It’s lights out at one of the luckiest corners in O.C.
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A Costa Mesa neighborhood fixture closed at the end of last month and its owners just may be taking its luck with them to a new spot.
Baycrest Caps & Corks Bottleshop served countless customers over its 65-year run on East 17th Street, many of whom came to consider it not only a purveyor of their favorite beverages, but a fortuitous spot to plunk their mad money down on California Lottery tickets, according to this Daily Pilot feature by Sara Cardine.
In 1994, according to the article, Baycrest sold a winning $12.6-million jackpot. As I understand it, that was the biggest winning ticket they sold, but between 1988 and 2007, the total dollar amount of wins associated with the store reached an impressive $27.2 million.
Co-owner Bryan Nye told the reporter that lotto tickets purchased at Baycrest totaled $12,000 to $15,000 a week, making it the third-highest retailer in Orange County lottery sales.
“Our lotto reps were pretty sad when they heard we had to close, because we were such a high performing store,” Nye told The Pilot.
Nye, whose parents first bought the business in 1998, said that while it was a blow to his family when a commercial real estate firm purchased the property last summer and refused to extend the shop’s lease past the end of March, he remains philosophical.
“There’s no hard feelings on my end. We didn’t own [the building] — it’s their property to do with as they wish,” he said. “Still, it’s kind of a bummer.”
Lottery players with stars in their eyes were of course not the core of the business, high-end spirits, wine and craft beers were. Also, according to the story, it was a genuine community hangout.
“Folks often dropped by to converse about politics, jobs and neighborhood news,” Cardine writes. “Dog treats behind the counter were a draw for pooches who’d drag their owners across the threshold during daily walks.”
Is Nye rolling the dice on what comes next?
“I’d love to open up in a new location,” he said. “I think it’d be a lot of fun to do it the way I want to do it from scratch.”
MORE NEWS
• Seventy-nine years to the day after the landmark class-action court case Mendez, et al. vs. Westminster School District of Orange County sided with five families who challenged forced school segregation, the city of Westminster and the Orange County Department of Education last week celebrated the opening of the 2-mile interpretive Mendez Freedom Trail along Hoover Street.
• The Islamic Society of Orange County, which operates a large mosque and community center in Garden Grove, has recently received threats via social media posts and has taken heightened security measures as a result. The Garden Grove Police Department, which did not offer comment for the TimesOC story on it, has stepped up patrols there, according to ISOC officials.
• State Sen. Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana) last week announced the state auditor’s office will review the conservative-majority Orange County Board of Education’s governance practices, litigation history and use of taxpayer funds. Board President Mari Barke told The Pilot the board will cooperate with an audit, but she questioned the wisdom of it. “They’re going to have to dig really deep to find anything,” Barke said.
• In other public education news, calling it a “One District, One Community” rally, teachers, classified staff and simpatico students turned out in downtown Laguna Beach last Thursday to take a stance against actions of Laguna Beach Unified School District officials. The demonstrators said there has been an erosion of trust going on in the district.
• Since it first came to light last year that the city of Orange could be bankrupt as early as 2029, city officials have been looking at ways to shave costs. This year, they’ve opted to postpone more than $7 million in needed repair projects.
• John Eastman, a former attorney for President Trump and former law school dean at Chapman University, was disbarred last week for his role in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
• Overturning a November decision by its planning commission, the Newport Beach City Council approved revised plans for the Acacia Atrium medical condominium project last Tuesday. In addition to 12 condos, the development will include office spaces and outpatient surgery facilities.
CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY
• A Texas man was arrested by Irvine police on suspicion of stealing Lego pieces by removing them from their boxes, replacing them with dried pasta, then returning the boxes to the Target stores around the country where they had been bought. According to Irvine PD, the scheme added up to $34,000 in stolen or damaged property from 70 known or suspected incidents.
• Two people were killed and another injured during a gunfight near West Borchard Street and South Shelton Street in Santa Ana at around 9 p.m. Sunday.
• A 14-year-old boy was taken into custody last week on suspicion of knocking down an 81-year-old male pedestrian near El Toro High School in Lake Forest while riding a Surron electric motorcycle, then leaving the scene. Nearly $80,000 had been raised as of Tuesday afternoon for the support of Ed Ashman, the critically injured victim.
• A Costa Mesa man, Danny Bruce Richards, pleaded guilty to making threats against Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer. Richards, 63, was sentenced to time served. He was placed on two years of formal probation and must participate in a year-long mental health program.
• Members of a North Tustin family were given a timely, life-saving warning by Fillmore, their 3-year-old German shorthaired pointer, who barked nonstop at around 4:30 a.m. last Wednesday to draw attention to a garage fire. The cause of the blaze is under investigation, but one thing is clear: Fillmore is the family’s hero.
• Someone called an apparently phony bomb threat into the Laguna Beach Police Department Saturday afternoon that led to the evacuation of Main Beach and businesses around it.
• A woman from Long Beach did not survive her injuries after her car landed upside down in the wetlands off Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach last Wednesday night, following a collision with another vehicle.
• An adult male was found dead Sunday evening at Manning Park in Huntington Beach. No cause of death was immediately reported.
• Charles Hernandez, a 42-year-old accused of assaulting two people who had been sitting in a car, kidnapping one of them — a female known to him — and making criminal threats in Fullerton shortly after 4 a.m. Sunday, was taken into custody, CNS reported.
SPORTS
• Former Times sports columnist Bill Dwyre penned this tribute to Garret Anderson, who died Friday at the age of 53. Anderson was an Angel for 15 seasons. “The memory of his underrated greatness remains,” Dwyre writes, in part. “What he did and how he did it is still in the frontal lobe of those who watched and those who wrote and broadcast about him.”
• The Angels struck out 18 times against the Blue Jays Monday night, losing their third game in a row.
• On the ice, the Oilers enjoyed a 4-3 victory over the Ducks in the opener of their first-round playoff series Monday night in Edmonton.
• The Corona del Mar boys’ tennis team clinched another Sunset League title after beating rival Newport Harbor last week.
• Edison High’s Tatum Trout was named the Daily Pilot Player of the Year as the paper’s sportswriters compiled this year’s Girls’ Soccer Dream Team.
• The song team from Los Alamitos High is in Florida today, where they are competing as the only U.S. representative at the International Cheer Union Junior World Championships, Eric Sondheimer reports in his Prep Talk column for The Times. More than 70 countries are represented at the event.
LIFE & LEISURE
• An owlet who was believed to have been learning how to fly by hopping from branch to branch in a tree in Huntington Beach apparently took an unexpected spill to the ground on a recent day. H.B.F.D. came to the rescue along with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the little one was returned to its nest.
• Like to take a cold plunge into the Pacific? The Pier Club in Newport Beach welcomes anyone game enough to turn out at 7:45 a.m. Wednesdays for a lap around the pier and maybe take in a breakfast burrito and cup of coffee at Dory Deli afterward. It’s a “random little snowball of people hanging out,” participant Dougie Mann told The Pilot.
• The effort in Newport Beach Sunday to win a Guinness World Record for the largest swing dance lesson was a big success, with more than 1,100 people learning the steps to an iconic, homegrown dance called the Balboa.
CALENDAR
• South Coast Repertory’s world premiere production of “Eat Me” written by Talene Monahon and directed by Caitlin Sullivan, is on Segerstrom’s Julianne Argyros Stage through May 3. This “wildly imaginative” play is for adults only.
• Roger’s Gardens in Corona del Mar is planning its Rose Festival for May 1-10, when home gardeners can find more than 350 varieties of roses. Hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
• “Wild Hope: Cougar Crossing” and “Back from the Brink,” the latter of which examines the resurgence of the Catalina Island fox, are two of eight films the Orange Coast Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival will screen starting at 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 16. The film festival takes place at Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church, 2845 Mesa Verde Drive East, Costa Mesa. To learn more, visit this site.
KEEP IN TOUCH
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