At Last, a Real Downtown
Despite all their advantages and attractions, Orange County and its 34 cities have lacked one feature that identifies so many other major metropolitan areas--a real downtown.
Anaheim’s Disney area, busy and attractive as it may be, doesn’t really qualify. It’s an amusement park locale with the attending hotel, food and convention center support facilities.
Neither do the quaint “village”-type areas of Laguna Beach, Seal Beach and Huntington Beach make the cut. They cater primarily to beachgoers and tourists.
Costa Mesa’s South Coast Plaza and Newport Beach’s Fashion Island do have their high-rise office structures and mix of retail and commercial uses, but their mall-like settings don’t conjure up the same feeling of the pedestrian-thick zones lined with shops and office buildings that truer downtowns evoke.
In Santa Ana, however, a redeveloping downtown is starting to once again convey that feeling.
Its multicultural, urban environment blends new affordable housing with stores, restaurants, professional office space, studios and living quarters for artists, and refurbished old buildings. For example, one store provides bilingual Internet instruction and e-mail service for students and adults, street fiestas and uniformed street food vendors.
These unique establishments are attracting increasing numbers of people from all over the county.
This month, Artifact, a company that produces television commercials, became the first tenant in the Santa Ana Performing Arts and Event Center, in a newly renovated 70-year-old building that has stood vacant for 17 years. It also will house three theaters and a restaurant.
A few blocks away is the old city hall, built in 1935. Last month its new owner, DGWB Advertising, moved in from Irvine. It came to downtown Santa Ana because, as one of the firm’s principals explained, “It’s a stimulating area, and the city cares about the arts and the diversity of its community.”
There are four small theaters within a few blocks of one another. One of them operates as a satellite space for student productions by the Cal State Fullerton theater department. The city has also been negotiating with UC Irvine, which is interested in using the old YMCA building.
All this is taking place in the shadow of the county Civic Center, federal and state court buildings and the nation’s first trade center with Mexico, which opened two months ago with a visit by Mexican President Vicente Fox. Also within walking distance is the Bowers Museum of Cultural Arts, the St. Joseph Ballet Co. and Martinez Books. The latter is an independent store that promotes literacy with readings for children in English, Spanish, Vietnamese and other languages. It drew more than 2,000 people one day last month for an appearance by Mexican author Carlos Fuentes.
It’s encouraging to see such a diverse and historic downtown Santa Ana recapturing the vibrant activity that once made the county seat a dominant urban center.
