Is Irvine more flashy than Lake Forest? (Orange, Newport Beach: tax, cost)

[JuanONeil]

Lake Forest is more well off on average (still a mostly middle class community though), Irvine probably has more rich people though. Anyway, this is south OC you’re talking about so it’s all “new money” flash, the closest that you’re going to get to anything resembling non-ostentatious wealth is in parts of Yorba Linda and maybe Orange. Irvine might be more conspicuously flashy but that’s because rich Asians and Persians wear their wealth differently and Irvine has lots of Asians and Persians while Lake Forest is more White and Mexican.

But hell what do I know I grew up in Placentia which may as well be South Central or Inglewood to most people who live on the other side of the Costa Mesa Freeway lol

[MrJester]

So given the same income in the same area, White people are more frugal and less flashy than Asians? I thought it was Asians who saved and invested a lot.

[saibot]

Originally Posted by MrJester

So given the same income in the same area, White people are more frugal and less flashy than Asians?

I wouldn't say that. I certainly know some extremely frugal Asians, and some profligate white people. But there are certain places in South OC that seem to be dominated by wealthy, flashy Asians, and people notice and remember that. As a white woman with no eye for fashion, I feel very out of place in South Coast Plaza, for instance.

[Keknoob]

Originally Posted by MrJester

But Newport Beach is predominantly white and there's lots of conspicuous consumption there. Rowland Heights, Monterrey Park, and even Diamond Bar are largely Chinese but they look a lot more down to earth than Irvine. Not sure if brand names is a race based thing. Seems like it varies by city.

What about Irvine makes it look flashy? The homes are all a bunch of stucco tract boxes.

The cars in my neighborhood are much more upscale than the standard stuff I see on my way to work in Irvine.

Honestly the flashiest cars I have seen in Irvine was when I was a grad student at UCI. The parking lot had Ferraris, lambos, porsches, you name it. But from what I could tell those were immigrant chinese kids just going on vacation at college for four years. Not second gen American born living in Irvine permanently.

[JuanONeil]

Originally Posted by MrJester

So given the same income in the same area, White people are more frugal and less flashy than Asians? I thought it was Asians who saved and invested a lot.

It’s my experience that new money mainland Chinese love to flaunt their wealth — they put their sons in overpriced street wear like Stüssy and Comme des Garçons, their wives and daughters wear Louis Vuitton and Gucci, their homes are landscaped like botanical gardens and they get new Bimmers or Lexuses (or now Teslas ugh) every year. I’m definitely not saying that there aren’t a ton of tacky and ostentatious people of every race including whites especially in Southern California where everyone with money is new money and the idea of being modest/understated/classy like what you might find back East or in the UK isn’t a thing , and I also don’t blame them because almost every Chinese person that is older than 40 was born into some degree of poverty or privation and now many of them have a degree of abundance that would’ve been unimaginable for their parents or even themselves as children.

[JuanONeil]

Originally Posted by MrJester

But Newport Beach is predominantly white and there's lots of conspicuous consumption there. Rowland Heights, Monterrey Park, and even Diamond Bar are largely Chinese but they look a lot more down to earth than Irvine. Not sure if brand names is a race based thing. Seems like it varies by city.

Is it really a shocker that working class places like Rowland Heights are modest, irrespective of ethnicity? Come on now..

If you are looking for places in the SGV comparable to what you’ll find in South OC we are talking about San Marino and parts of South Pasadena.


Anyways you seem terribly bent out of shape about an innocuous observation, this whole thread is silly but your offense to reality “WELL, WELL, BUT ACKSHAULLY [obtuse “rebuttal” like comparing Irvine to Rowland Heights lol]” is even sillier. Like if I made a comment about his middle class Mexican Americans like my mother’s family live would you come back to me with “well that’s not what it’s like in East LA, Santa Ana or West Oakland!” or about wealthy white people “that’s not how or is in Oildale or Eastern Kentucky!”

[amokk]

Originally Posted by JuanONeil

Is it really a shocker that working class places like Rowland Heights are modest, irrespective of ethnicity? Come on now..

If you are looking for places in the SGV comparable to what you’ll find in South OC we are talking about San Marino and parts of South Pasadena.


Anyways you seem terribly bent out of shape about an innocuous observation, this whole thread is silly but your offense to reality “WELL, WELL, BUT ACKSHAULLY [obtuse “rebuttal” like comparing Irvine to Rowland Heights lol]” is even sillier. Like if I made a comment about his middle class Mexican Americans like my mother’s family live would you come back to me with “well that’s not what it’s like in East LA, Santa Ana or West Oakland!” or about wealthy white people “that’s not how or is in Oildale or Eastern Kentucky!”

Yeah anyone that's looking for Chinese wealth in Monterey Park is very confused. The Chinese/Taiwanese that settled in Monterey Park in the 70's/80's are the ones fleeing the cultural revolution and were lucky to make it out alive with the clothes on their backs.

Arcadia, La Canada, San Marino. That's where the $ is.

[MrJester]

Originally Posted by amokk

Yeah anyone that's looking for Chinese wealth in Monterey Park is very confused. The Chinese/Taiwanese that settled in Monterey Park in the 70's/80's are the ones fleeing the cultural revolution and were lucky to make it out alive with the clothes on their backs.

Arcadia, La Canada, San Marino. That's where the $ is.

Diamond Bar is high income, too, but it seems a lot lower key to me than Irvine.

[MrJester]

Originally Posted by JuanONeil

Is it really a shocker that working class places like Rowland Heights are modest, irrespective of ethnicity? Come on now..

If you are looking for places in the SGV comparable to what you’ll find in South OC we are talking about San Marino and parts of South Pasadena.


Anyways you seem terribly bent out of shape about an innocuous observation, this whole thread is silly but your offense to reality “WELL, WELL, BUT ACKSHAULLY [obtuse “rebuttal” like comparing Irvine to Rowland Heights lol]” is even sillier. Like if I made a comment about his middle class Mexican Americans like my mother’s family live would you come back to me with “well that’s not what it’s like in East LA, Santa Ana or West Oakland!” or about wealthy white people “that’s not how or is in Oildale or Eastern Kentucky!”

Then there's Diamond Bar which is affluent but also low key. They have a country club but so do a lot of mostly white SoCal cities of a similar income level.

I bought up Monterey Park because I want to point out that not all Chinese in America are wealthy and thus flashy, as you might assume. To point out that the Chinese in America are perhaps no more materialistic than white people.

And come to think of it, income might not tell the whole story or comparison between Irvine and Lake Forest. The Mainland Chinese in Irvine might have a lot more in assets than the people in Lake Forest. Irvine also has more tech workers and they might get stock options, and those often are not reported as income in the same way earned income is on the census. And of course, there's lots of students in Irvine, and if the Census counts their income, then that would drag down the average income.

[amokk]

Originally Posted by MrJester

Diamond Bar is high income, too, but it seems a lot lower key to me than Irvine.

What makes you say Irvine is high key? I think what's confusing you is that Irvine is the commercial area for all of the wealth in OC. Diamond Bar is a middle class suburb.