which Irvine community is your favorite?

NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
Manhattan? So you like people walking around with their heads down, cursing at you if you bump into them? Taxi drivers cutting you off? Concrete jungle and snow in winter? Have at it.





Cool place to visit, but unless I'm @ 250k a year or more I'm not living there.
 
Woodbridge and Turtle Rock are my favorites. I've lived in both for over a decade each. Woodbridge gets the slight edge for having walkable retail centers, a more central location and better parks/pools for kids. I prefer the older areas for several reasons, but the newer areas are nice too. I'd take a home in Portola if you gave it to me :)



To follow up on what Adam said, I just bought a new car and I'm noticing that it is taking forever to get past the break in miles. Everything is so close. School, daycare, work, shops, trails, etc. I never payed much attention to how many miles I actually drive until now. Woodbridge is so central to everything, it's great. I'm taking a road trip this weekend just so I can get past the break in miles.
 
Oak Creek - Relatively new and not so crowded. Close to the 405 FWY and Irvine Spectrum! For the most part, you can't hear the freeway. Street parking, that's like WOAH.



Turtle Rock - Nice hilly location. More established and there's good amounts of space.



El Camino - the homes that don't have HOA's or mello roos. Built around the 70's, but people take care of their homes... I like the idea of being able to mow over the home and build a new one.. I think people are starting to do that.
 
<p>I'm talking about having stores around the corner. For instance, I felt like grapping some Chinese food today. My choice was either to go to Jeffrey/Walnut or Culver/Irvine Center Drive. And both the locations were far enough from each other to warrant a drive. Especially if you go to one center, then change your mind and go to the other.</p>

<p>Back in Fountain Valley, I seriously only traveled ONE mile to get wherever I wanted to go. Whenever I drive around Irvine, there are always stretches of just houses and trees. This was the case ever since I started UCI back in 1997. Seriously, Irvine is not very densely populated. To me, having to drive over ONE mile is a drive. Sometimes, I want to be able to walk to the shops.</p>

<p>The way Irvine is set up, it has a large region of just houses and parks. Then it has shopping centers and clusters scattered here and there.</p>

<p>Just compare Culver Drive in Irvine to Brookhurst Ave in Fountain Valley. There are basically businesses along the entire street in Fountain Valley. You can't go for over 1/2 a mile without a gas station, fast food, or store. As for Culver, there are no stores between Walnut and Irvine Center Drive. Then there's nothing between ICD and Barranca. And then, on ICD, there's nothing between Culver and Jamboree.</p>

<p>I guess I'm much to used to the city and not the suburb. Also, in Fountain Valley, when you drive by Mile Square Park, you can see the residents enjoying the basketball courts, jogging paths, etc. In Irvine, I haven't been able to drive by any park where I see significant activity.</p>

<p>Even as ghetto as Santa Ana is, I'm pretty sure the people there has a sense of community... especially in the downtown area. I have heard many people calling Irvine sterile. I can see that because when I drive around, all I see are houses and trees. I don't see people, activities, or life.</p>

<p>Even when I biked along the railroad last weekend from Harvard to Jeffrey, I just didn't see that many people. I can see why Irvine is a great place to raise kids. But being an adult without children, it has never appealed to me. I have friends who were born and raised in Irvine. And they all agree that Irvine is boring once you pass the age of 17. As a matter of fact, that's what most of my college friends at UCI also said. Being a commuter school, many just take classes then go back and hang out in their respective neighborhood.</p>

<p>Reminds of the time when I was attending UCLA. There was always people and life in Westwood.</p>

<p>That being said, I can totally see myself buying a home in Irvine within 5 years.</p>
 
1 mile drive without any traffic vs. 1 mile drive with heavy traffic jam!

clean and organized street vs. scattered and disorganized street with advertisement signs!
 
IMO, the streets are one of the best features of Irvine. There are good neighborhoods in every community, but when you think of a city as a whole, your perceptions are not generally based on a specific neighborhood, but the appearance of the streets and its public spaces. This is where Irvine truly excels. Compare a drive on the wide, winding streets with abundant landscape of Irvine to a drive through the narrow, walled-off streets in the older suburbs toward LA. Hunitngton Beach always stands out in my mind as a great collection of residential neighborhoods connected with the ugliest, most sterile street system imaginable.
 
I like Columbus Grove for the location , close to the freeways ., close to the shopping & schools ..& Most of all it is close to the airport , i can be in airport in 10-15 mins
 
hs_teacher, i am living in FV right now and on brookhurst. I totally understand what you're saying. I am looking to buy in irvine as well and that's one of my concerns, that there will be no stores/busiensses like FV and its more "boring". Are you renting in Irvine now? i was thinking about renting there to see if i will like it, dont want to move there and then not like it. But I like the neighborhoods, and quality of homes there much more than FV. So i guess its a trade off.
 
<p>I agree that Irvine and South County are visually more appealing than the rest of the OC. But if you look at the great cities such as Hong Kong, Paris, London, Moscow, New York, etc. - they are all lively and full of people.</p>

<p>WTB, I'm currenlty living in Tustin at the border of Irvine. I think the reason why Irvine has nicer homes than FV or HB is to offset the more inland location. Irvine is a beautiful city. But you need to figure out what's important to you and your family. Personally, my advice is to not live in Irvine unless you have at least one child.</p>

<p>I have friends whose family moved to Irvine after they graduated high school. All they can say is that they wished they had lived in Irvine when they were growing up - to make use of its great schools and parks. But they agree with me that they prefer to go play outside of Irvine.</p>

<p>Irvine is a great place to be when you're aged 0 to 20 and 30 to dead.</p>

<p>Just think of it this way... can you possibly imagine the show "Friends" having its setting in Irvine?</p>
 
<p>Personally, I'm very glad that Irvine does not try cater to the 20-30 crowd. Irvine is not trying to be a place for the 20's party crowd. There are lots of places around LA/OC for that. At 36, I'm not too old to remember the stuff I did during my 20's in Manhattan Beach --- but old enough to be over all that....And I don't want a-holes like I used to be running around my quiet neighborhood.</p>

<p>Please don't move here until you turn 30 or are expecting your first child, whichever comes first. Trust me, you'll appreciate all that Irvine is at that point in your life. </p>
 
I wish people would follow your advice CK. Go to any 24 hour pool in woodbridge during the summer late at night and you will see why. These are hotspots for the 21-25 year old crowd who still live with mom and dad here to drink and party it up. Our old rental backed to one of these pools and the noise, thrown beer bottles, etc throughout the night sucked.
 
i am in my early 30s and we are planning to have a child maybe next year. That's one of the reasons i picked irvine for better schools and parks..to settle down.

To us its better to have a house before the baby... so that's why we're choosing the house first.



Right now we dont have a child so we enjoy riding the bike by the beach and eating out. Maybe when do have one our livestyles will change and we will appreciate irvine more.
 
<p><strong><em>"21 - 25 crowd who still live with mom and dad and drink and party it up"</em></strong></p>

<p>Oh yeah --- gotta love those motivated individuals. Man, I could think of nothing worse than living with my parents back when I was trying to be the big mack daddy with all the ladies in my early 20's. Note I said "trying to be"....</p>
 
<p>I totally know what you mean about Woodbridge's pools in the summer. Our family will go on a Sunday morning, and the cigarrette butts in the pool and on the patio as well as the beer cans really are disappointing. You either think inhabitants of the neighborhood are less than ideal or they are rowdy young adults. </p>

<p>I am looking for a home either in Turtle Rock or Turtle Ridge.</p>

<p> </p>
 
I have a feeling if more coffee shops were open late and they had a couple more bars open till 2:00 am, there would be a lot less drinking/smoking in the 24 hour woodbridge pools.



I really like the location of Quail Hill. I'm not a fan of 3 story condos though, and for my price range thats about all I can get at this point.



Though its a little too close to teh freeway, Oak Creek is a very nice neighborhood with lots of parking, decent architecture, and the nearby shopping center rocks.



My parents live in Northpark (through the gate on central park, thast northpark right?), Its beautiful. Very quiet, beautiful homes, awesome architecture. The downside is...the parents live there. ;-)
 
<p>I see what you're saying HS teacher. But that's how it is here in Irvine. Each community has it's own shopping center so that you don't have to drive far.</p>

<p> But you're right. In between communities you won't see much but trees and shrubs. It is something that you get use to .</p>
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top