Orange County as a "Family Friendly" Place

[Charles]

Originally Posted by crisp444

this seems to be issues afflicting ALL affluent areas of this country. In other words, I don't see how this issue is particular to Orange County. You will get that in Wellesley, MA; you'll get it in Coral Gables, FL; you'll get it in Wilmette, IL; you'll get it in Scarsdale, NY just like you'll get it in Yorba Linda, CA or in any other wealthy suburban locale. All these things that you listed seem to be more about growing up in 2008 upper middle class suburbia than about growing up in Orange County.

I've sensed this myself in places that wouldn't normally be considered affluent including parts of Buffalo, NY, Columbus, OH, and here in Huntsville. Meaning, in the affluent parts of these towns, the norms are similar. It seems there's a stronger correlation of social behaviors to demographics than there is to location.

A hot mom with $3000 lips on a cell phone in a glossy black SUV gives that same impression in Williamsville NY, New Albany, OH, or the Hampton Cove neighborhood of Huntsville.

http://www.hamptoncove.com/index.cfm

[missionhome]

^^^

I agree with the above three. People that think or do live in the more affluent areas of a region in general all act the same. You should see my husband's relatives from Indiana. They have a 4,500 square foot house in a nice suburb of Indianapolis and come out and act like we are peasants even though my husband makes twice his cousin's income. They wave their new ipods in my kids face and talk about how "they have no Mexicans in Indiana." Then the wife comes and talks to me about "the country club."

Go figure.


-Granted, I think this only applies to certain areas of Orange County. I think most would agree Stanton, Santa Ana, Anaheim, etc.. aren't acting like they live the rich life.

[luvinmylife]

Hello, I lived in Orange County from the day I was born until I was 27 and moved to Riverside County. I read your questions and may be able to give some insight. First, not all the communities that are gated have guards. In fact there are very few unless you live in the extremely upper class places. I have lived in Irvine, Orange, Santa Ana, Irvine, Santa Margarita, Tustin, among other cities. Orange County has its bad and good. There are gangs in every County and Orange County gangs are in some places in the city of Orange, Santa Ana, Anaheim and others. There are areas of Orange County where people are materialistic but are very family friendly as well. I believe it is what you make of it. Materialistic people are everywhere. Orange County like all places has its good and bad however it is not clean everywhere either. There are tons of families in Orange County and I enjoyed living there but it is way overpriced in my personal opinion. It definitley has a diverse cultural society. You will find any and all races there. Over all it is a nice place and people seem to love living there

[Clodius et Claudius.]

Orange County is a very mixed bag, and only some areas are family friendly. It is NOT the homogeneously pristine suburbia that many make it to be. It is also NOT as conservative as many perceive it to be; in terms of conservatism, only the South County is anything worth mentioning.

For example, the crime rate in Santa Ana and Anaheim are perhaps just as high, if not higher, than the national average, and the poverty levels are definitely higher than average. However, Irvine and South Orange County have low crime rates and good schools. That could NOT be said for the educational system in the North County.

Materialism in Orange County is very typical of upper-middle America except for one thing. It is about Mercedes, 20-room mansions, 1/2 acre lots, champagne cellars, 6, 7, and 8 figure incomes, and private helicopters. Just think "Donald Trump" and you will get the idea of who lives in Newport Beach. However, there is a twist: the emphasis on education. People here judge you by whether you went to Stanford or UCLA or Harvard and if you are a PhD.

Also, there are alot of Asians in Irvine. They definitely impose a significant feel of the "model minority" into daily life, and they contribute to racial animosity, having a supremacy of their own.

As for gated communities, some of them are easier to access as they are only code, not guard gated. Just follow the car in front of you who knows the code and feel free to trespass! They also often have secret, unlocked entrances or heavily gossiped codes that lend accessebility to small children. However, some high-end communities have both a guard gate and a code gate!

As for autocentric communities, they are not child-unfriendly. Here in Irvine, despite the emphasis on cars, it is pedestrian-friendly, with tonnes of off-road bike trails, and the local mall is often only a mile away. The city is divided into many walkable neighborhoods.

If you're talking about little leagues and AYSO, OC has plenty of that, as does any other American suburb. There's really no difference in culture in Irvine; even the Asians are westernized (other than their obssession with education-they still participate in sports like Americans).

Orange County, unfortunately, is gay-friendly and liberal, but I suppose this is typical modern-day America. It is "conservative" only fiscally, and only because the rest of California is even MORE liberal. It is very diverse, but even in Irvine, Whites outnumber Asians, 50%-39%.

In short, North County=Compton/Brooklyn. South County and Irvine=Eisenhower ideal suburb.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by Haowen Wong

For example, the crime rate in Santa Ana and Anaheim are perhaps just as high, if not higher, than the national average, and the poverty levels are definitely higher than average. However, Irvine and South Orange County have low crime rates and good schools. That could NOT be said for the educational system in the North County.

.

Not even close, sorry. Please see the thread from earlier this year addressing the published crime rates identifying Santa Ana as something like the 4th safest city in the US. In the 1990s Santa Ana and Anaheim took turns as number 1 safest in the size range typically classified as a City. (They only considered cities over a certain size, 250 or 350K people. Irvine for example does not qualify because it is too small). In listings where they consider cities down to about 50K people, I still have never seen any year where Santa Ana is not a ways above the median.

However since it does not make sense to compare that way, most publications only consider actual cities, those with a sizable population. (Size matters for these comparisons. I could make a list of places where Irvine would be the most dangerous on the list. However most of the other places would be much smaller. There are places where they do not have one crime in most years, but those are areas with very few people)

Three of the top ten (probably top five) rated OC public high schools are in North Orange County. One of them is in Santa Ana.

[Fontucky]

Crime Index:

Santa Ana: 244.4
National Avg: 319.1

[nurserosie]

Am not sure where mr Wong is getting his info. But he is mostly wrong.

To compare north oc to Compton/Brooklyn is laughable.

As for gated and coded entry areas. I wonder if he has ever tried just following the car ahead of him in.

We own two places in the cochella valley. One is gate guarded 24/7. There is no sneaking in. Our other home is also guarded 24/7. Home owners have those widgets on their windshields. That raise the white arm while the guy in the little guard house waves at you. Btw. That white gate comes down so fast after each car that attempting to sneak in would cause a nice dent on your hood.

Not at all sure where this guy gets his info

Our primary home in lemon heights is not hoa. So no gates and guards. Etc.

[BorisBlack]

You guys both should try getting to Brooklyn, obviously you have never been. You realize that Brooklyn has 2.5 million people, it's not a neighborhood? Los Angeles is closer in size to Brooklyn than it is to NYC as a whole. Of course there are parts of Brooklyn that are a mess (like there is with any city that size) but there are parts of Brooklyn that are more expensive than Newport Beach. Spend a couple of days in Park Slope and tell me that it reminds you of Compton.