Irvine is a planned community, designed with townships referred to as villages. Each one is separated by six-lane streets and comprises homes with similar designs. Within each village are commercial centers, schools, and places of worship. Commercial districts exist along a periphery around the central townships. Every street has a landscaping allowance, and rights-of-way for powerlines also serve as parks, bike corridors and greenbelts. Such areas of greenery are watered with reclaimed water. Some villages have no homeowner’s association, and thus pay no monthly village association fees. However, they are less uniform and don’t have the amenities – like swimming pools, parks, and tennis courts – found at villages with homeowner’s associations.
Landmarks in the city include the Ayn Rand Institute, Heritage Park, Mason Park, Pao Fa Temple, and Northwood Gratitude and Honor Memorial, the first memorial built in the United States while the war it was honoring was still being fought.
Irvine has 50,017 single-family homes and 97 multi-family homes. There are 995 industrial buildings and another 740 commercial buildings.
Traffic lights in Irvine are incredibly innovative. With cameras and ground sensors monitoring traffic throughout the city, the signals are automatically adjusted to allow more vehicles to go through fewer stops. Orange County Transportation Authority operates bus and shuttle services in the city. Since 2008, the city of Irvine has also had its own bus service, known as iShuttle. It takes riders from major employers to various residential areas, further transportation nodes, and shopping centers. A commuter rail line takes workers to L.A., San Diego, Riverside, and San Bernardino.
The Irvine Unified School District covers most of Irvine. There are 5 high schools within the district, all of which have consistently ranked in Newsweek magazine’s top U.S. public high schools. There are numerous elementary and middle schools, including two that are open year-round. Tustin Unified School District covers small parts of the west and north of the city. Several colleges and universities are located here as well, including University of California Irvine and California Southern University.
Irvine is home to a long list of hospitals including Hoag Hospital, Kaiser Permanente Orange County, and UCI Medical Center. There are many private practices and alternative medical options in the area as well.
Irvine fire and ambulance services are contracted out to Orange County. The Irvine Police Department and the University of California Police Department oversee different parts of the city. California State University Police Department has the power of arrest as well. Irvine has been praised for its low levels of violent crime – in fact, since 2005 it has consistently boasted one of the lowest violent crime rates of all U.S. cities with populations exceeding 100,000. For 2015, the FBI reported 144 violent crimes and 3,868 property crimes here.
The Northwood Gratitude and Honor Memorial is a unique war memorial in a number of ways – built to honor the lives lost in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s the first memorial to be erected while the wars it commemorates were still happening. Additionally, unlike any other war monument, it’s updated yearly.
Yearly events include the Irvine Global Village Festival, which celebrates diversity with entertainment, foods and goods from a wide range of cultures. As is true of most Californian cities, there are many Mexican restaurants here, and local favorites include Avila’s El Ranchito and Carmelita’s.
Some of the highest rated restaurants in Irvine are steakhouses like Ruth’s Chris, Bistango, Hanna’s Restaurant and Bar, and The Winery. Those looking to grab a quick lunch or dinner head to In-N-Out, Bagels & Brew, Hat, or Ruby’s Shake Shack.
