For all you stuck in the Irvine bubble probably have no clue how great this place is with Newport Beach literally down the street. This school oughta be called UC Newport Beach to ante up its prestige just like UC Santa Barbara is not even located in Santa Barbara but its neighbor town of Goleta. Oh, you didn’t know that Newport Beach has beautiful beaches and epic surf? Me neither until one day I decided to leave Middle Earth my freshman year and drive due west towards the ocean with no clue of what to expect. You see, I hail from Oceanside in northern San Diego County with Camp Pendleton dividing us from the OC. I suppose you could say I was sort of stuck in the San Diego bubble since we are landlocked with the Mexican border to the south, mountains to the east, a ginormous military base to the north, and the ocean to the west. I thought O’Side along with SD was the shiz and my dream was to attend UCSD so I could walk down to the beach from the dorms and surf beautiful La Jolla but thankfully I got snubbed or else Newport and the OC would remain a mystery! Back to the story, as I drove around confused of my locale I came upon the Newport Beach pier to my surprise in less than 15 minutes. The beauty of the ocean and waves erased my preconceptions derived from that silly show The OC. After surfing there for the first time ever I left in awe and amazement of the treasure and paradise I had discovered in our own backyard. Since then I have become a frequent visitor of Newport and came to learn all the nooks and crannies it has to offer, most notably the Wedge. The waves are world class and the surfers are extremely talented. There’s a quote in a magazine about Newport that reads, “Where else can you find a 15 yard paddle and 100 yard barrels?” No longer is San Diego and Oceanside first place in my mind’s eye after witnessing hundreds of maddening barrels in Newps.
Anywho, you’re probably wondering why I am sharing this info with ya’ll and it is because reading utopian fiction in class got me thinking of my view of utopia, which I proclaim as Surftopia! In Surftopia, the water is warm like in Hawaii and a plethora of waves pound the shore continuously non-stop 24/7/365. By plethora of waves, I mean there are hundreds of different spots where the wave size range from small to huge in order to accommodate every type of surfing, be it bodysurfing, boogie boarding, longboarding, or shortboarding. This allows for variety and the option to surf any way in any condition one desires. In Surftopia, the weather is always sunny and the winds are ideally always blowing offshore. In Surftopia, the nightlife rages with booze and bud with everybody having a blast dancing the night away and sharing their love. In Surftopia, tourism fuels the economy and nobody starves. This is my utopia. How about you? What is your utopia?
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6 comments:
Jk,
I actually live about five minutes from Newport Beach in a less pristine part of Orange County called Costa Mesa. No, not in the South Coast Metro area people think of when they think "Costa Mesa". I live on the border of Newport where the 55 South ends and the traffic jams. It's bordering ghetto. I think I actually saw a pair of sneakers dangling from a power-line down the street.
I've been to Newport maybe once or twice and it actually reminds of the silly show (must agree with you there), The OC. The houses are amazing and they are right on the beach. They are all different: some are modern and have artsy, whimsical accents. Some are made to look rustic and homey, as if they were snatched up from a historic street in New Jersey suburbia. I was too busy trying to estimate the price tags for each home (they're in the millions) and how much renting one for a week would set me back that I couldn't enjoy the beautiful landscape in front of me.
Newport, is actually not affected by our current housing crisis and foreclosures, or so I heard. It remains one of the top three most expensive housing markets in the nation.
It may smell like sand and surf around here, but it also smells of green.
It is interesting to think about what will happen to Irvine and Newport Beach in the years to come. People love to live by the ocean and it seems like those areas are the only ones never affected by the economy. Will people always stake out property near the ocean? Because, let's face it, there's a lot of "us" and a little land by the sea. Or, will there be a new trend in the housing market and will prices in Newport go plummeting?
It is funny to think about how just a couple miles from Newport, there is a little niche that has not yet established itself as upscale nor run down. That's what I like about Costa Mesa and why I rarely venture down to the sand. I hope it never changes. Although I am sure it will. I like how there is always a mix of people at my regular Coffee Bean: You don't know who they are - and like the famous Newport Blvd. intersects a lesser known Harbor Blvd - they are in the of middle what is "posh" and what is "hood".
Los Angeles is a lot like this. I guess LA is my utopia: a place that fuses posh with hood, Whole Foods with gourmet raw fish and down the street, a guy selling questionable ears of corn slathered in mayo, cheese, and lots of chile y limon...you get my drift.
I'm not dissing your Surftopia at all; we are all entitled to our own opinions and who is to say Newport Beach isn't gorgeous. Maybe, there are other utopias in Orange County that deserve some exploring too - like Old Orange and Little Saigon. Maybe I'm cynical and can't take a beautiful, romantic scene for what it is. Or just maybe, "utopia" is not something that exists.
Well I live in Newport Beach, and I feel blessed. I mean the next time I'll be able to say that is when I'm old and retired and too saggy to run around the warm sand in a bikini.
That's all I have to say.
I actually work in Newport coast, Which is extremely close to UCI, but its still part of Newport Beach. I work for the city at a community center. I have to agree that Newport Beach in general has very pretty scenery and the beaches are nice, but after interacting with many of the Newport Beach residents, I can tell you first hand that it is NOT my utopian society. Don't get me wrong, theres tons of very nice people in newport beach, but a good number of the people who live in newport beach are stuck up and think they are better than everyone else. Just ask some of the property managers I know who run some of the most high end neighborhoods in Newport.
I think my utopian society would be one where everyone knew each other, it would be in an area where it was never too cold, and never too hot. There would be no crime, aand no pollution.
Now I'm sure this utopian society exists somewhere in the world, but it isn't anywhere around here.
I think people who have never seen or been to "the real OC" think of it as such an awsome place in comparison to their town or city, but in reality Newport Beach is a big city with lots of residents. Everyone wants to live by the beach, so to make money they pack houses together so tightly, you practically share your house with your neighbor. Newport Beach is a nice city compared to some others, but it still suffers from all of the problems of any other big city.
I honestly think you can make any place your own Utopia. Some of these comments have been about how Newport isn't that great, or even parts of Orange County aren't gorgeous, but look at this picture overall: you live in one of the most blessed places in the whole world. We consider it cold if it's below seventy degrees here. Come on now, you really have room to complain about the traffic near your place. I hate to use this comparison, but at least you don't live in Iraq or a third world country like Vietnam or the Philippines, right? Instead of a pair of sneakers hanging on a power line, how about a dead person? Would you prefer that.
I don't mean to offend any of you, or even to say that you're ungrateful. All I want to get across to you is that our lives aren't bad. Utopia is all around us, you just have to concentrate on the bigger picture. Look at how lucky we all are, and say thank you. Take a step back and just say thank you...
Trang
Trang, I agree with you that we are blessed in so many different ways. But I also think its useful to look at interactions between people and places rather than taking things at face value. This class is, afterall, on the future and without analyzing our present conditions--how do we say anything valuable about what is to come?
Your post/response got me thinking: maybe its not the places themselves that "make or break" a utopia, its the people that occupy these spaces. I don't really mind the traffic jam at the end of the 55. What I do mind is the 405 at 5:30pm when I am trying to get to Los Angeles from Irvine and people are honking, tail gating, and being annoying.
The sneakers are still dangling down the street, and it doesn't bother me a bit. I'm wondering if I come back in ten years if they'll still be there, a reminder of what was. I said I was cynical but maybe I'm a romantic too.
Thank you.
The blog post was not about portraying Newport Beach as an utopian community. All that was described were the waves and how great they are in Newport but the community I know is far from utopia except how cool it is to ride bikes everywhere and the party scene. The place that might most resemble Surftopia is Hawaii and I say might because I have yet to destine there but plan on taking an "extended vacation" after graduation. Nadia, where are the sneakers hanging from cuz I need a hook haha jk. Trang, you are right about how people should appreciate living in sunny SoCal which is waaaay better than living in rainy, cold NorCal or anywhere else for that matter (except maybe Hawaii). For you NorCal supporters, please do not come to our turf and praise NorCal, I mean why did you decide to come here then, shoulda stayed up there if it's so much cooler there! People wonder why it's so expensive to live here and it's because the weather is beautiful, people are civilized, and there is a ton of entertainment. Of course there is a price to pay for such grandeur like traffic and pollution which is why utopia does not exist since we live in an imperfect world!
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