Irvine Info

Oh geez, another IT pilgrim wants to travel to the IT Mecca of Orange County, CA USA.

I live in Huntington Beach, CA, which is about 10 minutes North of Irvine by freeway. I work in Aliso Viejo, CA, which is just South of Irvine. I've lived in "The OC" for 27 years, so I may know a thing or two that you are needing. Here are a few facts and some of my observations about OC:

Some of the best, year-round weather in the USA is here. Some of the worst traffic conditions in theworld is here (it's worse in Los Angeles County).
OC fairs better during "fire season" than most other parts of California (no, really!).
OC is one of the most Republican counties in the USA (and has a high per capita concentration of Libertarians too).
There's lots and lots of money in OC, and high-tech, VC-funded start-ups too.
Newport Beach has one of the largest populations (per capita) of millionaires in the USA.
OC has one of the largest Hispanic populations outside of Mexico City (mostly in the city of Santa Ana).
Practically any type of food from anywhere in the world can be found in OC (or in downtown Los Angeles).
People are generally nicer and more laid-back here than most anywhere else in the USA (again, no, really!)
And OC is the land of non-Asian guys dating Asian chicks.

(Yes, I met my Asian wife in OC.)
As for Irvine, yes, it is very large and is considered to be the Silicon Valley of Southern California. Most big business in OC is in Irvine or Anaheim. The University of California at Irvine is an excellent school for EE and CS. It's famous for being the first place outside of Sun Microsystems to champion the Java language. One of the original Planet of the Apes movie was filmed there too.

How long it will take you to drive anywhere depends on where you are and what time of day it is. The traffic on the freeways at rush hour is ungodly to the uninitiated. Commuting by train is possible, except to Irvine, where commuting by Mercedes and BMW is the norm. Oh, you'd better always carry a GPS with you. The streets plan of the City of Irvine looks like a science experiment involving a spastic, one-armed money with a spray can. (Again, not kidding here.)

Living in Irvine is almost cost-prohibitive for people without large sums of money. It is likely you will be living in a surrounding community (e.g., Tustin, Lake Forrest, Aliso Viejo, Fountain Valley) and commuting to Irvine. You don't want to live in Irvine itself anyway. Most Irvine communities are governed by Fascist dictatorships called "homeowner associations." These are hollow, power-obsessed people whose sole purpose in life is to derive pleasure from the misery of Irvine home owners by issuing tickets for having not having cut your lawn for more than seven days, or for having your garage door open for more than 15 minutes. Renting in Irvine is a friggin' house payment in itself.

There is more to OC than just Irvine. The Beach Cities (Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Dana Point) are very nice. The surrounding communities I mentioned are nice too. Disneyland is about a 20-minute drive from Irvine (50-minute in rush hour), but the further you go inland the hotter and dustier it gets, so I try to avoid doing that during the day. After all, SoCal is in the freakin' desert.

Anything else?

Wow, JD. Well said! Here's a few extra bits and pieces...

You need a car to survive in LA/OC. Traffic is just as bad as JDMurray has mentioned, but can get worse sometimes. People here have a tendency to suffer from the rubber neck syndrome even if the accident is on the other side of the freeway on the shoulder.

Train/Subway commute is possible, but the LA mass transit system is still in major progress of being revamped and properly setup. You'll want to review the link below for more details.

http://www.metrolinktrains.com/

If you must commute by a mass transit system, I strongly suggest finding a place to live nearby a station.

Irvine is truely cost prohibitive to live in, IMHO. But, if you're okay with just renting a room, then you might want to consider checking Craigslist. Many rooms go up for rent because University of California, Irvine is nearby. Find one that is rented out by a home owner because if its with students, then you'll have to move out when the lease is up. Students from UCI are notorious for moving after every lease contract. Renting rooms is not bad at a $600/month. 1b/1b apartments when I went to UCI were $1,300 back in 2000. Renting a house is even worse, JDMurray is right that it would be equal to a mortgage payment.

I recommend Tustin around Jamboree because you're nearby the Tustin Auto Square and there are many automotive repair shops and major stores as well as plenty of places to eat.

Another great place to live is in Costa Mesa south of the 405 freeway on Bristol. Plenty of Japanese food restaurants, South Coast Plaza Mall, great Japanese auto repair called Hiro's Auto next to a wonderful Japanese market/food court called Mitsuwa Plaza, and rent is not bad in that area. Both places are just a stone's throw away from Irvine. Both places, you can take local streets as well as side roads to avoid freeways if need be. You will most likely be a little closer to the technology companies by being in Tustin.

OC is a nice place. If I had to buy a house, I'd get one in Fullerton/Brea. That's north of where you're looking though. I don't mind driving since I've lived in LA/OC my entire life.

I have to warn you... If you really do make the transition, be aggressive with your driving. You can get a ticket for driving too slow for obstructing traffic, you can get a ticket for driving too fast for endangering others. 5-10 mph over is considered normal. Freeway speed is 65 mph officially, but everyone drives at around ~75 mph. If pedestrians are crossing, wait for them to cross entirely otherwise you'll get a $500 ticket.

There are many great places all over LA/OC that makes this place worth living in, but you have to have a car in order to get to any of them. Be prepared to pay for lots of gas, invest in a Costco membership in order to buy gas $0.20 cents cheaper than the standard pump. It makes the $50 per year membership well worth it, IMHO.

mamono wrote:

OC is a nice place. If I had to buy a house, I'd get one in Fullerton/Brea. That's north of where you're looking though. I don't mind driving since I've lived in LA/OC my entire life.

I graduated from CSU Fullerton and like that area too. Fullerton is the birthplace of the Fender solid-body guitar.

Note that there are some really bad areas of Costa Mesa that are really just a suburb of Santa Ana, so beware if you don't have the proper baggies, wifebeater, and tattoos (no joke).

dps

JDMurray and mamono pretty much summed up everything about Irvine. I've been living in Irvine since Oct '06 after migrating from the PI. Loving the area a lot.
It's an ideal city to raise children and families, lots of open spaces, but it could be "boring" for single young adults. It's clean and safe (low crime rate), top public schools, but houses can get really expensive.

You're right, Irvine has tons of IT jobs available. I know some people who commute daily from LA, Riverside just to work here. Traffic on the freeway gets bad during rush hour because of these daily commuters but I'd say it's not that bad on the city streets. You can ride the bus or the train to get here but having your own car is very highly recommended. On a good day, you can travel around Irvine in about 15-20 minutes or so. Well, I probably would've not said that when I just got here. If you know you're way around, it's all good.
It's halfway between LA and San Diego, close to the beaches which is also good.

I know someone who said that you can (comfortaby) survive living in Irvine, and the OC for that matter, if you're earning around $50k/year. Well, it really depends on your lifestyle and the place you're living in. Some apartment complexes here can be expensive but not all of 'em. And yes, you can live here without being an executive.

Sounds like a cool place! I'm not actively trying to leave the place I'm at now, but I'm keeping my options open about getting a job in Irvine and relocating. I think I'd love the weather and hopefully could find a place to live there without spending all my paycheck on rent!

So what's there to do for fun in the area?

darkerosxx wrote:

So what's there to do for fun in the area?

That depends on what you typically do for fun. Beaches, movies, water/sand/snow, lots of entertainment at the Irvine Spectrum, many different social groups for singles, families, and ethnic interests.

Irvine is located in Southern California, not North Dakota, so there's a few more thing to do here than most other places.

Cool. I'm looking in the area around the campus since I'd have to go to UC Irvine. The two-bedroom apartments there seem to be around 1700. That sound normal?

darkerosxx wrote:

Cool. I'm looking in the area around the campus since I'd have to go to UC Irvine. The two-bedroom apartments there seem to be around 1700. That sound normal?

Yes, that's normal. You have to consider that any apartment complex that is near campus will be jam packed with students making finding any decent parking nearly impossible unless you have the garage parking privilege. $1,700 per month for a 2bed/2bath is normal near campus. Keeping in mind, that apartment would probably have 5-6 students living in it, FYI. I lived in Dartmouth Court behind University Center for a while and we were 6 students packed into that sardine can apartment. Didn't help that my roommates were Starcraft "warlords" with no cleaning skittles. **cough** **gag**

Anyways, if you have a car and you need quick access to campus, definitely consider Costa Mesa along the 73 Freeway. The 73 freeway is a toll road, but only charges a few miles south of UCI Campus, so you could take the northern stretch of freeway heading south from Costa Mesa which is usually clear during 80%-90% of the day, except rush hour. That should give you access to lower rent apartments. Plus, it does help to access the campus from the back entrances rather than the front because of traffic reasons, IMHO.

There are plenty of places for entertainment: Irvine Spectrum (*noted by JDMurray), Fashion Island, South Coast Plaza, Metro Point, and of course the beach since its nearby. Lots of extra curricular activities available since you're going to be a student as well as free campus gym membership. I really liked the UCI Gym, 2nd floor raised/padded running track was very nice.

If you don't mind the drive, you could hit up Mission Viejo Mall off the 5 South freeway south of the 405S/5S junction. I always stopped by there every quarter because hardly anyone goes there and I was able to buy dress shirts and nice name brand clothes on sale for like $10-$15 each, 70%+ off retail.

I expect that you'll end up doing a lot of late night activities and will learn to love Alberto's Mexican food in Newport Beach or Tustin, sometimes the name keeps changing to something similar sounding. :P They're open 24/7, so should your porcelain throne. Be forewarned... For all the asian people, late night runs to Garden Grove for BCD Tofu, open 24/7.

Nice. I'll look into those apartments in Costa Mesa. I'll just be moving with my wife, so no sardine cans!

Thanks for the ideas of stuff to do. To get her to approve, I have to find apartments at a good price, fun stuff to do, close hospitals(for her work), and good food. You've given me lots of good stuff! Thanks!

wat08

JDMurray wrote:

Most Irvine communities are governed by Fascist dictatorships called "homeowner associations." These are hollow, power-obsessed people whose sole purpose in life is to derive pleasure from the misery of Irvine home owners by issuing tickets for having not having cut your lawn for more than seven days, or for having your garage door open for more than 15 minutes.

LOL!

wat08 wrote:

JDMurray wrote:

Most Irvine communities are governed by Fascist dictatorships called "homeowner associations." These are hollow, power-obsessed people whose sole purpose in life is to derive pleasure from the misery of Irvine home owners by issuing tickets for having not having cut your lawn for more than seven days, or for having your garage door open for more than 15 minutes.

LOL!

That's the truth!

darkerosxx wrote:

Nice. I'll look into those apartments in Costa Mesa. I'll just be moving with my wife, so no sardine cans!

Thanks for the ideas of stuff to do. To get her to approve, I have to find apartments at a good price, fun stuff to do, close hospitals(for her work), and good food. You've given me lots of good stuff! Thanks!

Kaiser Permanente just opened a brand spankin' new hospital in Irvine. If you live in Costa Mesa, could take a short drive down the 405 South and you're there. Even more reason to move to Costa Mesa!

Kaiser Permanente - Irvine Medical Offices
6 Willard
Irvine, CA 92604

Kaiser Permanente - Alton/Sand Canyon Medical Offices
Ambulatory SurgiCenter
Building 1
6670 Alton Parkway
Irvine, CA 92618
(Formerly known as "Sand Canyon Medical Offices")
Building 2
6650 Alton Parkway
Irvine, CA 92618

Kaiser Permanente Orange County-Irvine Medical Center
Emergency services
Hospital and Medical Offices
6640 Alton Pkwy.
Irvine, CA 92618

JDMurray wrote:

wat08 wrote:

JDMurray wrote:

Most Irvine communities are governed by Fascist dictatorships called "homeowner associations." These are hollow, power-obsessed people whose sole purpose in life is to derive pleasure from the misery of Irvine home owners by issuing tickets for having not having cut your lawn for more than seven days, or for having your garage door open for more than 15 minutes.

LOL!

That's the truth!

I can vouch for that statement!

mamono wrote:

Kaiser Permanente just opened a brand spankin' new hospital in Irvine. If you live in Costa Mesa, could take a short drive down the 405 South and you're there. Even more reason to move to Costa Mesa!

I drive by it everyday on the I-405 and my wife knows a few nurses that love working there.

Here's the Orange County Presidential Election map for OC. You can easily see where lives the red and blue in the county: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/local-results-orange-2208971-county-election

LBC90805

JDMurray wrote:

Here's the Orange County Presidential Election map for OC. You can easily see where lives the red and blue in the county: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/local-results-orange-2208971-county-election

Off Topic == That map is some GAWD-AWFUL Gerrymandering.

On Topic == to the OP, you don't have to live in Orange County. You can find some decent living as far west as Long Beach around the Belmont Shore/Second Street/Naples Island area. Atleast there you are closer to OC. Communte will be a little farther; but that's what people do in LA/Orange/Riverside counties.

LBC90805 wrote:

Off Topic == That map is some GAWD-AWFUL Gerrymandering.

That map shows the city borders, not the voting district borders. The precinct map of OC contains the absurdity to which you are referring: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/presidential-election-vote-2215475-precincts-oc

Irvine update: Irvine Named Safest Large City In America for the fifth consecutive year

If only it weren't for the insane California state and local taxes...

skrpune

JDMurray wrote: »

Irvine update: Irvine Named Safest Large City In America for the fifth consecutive year

If only it weren't for the insane California state and local taxes...

I'll trade ya California taxes for IL sales tax and the soon to come huge hike in the IL income tax...sigh...I picked the WRONG time to move here!

astorrs

skrpune wrote: »

I'll trade ya California taxes for IL sales tax and the soon to come huge hike in the IL income tax...sigh...I picked the WRONG time to move here!

And I'll take your pathetic little taxes... add municipal property tax - which also includes a TransLink tax (for funding public transportation), provincial (state) and federal income tax and then since just one isn't enough, I'll throw in a provincial AND a federal sales tax.

Oh yeah and then there's the liquor tax, a 9-1-1 tax on all phone/cellular bills, and of course who could forget the almost year old now "carbon tax" which comes in addition to the previously existing gasoline tax... I'm sure I'm missing a few.

Welcome to Vancouver, British Columbia.

I complain but I wouldn't move... after all we're still one of the world's most desirable places to live

HeroPsycho

mamono wrote: »

People here have a tendency to suffer from the rubber neck syndrome even if the accident is on the other side of the freeway on the shoulder.

I'd move to where people don't do that. Sadly, that place doesn't exist outside of mythology and fairy tales.

dynamik

I was in until you mentioned the liquor tax. That's a deal-breaker, sorry Andrew

skrpune

dynamik wrote: »

I was in until you mentioned the liquor tax. That's a deal-breaker, sorry Andrew

Yeah, the liquor tax in Canada is pretty wicked...I don't remember how much it was, but I remember being very cranky every time I bought booze up there. We've got a liquor tax in my county here too (although I'm pretty sure it's less than the Canadian tax). I swear, living in Ontario & paying taxes out the wazoo was great training for living in IL.

astorss - I never quite understood the "temporary" federal sales tax that never went away. I can't imagine the US govt getting away with something like that down here...although they get away with plenty of other stuff...

skrpune wrote: »

astorss - I never quite understood the "temporary" federal sales tax that never went away. I can't imagine the US govt getting away with something like that down here...although they get away with plenty of other stuff...

Taxes imposed down here never go away. Even if there is a termination deadline in the law itself, the deadline can be extended indefinitely by whatever governing body imposed the law.

And at least taxes in Canada are put back into services like health care and education. Down here a national VAT would only be used to pay off debt, and Joe Taxpayer would not see any direct benefit from paying more taxes.

HeroPsycho

skrpune wrote: »

astorss - I never quite understood the "temporary" federal sales tax that never went away. I can't imagine the US govt getting away with something like that down here...although they get away with plenty of other stuff...

Sales tax is idiotic anyway. It's regressive and horrendously inefficient. The majority of the money collected in sales tax goes to costs associated with collecting the money.

Income tax is like 95% efficient on the other hand, and can be made progressive, flat, or regressive.

Even if you're against progressive taxation, we could eliminate sales tax for everyone, raise income tax a smidgeon, and everyone could then pay less in taxes, and the government could collect more in tax revenues if you did it right. Not sure about the history of sales tax in Canada, but the US it was instituted by states (it's unconstitutional for the federal government to do it) to supplement tax revenues without people noticing or putting up a fuss. Paying an extra nickel for every dollar you spend, and people live with it. Raise their income taxes by an amount less than how much they would end up paying in said sales tax, and people suddenly vote for the other guy.

Sales tax = most retarded tax ever.

Back on topic:

WTB JOB IN IRVINE!

astorrs

darkerosxx wrote: »

Back on topic

No way this thread has officially been hijacked.

There are many lovely møøse in Irvine, CA.

And none of them have bitten my sister.