For this week's look at things said from and about Orange County on the Interwebs, we turn to a familiar topic all over cyberspace: Santa Ana, a pit?
As you'll see after the jump, our county seat does have its defenders. It's just that they are so outnumbered.
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Turning the Page Someone who got lost looking for parking near Santa Ana's central library downtown (?) somehow wound up in “a somewhat upscale neighborhood (with
very large single family houses, some are stone houses.) It's about 1
mile, give or take, from the library and kinda close to the 5 freeway.” Coldjensens of Michigan and “sometimes Orange County” provides the likely correct answer: “Probably Floral Park.” But then the thread descends into a long, back-and-forth debate of Santa Ana scuzziness–naturally kicked off with the rote response from JS1: “Santa Ana is a crummy city full of Mexicans.” (Sounds like a Register reader, no?). At least there were a couple responders who put up game defenses of their town, complete with links to data that show it's not that bad compared with other cities that size. And yes, that includes crime stats, which prompted, uh, Fontucky to notice, “Dayum, it's even lower than Fontana's by 6 points.” Dayum, indeed. (city-data/forum)
Boys Will Be Boys Celeste B. is new to Santa Ana and is in search of “good gay/les clubs around
here or just a nice bar to dance and have a drink. I'm alone so I do
wanna be safe.” Antonio “Mexican Samurai” G. is quick to answer: “Yes. Del Taco.” That prompts Celeste B. to shoot back with, “Hey
Antonio, I already met your girl at Del Taco but I'm not a big fan of
funny fish tacos. . . . Seriously, grow up!! Just looking for a fun place to
hang out.” Fortunately, others provide her just that. But most responses are back-and-forth salvos by two chaps trying to out “out” the other. “Ask Chris E,” replies Al C., which draws out Chris E. with, “Funny Al. I've never even met you before but you falsely accuse me of being gay.” Al C.: “But, amazingly, you show up to this special gay thread, huh?” Chris E.: “So did you, Al.” Al C.: “Trying to help you, buddy.” (yelp)
Not From the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce A newcomer from Washington state moving to the area to go to college wanted to know which was cheaper: Long Beach or Santa
Ana? That elicited this from Kelly S.: “Santa Ana has Mexicans everywhere, the streets are
bad to walk alone at night. Long Beach has black people and the streets
are bad to walk alone at night. Long Beach has areas that a lot of
students are at. There is a more diverse population and you can choose
to live in a safer neighborhood near a bad neighborhood and you can be
safe. Go with LB in my opinion. (santabarbarasolutions)
The Cat's Meow After all the gloom and doom about Santa Ana, it's refreshing to find a post with the headline, “Street
Seens 35: Responsible Parenting in Santa Ana.” The positive parenting
by a presumed father with two little ones was spotted in the French Park
neighborhood. But it wasn't a family of mortals being observed. They
were cats. (opinionatedpussycat)
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.