Welcome to Costa Mesa — you picked a good one. Tucked between Newport Beach and Santa Ana, with the coast about ten minutes away and South Coast Plaza right up the road, it's one of the most livable corners of Orange County.
If you're renting here for the first time, this is the quick orientation: where to live, what to set up, and the practical stuff nobody tells you (including where you'll actually be doing laundry).
Costa Mesa is small but the pockets feel different. Here's the renter's-eye view:
The charming, walkable side near 17th Street, full of coffee shops, taco spots, and older bungalows. Popular with young professionals who want character and walkability.
Quieter and more residential on the west side, near the golf course. Leans a little more settled and family-friendly; good if you want calm.
The north end near South Coast Plaza, with more apartment complexes and high-rises. Convenient, close to work hubs and the 405, and where a lot of newer rentals are.
The artsy, industrial-turned-cool stretch near Bristol with breweries, makers, and spots like The Camp and The Lab. Younger, creative energy.
Central, affordable, and full of students and young renters. If that's you, we've got a whole separate guide for OCC students.
Wherever you land, you're never far from the middle of town — Costa Mesa is compact enough that nothing is really a hassle to get to.
The first-week stuff that's easy to forget:
Set up utilities
Electric is Southern California Edison and gas is SoCalGas across the area; for water and trash, check the City of Costa Mesa website to confirm what serves your specific address.
Internet
Get on the schedule early; installs book out.
Update your address
USPS mail forwarding, plus your driver's license and registration at the DMV (the Costa Mesa DMV is on Fairview).
Trash & recycling days
Your building or the city site will have your pickup schedule.
Find your laundry plan
Which brings us to the thing most new renters discover the hard way.
Here's what catches a lot of new Costa Mesa renters off guard: most apartments and rental houses here don't have in-unit laundry, and the ones that do often share a single machine across the whole building. So unless you got lucky, you'll want a laundromat in your routine.
The good news is there's a clean, fully self-service one right on College Ave in central Costa Mesa, easy to reach from Eastside, Mesa Verde, South Coast Metro, and the Westside alike — and from neighboring Newport Beach, Santa Ana, and Fountain Valley too. Our high-capacity machines wash and dry roughly a month of laundry in one trip, there's free Wi-Fi and seating if you want to get work done while you wait, and we're open 4 AM to 11 PM every day with plenty of free parking. Want the numbers first? Here are our self-service prices. Slammed during the move? You can drop it off and we'll wash, dry, and fold it for you.
And once you're settled, our care guides cover the stuff a new place throws at you — washing comforters, getting move-day grime out, making your clothes last.
Usually not in-unit — most rentals here rely on shared machines or a nearby laundromat, so it's worth planning for before you move in.
Lucy's is on College Ave, roughly in the middle of town, which makes it an easy stop from just about any Costa Mesa neighborhood.
Welcome to the neighborhood. Lucy's Laundry is on College Ave in Costa Mesa — clean, fully attended, open every day 4 AM–11 PM, with free parking and free Wi-Fi. See what's nearby while you wait.
2940 College Ave Unit A, Costa Mesa — open every day 4 AM–11 PM, free parking, free Wi-Fi.