I don't do well with stagnant commutes. For that reason, even though I'm working in Corona, I won't move there. From Corona, it doesn't really matter where you're working, traffic jams in all directions.
For homes, the nice older homes with style are in parts of the hood that need gentrification. The newer homes, much like Irvine but with slightly larger allocations of scrub desert to maintain. If you drive up the newer commercial zones, again, looks like Irvine. There isn't even a shortage of nice restaurants. Granted, I haven't found a little section like the Foodcourt between Target/Lowe's at Tustin Marketplace. The Persian places, Indian places and other ethnic food choices tend to scatter more into the older parts of town.
Still, for as much as the newer places are like Irvine, they're not. It's laid out like Irvine, new like Irvine, clean like Irvine, maintained like Irvine, but... different. That said, there are newer developments that I've got no visibility into. Nor is saying different meaning worse. It means different. A slightly different vibe.
I suspect, and this is just suspect, being a gut reaction, but the vibe and difference comes down to age. I'm struck by how many young mothers I see about during the day in Corona. I don't recall that in Irvine or Newport. You see mothers around, but they aren't young like Corona. I don't mean high school age, but I mean out of high school or college and one or two little ones. You don't see that in Irvine. Not to the volume of Corona, were you'll see 29 or 30 year old couples with three kids ranging from 8ish to baby. It's kind of appears like a get out of school, get married, have kids model which tends to be a more traditional and religious model compared to Irvine.
