Sunkist Growers Inc.

Parents at Anaheim's Juarez Elementary March in Protest, Blast New Superintendent Over Principal Transfer

Dozens of parents marched down Sunkist Street early this morning in front of Anaheim's Benito Juarez Elementary School. They were angered that current principal Roberto Baeza is being transferred out at the end of the year in a move made by Linda Wagner, the brand-spanking new Superintendent of the ... More >>

[UPDATED with Death a Suicide:] Richard Swartz Fatally Stabbed Near Anaheim Gas Station

See the update at the end of this post with police saying Richard Swartz fatally stabbed himself.ORIGINAL POST, MARCH 19, 9:44 A.M.: A man found stabbed and bleeding in a gas station driveway in Anaheim this morning died a short time later at UCI Medical Center in Orange.The clerk at the Mobil on Li ... More >>

United Survivors of Anaheim March on Anna Drive

With storm clouds looming overhead, about fifty people gathered at the corner of Anna Drive and La Palma Avenue in Anaheim for a rally and march in memory of Manuel Diaz on Sunday. It was the latest action marking a shift in strategy for family members and activists organizing in the wake of the cit ... More >>

The Little People's Park Riot of 1978

The scene that set the stage for Anaheim Latinos' eternal mistrust of police

Dispatch from Anaheim's Fourth Night of Rage

Click here for our Anaheim police shooting archivesLast night's riots, which erupted around Anaheim Boulevard and Broadway, saw protesters, enraged by the recent police-involved shootings of two residents, smashing windows, setting structural fires and throwing bottles and other objects at cops. The ... More >>

Disneyland Fireworks Exploded While Anaheim Protested Against Police Shootings=Greatest Moment in OC History!

Wow: if ever you needed a Nero fiddling moment for the mess that is Anaheim, it happened this night, just around the time when protestors angry at the police shooting deaths of Manuel Diaz and Joel Acevedo were facing off against police: Disneyland shot off its fireworks, completely oblivious of the ... More >>

20th Anniversary of Drywallers' Strike Mass Arrest in OC Today, No One Gives a Shit

20 years ago today, the Orange County Sheriff's Department arrested over 150 striking drywallers at a construction site in Mission Viejo, in a case that drew national attention. The incident was the largest OC mass arrest since the legendary, forgotten 1936 Citrus War involving the county's orange p ... More >>

The OCeeker: Christ Reformed Church and a Riddlebarger With Extra Cheesus

There's something to be said for churches that tell you what they're all about in their name. In recent years, the hipper churches have gone for cool-sounding names that one could read any meaning into. Indeed, there are no shortages of "Journeys", "Wells" and fellowships with numbers in their ... More >>

Downtown Santa Ana Dining Rumors: Raw Restaurant? Diner? High-End Mexi? And Another High-End Mexi?

​Forgive the bad picture--it must've been taken during a weekend brunch at Memphis in downtown SanTana, while I was on my fourth Manhattan. But that's the current storefront for Au Naturaw, a planned raw-foods restaurant directly across from Memphis. Can a downtown support this, the veggie-leaning ... More >>

Meet Shaheen Sadeghi, the LAB Man

In his his quest to hipsterize OC retail, Shaheen Sadeghi has built quirkily beautiful properties and gained more than a few critics

Will the OC Fair Erect a Statue Commemorating the County's Immigrant Agricultural Workers?

​Boy, hasn't it been fun having Orange County Employees Association (OCEA) head Nick Berardino on the OC Fair board of directors? The fiery Berardino--with whom we always don't agree , but always do appreciate his bringing a paisan attitude to WASP heaven Orange County--has already stirred up the ... More >>

[UPDATED with Suspect Dead and I.D.'d:] Anaheim Police Shooting Injures One

​UPDATE, NOV. 9, 1:12 P.M.: The man shot by an Anaheim police officer near Casa Madrid Apartments on East Ball Road Friday later died.He has been identified as Marcel Luis Ceja, 22, of Anaheim.Ceja was among three pedestrians stopped by the unidentified officer just before noon. The cop later radi ... More >>

Victor Villaseñor, Legendary Chicano Author, to Speak at Fullerton Public Library Sept. 18

​Victor Villaseñor is no stranger to these parts, having made many appearances in Orange County over the past 20 years, since the publication of his 1991 classic, Rain of Gold. Everyone hails it for Villaseñor's wonderful telling of his parents' migration from Mexico to the United States, but I ... More >>

KROQ's Curious Five: Rise Against, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Weezer, Linkin Park, 30 Seconds to Mars

​It's not KROQ's fault copious amount of sonic garbage spew from their massive antenna on Tonga Peak in Glendale. No matter how cutting edge they purport to be, they're a mainstream radio station with salaried programming directors who strictly adhere to a business model. As such, they are going t ... More >>

Anaheim Brewery Opens

Dave Lieberman​Orange County's latest craft brewery, Anaheim Brewery, has had their soft opening at the Anaheim Packing House, the retail center being developed by the company behind the Lab and the Camp in Costa Mesa. The brewery continues the 130-year-old tradition of brewing in OC's original Ge ... More >>

Lunchables Making a Comeback

Flickr user Like_the_Grand_Canyon​Were you a Lunchables kid? I think some of my Sunkist Elementary classmates shared some with me one, and I didn't particularly care for it. In fact, I thought that the class prepackaged lunch for kiddies had gone the way of coonskin caps, replaced by federally fun ... More >>

Orange Unified School District Finally Honoring Lorenzo Ramirez, Local Desegregation Icon

​Tonight, the Orange Unified School District is taking an extraordinary step, one anathema to the Orange County mind: admitting that our discriminatory present past was wrong and honoring those brave souls who fought those wrongs only to get disappeared by local historians. The person in question ... More >>

Using Coupons Smartly for Super Bowl Sunday

Anne Marie Panoringan​ >I used to consider just shopping at Costco and Target saving money. I was wrong. So very wrong. Thanks to The Krazy Coupon Lady for showing me the light.Anyway, if you're trying not to dash to the grocery store at the last minute, here's a deal for you. Pull the Sund ... More >>

Sal Duenas Is a Handball Wizard

The Santa Ana native is king of Orange County's handball courts—but can he go further and bring the sport some much-needed respect?

Activists to Ask Orange Unified School District Tonight to Name School after Local Civil Rights Icon Lorenzo Ramirez

​Nearly a year after the Weekly wrote a story on Lorenzo Ramirez--the El Modena resident who sued on behalf of his children in the legendary Mendez, et al v. Westminster, et al school desegregation case but whose family felt received the short shrift by the case's most-zealous advocates--education ... More >>

The Feast Days of Summer

And Winter and Fall and Spring! Where to eat, drink and be merry during the most important holidays

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs: Cortina's vs. Niberino's

Flickr user maggiejane​The meatball sandwich: a great American invention born of great Italian ingredients. Big, thick, juicy meatballs bathed in rich tomato sauce, piled into a crusty roll and topped with "moozadell" or provolone cheese, then slid into an oven to crisp and melt.

When Anaheim Trustees Made Linus Pauling Sign a Loyalty Oath--Then Barred Him From Visiting

Pauling: Not the right crazy for OC in the 1960s...​Over the weekend, I spoke at the Unitarian-Universalist Church in Laguna Beach regarding our Sunkist memories. I mentioned the sad story of Joel Dvorman, Orange County's original conservative scapegoat, a man that more than a few people in the au ... More >>

OC Mexican Dodgers Fans Invade Dodgers Stadium with Their Loud-Ass Music!

The day is this past Tuesday; the occasion, Opening Day for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The music is tamborazo, the brass-band racket native to Zacatecas; the group, from Jerez, where my parents and thousands of Orange County residents are from (most of them coming LEGALLY, because their parents we ... More >>

The Curious Case of Anaheim's Founding, Probably Mythological Goat

Maybe Ontiveros' goat was made into birria?​It's always a blast speaking before the Anaheim Historical Society, not just because it's my hometown crowd but also because the fine folks who belong are receptive to my diagnosis of our collective Sunkist memories. So, when I brought up the story of th ... More >>

How Did the Doll Hut End Up Hosting a White-Power Show?

Henry W. Head: Godfather of OC, OC racists. Has nothing to do with post other than we love posting his photo to screw with our Sunkist memories...​The Doll Hut in Anaheim, of course, needs no introduction (but if you need one, read this and this) and is one of the last music venues in Orange Count ... More >>

Santa Ana "Resurrected"? When Did it Ever Die?

Fourth Street, SanTana: mid 1950s. What was so great about these segregated days?​ Orange County is a place where booster myths have masqueraded as fact and history since the days of Serra, but an article in this month's Orange Coast by former Los Angeles Times writer Agustín Gurza on ... More >>

Beloved OC Historians, Mexicans, and Half-Breeds Tomorrow!

Woman or half-breed?As mentioned in my ¡Ask a Mexican! column this week, I'll be speaking tomorrow to the Anaheim Historical Society at what's now called the Woelke-Stoffel House but which generations of Anaheimers know as the Red Cross House. Address is 418 N. West St., Anaheim, (714) 292-0042, an ... More >>

OC Faux Pas of the Millennium!!!

Setting: West Hollywood Book Fair, 'round noon, Librería Martínez booth. Protagonists: Me, Librería Martinez volunteer Jess Baudillo, and a gaggle of gals from the Mission VIejo Public Library. Scene: They had just invited me to speak at some author's festival they're proposing for next year. I ... More >>

The Untold Story of Santa Ana's Fiestas Patrias

While the Orange County Register and others published fawning dispatches on SanTana's annual Fiestas Patrias Mexican Independence Day festival and parade this past weekend, no one bothered to look into how it came to be that festival organizers moved the Fiestas from its traditional Fourth Street lo ... More >>

Grove of Dreams

The life and times of orange picker-turned-big leaguer Jesse Flores

Grove of Dreams

The life and times of orange picker-turned-big leaguer Jesse Flores

Gunkist Oranges

Wonder why Orange County trembles whenever its Mexicans protest? Welcome to the Citrus War of 1936, the most important event in Orange County history youve never heard of

Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride

Dale Crover and the unstoppable killing machine

Anaheim

Spy in the House of Fashion

Carilyn Vailes line of brightly colored, relaxed separates makes not ironing chic

Smoking in the Boys Room

Can a girl get a hook-up?

Sweet and Loh Down

Diary of a Mad County

ANTI-RED BUTTONS

Everybody Knows that Richard