“Go Here, Not There” OJB’s Counter-Guide to the LAT’s Inland OC Profile

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The Sunday edition of the Los Angeles Times featured our beloved Orange County in its Travel Section offering micro-itineraries for out-of-towners. It starts by juxtaposing OC between Los Angeles and San Diego, noting that the county is regarded all too often as ignorable compared to its northern and southern neighbors. Then, the travel guide reassures readers that “behold!” there is more to OC than Disneyland and its coastline before taking them through “must-stops” along the way to this new revelation! Since the article features the Great Pork of Irvine and other atrocities, the Orange Juice Blog can – and must – do better. Since our contributors and those who comment on our posts are diverse in all sorts of ways, let’s compile a collaborative “Go Here, Not There” counter-guide! I’ll start with three cities:

ANAHEIM: Writer Chris Reynolds tells readers that there is more to OC than Disneyland, but when it comes to the city of Anaheim, somehow, that’s all he yaps about! Well, there’s more to Anaheim than Disneyland. In fact, I haven’t been to the mouse’s theme park in a great many years and I hear its quite expensive these days making more than the children cry. Don’t go there! The photographic guide to the entire piece features snapshots of Little Saigon, so when it comes to the Big A, why not start with the unofficial but should be official Little Arabia district? You can enjoy many great restaurants specializing in Middle Eastern cuisine – including one of my personal favorites the Olive Tree. Also with multiple countries in the MENA revolting, you can come down to Little Arabia and celebrate the next revolution with Arab-American locals! Want to try Sri Lankan food as well? The only such establishment in the county is Wadiya in Anaheim. Order the black curry lamb and experience the best endorphin releasing culinary drug experience there is. Any of these places are better than the chains you’ll find in Anaheim’s many over-developed corporate plazas (ex: The Garden Walk fail!) In fact, the city is too dominated by corporate culture, thanks in part to its mostly complaint city clowncil. Stay away from it as much as you can. For music – there’s many venues. Visit the old location of JC Fandango on State College and lament the loss of the greatest of them all. The PRO rock store remains as a remnant of those good ol’ days, only now relocated to Anaheim Blvd.

Knott’s Ber…Err BUENA PARK: South of Knott’s Berry Farm is all you need. Instead of visiting “Downtown” Buena Park’s mall, join the farmers market gathering in its parking lot Saturdays from 9-2 p.m. Eat a suicide breakfast burrito first at Athenian Burgers. Walk it off afterward checking out the different vendor tents that will sell you Buddhist incense, Peruvian flutes, homemade jewelry and Jamaican head gear in addition to fruits, vegetables etc. It’s much better than anything inside the mall — especially that sensory overload known as John’s Incredible Pizza Company. The LAT also notes that Knott’s has brought an OC outpost for LA’s Pink’s Hot Dogs. How quaint! But if you want a better spot for hot dogs, then Portillos is the spot. And if you want a bacon-wrapped hot dog, well then you’ll want to stay planted at the farmer’s market. Be sure to take a drive down Beach Blvd. near Knott’s to see the ghosts of hotels past and the emptiness that was the Movieland Wax Museum and Ripley’s Believe it or Not!

SANTA ANA: My personal favorite write up of the entire LAT guide! It starts off with an almost obligatory genuflection to outsider fears, “Santa Ana has some of O.C.’s grittiest corners, but” (what does that sentence really mean!) After the bow – and the but – it goes on to note that the city is “urban and artsy” before taking readers to predictable places! – Go Here, Not There – Visitors, always mark your calendar for the first Saturday of November. That’s when the community comes together in its finest hour to put on OC’s most chingon Dia de los Muertos celebration! You want art? Visit Calacas on fourth street and buy paintings by local artists as well as other cool things like a Piñata shirt that reads “I’d Hit It!” Better yet, they are opening up a coffee shop soon enough that will be conscious in selling fair-trade brew. Nearby, there’s El Centro Cultural de Mexico which keeps the Mexican musical tradition of Son Jarocho alive in addition to its various other services. It’s there that a culture lives and doesn’t reside as artifacts behind the glass walls of an exhibit. Be sure to visit the Fiesta Marketplace too before it gets further de-Mexified. And finally, perhaps you have heard of Miguel Pulido, the city’s long-standing Mayor, and his dealings in sleasing schemes that Governor Jerry Brown recently shut down. There was an alleged ‘finder’s fee’ involved to the tune of half-a-million dollars. Maybe, as an attraction, someone should offer a different ‘finder’s fee’ for any documented Pulido sighting in the city – a true rarity and a fun adventure for travelers to revel in!

Interested in contributing and completing the guide? Fullerton, Irvine, and Orange, where you at? Holla at Vern Nelson or myself. You can also add your thoughts to the mix in the comment section and we’ll put them up.