CLIPBOARD
Southwest Santa Ana is a hodgepodge of interests with commerce the apparent kingpin.
An explosion of industrial, business and office parks dominates this busy neighborhood, thriving on major traffic-filled arteries as well as the intersecting side streets. Nearly every type of enterprise is represented: major corporations such as Oshman’s Sporting Goods, Kirk Paper and Nordstrom’s executive offices and mall businesses--comprised mostly of machining, engineering, printing, designing, automotive and catering concerns.
The neighborhood is also the site of the general mail facility for the U.S. Postal Service, several eateries from quick and cheap such as McDonald’s and Carl’s Jr. to sit-and-run-up-the-tab restaurants such as Horikawa, and Antonello. There are several schools, South Coast Plaza Village, a park and the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, all doing booming business.
But juxtaposed on the hustle and bustle of daily free enterprise is a gentle reminder of a less frenzied era. Sitting peacefully on Greenville Street near MacArthur Boulevard is the Greenville Country Church.
Just outside the church is a plaque proclaiming it to be the “oldest Protestant church building in Orange County, dedicated in 1876.” It is a petite structure, whitewashed with forest green trim. As for the interior, a few modern conveniences have been added--electricity, a wall heater, an air conditioner and a portable stereo. But still intact are the original pump organ, a wood-burning stove, paned-windows and the original pews.
“They’re not really for long-legged people,” said Bob Randall, an elder in the church who is pushing 6-feet, 2-inches.
Twenty years ago, the Greenville Country Church added a larger facility next to the century-old structure. “We still use the old church for the nursery and our junior church--kids through fourth grade. And on Friday, the Russian Orthodox hold services here,” Randall said.
And looming on the horizon right next door is an overpowering Mormon church compound with a huge parking lot. It is in the last stages of construction and has begun to almost dwarf the Greenville Country Church.
“Doesn’t bother us,” said Phyllis Winslow, the church’s clerk/historian. “When they first started construction, we let them use our electricity. In exchange, they repaved our parking lot. It’s been give and take.”
But churches and the healthy state of small and large enterprise aside, it is still people who are the backbone of any neighborhood. And here they seem to be divided into two distinct groups: those who live in the high-density condominiums and scattered apartments and those who live in the single-family homes in the too-few albeit beautifully kept residential tracts.
While the condos and apartments, for the most part, are well-maintained with designer landscapes,luxurious, and yuppie-friendly, there is one element that exists, but is not quite as obvious as life in the subdivisions: neighborly camaraderie. Both groups are eclectic and proud of their community. But life in the tracts is more like an updated version of a Rockwell painting.
On any given night, school-age boys--black, Asian, Anglo, and Latino--will gather together to play an impromptu game of kick ball or soccer in the street in front of their houses until it is time for dinner.
“I like this neighborhood,” said Ryan, 8. “It has lots of kids.”
It is getting dark, and mothers begin calling for their children to come home. The kick ball game between Stallone, 8, and Ryan, versus Sylvester, 7 and Brian, 8 comes to an abrupt halt.
“That’s the rule,” said Benita Brown, Brian’s mother. “When the street lights come on, Brian is supposed to come inside.”
Brown recently moved her family--husband Donald, Brian and 21-month-old daughter, Jasmine, back home to the well-kept estate-like home in the neighborhood’s northern section. Donald Brown’s company is transferring him to Atlanta in a couple of months, and the family decided to save some money by moving in with Benita’s mother, Jean McDade, and her husband, Al.
“It’s pretty much the same as when we moved in 14 years ago--we were the second family to move into this tract,” said Benita. “We moved here from Irvine, and Brian was one of only two blacks in the school. Every other day it was (racial slurs). Here, there’s no problem. This neighborhood is too culturally mixed to have that.
“There is not that racial barrier here. I like it. We have a really good mix of all the kids. And they all respect each other and play together. It’s wonderful.”
Population Total: (1990) 8,562 1980-90 change: +32.3% Median Age: 31.2
Racial/ethnic mix: White (non-Latino): 71% Latino: 17% Black: 4% Asian: 8%
By sex and age: MALES Median age: 31.2 years FEMALES Median age: 31.0 years
Income Per capita: $21,889 Median household: $44,424 Average household: $48,127
Income Distribution: Less than $25,000: 21% $25,000-49,999: 39% $50,000-74,999: 24% $75,000-$99,999: 9% $100,000 and more: 7%
