Tag: socal

Old Town, New Town

Ever since I found out there was actually an area called “Old Town Irvine,” I’ve found the idea somewhere between funny, pretentious, and oxymoronic. Looking at nearby cities, we have Old Town Orange, a collection of streets with shop buildings dating back to the late 1800s or early 1900s, centered around an actual traffic circle. The place could have been the model for Disneyland’s Main Street. There’s Old Town Tustin, another collection of streets with shops going back to the late 1800s or early 1900s, with contemporary houses nearby for good measure.

Then, there’s Old Town Irvine, a couple of barns that have been converted into restaurants and a motel. Why? Because there effectively is no Old Town Irvine — it sprang whole from a designer’s master plan in the late 1960s. Most people assume UCI is named after the city, but it actually predates the city of Irvine. Both were named after the Irvine Ranch (or possibly the Irvine Company or the Irvine family — all three are tied together) on which they were built. Maybe 50 years from now there really will be an “old town” — and it’ll probably be Northwood or Woodbridge or something. But the name will already have been trademarked by the shopping center, so they won’t be able to use it.

Movie Turnover

There was a story on NPR today about the evolution of the term blockbuster from simply meaning a movie that’s very successful to meaning a particular type of movie (the overblown summer action flick). It got me thinking about the increased number of movie theaters in the area, and then is it really that big an increase, or is it just in line with population growth?

Then I realized: nearly every movie theater I’ve been to in the past couple of years, I remember being new. And all the ones I remember going to as a kid are gone or, if they’re lucky, converted into art house cinema.

  • AMC Orange Mall? Gone. I think it’s part of the Wal-Mart parking lot now.
  • Edwards Town Center? I think the building is still there, but I’m not so sure.
  • The Cinedome? Long gone, and whatever replaced it was also recently razed to the ground.
  • Those theaters across the street from South Coast Plaza? Finally closed down a few years ago.
  • Edwards Woodbridge? Sold off and became a second-run theater.
  • Edwards University? Art-house.
  • South Coast Village? (Not that I remember going there much, if at all.) Art-house.

In fact, the only one I remember going to regularly that’s still first-run is Edwards Hutton Center, and I have a vague feeling it might have been new at the time. At least, I think it was still there the last time I drove past it. With so many other theaters around, I’m not sure I’ve actually been there since high school.

Big Newport has escaped the encroachment of the new, mainly because it’s, well, the biggest screen this side of the Rockies (according to legend, anyway). And I’ve probably been to University and South Coast Village more often since they became art houses than I did “back in the day.”

Elections and the other DoD

Props to the brave souls standing out on a street corner in the heart of Irvine waving Kerry/Edwards signs!

No, seriously, they need better props — the Bush/Cheney people across the street had a 6-foot banner, and the Kerry/Edwards people only had regular stake-in-the-front-yard signs. Although they did at least have a US flag to go with them, something the BC supporters did not.

Also, woke up to an interesting combination of music this morning: First, Dans Macabre. Then, after a snooze cycle, Stars and Stripes Forever. Elections from beyond the grave? What is this, Chicago? (Admittedly, to judge by the signs outside the OC Conservative Resource Center, they actually are running Reagan for office again… but I digress.)

Irony, Luck, and Coincidence

Irony: Walking through Trader Joe’s and hearing “It never rains in California” on a day that really soaked.

Luck: The rain and clouds cleared up in time for a great view of the lunar eclipse (when we weren’t in a store or eating dinner). Post-eclipse, it started up again.

Coincidence: Watching Lost for the first time (fully aware that Merry Brandybuck and Lt. Matheson/Gavin Park are both on the show), and at the first commercial break, Buffy’s mom pops onto the screen to talk about painkillers. Tons of genre connections surrounding an apparentely non-genre show.

The world keeps getting smaller

Given the lack of decent radio stations in the LA area (I swear, every frequency is filled, but they’re mostly crap), I find myself occasionally listening to a San Diego station that sometimes comes in clearly. (It’s a step above Star, at least.) It’s about 80-90 miles from here to SD. I was listening to them today, and when the song ended, the DJs came on and announced that they were broadcasting from Disneyland. About 10 miles away. In the other direction.

Current Music: Eh, it would just get stuck in your head.

In case anyone was wondering…

The quake was magnitude 4.7, 13 miles outside of Lancaster.

(To be honest, I only checked because I wasn’t sure whether it was an earthquake or just someone moving heavy equipment around in the building.)

Update 4:05pm: Apparently it wasn’t anywhere near Lancaster, but off the coast of Baja (and 5.1).

The report’s still there, but the shake map has been removed, and the Lancaster non-quake is no longer on the map