San Clemente (San Diego, Huntington Beach, Irvine: houses, neighborhood, camp)

[youngmoney]

I read that it has grown by 20,000 residents. Does all this growth put stress on the roads? I know the city was planned a long time ago and wasn't made to accomodate all of this growth.

I like to bike and run. Are there lots of wilderness trails in SC? There isn't a biketrail through Camp Pendelton is there? That would be killer if there was.

how is San Clemente different from Carlsbad- location aside? What about beach culture.. I am all about the surf/skate culture like when I lived in Huntington Beach it was so popular. Is this as popular in SC as in HB?

[missionhome]

Surfing and skating are very big in San Clemente. You will find a much more laid back culture in San Clemente and WAY less crowds at the beach than Huntington Beach. HB also draws a ton more 20 somethings that like to hang out at the beach bars and stuff.

Traffic is bad on the freeway, with roads most crowded in and around downtown and the freeway streets that feed the mega Talega development. Otherwise, it isn't that bad to get around the city itself. Finding a parking spot in downtown can be difficult though.

Here is a map of trails within San Clemente: About Our Trails

Also, you can't really bike inside Camp Pendelton. There is a road that is very popular called "Old Pacific Highway" that starts near San Onofre power plant that runs along the beach near Camp Pendelton and then ends at Las Pulgas Rd. You aren't technically in the base on the road though, but it is still pretty.

[Unkllars]

Carlsbad has the small town feel like San Clemente, but is becoming the metropolitan hub for North Orange County, so businesses are popping up. San Clemente doesn't have that as much since hubs like Irvine aren't that far away. The next nearest hub for San Diego is Sorrento Valley/Carmel Valley, 25 min away w/ no traffic, 1 1/2 with.

Still surf/skate a little, still coastal, still a sweet place. All the cities you have mentioned are sweet places!!

[OChomepro]

Weekends are busy with bikers riding between Orange County and San Diego. It's a great place to bike, especially through San Onofre State Beach (and it's infamous Trail 6 leading down to the nude beach area) and the area south of there. And I'm pretty sure you can still ride onto the base. I haven't done it for over a year now, but you used to be to turn left on Las Pulgas and go onto the Marine Base. The guards will want to check your license / ID and make sure you have a helmet on.

No license / no helmet .... no riding through the Marine Base.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by NewportBorn

I would recommend San Clemente as long as you stay out of the Talega area.

Originally Posted by mrjason

Do not move to Talega!

Talega might as well be Rancho Santa Margarita, no thanks.

Originally Posted by OC Advisor

I would definitely recommend Marblehead over Talega.

Why is this?

[NewportBorn]

Originally Posted by Charles

Why is this?

Very simple to explain.

Talega is post 2001 development that is pretty much RSM, it is full of the cookie cutter houses and clubhouse's that are for Talega residents only.

So basically Talega (which is nothing like the rest of San Clemente) gets to crowd our beaches/public spots and the rest of San Clemente kinda feels unwelcome in Talega.

I will try to break this down to you.



^ That is a typical San Clemente home.

Now it is hard to say typical because most homes in San Clemente are pretty varied and not exactly cookie cutter.

http://www.12havrecourt.com/res/images/396_1717_ZXRCXSZE.jpg (broken link)

Typical Talega Home ^^

Much more like any other South Coast O.C. home.

The thing is that the people who moved into Talega brought the Irvine/Aliso mentality (sorry I have to generalize)

Most Talega residents are from other cities and brought there Escallades and expectations with them.

That mentality was completely different from the feeling of current San Clemente residents, who were more laid back and didn't mind that there town had some imperfections.

Basically it was a RSM lifestyle forced into a beach town.

Any questions let me know!

[missionhome]

^^^^
That is pretty much the truth. There is a little tension between original San Clemente, with all the charms of a beach town, and the Talega portion which is pretty much just standard suburban development. Downtown San Clemente is something unique for example. The shopping centers in Talega are the usual tan stucco type with Walmart and major chains.

I am not saying the Rancho Santa Margarita development is bad (I do live more in that area of South OC), but what San Clemente residents did not like was the idea that a unique beach town was becoming another part of south OC suburbia. If you want RSM, live in RSM. If you want San Clemente, live in the original portion.

[Charles]

OK, I sense what is being written about the tension. But aren't there other new developments (I think I read about one called Marblehead) that would be in the same situation? I don't recall reading too many negative comments on those? Is there something unique about Telega that draws ill comments more than the other newer developments? I mean, it's either old San Clemente or it is not.

[missionhome]

^^^^

I think it probably has to do with the scale of Talega. Marblehead is a normal size for a community and tends to just flow with the landscape of San Clemente, despite being newer (90's I think?) homes. Marblehead is just one neighborhood. Talega is like an entire little city that forces everything within its sprawling boundaries to be tan, tan, tan, and more tan. Marblehead people just act like the rest of San Clemente. I think it is the size of Talega that sort of annoyed people and the culture that has developed there of "I'm a Talegan," going to the grocery with a poodle in your purse, and driving BMW's. It just isn't the relaxed San Clemente lifestyle there, more keeping up with the Joneses.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by missionhome

^^^^

I think it probably has to do with the scale of Talega. Marblehead is a normal size for a community and tends to just flow with the landscape of San Clemente, despite being newer (90's I think?) homes. Marblehead is just one neighborhood. Talega is like an entire little city that forces everything within its sprawling boundaries to be tan, tan, tan, and more tan. Marblehead people just act like the rest of San Clemente. I think it is the size of Talega that sort of annoyed people and the culture that has developed there of "I'm a Talegan," going to the grocery with a poodle in your purse, and driving BMW's. It just isn't the relaxed San Clemente lifestyle there, more keeping up with the Joneses.

Got it.

Other than a kids birthday party about six years off Camino del Rio, I haven't been to San Clemente since this era:

(image not protected by copyright)