‘Every day there’s a new adventure to explore.’
Parks & Open Space
Lori Stewart fell in love with Turtle Rock the moment she saw it three years ago. “I turned to my husband and said, ‘This is where I want to live.’ ” Why? All the green parks, trails and open space. Irvine villages are master-planned so that each resident lives within a few hundred steps of a local
park that leads to bigger parks that, in turn, lead deeper into wilderness preserves. “I can walk out my front door to Bommer Canyon and right down to Crystal Cove,” says Stewart, who’s often outside with her husband and three children. “Every day, there’s a new adventure to explore.”
‘I get to bike to work whenever I want.’
Jobs
Two years ago, David Lim began biking to work for exercise. Now, he regularly pedals from his home in Eastwood Village to his job in the Irvine Spectrum District. “I get to see the sun over snow-capped mountains and hear birds sing- ing on my way to work,” says Lim, a director at a med-tech firm. Irvine’s Master Plan has created job hubs that provide more jobs-per-resident than any city in America – making it easy to bike to work on the city’s 364 miles of bikeways. “I’m lucky,” Lim says. “I get to bike to work whenever I want.”
‘Our school is the heart of our village.’
Education
One reason Ana Tran and her husband moved to Portola Springs was so their daughter Anh could attend Irvine schools – ranked the best in California by review site Niche. “There’s a strong community involvement here,” Tran says. “That’s why a lot of parents, myself included, volunteer in the classroom and with the PTA.” At Loma Ridge Elementary, Anh works with robots, 3D printing and other technology. More than that, she tells her mom, “It feels like home to me!” Irvine’s villages were designed around schools, Tran says. “And it feels like our school is the heart of our village.”
‘Woodbridge Village Center is my go-to place.’
Shops & Restaurants
As an independent business owner, Alexandra Spitz always needs a place to go to grab lunch, hold business meetings and get some alone-time to work. That’s why she’s a regular at Woodbridge Village Center. “It’s my go-to place,” she says. The center’s $30 million upgrade in 2019 is part of Irvine Company’s continuous reinvestment of retail centers throughout the city. Spitz frequents The Lost Bean for her morning latte; she brings the kids to Yogurtland for treats; and she relaxes in the deck chairs overlooking the lake with her husband. “I’m there all the time,” she says.
