New ‘Anaheim Resort’ Area Emerges as a No-Past Zone

The future doesn’t look much like it used to along Harbor Boulevard in Anaheim.

Gone are most of the flashing neon and oversized caricatures that once marked the whimsical--some would say tacky--look of the commercial district at Disneyland’s doorstep.

More than a year into the city’s $500-million make-over, understatement marks the new tomorrow.

The wood electric poles that lined the streets are being replaced with trees and faux antique lamps. The once-dusty traffic medians sprout plants. Motels and restaurants welcome visitors with low-key corporate logos--a far cry from the aging urban strip that critics denounced as a kitschy throwback to the 1950s.

The area has a new name--Anaheim Resort--and its own gateway: a carousel-like series of mirrored columns with the American, California and Anaheim flags flying. Signs inform visitors that they have witnessed history in the making.

The gateway, as well as recently planted trees that need help standing upright along Harbor Boulevard and Walnut Street, mark the most obvious signs of change along the once notoriously junky corridor.

“This was a developer’s version of a Wild West town,” said Anaheim spokesman Bret Colson. “We’ve tried to clean up a lot of the visual clutter.”

The impetus for change was Disney’s plans to open a second theme park adjacent to Disneyland. The $1.4 billion project--Disney’s California Adventure--is set to open in 2001. In October 1996, the city of Anaheim approved a 40% increase in the convention center and more than $500 million in infrastructure and cosmetic improvements in the area.

The multi-billion dollar public-private plans gave teeth to an effort in Anaheim to get rid of the space-age architecture that once dominated the district. The city has offered businesses financial assistance to replace the old signs, many of which shouted for the attention of passersby on their way to Disneyland.

Now, low-to-the-ground placards practically whisper at passing motorists. With matching columns decorated with the resort’s orange poppy logo, the signs are subtle--some would say dull.

Even while businesses complain that the ongoing street improvements have hurt sales, there is little nostalgia for the old days.

A waitress at the Hansa House Smorgasbord on Harbor Boulevard said tourists used to complain about how dingy and dirty the strip was. The trees, she said, are a nice change.

Supporters of the efforts say the area desperately needed a face-lift to give Anaheim a fighting chance in an increasingly ferocious battle for convention and theme-park-goers.

“We are trying to ensure that we become more of a destination spot,” said Patrick Hynes, spokesman for the Hilton Anaheim and Towers, which completed an $18.5 million-renovation in June.

“The biggest change so far has been getting rid of all those wires that used to hang across Harbor south of Katella,” he said. “Now we just need the trees to get a little taller and the flowers to bloom.”

Others are less than pleased.

“It’s hideous what they’ve done,” said Chris Nichols, a member of the L.A. Conservancy, an architectural preservation group. “It’s just cookie cutter.”

Not long ago, he pulled up to the old Eden Roc Motel and found no trace of the establishment’s sign, a Las Vegas-style extravaganza of lights and “Jetson”-like curves.

“It took me 25 minutes to recover,” he said.

A few reminders of the old-school hang on. Peter Pan’s green-clad elfin body still towers over southbound Harbor Boulevard, where a motor lodge once stood. But the other side of the sign has been peeled away.

In an area the city now calls the Anaheim Resort, there’s no place for the perpetual boy, at least as long as he is in lights.