Irvine California

Factual Questions
1

About three weeks back I asked the teeming millions for help with the salary requirements for a job I was applying to in California. Many people replied, for which I am grateful, and the information that they supplied was very useful.

I have had a telephone interview with the company, and they are flying me down this Friday for a formal interview.

I was wondering if any of you have any information that you could pass on about Irvine. Things I am interested in are;

How bad is traffic within the city?

Is it a nice safe city? (one webpage I came across called it the safest city in America)

What is the sales tax in California?

Is there anything to do in the area, without having to go into L.A.?

Anything else you can think of would be appreciated.

Thank you

Scoobysnax

Save water drink beer!

2

As a San Diegan who spends quite a lot of time in and around Irvine, let me first suggest this is a better question for MPSIMS…but:

  1. Traffic in the city blows around 5:00pm as it does in just about any big city. Same goes for the mornings. It’s especially bad at the 5/405 merge (otherwise called the ‘Orange Crush’) Avoid having to go through there (El Toro) as much as possible.

  2. I’d say it’s pretty safe overall, though I wouldn’t say it’s the SAFEST city. The slime from Tustin and other nearby less ‘safe’ cities sometimes oozes into the area. Especially popular places like the Spectrum Center and Southcoast Plaza.

  3. Sales tax is 7 3/4% (I think)

  4. Stuff to do: The aforementioned Spectrum Center and Southcoast Plaza are nice hangouts for mall/ movie stuff. Laguna to the south is also quite nice and has some good beaches. And hey, Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm are less than 30 minutes away. And a mere hour South is San Diego which in my opinion, is the greatest place on Earth to live, but I’m JUST a little biased…

3

Thinking of relocating behind the Orange curtain, huh?

It’s hard to think of Irvine as a “City”. It’s really more of a bedroom community or suburb of LA (less than an hour away). At best you could call it a college town. You don’t have to live in Irvine to work there. You’re going to have to come up with at least $800-$1000 a month to find any one-bedroom apartment there. Don’t worry though, our freeways aren’t as horrendous as some people make them out to be. You could live just about anywhere in Orange County or LA’s South Bay and still keep your round trip under an hour and a half. For what you’d pay for a one-bedroom in Irvine, you could get a small one bedroom or studio right near the beach in Huntington Beach. Or you could commute from the “nice part” of Long Beach (the East Side) and get a two bedroom house for about $1000 a month.

This metro area, IMO, is the best in the world as far as lifestyle is concerned. One day last year I went surfing in the morning in Newport Beach, water sking in the early afternoon at Perris Lake and snow skiing that same afternoon in Big Bear.

4

Before somebody mentions it. Yes, there are several skyscrapers in Irvine, but there isn’t an urban downtown. That’s why I would hesitate to call it a “city”. Most of the big buildings are located along the 405 freeway and are really just an extention of the office building district that begins to the north in Costa Mesa’s South Coast Plaza area and stretches south through Newport Beach’s airport area, Irvine and finally Lake Forest where the office buildings finally give way to large homes in Mission Viejo and Laguna Hills.

5

Irvine is a city with some fairly strict zoning laws. Homes have to conform to regulations or you will get cited.

Although Irvine is located in one of the most conservative parts of California, Larry Agran, one of the more noted progressive politicians in America, is a former mayor of Irvine.

UC Irvine’s sports teams have one of the more unusual nicknames: Anteaters.

6

I don’t think anyone can quite comprehend Orange County, especially the southern end of it, without having been there to actually see it. I can remember back to when it WAS an Orange County, with groves and groves of the trees, as well as plenty of other agriculture. But, then, I can remember when there weren’t condos galore on the hillsides, either.

The worst of suburban sprawl all in one county. Ick.

7

An important thing to ask in your interview is what hours you will be working. A 6am-3pm shift or a 11am-8pm shift, for example, will make a world of difference in your commute. A lot of companies realize this and make adjustments to their business day or give their employees some flexability in their hours. A one hour drive at 5pm might take you only 20 ninutes at 3pm or 8pm.

8

QUOTE]Originally posted by Scoobysnax:
How bad is traffic within the city?

Is it a nice safe city? (one webpage I came across called it the safest city in America)

What is the sales tax in California?

Is there anything to do in the area, without having to go into L.A.?
[/QUOTE]

Scoobysnax, I’m not sure where you live now. Here are a few facts to know about the Greater Los Angeles Area. (BTW, I’m in Irvine California right now when I’m typing this.) Whatever UrsaMajor said was, of course, correct, and he has lived all his life here (I think), so he knows it all.

Rule Number One - if you hate driving, do not move here! If you don’t have a car, do not move here! Nothing is within walking distance from your house, except maybe your mailbox. The bus system is underfunded and it takes a long time to go from one place to another. Traffic at rush hour creeps down to a crawl. I personally have always chosen my workplace to be within a ten-minute drive from my house (and my career has probably suffered as a result, there are many better jobs I have turned down because I didn’t want to spend 90 minutes in traffic every day.)

The whole area surrounding Los Angeles (including Los Angeles and Orange Counties), when viewed from the air, would look like one giant city. You could drive using only city streets from Irvine to North Hollywood which is approximately 35 miles away as the crow files (though you wouldn’t want to do that.) There is no countryside between the cities that make up the greater LA area, which I would describe as roughly a square with sides of 40 and 30 miles, so it is not immediately obvious to you where one city ends and another starts.

Irvine is a safe place to live in, but 5 or 10 miles away you might be in a spot where you would be nervous walking around at night. There are many different styles of neighbourhood in Orange County. That being said, I have lived here 15 years and have never been mugged. I’ve always felt safe.

Sales tax in Orange County : 7.75%
In Los Angeles County: 8.25% (I think)

What do you enjoy doing?
Rock Concerts - Some small clubs (though small rock clubs are mostly in Los Angeles.) For larger concerts, Irvine has the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, which is big enough to accomodate large concerts such as Lollapalooza. In general, however, the big headliners (e.g. the Rolling Stones) would perform in downtown Los Angeles.

Performing Arts - Irvine has the Irvine Barclay Theatre. Neighbouring Costa Mesa has the Performing Arts Center and South Coast Repertory. I have seen several times in Time Magazine’s list of the 10 best plays of the year that South Coast Repertory productions were mentioned. Again, the major classical music divas will perform in downtown Los Angeles. Touring companies will perform the major Broadway plays at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, but you won’t see the New York Broadway stars there.

Movies - Movie theatres abound. For foreign films, Irvine and neighbouring Costa Mesa have two or three theatres (with multiple viewing rooms) to see those, so you’re set there. Again, the very obscure films might only play in Los Angeles.

Outdoors - No problem. There is the beach (though Irvine is not a beach city), hiking, mountain bike riding in wilderness parks, and if you’re willing to drive, you can easily get to the mountains.

Gambling - Las Vegas is about 4-6 hours away by car. There are a few casinos in the LA area, but I’m not sure exactly what’s in them, since I don’t gamble much. (I believe the LA casinos are strictly for card players.)

Schools - Irvine has University of California at Irvine (UCI), which from what I’ve heard is a decent school. If you’re not planning on going to school, you can hang out on campus and attend the student-type events (plays, basketball games, movie nights, etc…)

That’s all I can think of for now.

9

Thank you very much for all the information that you have provided.

I never realized just how big the urban sprawl is in that area!

If I live and work inside Irvine, can I expect to have a relatively short commute? I assume that I will have to avoid the major highways.

Is it safe to ride a bike on the secondary roads during rush hour? I ask because there are several condo communities within a few miles of the office.

Also how expensive is parking? (I have not asked about parking at work yet)

Thanks again.

Scoobysnax

Save water drink beer!

10

If you live and work inside Irvine, your commute will be short. Less than 15 minutes probably. However, Irvine is a fairly large city, so depending on where you work, you might be closer off living in Costa Mesa or Newport Beach or Orange or some other city.

I live in Costa Mesa, work in Irvine, and my commute to work is less than 10 minutes.

You can ride your bike, in Irvine many of the larger roads have bike lanes. Riding on the sidewalk is against the law. Again, depending on where you work, you might be able to ride around the back bay, where there is a biking/walking path.

Parking will be free, unless your job is on the UCI campus itself, in which case I don’t know. In general you don’t have to pay for parking in Orange County or any of the outlying cities around LA, but you do in downtown Los Angeles.