Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Anaheim: Tricks & Dreams

I posted a link to someone's little rant about Anaheim that's come back to haunt me; what thoughts were my own got drowned by a complaint of misunderstanding, some of which I know.

How do you do Anaheim? Drive down Beach Blvd. It's the chief thing I lament about southern California: you absolutely need a car.

It's not that Beach takes you through Anaheim directly.  But it's a way to really see the place on the ground, to see real people and real places. 

You'll see Koreans, Filipinos, Indians, Mexicans, Middle Easterners, Vietnamese, Africans, African Americans, and yes, some white people but the Real Wives of Orange County will be limited. 

You'll see skater boi trying to do an ollie onto a curb while you're at an intersection.  A dream and a trick - that's what I had when I lived there.

You might see a gang banger. Or a kid trying to look like a gang banger. In either case, don't look to hard; it's a sure way of getting beat down.

From Beach you can branch off - if you took La Palma east in my day you'd hit Book Baron. It's closed, but you needn't branch far to find something similar. 

You can still take Katella over to Angel Stadium, home of my favorite baseball team.  When Justin and I were there for a game we were asked if we were "down for the cause." 

Further south you hit places like Stanton.  If you want some Indian food made by Indians for Indians, this would be a good place. For each nationality mentioned previously, ditto.

Along the way there are other things to find: basketball courts where kids live like LeBron, enormous cemeteries, record stores, cruiser bikes, coffee shops -

The thing about it is you have to look.  Anaheim is not the downtown that is so obvious the tourist bus drops you off and you go looking for the faux local hangout.  There aren't tour buses with retirees and honeymooners...

... well there are, but they are at Disneyland, if that's your thing.

But if you're like me you want to see real people, eat real food, mellow out and find things.

Next time I'm around I'll fight the urge to head up to Pasadena or Hollywood and kick it in the OC.

This post feels a little vague though so here's a call out to the people I know there or nearby right now: how does one "do" Anaheim?

Prattle
#    Comments [2] |
Friday, February 01, 2008 5:34:29 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
Just a little test.
David
Friday, February 01, 2008 7:46:51 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
I started to write this on how I “do” Anaheim. It then spiraled into more of a rant on the state of affairs within Orange County and on outsider’s criticism of this, apparently, easy punching bag. I think David hit most of it squarely on the head with his broad and all encompassing post, much more so than the original (un)inspiring blog post.

First off, full disclosure. I have resided in Orange Count (East side Costa Mesa to be exact) for the last 4.5 years since graduating college. My office has been consulting with the City of Anaheim since 2004 as a review board for current development within the downtown area. I’ve even helped author a guide on the development of the downtown which can be seen online:

http://www.anaheim.net/docs_agend/questys_pub/MG19287/AS19302/AS19305/AI19769/DO19771/1.PDF

(Notice my little name on page two. I had to get that plug in here somehow.)

On to the topic at hand, the real Anaheim and the real OC. While they do have their fair share of “real housewives” it is nothing like south county. The majority of the citizens of Anaheim are hard working first or second generation minorities just trying to get by in the post-boom housing market of this fare city. I would say the “real” Anaheim takes place East of the 5 but I find it hard to truly define what is “real” with that word becoming completely useless in this context.

Anaheim is the Mexican market on the corner of Anaheim Blvd and Santa Ana St. Anaheim is the 70’s strip mall on Lincoln Blvd. Anaheim is the quaint residential community on Elizabeth Street. Anaheim is the redeveloping urban downtown. Anaheim is the convention center. And for better or for worst, Anaheim is Disneyland.

For fear of making this reply any longer I’ll defer to David’s original post when I say that Anaheim has some of the best ethnic food within Southern California. Again, the inspiring post seemed to focus more on my part of Orange County, particularly John Wayne Airport (the best airport I’ve ever traveled through, mind you.), but I can’t help but take exception to the opening line. Travel between more than the 5 and Jamboree to Disney Way (Taking it West, mind you) and then comment on the state of Anaheim and Orange County in general. Reading up on the original author makes a lot of things clear when finding her current residence. I’ll leave you with just one last quote to sum this up:

“San Francisco hates Southern California because Southern California doesn’t care about, nor hate, San Francisco.” - Jim Rome (yes, I know I lose all credibility by quoting a sports radio host. *cliché socal saying ahead* “my bad”.
Justin
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