[quote author="zovall" date=1243985495]
Hey iho, bk, anyone else... which ones are actually false? ;-)</blockquote>
Well... I would think bk (and graph and many others) would say number 4... but the article was interesting if you read it:
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Some people disguise their deep-seated resentment of Irvine by mocking its sometimes bland architectural surface. Not enough innovation or variety, they say. Too much stucco! But, in fact, a residential design revolution took place in this city in the third quarter of the 20th century. The movement started in the 1960s when Ray Watson, The Irvine Company?s chief in-house planner, decreed that nothing would be built on the ranch that wasn?t designed by an architect.
?That was a monumental decision,? says Walt Richardson, founder of RNM Architects and the dean of Orange County residential designers. ?Up till that time, anyone could design a tract house. Builders sketched them out on napkins. Ray deserves tremendous credit for upgrading residential design here.?
Like Watson, many of the early architects who designed homes in Irvine were trained at the University of California, Berkeley, where they were captivated by the designs of San Francisco architect and social visionary Joseph Eichler. Eichler?s homes emphasized open floor plans with lots of glass that integrated the domestic and natural worlds, and the houses going up in Irvine in the 1970s reflected his inspiration. Little boxlike rooms connected by narrow doorways were replaced by the spacious, flowing interiors many Irvine residents take for granted.
?The residential design ideas that came out of here spread all over the country and the world,? says Richardson. ?Throughout the 1970s and ?80s, builders came here on pilgrimages to see what we were doing and take our concepts back to Arizona and Texas, and Florida and the East Coast. And it is still going on.?
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I guess bk can confirm whether or not this is really true... but to the average noob like myself... it's like "Really? Cool!"
Number 1 is suspect too... but of course you're going to win that if you compare Irvine ethnicities to Newport Beach and Yorba Linda (which they did with a graph). I can confirm the Newport Beach comparison... just go to Irvine Spectrum and then to Fashion Island. Irvine loses though to non-OC cities... I ventured beyond the Orange Curtain during Memorial Day weekend (bk gasps!) and the CityWalk has waaaay more diversity than Irvine Spectrum... although much less of the fair-skinned demographic.
I think much of the list is true on some level... and if you take that as a whole and compare it to any other city in Orange County... you might find that Irvine wins many of those comparisons.
Here's an IHB challenge... find an OC city that beats Irvine on the majority of those features listed (this will probably end up being a subjective war but it will be fun).