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Those are all very nice pics Charles, but there was concrete in almost all of them, lol. When a football field is considered open space that should say something.
you sorta need concrete to drive on!!
unless your covered wagon and farm lifestyle interests you...
the pics were gorgeous...the point was how green and lush and well landscaped our area is..
sure it has denser populations..
which most of us desire...have no desire to live on 25 acres in a forest ..
about the football field...do you not have them in Oregon???
I guess you have read every post I have ever made, right? I have said nice things about OC, I just can't stand the place anymore. It is the same location, but certainly not the same place that I grew up in. At one time it was heaven on earth, then too many people heard what a great area it was and moved on in causing it to be an over populated, overpriced, concrete jungle. The people that don't think it is a concrete jungle must have never seen it back in the late '70's or early '80's. The over development of the land is disgusting. For those of you (like nurserosie) that believe that having a 3000 sq. ft. home or a half acre of land means you aren't living in a concrete jungle you are delusional. The small areas of empty space like the Aliso Creek Trails and Trabuco Canyon are far outweighed by miles and miles of concrete, it's a fact look at a map for crying out loud.
For a little perspective on how fast and how much OC has grown take a look at the Ziggurat building in the 1975 film "Death Race 2000". The building was literally in the middle of nowhere, take a drive by there now and you are hard pressed to find a few acres of undeveloped land. I worked at the In-N-Out Burger on La Paz in the late '90's and even since then thousands of new homes and dozens of new shopping centers have been built in that area. If your idea of paradise is a place completely lacking any natural environment than you are at home in OC, if you like open spaces the new OC is hell.
So you have the desert or skiing two hours away and the beach nearby, big deal. I am one hour from the beach, one hour from Mount Hood (better skiing than Big Bear could dream of), less than an hour from the sand dunes, minutes from the Columbia and Clackamas Rivers (and all the wind surfing, hang gliding, water skiing, boating, etc. that are available), hiking trails into lush forests literally right outside my door. Yep I'll put up with water falling from the sky to have everything that I have here.
Have been in OC since 77...so yes have seen the growth...must mean many many people appreciate our weather etc...
Maybe you are the exception..or maybe you can't afford the 2011 lifestyle in OC..so you live in a less expensive area ..ie the NW..and have convinced yourself that your tradeoff of fantastic weather year round for more space is worth the trade
We are delighted that we can afford to live here..both retired..own 3 homes and neither of us could be convinced to return to ice, snow and rain...
Yep and every summer we get people from Southern California coming up here for the cooler summers and great summer activities. It's called tourism, it goes both ways.
no...it is not the same thing...
residents of your NW (retired and who can afford)...literally flee the area like rats right after New Years...our desert area attests to that..
and it is not tourism when they stay for months at a time...that is called escaping your lovely rainy "winters"..
when we return to OC around June 1st...I don't know anyone..anyone..who leaves the areas for months at a time...
why leave our lovely beaches and yes..our cool nights..
of course people do travel in the summer..as kids are out of school...but in all my years in OC I have never met ANYONE who has migrated to the NW to "escape" OC...
we also have "summer activities"...ie my nieces and grandkids are at the beach most every day..
it is NOT tourism when a huge influx of YOUR neighbors head south for the winter months...that is called "I can't stand NW winters"
our condo tenants have come 6 years in a row..same 3 months..of course during that 3 month stay they have family etc that visit and sadly have to return to gloom and rain..
you are trying to compare apples and bananas..
in the East Coast they head to Florida to escape the snow and ice...my sister leaves for at least 3 months..cruises and rents a villa in /florida..
admit it..you are stuck with your lousy weather most of the year and cannot accept that many of us have choices..
unless your covered wagon and farm lifestyle interests you...
the pics were gorgeous...the point was how green and lush and well landscaped our area is..
sure it has denser populations..
which most of us desire...have no desire to live on 25 acres in a forest ..
about the football field...do you not have them in Oregon???
I agreed that the pics were nice. Yes concrete is a necessity in the modern world, my point was you are hard pressed to take a pic in OC without concrete being in the pic. Does everything need to be paved over? Also, "green and lush", since when is scrub brush considered green and lush? Most people prefer denser populations, really? Is that why so many people complain about traffic, overcrowding, and over development? Yes we have football fields here in Oregon, the difference is the football fields are not the only open space around. We don't have to go to a park or football field to find free space.
residents of your NW (retired and who can afford)...literally flee the area like rats right after New Years...our desert area attests to that..
and it is not tourism when they stay for months at a time...that is called escaping your lovely rainy "winters"..
when we return to OC around June 1st...I don't know anyone..anyone..who leaves the areas for months at a time...
why leave our lovely beaches and yes..our cool nights..
of course people do travel in the summer..as kids are out of school...but in all my years in OC I have never met ANYONE who has migrated to the NW to "escape" OC...
we also have "summer activities"...ie my nieces and grandkids are at the beach most every day..
it is NOT tourism when a huge influx of YOUR neighbors head south for the winter months...that is called "I can't stand NW winters"
our condo tenants have come 6 years in a row..same 3 months..of course during that 3 month stay they have family etc that visit and sadly have to return to gloom and rain..
you are trying to compare apples and bananas..
in the East Coast they head to Florida to escape the snow and ice...my sister leaves for at least 3 months..cruises and rents a villa in /florida..
admit it..you are stuck with your lousy weather most of the year and cannot accept that many of us have choices..
Have been in OC since 77...so yes have seen the growth...must mean many many people appreciate our weather etc...
Maybe you are the exception..or maybe you can't afford the 2011 lifestyle in OC..so you live in a less expensive area ..ie the NW..and have convinced yourself that your tradeoff of fantastic weather year round for more space is worth the trade
We are delighted that we can afford to live here..both retired..own 3 homes and neither of us could be convinced to return to ice, snow and rain...
I left OC for many reasons; yes cost of living was one of them, but there was also the traffic, pollution, overcrowding, gangs, high percentage of entitled people (I worked in customer service in OC, you can argue that people are rude everywhere; but OC has a very high percentage of rich, rude, A-holes), etc, etc.
When I grew up in OC my mother, father, maternal and paternal grandparents, countless aunts and uncles, and many cousins all lived in OC. The only person still living there is my mother; I guess that means my entire family must not appreciate the weather or be able to afford living there. Or maybe, just maybe people are leaving OC for other reasons. Maybe there are other places that offer more than smog colored sunsets and over developed land.
I'm glad you like it there still after all of the growth, but maybe I'm not the one convincing myself that where I live is (still) nice.
I think one of the reasons that places like the LA-Orange County has so many transplants, is because it is one of the best places, in my opinion, to be single with disposable income and few responsibilities to enjoy and explore what the greater los angeles metro area has to offer.
I'm 31, and am looking at some job oppotunities in the area. I probably won't live there the rest of my life, but as long as I am single, I want to experience the region and all it has to offer.
Midwest suburbs are some of the best places to grow and return to raise a family. I right now, live about 8-10 miles directly west of Chicago, so some think that I am crazy, because I live so close to one of Americas greatest cities, but I don't really care for the "real cities", (dense, gritty, mass-transit oriented) that many on C-D love. For me there is little that Chicago itself holds for me, so I could easily live in suburbs of cities like Cincinnati or even Detroit (as they still have many of the cultural amenity counterparts of Chicago, and more manageable/cheaper).
While the LA-OC region has a lot of problems and stresses of living, it is a region that I want to live in once to experience.
For the past 20 years, I've observed The OC lifestyle. The following does NOT reflect everybody. I'm sure there are nice, down to earth people, but they're hard to find. The following applies to about 70% of Orange County residents.
Yes, The OC is physically beautiful and very spacious but in exchange you get some Southern Californians. These people are the most shallow and materialistic people you could hope to meet. It's a 100% freakin' car-culture which means these OC residents never get a chance to practice and hone any significant social skills due to the fact that they rarely interact with other human beings.
There is definitely a So Cal phenomenon where the garage door opens, the car goes in, and the garage door closes ... and it happens every day & night on every street. This is worse in OC than anywhere I've seen. There are some newer neighborhoods that try to make this different, but it usually only lasts a short while. Largely, it's people that make the community, and many out here seem to be too busy, or perhaps disinterested, or tired, or beaten up via the freeways, to communicate to others.
Hot topic in The OC? The weather! Which by the way is constantly sunny and gets to be boring after the initial euphoria of it wears off. It's like I'm in a Groundhog Day movie.
People in The OC have zero sense of humor and lack the wit that God gave the common asparagus.
Cosmetic details are of the UTMOST importance here & silicone enhancements are a MUST for women. Can you say stepford wife? Speaking of OC women, they're mostly greedy, dimwitted, money chasing, blondes and The OC woman is in general like plastic fruit; nice to look at…But flavorless and inedible.
I just went back to the Chicago suburbs after a long absence and felt like I was freakin' ALIVE again. The diversity, the action, the odors (good & bad) the edgy humor, the street smart people, and the friendliness ...THAT'S LIFE!
Everything is twice as much as it is in the Midwest! Chicago may suck in comparison to the weather and geography in The OC (and it does) but my lifestyle may be way BETTER there. How do Californians live out here and pay these high prices for EVERYTHING! I have a 700 sq foot Brea apartment that I pay $1,115.00 per month. I can't get a detached home in a nice neighborhood anywhere in The OC for less than $600,000. Most are up around a MILLION DOLLARS. I may go back to the Chicago suburbs where I can live in luxury and not get RAPED every time I buy something! Five months of winter to live in a 3 bedroom house, built in the 90s, on a .25 acre of land for $249,000. Believe me? Check the majority of houses (250,000 to 300,000) on realtor.com in McHenry County! Crystal Lake and Lake In The Hills to be exact.
The moral atmosphere in The OC is generally terrible. Too many children are raised with no principals and no work ethic. Many are handed anything they could want with no effort to earn anything and they look down on others who have lesser brand clothing, cars, etc. Girls dress like hookers and guys dress like gangbangers in many schools, including the "good" schools (actually many of the lesser ranked schools have a uniform policy). The lifestyle is unwholesome. Everything is rush, rush, rush and many of the schools are insanely competitive. Most of the kids are stressed out. The schools are too large and the kids receive little personal attention.
Many of these problems exist everywhere to some extent, but to a much greater degree in The OC than in any other place. Certainly a lot of places can be worse.
Here are my extra observations:
- Unless you're still in your twenties, night life sucks.
- Breast implants for a girl's High School graduation gift.
- Older women competing with twenty something girls in the dating scene.
- Traffic sucks! 45 min on the 57 freeway from Brea to Orange (14 miles).
- Protesting or suing if one sneezes the wrong way.
- Terrible customer service. I'm so tired of clerks not speaking English, understanding English or even acknowledging that I'm waiting for service.
While I am not arguing at all with your statement. As I'm sure these negatives are more of an intense part of life in Orange County than in the Chicago suburbs, however . . . .
I'm curious about a couple things. You say when you went back to Chicago you experienced diversity . . . but then you complain about people not speaking english. Theres nothing wrong with expecting people to speak english, but some of that is part of diversity. Are you possibly referring to diversity in another way?
And what do you mean by "action" Especially when you follow it up with the price of home in Crystal Lake and Lake in the Hills. That specific area is about as far as can get from diversity and action. Thats why McHenry County is cheap, and OC is expensive. Don't get me wrong, I love McHenry midwestern rural beauty, but I'm curious about what you mean.
While I can see where you are coming from in terms of friendliness, do you really think people in the Chicago suburbs are more "street smart" than in the OC?? Santa Anna at 12,000 people/square mile, is more dense than anywhere in the Chicago suburbs. In fact Santa Anna is about the same density as Chicago itself. Check it up on wikipedia.
....there was also the traffic, pollution, overcrowding, gangs, high percentage of entitled people...
....and jobs.
Unemployment in some Orange County communities (March 2011)
Area Name Rate
Foothill Ranch CDP 3.0%
Coto de Caza CDP 3.9%
Las Flores CDP 4.4%
Aliso Viejo CDP 4.8%
Los Alamitos city 5.0%
Portola Hills CDP 5.0%
Villa Park city 5.2%
Rossmoor CDP 5.6%
Newport Beach city 5.7%
Rancho Santa Margarita city 5.8%
Tustin Foothills CDP 5.8%
Yorba Linda city 6.0%
Brea city 6.2%
Lake Forest city 6.3%
Dana Point city 6.6%
Mission Viejo city 6.6%
Laguna Beach city 6.7%
Seal Beach city 6.7%
Irvine city 6.8%
Laguna Niguel city 7.1%
Huntington Beach city 7.4%
San Clemente city 7.4%
Fountain Valley city 7.6%
Laguna Hills city 7.7%
Lack of jobs wasn't a reason I left and I don't believe I ever said it was. I actually earned more in OC, but if you do all the math I actually have more disposable income now even though I earn less.
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