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Old 07-06-2014, 01:59 PM
 
32 posts, read 44,370 times
Reputation: 27

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I grew up in Laguna Niguel. Went to Moulton Elem, Niguel Hills MS, and Dana Hills HS. All were great, award winning schools (if you apply yourself...).

There are not many places in SOC where you will get that cute walkable downtown city center. This is the one thing thats really missing from the area. There are some strip malls with restaurants, movie theaters, and grocery stores, but thats about as exciting as it gets. However, all the neighborhoods I lived in were great, very family oriented and safe, and mostly friendly. Marina Hills is great for kids, Chaparosa Area, Bear Brand if you can afford it, and off of Pacific Island gets great views and a cool breeze. Crest de Ville is also a close family community. The beach is currently down a 3 mile trail from my mothers home and we are all runners so its a great deal. The area in general has a lot of great running and biking trails that are hidden from main roads.

For the downtown vibe we go to Laguna Beach or San Clemente. LB is more upscale and wealthy but with a very beachy vibe. Beaches are incredible, and with kids growing up in the area they will find the hidden gems for you We started going to Laguna for the beaches once we got our licenses and never looked back. Can get very crowded with tourists however. I worked at a cafe near downtown for a few years and had to leave 45 mins before my shift started to get there on time. Take the side streets, and dont go on Memorial day and you should be fine.
SC is also nice, its a little more laid back, less snobby. As long as you dont wear jeans to the beach you will feel welcome Del Mar is a very quaint walking street with good restaurants (mostly..) and Casa Romantica is worth the visit. Great beaches also. Friends went to schools here and they were good, but Dana was better. Capo Beach would be a great area to grow up in.
Dana Point is also cute if you know where to go. Currently under construction and doing a lot of landscaping but its getting there! The harbor is also great, lots of tall ships and sailboats, summer camps for kids, tidepools, restaurants, and a little grandma shopping area, but it is one of my favorite places. Just dont go on Memorial day. Go on 4th of July. Especially if you have friends who own boats.
San Juan old town/mission area has a lot of culture and CA spanish vibe, worth checking out! Especially for the swallows festival/eco expo, etc. Great restaurants.

As for the commute, theres going to be traffic if you take the 5 or 405 from any direction. Traffic is centered in Santa Ana and Irvine, esp where the 5 and 405 merge going south. If you know the streets, take them, it will be less stressful but probably will take just as long to get home. Toll road is a life saver, but expensive. Many people have their jobs pay for it, esp if they moved for work. When it comes down to it, a commute to Costa Mesa from SOC is really not bad at all. My dad used to drive to LA every morning, but thats not exactly doable in the present times.

In terms of safety of neighborhoods there is definitely an incresing problem with "immigrants" so as long as you stay away from those areas and the neighboring public parks on the weekends you will be okay. This is also why some schools are having issues. Do not recommend private schools, at least not the ones in SOC, everyone who went there was either a rich snob or a druggie kid expelled from the public schools. In the SOC beach towns you wont have a problem, but anywhere inland and it becomes more prevalent.

Mission/AV/RSM are not bad, just HOT and far from the beach (30+ minutes to drive and there are not really convenient freeways). The areas are not quite as nice as the beach cities but are more affordable, so there is a slight trade off in the qualities of everything else (education, restaurants, things to do), although some parts of MV are very nice and the lake is great.

Hope that helps, I would not have chosen anywhere else to grow up, I am a blessed individual. Just make sure you dont get your kids BMWs for their 16th birthday like all the snobs at my high school and your kids will turn out ok
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Old 07-07-2014, 04:56 PM
 
Location: Laguna Niguel, Orange County CA
9,810 posts, read 11,049,643 times
Reputation: 7995
Quote:
Originally Posted by pacific2 View Post
Finally, would a gourmand lose his mind over the restaurant selections in tiny AV? No, but I doubt he would run over to Mission Viejo.
Thank you for NOT using the meaningless word "Foodie" and NOT further contributing to our linguistic demise.

IMO AV is a food desert, but so is most of South OC, including my town. I like Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese (eg. Shabu Shabu) and Indonesian. Heck, Laguna Beach has many places I have tried, but it tends to be heavily American, "Mediterranean", or vastly overpriced mediocre Mexican food.

Ok, so we have one decent pho place in Laguna Niguel. THAT'S IT! I have to head to Huntington Beach, Westminster, etc. to get what I want. Granted there is a shabu shabu place in Mission Viejo, it is not as good as what I can get in North OC.
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Old 07-07-2014, 10:00 PM
 
5,381 posts, read 8,631,772 times
Reputation: 4550
Let me fix that for you:

Quote:
Originally Posted by LuvSouthOC View Post
..IMO AV is a food desert, but so is most of South OC, including my town..
.IMO Laguna Niguel is a food desert, but so is most of South OC, including my town.
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Old 07-08-2014, 04:49 PM
 
1 posts, read 1,085 times
Reputation: 11
daneonethebeach,

My family may be moving to SOC and I have been reading these boards for some time now trying to get info. You said in your post above to avoid the private schools as they are full of rich kids or druggies kicked out of the public school systems. in your opinion, would this also apply to the Christian schools (non-Catholic)? We looking at Christian schools for our child (who has attended both a good public school and a Christian school). He has done so much better at the Christian school and we are keen to continue that. He especially has gained confidence and has improved behavior-wise (class clown), but also has done better academically at the Christian school.

We are looking in the towns of Mission Viejo, Lake Forest, Ranch Santa Margarita, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel and San Juan Capistrano.

It has been hard to get much info on the Christian schools. We are middle class suburban type folks. Our current school has 350 students in K-8 and most of the families are middle - upper middle class. Some are rich, but there are some who are not so much and compromise for their children's education.

Any info on the SOC Christian schools would be much appreciated.
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Old 07-08-2014, 06:05 PM
 
Location: O.C.
2,821 posts, read 3,513,466 times
Reputation: 2102
Quote:
Originally Posted by pacific2 View Post
Let me fix that for you:



.IMO Laguna Niguel is a food desert, but so is most of South OC, including my town.
I don't get this at all. Besides shopping, south OC is also known for its great restaurants. As I posted in another thread "There are some great places like Mastros, Javier's, Mozambique, Gulfstream, Cannery, Mama D's, Eat Chow, 21 Oceanfront, Wildfish, Nick's, Deck, The Cliff, Las Brisas....thats just off the top of my head." If you can't find a variety of great food in south OC, you are doing something very wrong...
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Old 07-08-2014, 06:13 PM
 
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
5,888 posts, read 12,938,775 times
Reputation: 3973
Quote:
Originally Posted by mbell75 View Post
I don't get this at all. Besides shopping, south OC is also known for its great restaurants. As I posted in another thread "There are some great places like Mastros, Javier's, Mozambique, Gulfstream, Cannery, Mama D's, Eat Chow, 21 Oceanfront, Wildfish, Nick's, Deck, The Cliff, Las Brisas....thats just off the top of my head." If you can't find a variety of great food in south OC, you are doing something very wrong...
The coastal Area of South County - Newport Beach (If you consider that South County), Laguna Beach and Dana Point all have the good/excellent restaurants. Other than that, South County is mostly franchise beaneries
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Old 07-10-2014, 12:43 AM
 
Location: Liberal Coast
4,281 posts, read 6,059,318 times
Reputation: 3924
Quote:
Originally Posted by DinsdalePirahna View Post
The coastal Area of South County - Newport Beach (If you consider that South County), Laguna Beach and Dana Point all have the good/excellent restaurants. Other than that, South County is mostly franchise beaneries
Mbell doesn't take well to anyone saying anything negative about South County as it appears to be his utopia.
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Old 07-10-2014, 02:12 AM
 
Location: OC/LA
3,830 posts, read 4,635,135 times
Reputation: 2214
Quote:
Originally Posted by psr13 View Post
Mbell doesn't take well to anyone saying anything negative about South County as it appears to be his utopia.
Which is fine. To each their own. What I don't understand is why he feels to need to make up complete baseless crap about any other place in LA and/or OC.
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Old 07-10-2014, 10:31 AM
 
Location: O.C.
2,821 posts, read 3,513,466 times
Reputation: 2102
Quote:
Originally Posted by HyperionGap View Post
Which is fine. To each their own. What I don't understand is why he feels to need to make up complete baseless crap about any other place in LA and/or OC.
What have I made up? Pretty sure I have facts to back up everything I say
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