Orange County's lost essence

Whether I'm headed for Little Arabia or Angel Stadium, my parents' house for a visit or City Hall on assignment, I always try to pass through one specific area of Anaheim when I visit my hometown -- a slice of Santa Ana Street between Anaheim and Harbor boulevards. I drive by not just for nostalgia's sake -- this is the barrio where I was born and raised until the age of 9, when Mom and Dad pooled their tomato-canner and big-rig salaries to buy into the three-bedroom, two-bath American dream -- but because I have a perverse fascination with disappearing, symbolic history.

By Gustavo Arellano

August 10, 2008