NEIGHBORLY ADVICE: NELLIE GAIL RANCH – latimes.com — Compared to the high-density residential developments surrounding it, Laguna Hills’ Nellie Gail Ranch is an anomaly. A stone’s throw from major freeways and a few miles from the ocean, employment and shopping centers, Nellie Gail offers its residents a combination of equestrian-themed tract and custom homes spread across its 1,350 acres. Early days Nellie Gail [...]

NEIGHBORLY ADVICE: FRENCH PARK – latimes.com – French Park, a residential neighborhood northeast of downtown Santa Ana, is an architectural wonderland, a place where historic homes are spared the wrecking ball and moved into a safe haven. Built from the late 1890s through the 1920s by some of Orange County’s most prominent movers and shakers, home styles include Victorian, Craftsman, Colonial Revival, English Tudor [...]

NEIGHBORLY ADVICE: MIDWAY CITY – latimes.com — As small and vulnerable as they may appear on the map, the three unincorporated islands that make up Midway City represent a 50-year fight to remain independent. The area is bordered by the cities of Westminster to the east and Huntington Beach to the west. It has a Midwestern flavor with wide streets and large lots. Award-winning [...]

NEIGHBORLY ADVICE: HUNTINGTON BEACH'S SEACLIFF – latimes.com — Image is everything. When Huntington Beach was emerging from its gritty oil past, a new residential development was simply titled “upper” and “lower”, a no frills public golf course was years from becoming a private country club and a supposedly modern shopping center was better known for its elaborate roof-high bird murals than for its retail [...]

NEIGHBORLY ADVICE: SUNSET BEACH – latimes.com — Blink and you’ll miss it. Sunset Beach, an unincorporated 1 1/4-mile sliver along the northern edge of Orange County’s stretch of ocean, is a tight-knit community. For more than 100 years, tourists and residents have been drawn by the beauty and serenity of the surfside sanctuary where pretty much anywhere is a short walk to the sand. [...]