Quote from dchang0:
"The OC" is filmed mostly in Santa Monica, CA, but the outdoor location shots are shot in Newport Beach all the way down to Newport Coast (not as far as Laguna Beach). The hospital at which I work (my day job) was in several backdrop shots of the yacht clubs at Balboa Island (near "The Arches" restaurant--a show favorite).
Temps are as low as 50-60 deg F at night at the beach (the marine layer and heavy fog chill things) and as high as 80-90 at noon in the summer. Usually, it's about 70-78 year-round during the day.
Several Cheesecake Factories. The one in Fashion Island Mall, Newport Beach, is the perfect place to watch trophy wives pushing around baby carriages. It's hard to believe that these supermodel-like women actually carried these babies themselves with their tight, perfect bodies... Either they've got awesome personal trainers and plastic surgeons, or they got surrogate mothers to carry their babies for them--lol!
The creeps tend to be up in LA. Orange County is a totally different way of life. I always get stressed out when I go up to LA, especially with the traffic and general offensiveness of the people up there. Last time I was in Santa Monica, some disheveled beach-bum guy started yelling incomprehensibly at me for no reason at all. I just happened to be walking by the bus stop on my way to a restaurant, and he started yelling and pointing at me--it took a block or two before I figured out that he was trying to insult me, lol! While driving, I nearly got hit THREE times in less than four hours. It took me three hours just to get home from LA (45 miles). Traffic was bumper-to-bumper BEFORE
Friday rush hour.
Back in the OC, I am totally at ease. Crime is low (except in the low-income or high-gang-activity areas, which are usually one and the same). People are just generally more laid-back here, with less hustle and bustle and congestion.
West LA is very cool, very hip and happening, but not at all safe. You can do quite well there if you are constantly vigilant, but don't let your guard down for a minute--especially at night. I have friends that live up there, and we all watch our cars and ourselves carefully whereever we go.
And there's the housing costs. A study released this past month says that the median annual family income required to buy a median home in Southern California is $126K to $128K/yr. The median home price is $540K.
My neighborhood is priced between $1.5 million and $3.0 million, and we're nowhere near as nice a town as Newport Coast. I won't be able to buy a house here until after a real-estate crash.
It's a great place to live, but too expensive to do so now.
