Post #240177 by TikiJosh on Wed, Jun 28, 2006 2:42 PM

just in case the topic gets revived by Freddie or someone else:
Orange is a good place. My wife's been there for 6 years, I've been there for 4. We both love it. There's a TJ on Tustin Ave in Orange, near the mall. It's the only one around us that I'm aware of. Rent can vary pretty wildly, mostly depending on how close you are to the Plaza/Traffic Circle/Historical Downtown/Chapman U. The farther you are from that area, the cheaper your rent will be (generally).

Cypress is between the 605 to the west, the 5/91 to the north, the 405/22 to the south. The address would determine which freeway you'd want to take, as you may be closer to one freeway than another, but assuming you take the 22 from Orange, your morning commute would be about 30 minutes, assuming you start work at 9. The 22 around 5 or 5:30 would take anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes to get to Orange, with 60 minutes being pretty rare. Those numbers are based on my own experience driving the 22 every day for the last 4 years.
Traffic on the 22 HAS been a little worse lately because the 22 freeway construction has started interrupting traffic flows, so commute times might even be longer.

Because Orange is sort of on the outer limits of where you want to be, distance-wise, you might consider the Anaheim area. It's closer and there are some very cool mid-century buildings left in the area. Cerritos and Lakewood to the West are also nice. They're relatively quiet communities, again with some good midcentury architecture. Cerritos College is one of my favorite examples. All three of these areas would be closer to Cypress, and rent should (I emphasize should) be in your range. I would expect that Anaheim would be the cheapest of the three. I haven't checked much on rent in those areas lately.
You might also consider Buena Park, though I don't have much helpful advice for that area.

Not a lot of car mechanics around that I know of. I go to the Jiffy Lube on Katella.
Grocery-wise, wherever you are in North Orange County, you're never very far from Hi Times in Costa Mesa-- the best liquor store ever (http://www.hitimewine.net/)! There are at least a few BevMo's around, there's one in Orange almost right across the street from Trader Joe's. There is a good Ralphs on Chapman east of the 55 freeway that's never very busy, is always clean, well-stocked and has great selection.
Anyway, hope that helps anyone (Freddie or otherwise) who may need/want info. Of course, if anyone's ever in the area, let me know, and you can come over and have a Mai Tai!

[ Edited by: TikiJosh 2006-06-28 14:47 ]

[ Edited by: TikiJosh 2006-06-28 14:48 ]