Hi! Our family is moving to Irvine from Europe in a couple of months. Based on my partner’s office location, we’ve narrowed down our potential living area to Orchard Hills, Northwood Pointe and Portola Springs. Originally, we were considering Orchard Hills only, but as we missed out two houses there that we really liked, we decided to broaden our search.

Since we’re only slightly familiar with the city, we’d be highly grateful if you could share your thoughts on each area and provide any important details about each for us to take into account.

Some information: Our monthly rent budget is 6-8K. Schools are not a priority, as our kid is only 2 years old. No pets. Gated community is very desirable but we’re open to all options at this point. Thank you!

Hello all, my electricity bill is getting wildly high due to the heat. Last bill was close to $500, ~1300kWh. The high amount of electricity used so far this year. I already got quotes from Tesla ($40k) and SunRun ($38k). Both suggested getting 26 solar panels with 2 Tesla powerwall batteries.

Any suggestions on where I can get another quote before proceeding? I can buy it all upfront unless there are incentives financing/leasing.

requesting advice if anyone has experience with this.

My fiance and I signed a lease for a unit at an Irvine Company community with a start date of today, August 31. I’ve already lived in a couple others and know they have their issues, but we found one we liked and have been anticipating our move there. After signing the lease, we requested a unit history report that indicated no water/mold damage in the past 6 months. Overall, everything was on track for our move.

This past Saturday, August 29, Irvine Company emailed us to notify us that our unit was found to require extensive maintenance and would not be ready prior to our lease start. They said they would follow up with alternative solutions for us - they did not. We sought out the leasing team in person, and they shared that a unit with the exact same layout/upgrades but one building over was available for us to transfer to BUT it would be at a higher rate. On a general level, this is ridiculous to me. I am not paying a higher rent for THEIR mistake. We tried to negotiate lowering the rent and they are unwilling to budge so far.

When we inquired why the original unit we signed for was unavailable, they said they were not at liberty to say. We have no idea why we aren’t getting our original unit. However, yesterday our original unit was re-listed as “available today” for rent. We have not terminated the lease or agreed to the transfer yet. The original unit and its corresponding utilities are still in our name.

My question to anyone who may be able to help: my understanding is this is a legitimate breach of contract. What other ways can I not be financially responsible for this transfer and/or receive financial compensation? I’m financially motivated to stay because I qualified for a $0 security deposit and waived application fee.

Curious for people who live in Irvine or OC area. Are you guys interested in more public art? Murals, more cultural/entertainment centers, sculptures etc...

I know the towns vibe is more family friendly and older, but I can't tell if its a lack of desire or just the strict city planning that snuffs any arts and culture.

I feel like the city has such a diverse population and it be beautiful to see it more artistically alive.

We’re a family of 4 considering a 2 bed/2 bath at Meridian, Colonnade, or similar newer Irvine Company apartments around Spectrum.
We toured a few and liked them, but the bedrooms felt pretty small. I need to fit a bed + desk/workspace in one bedroom, and I’m also concerned about limited storage and the small dishwasher. Meanwhile, the bathrooms seem huge compared to the bedrooms.
For anyone living in a 2BR there: does it feel cramped once you move in? Is there enough storage, and can you comfortably fit a bed + desk in the bedrooms?
Would love to hear your experience, especially from families!

what what what!

Many suggested to lawyer up prior to signing a lease for commercial retail space with Irvine Company; any recommendations? This is for QSR; I am just getting started and have not yet looked around, asking folks who have been through this journey. Budget: not sure. It's SMB QSR retail, 800-900 Sq ft just to give you perspective. Thanks

I've never seen a spirit Halloween this nice from the outside.

Usually it's just some cheap temporary banner on a former big box store.

The inside actually looks nicer than your typical bare floors and walls too.

There weren't too many posts so I'm creating this one in case anyone wants to talk about their overall experience at the festival, how it went, and what the experience was like getting out of the area.

Like I mentioned in the last thread, individual posts about the festival outside of this thread are still allowed.

We'll see if the event returns next year.

Link to yesterday's post

As a side note, if there are events in the future that you would like megathreads for, feel free to reach out.

What a great surprise! It was incredible.

Please be careful while driving. Was driving east on Shady Canyon Drive in between Turtle Rock Turtle Ridge. Almost got hit by someone trying to pass on the opposite side of the road. Had to swerve to avoid getting colliding head on. Be safe out there.

I saw this posted in the common area of Amaris in Luna Park while visiting my father-in-law. At first I thought it was an HOA notice of some sort related to the DCF. The unsigned notices appears to be some Karen that now wants to make sure residents aren't smoking inside their own units.

My time with Irvine is coming to an end as I am moving away to be closer to family. With being said, what are some classic or must try food places in or around Irvine that I should eat at with my last weekend living here?

New Post Event Thread is Here!

I'm expecting a lot of posts about the music festival happening today so I'm creating this thread for general discussion and/or complaints.

Individual posts submitted to the subreddit about the festival are still allowed so if you have an interesting or unique video/photos to share, feel free to submit them.

I'll also use this thread to link existing threads about the festival.

Threads about:

Road Closures

Heat concerns

Alanis Morissette sighting

Links from the Daisy Chain Fields website:

Daisy Chain Festivals Map

Schedule

I hope the event runs smoothly for everyone involved!

Marble was one of my favorite places to eat. Lots of violations including rodent infestation. Gutted.

I don't even know if it's already too late but I saw a banner up in the Ranch neighborhood about stopping the Oak Creek golf course development. I'd love to check it out although I wasn't close enough to get a good look at the url, nor do I even know if this even still has a chance at fighting back. I know it will probably happen anyways but I have to at least try to do what I believe is right!!

Hey Irvine,

My name is Ali and I took over managing Ameci Pizza Kitchen about a year ago. We've been in West Park since 1994 - most of you have probably driven past us or ordered from us at some point.

I've been working hard to improve the restaurant - new oven, remodeling, updated recipes, better quality ingredients, better customer service, and I want to know honestly what our customers actually think. Not the polished review version.

So I'm asking directly: if you've ordered from us, what do you think? What did we do well? What was disappointing? What would make you order from us more often? What stops you from ordering from us at all?

I can take it. Honest feedback - even if it's harsh - is more valuable to me than a five star review that doesn't tell me anything.

Thanks Irvine - genuinely 🙏🏾

I've been at IC apartments for almost 5 years now and have had the AC on around 68-70 for years with no issues. Now with the recent heat wave, the apartment doesn't get cooler than 77 degrees for most of the day. From 4 am to 8 am it may go down to 73.

Is this normal?