what's there to do in irvine?

[Red Dead]

so i'm planning to go to UCI next year for school, anyone know some good places to shop, eat, hang out?

i know the beach is 10 mins away, disneyland is only 15m, and big bear ski resort an hour away.

[kwonster]

as someone whos lived there for the the majority of his life....

just be glad san diego and la are only an hour away.

oh, and welcome to the bubble.

[LanceP]

When I used to live in Garden Grove, I'd make the trip every now and then to the Spectrum because it just opened up. That was cool... but then again, I was 9 at the time. And whenever I make the trip back to Cali, I just end up going to The Block in Orange for that sort of stuff since that eventually opened up as well.

So, I guess there's really nothing there in Irvine. I just remember a lot of car dealerships and that military camp that Independence Day was filmed at.

[YoungPunch]

Not much in Irvine, you could always go to the UCI campus and hit on asian girls, although most are FOBs.

I would just drive to LA, or Huntington beach is a little closer, they got a few bars and stuff there.

Lates.

[ardeetee]

I grew up pretty close to there, if you want to shop, the biggest mall is south coast plaza. or you can goto fashion island for a more outdoor friendly place but the stores are not as nice. it's a cool place to just enjoy the sun and walk around. Specturm has exploded since it first opened years ago, 20+ screen move theater and a bunch of mall shops and even big dept stores like nordies and macys. Yardhouse, Fox Sports Grill, Cheesecake Factory as well. H&M also just recently opened there and at south coast plaza mall.

You'll find the "good" places to eat quickly by just making friends while you're there, you'll find that most of the students more than likely grew up in the area so they know what's around. In-n-out and cheapy Lee's vietnamese sandwiches across the street and some decent 24 hour mexican places a little further away for the drunken nights.

[kwonster]

oh yea, H&M... [taken from here]

It's official! H&M is opening its three OC locations all within a day of each other! The two locations at South Coast Plaza will be opening first at noon on April 12th. The Irvine Spectrum Center location is opening at noon on April 13th. The H&M folks were kind enough to give me a heads up a week before they're officially announcing it, enjoy:

• SCP will get the largest H&M with one 20,000 sq.ft. store located over in Crystal Court, in the Crate&Barrel/Macy's Home Store wing. Look for womenswear, menswear and childrenswear. SCP's second store will be 8,000 sq.ft and will be located near the soon-to-open Bloomingdale's. The smaller store will be home to the "trend" garments, stuff that's more fashion forward (think all the designer capsule collections) with a focus on womenswear.

• The Irvine Spectrum Center H&M will be 15,000 sq.ft. and will carry menswear and womenswear.

There will be some awesome opening day specials as well: The first 200 people will receive gift cards valuing anywhere from $10 to $300, along with an H&M T-shirt.

guess thats something to do. free stuff makes my day.

I grew up pretty close to there, if you want to shop, the biggest mall is south coast plaza. or you can goto fashion island for a more outdoor friendly place but the stores are not as nice. it's a cool place to just enjoy the sun and walk around. Specturm has exploded since it first opened years ago, 20+ screen move theater and a bunch of mall shops and even big dept stores like nordies and macys. Yardhouse, Fox Sports Grill, Cheesecake Factory as well. H&M also just recently opened there and at south coast plaza mall.

You'll find the "good" places to eat quickly by just making friends while you're there, you'll find that most of the students more than likely grew up in the area so they know what's around. In-n-out and cheapy Lee's vietnamese sandwiches across the street and some decent 24 hour mexican places a little further away for the drunken nights.

[white_giraffe]

i second the lee's sandwiches. there's also an indie theater in the same complex i think. nice neighborhood, not much to do unfortunately. when is the great park supposed to be completed?

[wEstSidE]

suicide is cheap and relatively easy.

[selective beef]

so i'm planning to go to UCI next year for school, anyone know some good places to shop, eat, hang out?

i know the beach is 10 mins away, disneyland is only 15m, and big bear ski resort an hour away.

do yourself a favor and go to this place called "Cha Tea." you will get stunned silly.

[Red Dead]

suicide is cheap and relatively easy.

do you not like the school or the city itself?

[Vitamian]

Learn Chinese by not taking classes?

[lms]

Look on the bright side: you won't have many distractions and you'll be able to focus on school.

=\

[stadsvandringar]

I'm a UCI grad. As some others have mentioned, there's unfortunately not a hell of a lot to do in the city. It's pretty isolated from everything. The collage itself has a decent nightlife and there's usually stuff happening around campus.

If you're looking for something more to do, your best bet is to drive to huntington beach (about 15-20 minutes away) or of course LA (about an hour).

For shopping you can check out south coast plaza, the lab down the street on bristol (a lot of people on this forum are into carve and blends there), or fashion island in newport beach. For lamer shopping you can go to the irvine spectrum or the mainplace mall in santa ana.

Feel free to pm me if you have any questions or want more info.

[asuzano]

irvine is a cookie-cutter city.......its the epitome (maybe even the model for) of generic suburban living. there's a theater that plays independent movies and maybe there is a coffee place that isn't starbucks hidden somewhere.

[dctim211]

I grew up in Irvine and unlike many of the replies so far, I think it's a great place to live. In terms of going out, it definitely isn't like living in SD or LA or other major city, but it's a suburb, not a big metropolitan city so it's a little unfair to judge it as such. Newport beach is right next door... I go to school in chicago and like the bar/lounge scene as much as the next guy but it's nice to go to less stuffy bars once in a while, and laguna beach and newport are full of em (it really depends on your age but PM if you'd like suggestions).

As for dining, like a lot of others said, you'll easily find plenty of places whether you want fine dining (anything from steakhouses to japanese), a laid back restaurant with good microbrews (try BJ's or Yard House), and of course the late night eats (IN-N-Out) is right by campus.

Good shopping is also very easy to come by. South Coast plaza is probably the more well known mall (while having a lot of designer stores, it also has a nordstroms with a very good selection, a barney's co-op, and an H&M). The Irvine spectrum has a lot of stores (also a Nordstrom & H&M), but it is more of a place to hang out rather than to do some real shopping. As someone mentioned, TheLAB is down the street from south coast and has some great stores. Blends, Harlow and Great Laundry are my favorites. Blends carries a very nice selection of shoes along with some great clothes (noteably W&H). Harlow carries some great clothing also (noteably Ever, Trovata and a local brand i love, Orthodox). Great Laundry is the first store in the U.S. of the clothing brand from Japan of the same name. They have a lot of creative Tees and full zip hoodies, among other things.

I just tried to highlight some places... feel free to reply or PM me if you want.

[tomenugen]

edit: it seems cdtim listed most of the spots.

i'm a uci grad as well. to be honest with you. study hard in irvine. play hard in la and sd.

Shopping

the lab in costa mesa:

- great laundry tee - shirt company (don't know the name)

- blends/carve (high tier accounts, CdG, Fragment, W+H, y3, visvim (i'm told), they seem to be reading honeyee carefully b/c that's the vibe I get)

- urban outfitters (shitty stuff compared to other UO's)

across the street:

- commissary - streetwear tees

- active - for your skater brands

fullerton

- beatnic (owned by the blends people and carries similar type of stuff)

south coast mall

- barneys co-op

fashion island

- barneys co-op (not as good)

Food

Mexican: (sorry i'm not super big on mexican food, but below are some great places)

costa mesa

- alertos - 24 hours, easily accessible off the 405 freeway

laguna beach

- taco loco (it's an organic/hippy take on mexican food. awesome quality ingredients)

GREAT tacos, but quite a drive

- el taurino (la)

- king taco

- moca salsa

- all three of the above can be googled and you'll get alot of reviews.

Sandwiches/Hamburgers

- le Diplomat - located across campus, bomb garlic sauce

- Champagne's Deli - located on the backside of campus, on bison

Notable Places

- Tofu House off of Jeffrey in Irvine(if you've never had korean tofu, pronounced soon du bu, have some. it's great stuff on a mild/cold day).

- Brodard's off of Brookhurst. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND GO. ORDER THE PORK SPRING ROLLS.

- Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles - the closest one is in Long Beach, and you can check out Proper, and the other clothing boutiques that are walking distance away.

- Shinsen Gumi - ramen. located in Fountain Valley

- Harbor House - located in Dana Point and Huntington Beach. This is where everyone goes after a long night of partying and drinking. Great food and it's not that expensive.

- PinkBerry - it's a yogurt place in long beach that's get alot of talk all around southern california

- Han's Ice Creamery - some of the best ice cream I've had in southern california

Hangout

- Newport Beach is literally right there. You can walk that area.

- If you go down MacArthur, the PCH is right there.

- There's not much in Balboa, but it's worth wasting an afternoon over.

- You can throw a bonfire almost at every beach

- Huntington Beach has a Main street that you can walk up and down as well as a Pier with Ruby's Restaurant at the end.

- use the ARC. you pay for it.

- I assume you're a freshmen. Get to know your dormmates. UCI's a commuter school and you'll soon realize you'll be spending most of your time with them.

- if you go down Newport, there's a strip mall with a Condom Revolution that has some cafe's. a lot of strange folks on that strip mall.

[masuerte]

Join a club... any club... even ethnic clubs.

The best places to hang are at cute girls' apartment parties... and there were a great amount of them when I did the whole college co-ed circuit.

Also check out corona del mar. It's a great place to bring your friends to.

Say hi to Bed.

[ardeetee]

Join a club... any club... even ethnic clubs.

The best places to hang are at cute girls' apartment parties... and there were a great amount of them when I did the whole college co-ed circuit.

Also check out corona del mar. It's a great place to bring your friends to.

Say hi to Bed.

what ever happened to bed?