Westminster

Greenleaf Gourmet ChopShop Selects Second OC Location

With a compound name like Greenleaf Gourmet ChopShop, it can be mistaken for vegetarian or carnivore eats. We still can't believe they sprouted last spring. Its spot on the corner of 17th and Westminster streets in Costa Mesa is bustling on a Tuesday, long after happy hour is over. So it's no surpri ... More >>

OC Supervisor Janet Nguyen Alerts Little Saigon Residents to Active Burglary/Auto Theft Ring

Attention Little Saigon residents: Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen says there is a vehicle theft/residential burglary ring operating on her turf.According to a press release, local law enforcement officials--but probably not their tainted, unsupervised and ultra-expensive aerial units who are ... More >>

Restaurant Roll Call for August 2012

Happy Labor Day, folks! August, and the summer, is now over. This month saw a lot of new restaurants, dessert joints, and a couple of Chipotle-style pizza purveyors. Though we didn't write about them all, herewith is a list of those open-and-shut cases we noticed.

Little Saigon Night Market: Only Four Weeks Left!

My friends have been telling me all summer long they've been enjoying the weekend night markets that's been going on every Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights in front of the Asian Garden Mall in Westminster. I've been putting off posting about it until I actually went. It's now August, and seei ... More >>

Erick Catalan was Wrongfully Gunned Down by Huntington Beach Police, Mother Claims

After Huntington Beach police gang unit officers made a traffic stop in Westminster that resulted in John Andrew Torres, 26, of Fullerton, and Erick Catalan, 20, of Long Beach, being shot dead Nov. 1, 2011, "official" explanations for the police engagement kept changing.That's the kind of thing that ... More >>

Atheists Unveil Valentine's Day-Tinged Billboard

​You don't really need an occasion for Backyard Skeptics to unveil a provocative billboard, but the Fountain Valley-based group of atheists and assorted non-believers do have a special Valentine's Day version going up in Westminster with this message:"Atheists make better lovers--after all, no one ... More >>

Stephen John Frea Held for New Year's Eve Stabbing Outside Goat Hill Tavern

​2011 began in Orange County with Robert Sickles, 27, of Mission Viejo, being stabbed to death outside a New Year's Eve party in a Costa Mesa hotel.2012 almost began the same way, with a different victim, of course, but in the same city, only 4 1/2 miles from the New Year's Eve 2011 attack.

Most "Outrageous" Lawsuits List Forgot Orange County's Notorious Contribution

​A national business lobbying group issued a year end report of its "most outrageous" lawsuits filed in 2011.Included on the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform's list is a woman who sued for $5 million because she was cheated out of an 80-cent refund; kids who sued their mother for not includ ... More >>

[UPDATED with 2 Freed:] Steven Rineberg's Taxicab Confession Leads to Bank Robbery Arrest

​UPDATE, SEPT. 30, 2:24 P.M.: Man, Danny Bonaduce has really sunken to . . . er, check that. This is Steven Christopher Rineberg, the 53-year-old Mira Loma resident accused of robbing Saigon National Bank in Westminster, boasting about it to a cabbie who ratted him out and then getting arrested in ... More >>

Horrible Home For Sale Photo of the Day!

Snaps photos with tongue​In California, would-be Realtors have to pass an examination to obtain a valuable, state-issued license.But there is no requirement that practicing Realtors know a damn thing about how to activate a camera.Or how to take a decent photograph.This fact can have tragic if hil ... More >>

[UPDATED with SJC Spooked:] Banning Pervs in Parks Sweeps OC

​UPDATE, AUG. 17, 11:17 A.M.: It's become so routine it's lost its news value: The District Attorney's office announces it's sending a rep before the latest of the 7,000 city councils in Orange County considering a ban on sex offenders in local parks modeled after the county law co-written by DA T ... More >>

Fruit Flies Back in OC to Bedevil Jerry Brown

​The bane of Jerry Brown's first go-round as governor is back.It's a teeny-weeny, eensy-weensy fruit fly. Actually, it's two of them, found in Westminster earlier this month. They join two more trapped in the Anaheim-Yorba Linda area near the end of June and start of July.How can four fruit flies ... More >>

[UPDATED with Victim's Death:] Leovardo Vera Bustos, OC Homicide No. 33: Dies From Single Punch Outside Nightclub

Medina-Perez​UPDATE, JULY 26, 7:44 A.M.: 24-year-old Westminster resident Leovardo Vera Bustos has died from the brain injuries suffered after sustaining a single punch in front of La Barca NIght Club in Stanton on July 5.Bustos fell backward, hit the ground hard, lost consciousness and never reg ... More >>

[UPDATED with First Four Convictions:] 19 Arraigned for Providing the Loosest Slots in Garden Grove

​UPDATE, MAY 25, 5:15 P.M.: Four of the 19 defendants have already been convicted in the case of illegal gambling at Garden Grove cafés. Pleading guilty today to one misdemeanor count of possession of an unlawful gaming device, one misdemeanor count of possession or control of a slot machine, a ... More >>

Circus Vargas

Westminster Mall

Freethought Conference in Land of No-God Billboard

​Atheists, skeptics, humanists, church-and-state separatists and others punching cards for one-way trips to H-E-DOUBLE-MATCHSTICKS gather in Irvine this the Lord's Day to get their godless freak on.Sunday's second annual Freethought Alliance Conference at the Hilton Irvine presents 11 secular spea ... More >>

DUI Patrols Intensify for Cinco de Drinko

​I mean, it's not like your favorite outpost of alternative newsiness is bastardizing the Mexican Army's unlikely victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, with "Cinco de Drinko" listings. Er, check that.Anyways, in other Cinco de Drunk Tank news, the countywide "Avoid the 38 ... More >>

Graffiti in Santa Ana: "Obama Lies"

​What is it about Orange County and illogical graffiti? You'll remember Michelle's post yesterday about the pendejo who tagged "Osama Forever" yesterday off the 405 Freeway in Westminster. This morning, in SanTana's ritzy Floral Park neighborhood, someone tagged "Obama Lies" on perhaps the most pr ... More >>

See Video of Sylvia Mendez Receiving Presidential Medal of Freedom From Obama

​Last year, it was announced Sylvia Mendez would be among the recipients of the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom. Tuesday, President Barack Obama bestowed the nation's highest civilian honor to the 74-year-old Fullerton resident and other Medal of Freedom recipients.See video of the White House ... More >>

A Tale of Two Daily Columnists on Mendez, et al v. Westminster, et al

​It's always great to see daily newspapers cover historical events, especially Orange County ones, especially those long-neglected like the Mendez, et al v. Westminster, et al. case. But there's a right way to do such coverage, and a lazy way, as we have long posited. And such nuances were on full ... More >>

Juan Carlos Villanueva Wins This Week's Ugly Police Mugshot Competition

​It be interesting to know what goes through the head of someone about to have his/her police mug shot snapped. Do you think, "Should I go with the Magnum or the Innocent Until Proven Guilty pose?" Is it best to evoke fear? Sadness? Regret? Bad-assness? Crazy-sombitchness?Here's but a taste of Jua ... More >>

Sylvia Mendez Rightfully Gets Presidential Medal of Honor, Obama Administration Wrongly Names Mendez, et al v. Westminster, et al Case

​Congrats goes out to Sylvia Mendez, the daughter of Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez, the parents who joined four other Mexican parents in Orange County to sue the Westminster, Garden Grove, El Modeno (now part of Orange) and SanTana unified school districts for their Mexican-only schools. Earlier th ... More >>

Coyote Sightings, Pet Attacks Prompt Warning

Monday morning, the Westminster Police Department received a report of another in a spate of recent coyote attacks, with a pet cat losing its life in the 6600 block of Bestel Avenue.As a result, the force is warning about increased coyote activity and the need to keep beloved house pets close.

Edgar Antonio Lucha, the Alleged Nude Burglar of Westminster, is Behind Bars (and Clothed)

​An anxious public can breathe a sigh of relief.Westminster Police say the nude burglar is behind bars.

Leo Carrillo, Gonzalo Mendez, Frank Palomino, Carey McWilliams, and Lame-O Westminster/Garden Grove Unified School Districts

​The recent push by activists to have a school in the Orange Unified School District named after local civil rights pioneer Lorenzo Ramirez reminded me that the Westminster Unified School District still hasn't named a school after its famous civil rights pioneer: Gonzalo Mendez, who along with Ram ... More >>

Flier of the Week: The Toleys Farewell Show at The Bomb Shelter, July 17

​Wouldn't it be great if all mediocre LA rock bands could bow out with such panache? 

¡Ask a Comida Critic!--Any Ecuadorian Restaurants in OC?

​From the free-for-all that is my Facebook page: Where is a good Ecuadorian restaurant in OC? Preferably CM or Santa Ana. I watched Anthony Bourdain's show about Eduador and I'm more than ready for some yummy soups, stews and ceviches. I'm sure your friends know all the best places, right? THANKS! ... More >>

New Joint To Sell Funnel Cakes In Tustin

Edwin Goei​I wish I could say that I saw this coming. Even as I flippantly predicted that funnel cakes might just be the next food fad to hit it big in my review of Q Restaurant in Westminster (which serves funnel cakes and crawfish), I really didn't expect to see any more funnel cake joints ... More >>

6 Charged in $650,000 American Express Travelers Check Fraud

​Six people--including a boyfriend and girlfriend and mother and daughter--were charged today with stealing more than $650,000 from retail stores by using hundreds of forged American Express travelers' checks. Between December 2008 and this month, Tyrone Donte Gray, 33, and his girlfriend Tyrica J ... More >>

Roving Patrols to Catch Drivers Under the Influence of Eggnog

Toni Blay on flickr, Creative Commons.​We already warned you about DUI checkpoints to be held in Anaheim, Costa Mesa and Westminster this weekend. If you saw that post and thought "Merry me, I don't live in central county so I can go crazy with the hard cider in my hatchback tonight"... we've got ... More >>

Vang Pao's Exoneration Brings Joy to Hmong Community

The phone has been ringing off the hook at the Westminster home of Vang Pao, the former CIA-backed Laotian Secret Army general Nick Schou wrote about. That's because the federal government late last week dropped charges claiming the 79-year-old in poor health tried to o ... More >>

Idiot OC Register Letter of The Millennium

This paper has rightfully dinged the Orange County Register's readers over the years, specifically their insane Letters to the Editors that have advocated everything from darkie-dumping to homo-hating to machismo and, always, always Mexican-bashing. But a letter this past Sunday by Lou Shaver of Irv ... More >>

Letters

I hate Mexicans

Grub Guide

Tasty morsels from the county's best damn dining guide

Grub Guide

Tasty morsels from the county's best damn dining guide

Grub Guide

The best damn dining guide in Orange County

Grub Guide

Orange County's best damn dining guide

Grub Guide

This week in grubberies that carry us, part dos

"This is America, Not Vietnam" and Other Pearls of Wisdom from Westminster's Idiot Mayor

Dunno what they put in the boba in Garden Grove and Westminster, but something's gotta explain why its geriatric gabacho elected officials say the darndest things about Vietnamese. In September, GG councilmember Harry Krebs had to apologize after telling councilwoman Janet Nguyen he couldn't explain ... More >>

!Ask a Mexican!

This Hole-in-the-Wall County

Orange Countys 74 Greatest Holes-in-the-Wall

Gays 1, Phobes 0

The passion of the Westminster school board

Diary of a Mad County

Diary of a Mad County

W

M

Tustin

Not full of hot air

Beating on the Gooks Not All Bad

The Weeklys I Wanna Be a Register Columnist Competition

MORE DIRT, PLEASE

Re-creating Vietnam

Bottom of the Mailbag

Guerrilla in the Midst

The man behind the human-rights rhetoric