Orange County Register

Editor’s note: Larry Roberts, a.k.a. IrvineRenter from the Irvine Housing Blog, has graciously agreed to contribute guest columns while yours truly is on vacation. So while I’m gone, get to know several Irvine neighborhoods, courtesy of Mr. Roberts.

Woodbridge is a large community in the heart of Irvine. Started in 1975 and completed in the early 1990’s, the community covers approximately four square miles bounded by Culver, Irvine Center Drive, Jeffrey and the 405. It is one of Irvine’s premier neighborhoods.

Woodbridge is bisected into two residential segments, called North Lake and South Lake, by a broad stripe of retail, commercial and institutional development between Alton and Barranca. The lakes are between three and six feet deep and each is crossed by a large wooden footbridge, owing the village its name. A four-lane circular loop road, Yale Loop, runs around the interior of Woodbridge, connecting all its housing blocks and major streets. The village is walled off from the rest of Irvine by a row of pine trees and a continuous, 20-foot-high Privet hedge.

In Great Streets by Allan B. Jacobs (MIT Press), Pinewood (street name) on the Northern edge of the village off of the Yale Loop, is cited as one of the great “new urban” streets. The houses of Yale Loop and the wall and hedge which surround the development act as a shield to disguise the high-density residential products which are situated between them.

The design concept works very well. A casual observer seeing Woodbridge comes to believe the entire community is composed of large single family residential homes giving Woodbridge a high-end veneer.

Woodbridge, for the most part, is uniformly designed in a New England Cape Cod style, creating a classical seaside village feel. Shed style houses are also abundant in Woodbridge.

There are also two “swim clubs,” Stonecreek and Bluelake, on each side of Woodbridge. These have lifeguards all day 10-10 during summer, and weekends 10-5 during the winter. Stonecreek has a two-meter diving board, and Bluelake has a one meter and a three meter diving board. The Woodbridge swim teams are based out of Stonecreek. Woodbridge is home to Woodbridge High School.

There is a unique children’s tot lot which juts out into the lake on the north side of the bridge. This play area is a bit unnerving when your children are very young because it is so close to the water, but when your children are a bit more self-sufficient, it is a great place to sit and enjoy the lake while they play nearby. (Notice the little girl chasing the ducks.)

For more photos and a more detailed description please see Irvine’s Woodbridge.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.