Good pockets (zip codes) in Huntington Beach (Los Angeles, Santa Ana: apartments, house)

[fipster]

Come on dude, how many people can afford Newport Coast?

[bob-jenkins]

Originally Posted by fipster

Huntington Beach has great weather. But it is getting rather old. But if you like spending time at the beach, then it's the place to be. Costa Mesa, on the other hand, has nice homes but underperforming schools. Irvine has nice homes and good schools. But it's nowhere near a beach.

1. Stay away from Santa Ana - most of it is bad.
2. Stay away from Anaheim - most of it is bad.
3. Irvine is very nice - most of it is good.
4. Huntington is nice - it's just a little far from the freeway.
5. Stay away from Garden Grove - most of it is bad.

If you want nicer homes, you can always move to South County - it has a very nice, serene, cemetary feel to it.
Come on folks, all great cities are great because of its population size.

Personally, for a middle class family in Orange County, I would choose to live in either Irvine or Huntington Beach.
Actually I lived in Fountain Valley, next to HB and I loved it there.
I live in Tustin, next to IRvine now and I think's it's barely okay.

My place in Tustin is a lot nicer than my old place in FOuntain Valley, but FV was absolutely a better location.

Anaheim is bad? Garden Grove is bad? They are no worse than Huntington. Again, you are hyperinflating a not-so-great area. What about Westminster, practially a twin of Huntington (except for Westminster is a Asian-white city and HB is a hispanic-white city)? Is that gods gift to Orange County too?

[Yezie2006]

Hello, I am not a native of CA. I am from the east coast and I feel that orange county has some pretty bad areas no matter where you are. Really, I do. I feel that there are a long of gang influences here. But, I do live in HB and there are some areas that aren't so great. Not all of 92647 is bad. It is a lot older then other areas around it so except some run down areas. I do plan to move back east when things get better but those of you looking for a teaching position in CA look elsewhere.

[ocexpo]

92649 is a good ZIP code. The south part of 92646 is a good ZIP code.

[bluebaily]

I`m a So cal native and have lived all over So Cal ,If I had to do it over again I would like to be raised in Temecula because it`s such a nice family oriented community and all kinda new and stuff but as I got to be a teenager I would say Huntington Beach,thou I do have to say it has changed over the last fifteen years alot,use to be a beach bums haven and I loved the sufers who were just living for the wave with the Hey,man attitude (really cool ) and now that it`s built up like Newport Beach and way more expensive I see a lot of posers and strung out on stuff people have taken the place of the cool surfer dude.

Personally I still do miss the quiet of the mountains (Arcadia) listening to birds and hearing absoutley nothing was so great.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

These people are smoking crack. I think its funny when people call HB "inner city", "third world", or a "craphole". I don't live in HB but I spend a lot of time working all over it. It doesn't even have a border with Santa Ana or Stanton so that's nonsense.

Snowdog, since you're not that far away, just come down here and drive around the area. Actually drive by the houses you'll find listed for $600k. They won't be Irvine beige boxes 3' apart, and they'll be a little older, but "ghetto" won't be the word that jumps to mind except in a few areas.

Or "old". If you want to see "old", try Boston, or DC, or Philly, etc. '60s "gingerbread" ranches don't quite qualify for the historic register lol!

[denverian]

Originally Posted by lagunaniguelsheryl

According to the Thomas Guide, the Stanton border is 3 miles from the 92647 ZIP and Santa Ana is 4 miles. That is extremely close, especially considering that those are the areas he is specifically looking at.

Irvine surpasses Huntington Beach on all levels. It has beautiful homes, great shopping, wonderful parks and landscaping, and AMAZING schools. Huntington Beach has...none of that.


Here is a typical apartment complex in Huntington that I took on my way to work this morning.




Here is one in Irvine that I found on the internet.




And personally, its hard to even tell when you leave Westminster and enter Huntington Beach because they are so physically similar. Of Orange Counties cities and large communities, Huntington Beach is in the bottom 20 of 40 communities evaluated on income. Irvine is within the top 15.

Irvine...snort! The city that forgot to build a downtown! If you like chain restaurants, rat maze neighborhoods that look alike, no sense of community, a transient population, then Irvine would be for you. HB has the coast, a quaint and quirky downtown, and at least some history.

[JohnG72]

LOL

OC people are funny.

And kinda sad.

My parents live by Golden West/PCH. My Dad's cousin lives in Seacliff. His kid lives near downtown.

I would love to live in HB if I could afford it and if it was closer to my work in LA. But 1 hour + commute does not sound fun.

There are no ghetto areas in HB, Slater slums is just LOL cause thats just a normal area, and no they aren't all illegals. Shame on you for racist ideas for no reason.

I live in Van Nuys in a huge ranch style house and I'm very sure some of you think that is the ghetto(its not). So whatever. Continue to be dumb, ignorant, and closed minded. Live in your artificially sanitized world and look down on others. There is a reason the place down the road is nicknamed "Facist Island".

Bottom line is that there is no bad area of Huntington Beach. If you like HB and can afford it, enjoy. Its a nice place to live. If you can afford more, live in Newport or Laguna. Those are nice places too. But don't put down or look down on others.

[EscapeCalifornia]

You've been living in Van Nuys too long if you think the Slater slums is a "normal area".

[OC Investor2]

I lived in HB for my first 3 years on OC and my wife was born & raised there & my in laws are still there - in the dreadded 92647 zip code.

There is alot of hyperbole on this thread. HB is not perfect, but by no means is it "Ghetto" or "3rd world". Actually I would say it is very diverse. There are bad pockets like the slater slums, but also new McMansion areas like seacliff. There are seas of 1960's & 70's tract housing and a very eclectic downtown area. The people are diverse to, ranging from illegals to surfer dudes to middle calss families to wealthy empty nesters all the way up to the yachting crowd at Huntington Harbor.

HB was an expanding burb in the 60's & 70's. As such the city and its buildings/houses may be older then south county, but most of south county isn't next to the beach. So there is a simple trade off for HB - you get closer to the beach but you have to live in an older house. I personally find the area physically unattractive - I used to call it cinder block city from all the walls - but its not a bad place to live. You just have to be willing to trade off some of the new, shiny, pretty south county atmosphere for easier access to the beach. If you want to make that trade its not a bad place to be.