Living in Anaheim (Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Fullerton: apartments, city hall, crime rates)

[SueBeeM]

Any thoughts on safe areas to live in Anaheim? I love houses with character, but as a single mid-50s woman, want to feel safe. My daughter has been living in Disney apartments near city hall, and commuting to Disneyland to work. That area seems rather mixed, but I honestly haven't explored it too well, and her experience in the neighborhood is limited. I want to feel safe going out of my house at night!

[cl723]

East Anaheim and Anaheim Hills are pretty safe. They would be the only places that I would live in Anaheim.

[DewDropInn]

It all depends on your attitude. To be real frank, if you are a caucasion who feels uncomfortable around hispanics and minorities then most parts of Anaheim are not for you. After my dad died I lived alone in his house in West Anaheim for 5 years in a 50-year-old neighborhood. I had neighbors of every race and nationality you could think of. We Whites were few and far between. We had a very active neighborhood watch group, led by a Pacific Islander. There was NO grafitti in the neighborhood. We just did not tolerate it and a lot of people kept paint in their garages and would paint over any as soon as it appeared. (After a while the taggers pretty much gave up on it.)

I speak a little Spanish and always said hello and spoke with my neighbors. (You can make a lot of friends by admiring their children!) I never had any problems. They were friendly to me, I was friendly to them. In fact I sold the house to my Salvadoran next-door-neighborhood. I would drive home alone late at night and never had a single problem.

A lot of my White friends felt uneasy coming to visit me. I will say I kept my outside lights on and locked my doors at night, but I do that now living in the most Whte-bread neighborhood you can imagine.

As far as houses with character I always loved the old houses in the Mother Colony district. Most other houses in Anaheim are cookie-cutters.

[mrsltd]

Originally Posted by SueBeeM

Any thoughts on safe areas to live in Anaheim? I love houses with character, but as a single mid-50s woman, want to feel safe. My daughter has been living in Disney apartments near city hall, and commuting to Disneyland to work. That area seems rather mixed, but I honestly haven't explored it too well, and her experience in the neighborhood is limited. I want to feel safe going out of my house at night!

If you want to live nearer to Disneyland, and live in a house, the south side of Anaheim between Brookhurst and Harbor between Disneyland and the Garden Grove border (AND that part of Garden Grove extending south and west) are good to look in.

Anaheim is quite a diverse place in terms of who might be living next door to you. The downtown area and points east to State College, north to the freeway and west to West Street are probably the least diverse (a large community of Hispanic immigrants (mostly from Mexico) and any number of Chicanos and others scattered about the area.

Anywere else will be more of a mix of whites, Hispanics (natives and immigrants) and Asians. Where I live in the 92807 (in the beginning of the Santa Ana Canyon), there is a mix of all three.

You mentioned nothing about race or ethnicity but depending on where you're coming from it might be a bit of an adjustment to see different folks around and hearing other tongues.

And the whole city is at your feet to check out to determine whether or not it is safe for you. I hope you'll come to visit and see it.

[Lynnea Urania Stuart]

I grew up in Fullerton and Anaheim and can assure you that there is no such thing as "safe" here. There are some areas relatively "safer." But you still have to choose whether you would prefer to live with mountain lions or human predators.

[BRinSM]

i spent years of my living with and visiting my grandmother who lived right behind Anaheim High (just around the corner from your daughter) and never had any safety issues. i rarely ever saw vandalism of any kind, let alone experience it myself. The neighborhood was very well kept and was a mix of all different types of people, from multiple latino families in the same residence to older white couples who had been there since their homes were built back in the 40s/50s.

[mrsltd]

Originally Posted by Lynnea Urania Stuart

I grew up in Fullerton and Anaheim and can assure you that there is no such thing as "safe" here. There are some areas relatively "safer." But you still have to choose whether you would prefer to live with mountain lions or human predators.

A slight exaggeration....I've read your story, so I understand that you are speaking from personal experience. However, as I've stated in another thread, there really IS no 100% guarantee of safety ANYWHERE. I would guess what the OP is looking for is that SENSE of safety.

She still needs to come check it out for herself for that sense. People's personal experience, combined with statistics and surveys, are but the beginning of someone's journey toward a new place to live. They need their own experience to determine where they will be.

[gogetta]

Anaheim as a whole isn't dangerous at all, just look at the crime rates. It is well below the national average. I don't understand why people post on here with fear about certain places that haven't even earned any type of reputation as unsafe. I think a lot of people are just scared of diversity and people of other races. Just because there is a high Hispanic population doesn't equal crime Lol. It really is pathetic. Most of Anaheim is as safe as any highly white and gated suburban community.

[mrsltd]

Originally Posted by gogetta

Anaheim as a whole isn't dangerous at all, just look at the crime rates. It is well below the national average. I don't understand why people post on here with fear about certain places that haven't even earned any type of reputation as unsafe. I think a lot of people are just scared of diversity and people of other races. Just because there is a high Hispanic population doesn't equal crime Lol. It really is pathetic. Most of Anaheim is as safe as any highly white and gated suburban community.

I hear ya........

[Lynnea Urania Stuart]

Originally Posted by gogetta

Anaheim as a whole isn't dangerous at all, just look at the crime rates. It is well below the national average. I don't understand why people post on here with fear about certain places that haven't even earned any type of reputation as unsafe. I think a lot of people are just scared of diversity and people of other races. Just because there is a high Hispanic population doesn't equal crime Lol. It really is pathetic. Most of Anaheim is as safe as any highly white and gated suburban community.

I happen to be white and while growing up I experienced more violence from whites than anyone else, including incidents where my injuries required medical attention. While crimes have been committed against me by people of other ethnicities, sometimes in the name of race, I might describe that angle as a "cold war." But when it comes to whites, the war is a hot one indeed.