OC SPOTLIGHT : FEELS LIKE WINTER : There’s No Place Like Home for a Quick Fix of Seasonal Cool Without the Risk of Getting a Chill

People complain that Orange County has no seasons, but they’re just not looking hard enough.

Here, the harbingers of winter may not have the Currier & Ives quaintness that romantics associate with the season, but there are signs nonetheless: the first Santa Ana winds, the day the mall Christmas decorations go up, that November Sunday when a winning season for the Rams becomes a mathematical impossibility.

Another sure sign that summer has passed us by is when the Eastern transplants tell us how much they miss the real winters back home. We natives nod our heads and pretend to sympathize, knowing in our hearts that they miss driving slush-filled roads and shoveling walkways about as much as we miss that freeway shooting craze of a few years ago.

In Orange County, we know well enough to keep winter at a safe yet convenient distance. A two-hour drive and we can be building snowmen, jostling in lift lines and tossing snowballs like we were born to the stuff, then still be back in time for a short-sleeve sunset on the beach. Here, winter isn’t a way of life; it’s a long weekend.

Some people do go to a lot of trouble to re-create winter (of the sub-freezing variety) in Orange County. It’s not the real thing, maybe not even an incredible simulation, but for those who need an occasional quick fix it’ll do.

There are places where it is possible to sled down a hill of real snow, put on the blades and take to the rink for a pickup game of ice hockey and down a steak and beer in a woodsy northern lodge straight outta “Twin Peaks,” all without straying more than a mile or two from the county’s cozy confines. You can even ski , but watch out for rug burns.

So here goes: an OC Live! guide to winter in Orange County. Stir up a cup of instant hot chocolate and read on.

Hitting the (Plastic) Slopes

One of the many ideas being floated for the giant blimp hangars of the soon-to-be-vacated Tustin Marine Corps Air Station comes from a guy named David R. Moffett, who represents the Australian makers of Permasnow--white, non-melting, jellylike globules that emulate real snow, at least from a skier’s perspective.

Moffett wants to fill one of the hangars with the stuff and open it to skiers, figuring they will flock to the place. With seven acres of floor space, there’s room for two big slopes and as many as 800 skiers at one time, he says.

The idea is a long shot, up against proposals to turn the hangars into a film studio, an orchid garden or a re-creation of medieval Poland, among other schemes. There is already a place to ski indoors, however, and while it’s not quite on the grand scale Moffett envisions, it does offer skiers a place to brush up on their technique.

On Harbor Boulevard in Anaheim, the California Ski Center is dominated by a 100-foot bunny slope, complete with rope tow, carpeted in a bristly white plastic that approximates real snow enough to allow skiers (from beginners to experts) to practice a variety of turns. There’s also a machine called the revolving slope, a wide conveyor belt of carpet set on an incline and moving at a steady 8 m.p.h. It’s something of a treadmill for alpinists: Experienced skiers glide back and forth without moving backward or forward on the carpet.

The two slopes are used for lessons and are also available for open practice, says manager Terry Jarmon. In the off-season, skiers can keep up with their skills or learn new techniques; during the ski season, they can get in a quick brush-up session without fighting the drive or the lift lines.

Falls are common but usually painless, Jarmon said. Although the slopes are harder than real snow, they’re also warm and dry. For beginners, repeated falls in wet snow can quickly lose their charm.

Lessons, including 1 1/2 hours of instruction plus practice time, are $35 each. Practice time is $7.50 for a half-hour on the rotating slope, $5 an hour on the stationary slope. The center, which includes a ski shop and a rock climbing wall, is at 1011 N. Harbor Blvd., Anaheim. Information: (714) 776-7669.

Pickup Hockey Sticks

When the Disney folks insisted on naming their new Anaheim National Hockey League team the Mighty Ducks, the pundits scoffed, but the masters of marketing apparently knew what they were doing. Merchandise with the Mighty Ducks name and logo is a hot seller across the country, and closer to home the arrival of the Ducks has touched off a flurry of interest in the sport. The team is even winning a fair number of games for an expansion team.

Coincidentally with the coming of Orange County’s first NHL franchise, the number of ice skating rinks in the county has doubled from two to four in the past year. Side by Side in Huntington Beach (with one ice rink and one roller rink) and the Glacial Garden in Anaheim (with two ice rinks) are the county’s two new arrivals.

In addition to free-style skating and league ice hockey for youths and adults, both offer pickup ice hockey games around lunchtime on weekdays and midnight most nights (special events may change the schedule at both arenas).

On a recent Friday afternoon at the Glacial Garden, 15 players were on the ice at 12:30. Rink manager John Quinn said the facility sets a maximum of 22 for pickup games, and there are usually at least 15 players. About half the players are transplants from the East and from Canada, he said; the rest are local, some who played ice hockey as kids and others who are recent converts from the booming sport of roller hockey.

Participants in the noontime games “are playing hooky from work or school,” Quinn said. “A lot of guys are here every day.”

Ability ranges from beginner to veteran, he said. “It’s strictly a gentlemen’s game. You don’t see any checking or stuff like you see on TV.” It should be noted that “gentlemen” is a misnomer--women also take part, although the games are overwhelmingly male.

Scott Meier of Brea came to the sport from roller hockey, after trying it out and getting hooked by the greater speed of the game on ice and the higher skill level required. He’s given up on roller hockey: “It’s just ice now. This is too much fun,” he said during a break from the game.

Glacial Garden is at 1000 E. Cerritos Ave., Anaheim. It costs $8-$10 an hour to play in pickup games, and players must provide their own equipment. Call for game times and reservations: (714) 502-9185.

Side by Side is at 16091 Gothard St., Huntington Beach. Pickup games are $7; players must provide their own equipment. Call for game times and reservations: (714) 847-8333.

Snow Business

Except for the odd flurry on top of Old Saddleback, snow of the natural variety is a rarity in the county. This leads some local parks and businesses to resort occasionally to the rather extreme measure of bringing the stuff in by the truckload.

Disneyland, of course, has the Matterhorn, but its year-round snow is of the spray-paint variety. The one place to find the “real” stuff this holiday season seems to be Knott’s Berry Farm, beginning Saturday and continuing through Jan. 2. More than 200 tons of snow will blanket Beagle Hill in the park’s Roaring ‘20s area.

Children at least 3 years old and up to 5-feet-2 in height will be able to borrow a sled and negotiate the 25-foot hill until dusk daily. Beagle Hill has been an annual attraction since 1985.

About 220 tons of ice will be transported to the park in the next two days and turned into snow by machines. An additional 10 to 15 tons of ice/snow will be added daily, depending on the weather. Up to 500 kids an hour can slide down the hill, park officials say.

Other holiday attractions at the park include “Snoopy’s Nutcracker on Ice,” daily through Jan. 2, a nightly tree-lighting ceremony through Dec. 24 and the Christmas Crafts Shopping Village.

Knott’s is at 8039 Beach Blvd., Buena Park. Admission is $15.95-$25.95. Hours through Dec. 24 are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. Information: (714) 827-1776.

Ghost of Christmases Past

Overt reminders of winter are not in particularly long supply at Hobby City. There are the usual holiday decorations, daily visits from Santa, a bit of spray-on flocking in some of the windows, but that’s about it.

Rather, this unusual little shopping center’s seasonal associations come from its almost touching attachment to under-the-tree toys of an earlier era. It’s hard to walk away without a nostalgic twinge for the playthings of Christmases past.

There’s the Little Depot, full of model trains and tiny trees and buildings, with a scale locomotive running on a loop track overhead. Next door is Prestige Hobbies, with model rockets, plastic car and plane model kits, slot cars and intricate wooden ship models.

Nearby, the Bear Tree sells nothing but teddy bears in a building shaped like a hollowed-out tree; out back, a doll museum is housed in a half-scale model of the White House. There’s also a stamp and coin shop, a rock and gem shop and a shop full of porcelain figurines.

Hobby City, smack on the Anaheim-Stanton border along Beach Boulevard, is a vintage slab of Eisenhower-era roadside kitsch, a blast from the pre-video game past.

It’s hard to know if most of the customers are adults looking to recapture a slice of childhood or real kids whose interests lie outside the ‘90s realm of computer games and toys with cartoon tie-ins. Employees at the Little Depot, in business since 1965, insist there’s a surge of interest in toy trains among children, although many of the customers are adults who left childhood a few decades back.

The shops (and museum) might be good places to take the young ones and let them know that you, too, were once a kid. For those suffering from terminal adulthood, this very un-mall-like place may provide a temporary antidote.

Hobby City is at 1238 S. Beach Blvd., Anaheim. Shops are open daily. Museum admission is $1. Information: (714) 527-2323.

The Peanut Gallery

Another example of that dwindling American art form--vernacular roadside architecture--lives on at a couple of locations just outside the county lines. At Clearman’s North Woods Inn, in Long Beach’s Belmont Shore and in La Mirada, the snow never melts from the roof, and the log walls look positively Yukonesque.

Inside, the northern lodge feel continues. Bawdy saloon-style paintings adorn the rough-hewn walls; sawdust covers the floors, and the general decorative scheme seems to be early logging camp. The management even encourages patrons to thrown complimentary peanut shells on the floor.

The effect of a wintry northern lodge is carried through with the festive but low-tech holiday decorations, heavy on tinsel garland.

While other themed restaurants have faded away, North Woods Inn has survived, largely on the reputation of its food--hearty, no-nonsense stuff. Dinners are served with two types of all-you-can-eat salads, a simple mixture of iceberg lettuce and bleu cheese dressing and a marinated red cabbage, along with an oily cheese bread that isn’t for the calorie-conscious.

The dinner menu offers sandwiches and burgers, but steaks are the specialty. The steak prices are on the high side ($15 and up), but the food is plentiful and for a few dollars extra, the meals can be split. The lunch menu offers low-price combinations, some less than $5.

Clearman’s North Woods Inn is at 4911 E. 2nd St., Long Beach. Information: (310) 433-4931. The La Mirada location is at 14305 E. Firestone Blvd. Information: (714) 739-0331.