't worry about it too much though! On the plus side the dense population means that there are a lot of fun activities to choose from.

[nevercoldcall]

I don't have anything BAD to say about the OC at all! Only good things!!!

I guess the traffic is bad, relatively speaking, but coming from Phoenix it's a piece of cake. It's really not bad unless you're commuting to and from LA so don't let it scare you. OC traffic even at rush hour is lighter than Phoenix traffic was.

[fashionablecowboy]

If you have money. - Nothing is bad.

You can avoid every single bad thing in this universe except for poor air quality. Every other con is debateable.

[snb3]

Originally Posted by fpbear

Many of the things we complain about living here in OC are not that bad, except for one thing -- the TRAFFIC.

OC traffic was ok up until around the year 1995. Since then it seems to get worse exponentially as more and more people move here. The streets cannot handle the growth. And just wait till the millions of illegals get off their bikes and get their drivers licenses.

So true!

I grew up in OC, started to drive in the mid 80s. Rush hour then was just that, a couple hrs in the morning & afternoon. Now the congestion is pretty constant. Even the surface street are now infested with signal lights every block. I now live in LA and and truly wonder if OC is worse than LA.

Regarding illegal drivers, OC has it good compared to LA. Our family gets hit, on average, about 2x a yr from "unlicensed" drivers. They've all been minor so far but every legal driver is on borrowed time in metro LA. An ever increasing illegal population= ever increasing third world driving habits.

[snb3]

Originally Posted by fpbear

Many of the things we complain about living here in OC are not that bad, except for one thing -- the TRAFFIC.

OC traffic was ok up until around the year 1995. Since then it seems to get worse exponentially as more and more people move here. The streets cannot handle the growth. And just wait till the millions of illegals get off their bikes and get their drivers licenses.

So true!

I grew up in OC, started to drive in the mid 80s. Rush hour then was just that, a couple hrs in the morning & afternoon. Now the congestion is pretty constant. Even the surface street are now infested with signal lights every block. I now live in LA and and truly wonder if OC is worse than LA.

Regarding illegal drivers, OC has it good compared to LA. Our family gets hit, on average, about 2x a yr from "unlicensed" drivers. They've all been minor so far but every legal driver is on borrowed time in metro LA. An ever increasing illegal population= ever increasing third world driving habits.

Best advice for OC?= don't be politically correct (read spineless) and do the RIGHT thing.

[dtran103]

If you are from South Florida, traffic isn't going to shock you. But it isn't that bad. We are just spoiled. It still takes about 25-40 minutes to get to extreme part of the county which is amazingly convienent. 405 is usually hell anywhere north of Costa Mesa. The 5 is bad south of El Toro and north of Orange. But they are only hell during busy hours. Those are probably the two main freeways you will take. Avoid the 22.

OC is awesome. The weather is second to none. There are a few who see is as boring, but they are a minority. Southern California weather is legendary, and most people love it.


On many days, I'm just laughing at how good we have it. It's also one of the safest counties in the country, and extremely clean in most of it. I never feel any sense of danger if I randomly get lost in the county.

[nevercoldcall]

I agree that anyone in OC who complains about traffic is definitely spoiled. Coming from Phoenix, the traffic here is a joke.

I remember the last time I flew out of Phoenix to visit my family in NJ. I left home, which was 20 miles from the airport, at 6 am to catch an 8:30 flight, arrived at the airport after 8 am, and got to the gate just as they were closing the door. THAT is traffic!!!! Driving down the 51 in Phoenix at 7 am doing one mile every 20 minutes is traffic. OC has it easy.