Behind the Orange Curtains

R

roundcorners_IHB

New member
Having grown up in the South Bay, Los Angeles was my home, work place and playground. The suburbs of LA were where I thought everyone lived. Redondo, Hermosa and Manhattan were the beaches I boogey board as a kid. The San Gabriel Valley was where we ate; and where my parents bought their weekly groceries. The west-side, Santa Monica and Venice became fun in high school when we started to drive. Shortly after that the entire city became our playing field; Pasadena, Universal City, Hollywood then Melrose. LA was the place to be as a single guy. To get a hot dog we drove to Pinks; to eat good BBQ we hit up K-Town. I lived and worked in Downtown, S.F. Valley, Century and Culver City. We clubbed in Sunset, raved in Hollywood, dinned around the Beverly Center, drank in Westwood and nursed our hang-over in Long Beach. The Miracle Mile was where we found our cultural identity. We lived under the towering shadows of the LA skyscrapers; they were the constant compass of our daily adventures.



Never in the equation was Orange County. The extent of the OC was an occasional visit to Knott?s or Disneyland. I despised the kids who grew up in the OC. I made fun of how fake The Block/Irvine Spectrum seemed. Coming from a broken family, Irvine was the ultimate fa?ade of the fictitious fantasy happy-home. It was boring, quiet and dead after 6pm; and I vowed never to live there.



It is ironic how as I write today; I feel almost the complete opposite. In trying to raise a family and purchase a house I will not even consider anything within LA county lines. Call it moving into another life stage, maturing or simply growing up; now I can?t imagine strolling the streets of Ventura Blvd or Glendale with the family. As a matter of fact, I don?t remember the last time I?ve seen the tall downtown building; I can only imagine what the new LA Live/Nokia center looks like.



The OC is just so comfortable, so family friendly that now I live deep within its orange curtains. We make no attempts to venture up into LA at all. I now prefer the fa?ade stucco newness of Irvine over the graffiti ridden, grittiness of reality in the concrete jungles of LA.



We are making a conscientious decision to raise our child in the protective boundaries of the OC. However my wife and I will be thoughtful to educate him of the world beyond Irvine. The challenge now is to live and enjoy the OC lifestyle while equipping him with the street smarts of LA. I am curious to hear your stories when you were single or since been married; did you grow up in the OC/LA; are you still there or have you made a similar move? I?m curious to hear your strategy and experience as you and your family relates to live and balance the seemingly divergent cultures of Los Angeles and Orange County.
 
i go to LA when i need to... usually to hang out with friends or catch a show or concert... and every time i'm sitting in traffic on a saturday, I CURSE LA.
 
I totally identify with much of this post. I lived in the South Bay and Santa Monica in my twenties and while I could see myself raising kids in either place I still believe Irvine is a better option.



I have taken my kids up to LA on the train a couple of times as I, too, want them to understand there are places that are a little grittier than Irvine. A trip on the Red Line seated next to some homeless dude and the bathroom at Union Station helped to drive this point home. Things like this don't really bother me, though. Sitting in LA traffic is much worse IMO.
 
I live in LA and don't mind the traffic at all. 3.5 mile commute helps a lot. ;)



Are the southbay schools not good enough, not safe enough, or both? I think I've seen some pretty good test scores from Torrance and Palos Verdes.
 
I grew up in Long Beach and never even realized Orange County was here until I went to UCI. I would always visit Huntington Beach but I thought that was part of LA county.

I have to agree Irvine grows on you, at first I absolutely hated the cookie cutter homes. I vowed to move as far away from Irvine as soon as I graduated, back to LA.

Fast forward to today, I am still here and now kinda like Irvine.
 
WOW.



I came from the same almost exact situation.



Born in Santa Monica. Raised in Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice High.

Some time at UCLA. It sure was a different place back in the 70`s and 80`s.

We loved the lifestyle of the Westside. The Strip, Malibu, Topanga.

Westwood and the Movies and Dinners with friends.

Surfing and living the life up and down PCH. I had an Apartment on the beach

off of Pico close to the Pier back then.

We bought finally a home in Long Beach in 1983. Thats when we discovered the OC.



Nowdays.

Anytime I need to make a commute to LA its planned.

I still have a home in Culver City that belonged to my Parents. So I still make the run.

Its strange to go back to the old neighborhoods. They sure dont seem as safe.

Going to a Laker Game, USC/UCLA Game, and maybe to see my attorney once a year

are my only reasons to venture north of the Orange Curtain these days.



The Hours of time sitting on the 405. I have NO IDEA how people do this daily.

And tempers are much shorter than I recall of the past. Its just insane all the traffic.



Exceptions are trips "Through LA". Golf and Spa in Ojai or a trip to Santa

Barbera/Ynez Valley. And at all costs. Always avoid anything that involves LAX.



The other thing you really notice when you drive north. The feeling upon return.

The moment you hit Seal Beach on the 405. Or you hit the 91 on the 5.

You realize you have returned to the your side of the curtain.

Good to be home again behind the Orange Curtain. LOL
 
Sister in law lives in So. Pasadena. She used to live in Echo Park, visiting her a few times a year is about the only reason I head that direction. I can really live without it, especially the Saturday traffic!
 
bltserv, remember watching the Lakers at the Forum? Clippers at the Arena? Thanks for the input everyone! What I really want to know is, why are the singles here in Irvine? SC, if you are lurking, why did you move to Irvine after attending USC?
 
I grew up in LA and spent most of my professional career in Palos Verdes. I lived in Irvine for a long time and every weekends I went to LA for everything. The drive does not bother me because I am into history and culture. The reward is always there after a long drive. I like art museums and OC offers Bower and Joan Irvine's museum. Both are very small. Norton Simon, LACMA, Getty and Huntington are all in LA.



LA has the best bookstores: Vroman, Henessey and Ingall, Booksoup, and other specialty books. OC has all chain stores.



The reason I am in OC is my daughter. My work is no longer affiliated with OC and I do work in San Diego and Northern CA. Products coming up in OC would lose the broader appeal to Asians. I did it well because I listened to and and learned about you the buyers here in IHB.



My Irish wife loves Chinese food and she insists Monterey Park or Rowland Heights. I can't take her to places where fortune cookies come with the bill.
 
[quote author="roundcorners" date=1240630145]bltserv, remember watching the Lakers at the Forum? Clippers at the Arena? Thanks for the input everyone! What I really want to know is, why are the singles here in Irvine? SC, if you are lurking, why did you move to Irvine after attending USC?</blockquote>


Lakers and Concerts at the Forum. Running to Hollywood Park after work to play the last 2 races. All the killer Bars and Chicks in Manhatten Beach. Just seems like singles here have a much harder time of it. Its fine down here if you want to hit on Cougars. But all the young people. (My son is 23) seem to still go North to LA for Clubing and music.

There is some action in Dana Point he says. But he goes at least once a month to the darkside to party with his friends. And he says the same thing. "DAD how the hell did you grow up in that part of town". "I had no idea how rough it is". "That drive sucks".

Another spoiled OC Brat.
 
Lakers and Concerts at the Forum. Running to Hollywood Park after work to play the last 2 races. All the killer Bars and Chicks in Manhatten Beach. Just seems like singles here have a much harder time of it. Its fine down here if you want to hit on Cougars. But all the young people. (My son is 23) seem to still go North to LA for Clubing and music.

There is some action in Dana Point he says. But he goes at least once a month to the darkside to party with his friends. And he says the same thing. "DAD how the hell did you grow up in that part of town". "I had no idea how rough it is". "That drive sucks".

Another spoiled OC Brat.</blockquote>


Do you think you have equipped your son for the world and life outside Irvine?
 
[quote author="bkshopr" date=1240630232]The reason I am in OC is my daughter. </blockquote>


Me too. I took a big pay cut to come back to OC from LA. Although if I stayed in LA, I would be paying private school tuiton so I guess it all evens out.
 
[quote author="roundcorners" date=1240631944]Lakers and Concerts at the Forum. Running to Hollywood Park after work to play the last 2 races. All the killer Bars and Chicks in Manhatten Beach. Just seems like singles here have a much harder time of it. Its fine down here if you want to hit on Cougars. But all the young people. (My son is 23) seem to still go North to LA for Clubing and music.

There is some action in Dana Point he says. But he goes at least once a month to the darkside to party with his friends. And he says the same thing. "DAD how the hell did you grow up in that part of town". "I had no idea how rough it is". "That drive sucks".

Another spoiled OC Brat.</blockquote>


Do you think you have equipped your son for the world and life outside Irvine?</blockquote>


I started him in martial arts at about 7 years old. United Studios on La Paz.

Today he is at Gracie Bara over on Sand Canyon. He is more than equipped physically.

Emotionally he is learning the hard way. Yes the world is a different place outside the OC.

But his job looks like he may be traveling Internationally soon. So he can get the full picture on his own time. As Parents we give them the tools, skills and ethics. They will learn the rest on there own. Let them enjoy being young. As long as they have a good heart and soul they can and will survive anything outside the OC.
 
I voted that I venture into LA "on a regular basis" because I tend to tip toe across the LA County border into the Long Beach/Los Alamitos areas on a weekly basis. I also have family and friends in the South Bay. As for what I consider to be the more immediate LA area, I venture there for sporting events, plays, concerts or museums about once every 3-6 months.
 
[quote author="roundcorners" date=1240620960]Having grown up in the South Bay, Los Angeles was my home, work place and playground. The suburbs of LA were where I thought everyone lived. Redondo, Hermosa and Manhattan were the beaches I boogey board as a kid. The San Gabriel Valley was where we ate; and where my parents bought their weekly groceries. The west-side, Santa Monica and Venice became fun in high school when we started to drive. Shortly after that the entire city became our playing field; Pasadena, Universal City, Hollywood then Melrose. LA was the place to be as a single guy. To get a hot dog we drove to Pinks; to eat good BBQ we hit up K-Town. I lived and worked in Downtown, S.F. Valley, Century and Culver City. We clubbed in Sunset, raved in Hollywood, dinned around the Beverly Center, drank in Westwood and nursed our hang-over in Long Beach. The Miracle Mile was where we found our cultural identity. We lived under the towering shadows of the LA skyscrapers; they were the constant compass of our daily adventures.



Never in the equation was Orange County. The extent of the OC was an occasional visit to Knott?s or Disneyland. I despised the kids who grew up in the OC. I made fun of how fake The Block/Irvine Spectrum seemed. Coming from a broken family, Irvine was the ultimate fa?ade of the fictitious fantasy happy-home. It was boring, quiet and dead after 6pm; and I vowed never to live there.



It is ironic how as I write today; I feel almost the complete opposite. In trying to raise a family and purchase a house I will not even consider anything within LA county lines. Call it moving into another life stage, maturing or simply growing up; now I can?t imagine strolling the streets of Ventura Blvd or Glendale with the family. As a matter of fact, I don?t remember the last time I?ve seen the tall downtown building; I can only imagine what the new LA Live/Nokia center looks like.



The OC is just so comfortable, so family friendly that now I live deep within its orange curtains. We make no attempts to venture up into LA at all. I now prefer the fa?ade stucco newness of Irvine over the graffiti ridden, grittiness of reality in the concrete jungles of LA.



We are making a conscientious decision to raise our child in the protective boundaries of the OC. However my wife and I will be thoughtful to educate him of the world beyond Irvine. The challenge now is to live and enjoy the OC lifestyle while equipping him with the street smarts of LA. I am curious to hear your stories when you were single or since been married; did you grow up in the OC/LA; are you still there or have you made a similar move? I?m curious to hear your strategy and experience as you and your family relates to live and balance the seemingly divergent cultures of Los Angeles and Orange County.</blockquote>


My story is similar to yours. I was raised in the LA area, and I despised Irvine as a middle school and high school-aged kid. One set of my divorced parents moved to Irvine and as a pre-teen I thought Irvine had no character or personality. As I get older, the benefits OC offers me outweigh the negative thoughts I had about it when I was younger. There's a slight chance that I would have bought in the South Bay if my preferred South Bay locations had been within my price range. However, the older I get, OC becomes increasingly more attractive to me now that I'm thinking long-term. I have some high school friends who are still very vocal about their distaste for "the OC" and all its stereotypes. I love the various OC beaches and harbors, and its location between San Diego and LA.
 
<blockquote>LA has the best bookstores: Vroman, Henessey and Ingall, Booksoup, and other specialty books. OC has all chain stores.</blockquote>


Orange County used to have a really great book store called The Book Baron. I was really sad to see it go. Long Beach is a could place to buy rare books if you don't want to venture too far into LA. I recommend Acres of Books in LB.
 
[quote author="Mcdonna1980" date=1240647131]<blockquote>LA has the best bookstores: Vroman, Henessey and Ingall, Booksoup, and other specialty books. OC has all chain stores.</blockquote>


Orange County used to have a really great book store called The Book Baron. I was really sad to see it go. Long Beach is a could place to buy rare books if you don't want to venture too far into LA. I recommend Acres of Books in LB.</blockquote>


Book Baron had 2 locations. Brookhurst in Anaheim and another in Fullerton. Both are used book dealers and sold books on the internet. I bought several books from them.



The experience of being at the special bookstore is not just the books but the ambiance. The LA bookstores have many book signing events and have more connection to publishers.



I like Booksoup in Hollywood because I run into Diane Keaton, Tom Hank, and several other actors who love to read.



Another good store is Taschen.
 
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