Santa Ana’s Fiesta Marketplace could be the future home of an Olvera Street type attraction
Have you visited downtown Brea, Fullerton or Huntington Beach recently? All three of those areas are absolutely jam-packed most evenings. Why is Santa Ana’s downtown so moribund by comparison?
I visited the Art Walk at the Artists Village last night and it was great to see folks actually visiting our downtown. But I also observed them leaving in droves fairly quickly.
How can we keep them around – and get them to spend more money on our local vendors?
This weekend the Orange Street Fair is racking them in by the thousands – but we could be doing that every Saturday night!
Click here to read the rest of this post.
Art you are right on brother. We need to stop being afraid to be who we really are in Santa Ana…and be proud of our culture and invite our neighbors to enjoy it with us!. Imagine Mariachi’s walking and singing in what was the Artists villiage, young Mexican women dressed in native costumes singing and inviting visiters to see shows where they perfom Bailes Fokloricos…Young children selling gum and other trinkets….Great Food, Great Dancing, Great Singing…All we need to do is get going Art…Who will lead this movement? How do we get started?
I think the revival of downtown Santa Ana could be greatly benefited by a shuttle from the train station. Just as a test run, a train that linked Santa Ana, Fullerton and downtown Los Angeles, a multi-city pub crawl, could get folks coming and going without having to drive. Perhaps a test run on the first Sat. would be worth a try.
I believe this is a great idea. I bet tourists will want to extend their vacations after seeing Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm and the Beach cities and want to see an a living Latin American City. Perhaps you can offer Spanish Language Schools where visiters can live with Mexican families and brush up on their Spanish. It would be a lot cheaper than going to Latin America and you have a fine Community College in Santa Ana College that could help you plan the coursework. I live in Huntington Beach but I wouldn’t mind sending my high school children to an exchange program in Santa Ana so they could get a better grade in Spanish and perhaps some young Mexican Children from Santa Ana would like to see the beach culture for a semester.
All nice! great idea’s!
The only problem, those pesky gang members and a murder rate that is higher than the national adverage.
You need to take care of the image of Santa Ana, which is not a good one. Then develope ideas to attract customs to the city. Going after the gang members, and holding parents responsible for their is kids is the key to Santa Ana’s future. Schools can no longer be day care centers centers for potiental criminals. Send them to Military school and that should shape them up.
Michelle,
Art and I were walking down Calle Cuatro in downtown Santa Ana at around 9 or 10PM last Saturday night and both of us mentioned how safe we felt. There wasn’t a “pesky gang member” in sight.
Again as long as you don’t have first hand knowledge of how things actually are your comments are not really taken seriously.
I remember you said “white folks” would be attacked because of the color of their skin if they dared to walk the streets of Santa Ana after dark. I’m “white” and I didn’t get attacked.
How do you explain that?
yeah ok!
Maybe cause you look like a cop!.
Big and Nasty!.
Sorry peelers, but you do tend to look a wee bit nasty:(
I am glad you felt safe, next time wise up and know that if your steet smart you should never feel safe in a city with such a high murder rate. I would not say we are bum cums, but i would not like to see your big ass get wacked!
And that goes for Mr. Art too!.
I think a GREAT website dedicated to Downtown SA events would be helpful and not that dry piece o’crap the city puts out, but one that actually tells you what’s happening around town and has pictures of the area.
It should include who’s playing at Original Mike’s, Yost Theater, author signings at the Martinez bookstore,what’s at the different art galleries and at the Bowers and ANYTHING else relevant. It should feature restaurant, bar and retail ads and their hours, with possible coupons or happy hour offerings.
I think a lot of people don’t come to downtown SA because they don’t know what’s here or what to expect.
I know that I’ve missed out on things that were happening just from not knowing about events or not realizing that certain theaters even existed and I live here.
Clean your own house before you PONTIFICATE.
The Irish Mob is one of the oldest organized crime groups in the United States, in existence since the early 19th century. Originating in Irish American street gangs, as immortalized in Herbert Asbury’s 1926 book The Gangs of New York, the Irish Mob has appeared in most major American cities, including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, and New Orleans.
Several cities in Canada, Ireland, England, and Scotland also have a history of Irish gang activities
[edit] The Westies
The Westies are an Irish American gang hailing from Hell’s Kitchen on the West Side of Manhattan, New York City.
The most prominent members have included Eddie McGrath, James Coonan, Mickey Featherstone, and Edward “Eddie The Butcher” Cummiskey. Coonan was imprisoned in 1986 under the RICO act, along with multiple charges of murder. Coonan had let his wife, Edna, become involved in his affairs, and she too was imprisoned. Mickey Featherstone became an informant after his arrest in the early 1980s.
[edit] Michael Spillane vs. James Coonan
A power struggle between two factions for control of the Westies lasted from 1966 until 1977. Michael Spillane’s position as boss of Hell’s Kitchen was challenged by James Coonan, an up and coming gangster. There was a long history between Spillane and Coonan involving an affair between Spillane and Coonan’s mother. It is said that Coonan started the war by shooting up an apartment with Spillane in it. Coonan then started kidnapping Spillane’s associates, holding them for ransom or executing them.
In the 1970s, with Spillane’s organization already weakened by years of warfare with Coonan, a war started to brew between Spillane and the Genovese crime family over control of a construction site in Hell’s Kitchen. The Genovese family moved quickly, murdering Spillane’s top three lieutenants in 1976. This prompted Coonan to attempt a complete takeover of the Spillane organization by forming an alliance with Roy DeMeo of the Gambino crime family. The Genovese family decided that the Westies were too violent and well led to go to war with and thus mediated a truce via the Gambinos. The Westies were left in control of Hell’s Kitchen (paying 10% of their profits to the Gambinos), and the Genovese family were left in control of the construction site they wanted, paying part of the profits to the Westies
There ya go again, the irish mob is not in Santa Ana. Nice Irish history lesson, but not relevent!.
We are discussing Santa Ana and i think your gangs MS13 make even the IRA look tame!.
If i lived in Chicago, Boston ect… Irish gangs might be a problem too, but we are discussing “SANTA ANA”, 80% hispanic and over 200 differnet gangs.
I know us Irish can be pretty nasty, and i am neither afraid to say it or stupid enought to hide it for the sake of “saving Face”.
The point is that gangs are not the problem nor the solution.
The solution is economic and educational development of all communities within the city.
Arguments as a strategy are allways diverted from leadership mismanagement to blame on the community exclusssively.
It is dishonest and simplistic.
What a shame that Michelle and #9’s aurguements are clouded by bad data.
CLEARLY downtown Santa Ana has suffered from many ill’s not the least of which was it’s reputation.
It is realtively safe, for whites and even teens. Save some isolated attacks that have occurred similar to say: Fullerton or Anaheim.
Contrary to Michelles assertion, gangs do not prowl downtown.
This is a far cry from the early 1990’s when it was a war zone in neighborhoods.
It’s my view that the one thing that will do the most to improve and realize the dream is: KEEP THE MONEY there. Millions of dollars roll into those offices, suites, courthouses and ounty offices EVERY MORNING. The trouble is, they go right back to Brea, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Seal Beach and Orange at 5:00PM.
It’s kinda hard to sustain a business without a base.
What a shame that Michelle and #9’s aurguements are clouded by bad data.
Me and # 9 are one of the same, “its me”.
Data can be like anything that humans have a hand in “full of crap”.
Gangs are the problem, just as terrorist are the problem. killers distroy a community, just as any plague.
I know for a fact that alot of people out there have no idea, what it is like to growup street smart (for a reason) but you will!! if you dont get balls!
Education in Santa Ana is the Key, “What ya going to do about it”. I have a few idea??
Want to hear??
Dr. L
Wow. Quinn’s negativity only helps to perpetuate the misinformation about Santa Ana. Seems to me Quinn is part of the problem.
Anonymous: MS13? I thought that gang is in LA.
http://spotcrime.com/ca/santa+ana
wow what do we have to be negative about in Santa Ana????
Well: highest crime rate in Orange Country spilling over into other cities.. Ie.. Anaheim,Orange,Garden Gove, ect…
Schools over crowded with spanish speaking kids, all failing in Santa Ana except one OCSA.
Teen preg.. tripled in last two years. In one zip code in Santa Ana over 900 kids pregnant.. which means unwed mother on welfare…
Gang, drugs, drop outs ect…
Now you tell me the positive.. I would love to hear some.
By the way what happen to statatory rape in Sana Ana or does this not apply to hispanic’s??.
What do you think regarding MS13 in Santa Ana… A big probablity??? COME ON!.
michelle…..you are so right on. santa ana is no where near the city it was back in the 60s.these stupid democrats want to put all this money in one tiny down town area,when the rest of the city goes to hell in a hand basket. take a look at the streets on McFadden from Standard to Main,talk about tiajuana.Madison elementryhas less play ground area then it did when I went there in 1960 to 1966. Standard Ave. between Warner and Chestnut is nothing but gangs and run down infastructure. I can see alot of places in Santa Ana that need fixing a hell of a lot more than DOWNTOWN!!!!!
Michelle and #9 just stay out of Santa Ana! We don’t need you here anyways! Bye!!