Baby Irvine said:
Let me answer this question, "Can Irvine become too Asian?" If a previous hardcore Irvine fan Socal78 (the founder of TalkIrvine) left Irvine to buy a home elsewhere... the answer is YES.. Irvine is becoming ridiculously TOO ASIAN that even Panda wouldn't feel comfortable living there today.
LOL. Not sure how I missed this one. I agree with the previous commenter regarding how the atmosphere has changed. When they began ripping out the strawberry fields to build high-density housing, that started to kill my love for Irvine big-time! Twelve years ago when I first moved to the Tustin / Irvine area, I dreamed of one day living or owning in Irvine. Now? Blech. It's not a dream at all. The way the landscape has transformed is a big let-down. It was way more than just the demographics. That, the lack of value, the sardine-can-housing, the over-hyped schools, and sure - living in a brand new community in east Irvine where I felt like a total outsider. There were a lot of factors, not just the huge Asian population in that area. Having lived in South OC for 6 months now, I love it here. To me, this is much more along the lines of what a neighborhood should be. We have real yards. Good schools. Awesome shopping. The homes are not built one on top of another yet we still have amenities, which was one of the things I did like about Irvine. There are also lots of different kinds of people here unlike what I saw during my time in east Irvine. The other day we were taking a drive down the 133 South. It had been months since I had left my area (don't need to because everything you could possibly need is here!) We were on that stretch that overlooks the area between Portola Parkway & Irvine Blvd except I have no sense of direction and didn't know where we were. All I saw were these eyesores of new, gigantic apartment complexes. I asked my husband, "What is THAT?!?" It was so different from what I'm accustomed to now. He pointed out that we were looking at the new Stonegate area. Man. What a shame!!! It looks terrible! I was actually shocked. I knew they were going to be building more of the usual we've come to expect from TIC but when I finally saw it, I was really struck by the difference between that and what you'd see here up in the hills. I think over time, people become complacent and forget that the standard of living in Irvine is actually quite a bit different from what lies just outside the city in the surrounding areas. It was surely a shock to me. Anyway. Enough rambling from me. You get the picture.
