I can't think of a better place to live.
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4/15/2023
We've lived in Irvine since '87.
We have raised two children within the ISUD. Both are grown up.
Sure, there have been many changes since then.. the City has grown tremendously, specially East of the 5. And the demographics have changed a lot... perhaps a bit too much. but all in all the socioeconomic and academic mix has not changed... it is decidedly up market.
Nightlife? Who cares, I like to sleep soundly at night. The Chinese have a saying: "May you have an interesting life".. which is not a good thing to them. Living in a "boring" place can be a very good thing.
Crime? It seems like we import it.. not much local. I can leave my garage door opened all day, with the keys in the cars and nobody touches my cars, my tools, my stuff... etc..
Cops? A bit overzealous the traffic cops can be. But other than that they're fine.
Location? We can hike five miles on trails in parks and wildernesses from our house to the beach -on the other side of PCH. If we feel up to it, we can even hike down the Laguna Beach. Try that most anywhere else!
Cost of living... well, we've been here for so long, and even though we rebuilt our house from the ground up ( needed a bigger house ) our cost of being here is rather low... The problems seem to stem with the crazy politicians up North, not the local place.
Shopping/Dining. Excellent. Ethnic cuisines and markets. Fine restaurants. All kinds of stores ( five Costco's..., four Home Depots... etc, etc... ).
Weather... perfect.
Overall, we have thought of taking our equity and moving somewhere else... but we can not think of a better place to live. So, here we are.
tony | Irvine, CA