Tag: SoCal

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Something like 10 years ago, Katie saw a self-storage place in which the opening S was unlit, making it read, “Elf Storage.” She’s been looking for another one ever since, and we finally caught one in Newport Beach a few months ago. This one was even better, because the S had actually fallen off.

Of course, there are other things in the area that could easily come out of a Dungeons & Dragons manual. Such as this Kobold Construction truck.

And then there’s the fact that all fire engines in Orange County are labeled ORC.

Let’s not forget the previously-blogged Hobbit Center in Laguna Beach.

Hobbit Center

And that’s not even getting into all the Tolkien-inspired street names in Lake Forest…

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Finally watched A Scanner Darkly this weekend. Better than I expected. One sequence pulled me out of the film, though, and only because I live in Orange County.

In the middle of the film, several characters start a road trip to San Diego. They start on the 5 freeway in Anaheim and drive south until the car breaks down in Irvine. Then they ride in a tow truck back up to Anaheim.

The problem: They used real backgrounds of that stretch of the freeway, but showed them out of sequence. Shots alternate between characters as they hold a conversation.

First you see the squarish beige office buildings lining the freeway near Jeffrey in Irvine. Then you jump 3-4 miles north to the edge of Santa Ana, where you can see a blue glass-lined building in the background near Fourth St. Then you jump back down to the beige buildings. Then up to Santa Ana again. Then down to the office buildings. Back up to Santa Ana. Down to the office buildings again, which finally give way to The Market Place (you can see the giant purple sign as it goes past).

Now I understand how all those Chicago residents felt watching The Dark Knight.

Although thinking about it, it probably wouldn’t have bothered me if it had been set somewhere generic, and just happened to use local backgrounds.

Ah, Hollywood Geography!

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We had an earthquake about an hour ago — 5.4 in Chino Hills, a bit east of Los Angeles. We’re all long-term Californians at work, and there wasn’t any obvious damage (a couple of precariously-balanced objects fell over, but that was it) so discussion was mainly curiosity. Where was it, how big, what type of quake, etc.

But it got me thinking: What if it had happened during Comic-Con?

The quake was felt in San Diego, though there haven’t been any reports of injuries or damage, well, anywhere. Now consider 120,000+ people crammed into an already overcrowded building, many from other parts of the country who have never experienced an earthquake before and aren’t accustomed to them. Some of them would undoubtedly freak out.

Now imagine a hundred or so people in the middle of that Comic-Con crowd panicking and deciding they need to get out, now.

Yeah. I’m thinking stampede. Not a pretty thought.

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A couple of years ago, Starbucks bought all 30 or so company-owned Diedrich Coffee stores.  There were a couple of franchise locations left (well, kiosks, really) in Orange County, and one of the Texas stores, but that was it.  Most of them were converted or shut down, with only two keeping the Diedrich name and menu (both in Irvine, oddly enough).  The one across from UCI eventually got converted.

The Diedrich nearest where we live was always busy.  After it had been assimilated, though, we never saw it full.  People didn’t go there just because of the location, they went there because it was a Diedrich.

Now it’s on the list of stores that Starbucks is closing, along with a newer one that opened about a quarter-mile away.  (They haven’t updated the web page yet, but it’s on the PDF.)

In essence, Starbucks bought an (apparently) successful business and ran it into the ground.  I really hate when that happens.

Obviously the place, when it was a Diedrich, wasn’t taking money that would have gone to Starbucks, since their customers didn’t stick around when it was converted.  And the one store that does still have the Diedrich name and menu always has customers whenever I end up in the area — so it’s not just people avoiding the parent company. It’s people who don’t like the Starbucks coffee and atmosphere.  (And possibly the name.)

I have to wonder how that other store would have done if they’d kept it intact instead of homogenizing it.

Update: Martin Diedrich picked up the empty storefront after Starbucks left, and opened his second Kéan Coffee in March 2009. Once again, it’s always busy. Funny, that!

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Back in October, shortly before the Santiago Fire, I went sightseeing in the Tustin Foothills and snapped a picture of Peters Canyon, the hills behind it, and Saddleback in the background. A month later, I took a picture of the same view after the fire and posted the two as a before and after comparison.

Well, we’ve had several months of normal (for SoCal) rain, and the hills have turned green. Mostly. It’s clear that the scars from the fire are going to take at least another season to heal. The last couple of days have been very clear, so I went back to the same spot to take a “four months later” photo.

Mt. Saddleback seen from Tustin foothills, March 2008
March 10, 2008. Click for a larger version

Now compare it to the November (post-fire) and October (pre-fire) photos: Continue reading →