SANTA ANA : Shorty Stands Tall With Folks on 4th St.

Shorty remembers there were a lot more orange trees and bars when he came to Santa Ana.

Shorty, a.k.a. Daniel Wiley, has lived in the city for a long, long time, since “before the big war,” he says. No one, including Wiley, knows for sure how long--though about 50 years seems to be the consensus. He walks every day from his downtown apartment to the businesses on 4th Street. Wiley stops to visit the shoe salesmen, travel agents and other shopkeepers, asking if they want coffee. If he’s lucky, they give him a tip to help him get by.

“No matter what mood I’m in I see him smiling and he makes me feel better,” says Rueben Martinez, owner of a hair studio and bookstore.

On Wednesday, merchants gave Wiley something in return for his perpetual good nature, throwing him a party at Ristorante Carmelina on 4th Street to celebrate his 68th birthday. The event was sponsored by the Santa Ana Business Assn., says Jose Martinez, co-owner of the restaurant.

“He’s probably better known than the mayor, at least on 4th Street,” says George Hansen, owner of Rhodes Jewelry & Loan.

Appropriately enough, his friends proclaimed Wiley the Honorary Mayor of 4th Street at his birthday party. And City Councilman Robert L. Richardson read a special proclamation from the city declaring his birthday “Shorty Day.”

The honor was an award of affection from merchants such as Teresa Saldivar, a jeweler who met Wiley years ago when she was a 12-year-old cashier at the Yost Theater, then a Spanish-language movie house. “He’s been here as long as I can remember,” Saldivar says.

Wiley says he doesn’t mind the nickname Shorty, since the moniker came from friends long ago. (He stands a broad-chested 5 feet tall--tack on a few inches if he’s wearing his Stetson.)

If Wiley had his way, he’d spend all his money on videos. “I love ‘em,” he says, laughing. Every night he pops a different video movie from his collection into the VCR. He has gone through phases as an eclectic, avid collector of watches, television sets, 45-r.p.m. records and other equipment.

Wiley said he picked oranges when he first arrived in Santa Ana with his stepfather and stepmother from Texas. Later he set pins in a bowling alley and worked as a janitor in several bars. “Back then you could walk out of one bar and fall into another,” he says.

Life has gotten better in recent years for Wiley, who gets by on Social Security and money from odd jobs.

“Everybody knows me here,” he says happily.