Safe, Good Weather, Less Sprawl

[Coldjensens]

Yes. Both are suburban sprawl. Neither has anything close to high density. We should be saying suburban sprawl, not urban sprawl. There is a difference. Most of Orange County including AV is one large mass of suburban sprawl, not urban sprawl. Urban sprawl is technically the outlying areas around a major city. There is really no urban sprawl in OC since there are no huge cities. Orange County is a giant suburb, it just has no big City to cling to like typical suburbs. Some mighyt call OC a subrub of LA but it has a seperate identity. It is a suburb of nothing. Just a big suburb.

[robbybee]

The BURBS of OC...

[dvduval]

Interesting conversation about sprawl. When I used this term I was basically trying to say I wanted:
1. Parks in walking distance
2. Medium population density - there are people around but there isn't a line every place you go
3. More defined by trees than pavement. I don't like street after street with nothing in between

The way you guys say OC is the "mother of suburbia" I don't think that bothers me as much. I get the impression it is something like the "Little Boxes" song from the show Weeds. If there are parks and trees and birds, etc, I think I would feel better as compared with being in the middle of LA with street after street.

Up here in the Bay Area, I love areas like Los Gatos, Saratoga, Campbell, Cupertino and Mountain View. Are these places I mentioned in OC the "most" similar to these places I like in the Bay area?

[Coldjensens]

There are pocket parks and trails all through the newer subdivisions. THere are not a lot of trees. But that depends on your perspective. Since I spend part of my time in Michigan, OC seems brown and barren by comparison (but it has other advantages like no mosquitoes and no ice). However if you are from say, Arizona, it may seem like a lot of trees. You should have parks in walking distance. Most will have what many call Irvine Lollipops in place of trees (lollipops are small immature trees with the top cut into a ball so that they resemble lollipops). Some parks have mature trees. Very few residences do. There are no forests. Whether you consider the area defined by green space or pavement depends on your perspective. From the air, it is pretty much either pavmeent or brown. On the ground it looks much nicer, but it is not a pretty place from a nature perspective. There is not a lot that is left natural.

Some places back up to canyons or national forest which is left wild and has some scrub and various wild plants. Those locations have exposure to nature. You may see some rabbits, hawks and even a mountain lion on very rare occasions.

The density is not like a city, but it is dense. Some areas reflect a lower density than they actually have becuase there is open space around densely packed in housing. Lots are tiny. Almost no one has an acre of land. Few have even 1/3 of an acre. Yes there are lines pretty much everywhere you go. The lines will probably be shorter than what you are used to in San Francisco, but lines are pretty prevalent, especially on or near the freeways.

Little boxes is often used to describe OC. In fact, I suspect that it may have been written about OC.

The streets mostly have buildings in between. Rarely nothing. SOme places have some man mad "lakes" (really ponds with dyed water in them, but still nicer to look at than just houses).

OC is a pretty place in a nutured and ordered way, not in a natural way. Still, it is pretty. There are lots of flowers. You should come and look.

[BRinSM]

southern OC is very similar to the first few seasons of Weeds. from street level, the santa clarita valley north of LA (where weeds took place) is hardly distinguishable from southern OC cities like mission viejo or laguna niguel.

[pacific2]

Research Dana Point. It’s a low population density, but older coastal city, with a wonderful harbor area. A big plus, is that it’s not very popular with the “Boozer and Barfer” beach crowd that frequents places like Huntington Beach, and it’s also much less touristy than Laguna Beach; even though Laguna Beach is really nice.

Traveling via Crown Valley PWKY and PCH1, Dana Point is about 9.5 miles (15-20 min) south of Aliso Viejo.

4. can get 1100 sq ft for less than $2000 in a relatively new building (ex. 1995 or newer)

It would be hard to find this in Dana Point. I hope you realize that most of the newer apartment buildings are located in master-planned communities like Aliso Viejo, Ladera Ranch, Irvine and Rancho Santa Margarita (a bit warmer than the others).

I agree with Podo944, you should visit the area for a while to get a feel for the various communities.

Maybe come down on a Saturday night and stay into the first part of the work week so you get a feel of the area in both weekend and everyday mode

[Vlajos]

CA is not for you if you don't like urban sprawl.

[pacific2]

Originally Posted by dvduval

Interesting conversation about sprawl. When I used this term I was basically trying to say I wanted:
1. Parks in walking distance
2. Medium population density - there are people around but there isn't a line every place you go
3. More defined by trees than pavement. I don't like street after street with nothing in between

The way you guys say OC is the "mother of suburbia" I don't think that bothers me as much. I get the impression it is something like the "Little Boxes" song from the show Weeds. If there are parks and trees and birds, etc, I think I would feel better as compared with being in the middle of LA with street after street.

Up here in the Bay Area, I love areas like Los Gatos, Saratoga, Campbell, Cupertino and Mountain View. Are these places I mentioned in OC the "most" similar to these places I like in the Bay area?

FWIW, I’ve never been to Cupertino, so I decided to do a little bit of online research, and from what I gather, South County’s newer communities of Rancho Santa Margarita, Aliso Viejo and Ladera Ranch appear to be very similar to it; especially in terms of housing stock, parks, amenities, and density.

Cupertino:
Total 58,302 - Density 5,179.2/sq mi (1,999.7/km2)

Rancho Santa Margarita:
Total 47,853 - Density 3,683.1/sq mi (1,422/km2)

Aliso Viejo:
Total 47,823 - Density6,400.4/sq mi (2,471.2/km2)

Ladera Ranch:
Total 22,980 - Density 4,685.3/sq mi (1,809/km2)

Of the three, Aliso Viejo is the most dense (I know you didn't say you are looking for an area with greater density) and, adjacent to Laguna Beach, a tad closer to the coast, but it's still really easy to reach the beach from the other communities.

Forbes' perspective on Aliso Viejo:
In Depth: America's Top 25 Towns To Live Well
http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/04/towns-cities-real-estate-lifestyle-real-estate-top-towns_slide_11.html

I would suggest that you use Google Images to get visuals of these areas.
Of course, Apple is not located down here, but there are several tech firms in Aliso:

Aliso Viejo Giving O.C. Tech Centers a Run for the Money - Los Angeles Times
It doesn't promote itself with glossy marketing brochures or catchy phrases such as "Tech Coast." But in the last couple of years, this unincorporated community of 41,000 in south Orange County has drawn an impressive bevy of companies that include engineering giant Fluor, chip maker QLogic and, most recently, start-up incubator firm EDevelopments.com…

Moderator cut: copyright issues

[Podo944]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

San Juan Capistrano. Sleepy little beach town. Pretty far from anything.

/

San Juan is interesting... my hubby and I go down there often and to us, it feels further than it actually is. Once you pass Avery Parkway, it's just different! The hills aren't laced with houses, and there's a country feel. The town itself has a train depot and the historic mission and lots of nice shops and restaurants and the Swallows Inn, a bar with live music. Lots of weddings take place in the downtown area too because it's soooo pretty!
The first off ramp from the 5 freeway to get to SJC is only a few miles from where Mission Viejo ends. So it's still only a 10 minute drive to Mission Viejo mall, and the entertainment center, as well as being beach close.
Unfortunately even in this small town, there are some bad areas. As small as it is, it has a barrio with a local gang curfew (although it's more punk stuff compared to big city gang shootings etc.) and then there are ultra rich folks too.
We're actually considering it a place to live when (hopefully in the not too distant future) we're ready to buy a place, because it has a lot of charm and character.