as a Chinese live in Irvine ,you are right about recent immigrant Elitist Chinese, I m sharing with you their perspective then you may understand why, those Chinese are also elitist in China at upscale class ,they don't easily make friends with lower class in China either. immigrate to USA is not for assimilate in america but for Asset allocation, once I ask few friends of them ,"why do yo live here if you dont want to learn english ,you dont watch american movie/listen american music, eat american food, discover american culture,make american fiends? they say they dont have to, they are spending money here not making money here, american will do whatever to understand them to earn their money". again, USA is just a option for their Asset allocation in overseas.
Daisy | Irvine, CA | Report Abuse

I could not disagree with the writer any more. I have personally lived in Irvine since Memorial Day Weekend of 1969 ( prior to it becoming a city). That puts me at 50 years and counting. I moved to Irvine with my then husband who happened to be 1/2 Chinese. It would be an understatement to say the city was very white at the time. I have raised a total of five boys putting them all through Irvine schools. As any metropolis area expands there is a natural tendency to seek kindred spirits especially if one speaks a foreign language. Never had any problems between kids of different ethnic groups. I sincerely believe one finds and sees what one wants to. The reader having moved here so late in the game and staying for such a short time would never be able to truly experience the many unique aspects of the city. Many have denigrated the Irvine Company for their stringent rules, but it is continually one of the safest cities in the country. No one talks about how Irvine saw value in lower cost housing many many years ago or our street built by Habitat for Humanity. Through all of the changes in the owners of The Irvine Company and all they did for the schools when they could have declined the city has thrived. Many years ago Woodbridge High School needed its gym completed. Who helped? Irvine Company. I could bore you for hours, but I will just say having been on the scene for the past 50 years it has been a privilege to watch Irvine mature and become quite the spot. When I moved here and was asked where I lived. The response to Irvine was "Where is that?" Everyone knows now!! There are many wonderful cities in the OC as they say, but none of them offer the variety of business, open spaces, an award winning University, fabulous schools, lovely homes, and a huge population brimming with so many interesting people. Granted it never was and never will be perfect, but with our 550,000 trees planted over time we appear to be more than a semi arid plain. I am happy to have seen the trees grow to their wondrous heights. I wish the reader had been here longer to get to know Irvine.
Nikki | Irvine, CA | Report Abuse

This is spot on. We moved to Irvine from the Atlanta metro area of Georgia in 2018, and despite a combined income over $210K annually, we can not afford to buy a house. Our rent is 4K a month and the house we live in would sell for 1.3 million. And Irvine Pacific (the major builder of newer homes) builds houses with thin walls, dripping sound from plumbing behind the walls, and our AC has broken three times ( house built in 2014). You can buy shoddy new construction of homes built in the 1960s-70s, all of which are less than 2000sf and need constant maintenance- those are your options for a SFH. Yes the streets are lovely the parks are plentiful and there are biking and running trails all over, which is awesome. Irvine does not allow homeless people or street beggars - they get picked up by police and “relocated” to nearby Tustin, Orange, and Santa Ana all of which look old and dumpy compared to Irvine, and are largely Hispanic. I live in one of those neighborhoods that is heavily populated with Chinese immigrants and yes they are aloof and don’t speak English. I don’t think they vote either - it’s true they are here as tourists. However, the Irvine Public schools are amazing so we stay for the sake of our gifted daughter. Have you noticed how hard it is to find a 10/10 rated middle school on greatschools.com? Irvine is one of the only places where you will. There was a “white flight” from Irvine to Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, and Dana Point when the Asians flooded in over the last 30 years, that’s where you will find the rich white conservative Republicans. They send their kids to private schools because the public schools are awful there. Anaheim is a bit more racially diverse, but a home for fanatical Christians, seriously there are churches everywhere. We moved from Georgia to get AWAY from all that, very disappointed that Orange County is almost as backward.
Julie | Irvine, CA | Report Abuse