Vintage Picture of the Saddleback Inn, courtesy of Orange County Memories
UPDATE: I found out that the Saddleback Inn is now owned by a fellow named Anil Mehta, of JK Properties.
The impoverished residents of Santa Ana’s dilapidated Saddleback Inn are being evicted , en masse, according to Tom Barber, on the Breakfast Together Outreach page on Facebook.
An inside source reports that this property was allegedly purchased from the City of Santa Ana by Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido’s friend, Kris Kakkar.
In 2003, Pulido was found guilty of hiding money he’d taken from Kakkar, according to the O.C. Weekly, who described Kakkar as “a venture capitalist with numerous business interests at Orange County city halls.”
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Well, I found myself there on more than one transition in or out of the OC. Never very long. Just a hop or skip. I do remember it being a place you could hang for a week or two until things got sorted out.
But I got up more than one morning to find a whino at the bottom of the stairs or police tape up in the parking lot.
Maybe its all for the best.
It’s unfortunate that people are going to lose their place, it really is. But man-oh-man, that place really is run down and dilapidated. Hopefully the city will help these folks with placement in new housing…or at least reimburse them in such a way that they aren’t impacted financially.
This is sad in the same way it’s sad when they close down a scary run down dog pound. Need to find homes for the people living there but that place should have been torn down years ago. Why not expand the Zoo across the street and add stores and better housing?
I recently heard the hotel, and the entire block it is on, are owned by the Santa Ana Elks Lodge. Is that not correct?
Yes Been around…The whole block is owned by the Santa Ana Elks.
Hey Art,
You sure have built up an awesome blog. I’ve come to understand who the “Usual Suspects” are in Santa Ana and it’s nice to have the background and be able to put a face with the names. That city really has the daily drama! (I really liked your baseball style cards after all you can’t know the players without a program!) I was thinking you might like to start a New category of political players and call them the “Unusual Suspects” and give us more background information on them and allow your readers to help fill in the gaps. I often wonder who some of the rest of the cast of characters are. Some early people profiled might be that feisty Dentist Dr. Lomeli fellow who posts like mad around here and yet I do not know much about him. Or Michele, that pugnacious Irish girl… who writes from her heart. Like you say, it’s a real Telanovela her in Santa Ana! You might ask readers to nominate people to this new Unusual Suspect category. I’d love to learn what makes these people.
Better Off Gone,
Checked around. Some dude named Anil Mehta appears to be the owner now. Company called JK Properties. Trying to figure out if Kakkar is still in the picture.
Elks are long gone out of the picture…
Love the comments re the Usual Suspects. Believe me, they know who they are…
Art, please give me a break. Established law in CA states that landlords have every right to terminate tenancies as long as they follow the law. It is, after all, their proerty. Are you really that desperate for ways to take a shot at Pulido? This is a non-issue, and a prime example of why you should NEVER be elected to the Santa Ana City Council. The City is drowning in red ink, and now you want it to step in an help apartment dwellers whose tenancy is legally being terminated?
lived at the saddleback in the early/mid 90’s
The south side of the street next to the elks lodge was ok
the saddleback on the north side ran a prositution operation out of the asian liquor store under the closed down bar
The hotel managers office had a clear view all day of the hookers going in the liquor store,then going in the back room to change,shower,do a john,whatever.it went on for years and the police/hotel never did a thing
That was when the middle easterners bought it,and it went down hill but the owner bought a huge house in santa ana hieghts,right by chuck norris’s place
The owner took in as much money as he could but would not spend
He lied to the insurance co that my father ran,and tiold them he had many vacancies so his ins would be cheap,but when my father asked me if i thought the owner was lying,i said”hell yes.there’s not even a place to park.”
He was then investigated and cancelled
it probably took all his money to stay insured and stay in business
probably why they shut him down.
he was a crooked as they get and buys run down properties all over CA.
Santa Ana became so bad i moved back to the SF bay but 1st santa ana was a big reason
They just dont care about their cities in so cal,santa ana being the absolute worst in OC
Steve ball.
Sounds like a movie. Let us know when you finish the script.