A Lola Gaspar Bartender
An unidentified woman was burned at the Lola Gaspar restaurant located at 211 West 2nd St. in DTSA shortly after midnight on New Year’s Eve after a bartender lit liquor on fire, according to the O.C. Register.
Authorities said a bartender poured alcohol onto the bar at Lola Gaspar and lit it on fire, according to ABC News. Somehow the woman’s hair and face caught fire, just after midnight, according to the SAPD. Continue reading
The hipster 4th Street Market, an upscale food court in DTSA, recently announced that some of their tenants would be leaving and a few new ones are on the way.
However we took a look today at the recent health inspections, by the OC Environmental Health agency of the eateries at the 4th Street Market and the results are no bueno.
Take for example Wagyu Chuck, a burger joint that is the brainchild of Playground Chef Jason Quinn. The OC Weekly says that their burgers “that taste a lot like In-N-Outs but with a denser bun.” But take a look at what happened when they were visited by the O.C. Health Agency on November 13, 2015: Continue reading
Santa Ana is a city of families – with more people under the age of 18 than any other city in Orange County. The transition in Downtown Santa Ana to a hipster paradise of bars, high-end restaurants and nightclubs has predictably chased families out of the heart of the city. Where have they gone? To the Westfield MainPlace Mall.
You see the majority of Santa Ana’s residents don’t want to pay $20 for raw hamburgers at the Playground. They don’t want to drink until 2 am. They don’t have an interest in the arts. They are just trying to raise their kids, get them educated and live a good life. What DTSA has turned into has no appeal to most of us – although it does attract the insecure folks who want to feel like they are hip. Continue reading
Santa Ana’s Planning Commission will be considering a request by representatives of the Fourth Street Market for conditional use permits to allow a Type 47 Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) license, after hours operation, and a banquet use in the Specific Development 84 (SD84) zoning district on Monday, August 25, 2014 at 5:30 pm. (Click here to read the Planning Commission agenda).
The Fourth Street Market is the crowning gem of the Downtown Santa Ana (DTSA) gentrifiers. It will be located at 201 East Fourth Street and is owned by Ryan Chase’s East End Partners. What is this development? Well it is a “groovy food hall” – and when it opens it will join five other hipster eating establishments including OC Mix in Costa Mesa, the Anaheim Packing House, the Union Market in Tustin and, by the end of the year, another high-end artisinal food complex in Mission Viejo, according to Orange Coast Magazine.
So far at the Anaheim food hall, the crowds have not let up – though many visitors have complained about the lack of nearby parking, according to the OC Register.
I found a public relations article that had quite a few details about what the Fourth Street Market will look like: Continue reading
The Calacas Cafe recently relaunched after changing from a coffee shop to a Mexican cafeteria to compete in the changing downtown atmosphere, labeled by some as one of the hippest scenes in Orange County, according to the O.C. Register.
With a new bar or restaurant opening downtown just about every other month, the owner of Calacas, Rudy Cordova, said he felt he just couldn’t keep up.
No one can keep up. There are only so many hipsters around and the only way that Downtown Santa Ana’s hipster food and drinking – and arts – scene is going to survive is with a massive influx of new customers. Continue reading
Candace Brito, 27, and Vanesa Zavala, 25, appeared at a preliminary hearing as Pham’s family member wore buttons with the victim’s likeness. Both women had pleaded not guilty to murder, according to KTLA. A judge will decide if there is enough evidence to send two women to trial on charges they stomped and kicked a 23-year-old woman to death in a fight outside a popular California nightclub.
Patricia Navarro, a veteran Santa Ana homicide detective, said a witness reported seeing Vanesa Tapia Zavala, 25, join in a fight that started with a verbal altercation. Zavala and Candace Marie Brito, 27, both office workers from Santa Ana, have pleaded not guilty to murder charges, according to the OC Register. Continue reading
I am trying to figure out why the trial of Vanesa Tapia Zavala, 25, and Candace Marie Brito, 27, who have both been charged with the brutal murder of 23-year old Chapman grad and writer Kim Pham, was moved from the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana, to Newport Beach and then, late Monday, it was assigned to West Court, in Westminster, according to the O.C. Register.
As I understand it prospective jurors will be drawn from a Countywide pool, but moving the trial into, essentially, Little Saigon, and out of Downtown Santa Ana, sure looks like a big favor to Santa Ana’s City Council – and to the gentrifiers/hipsters in DTSA. The trial is going to be a media circus and holding it in Santa Ana would have been a daily reminder of how dangerous DTSA can be, for some. Continue reading
The Santa Ana City Council Monday night approved a new downtown business tax, replacing a controversial special property tax that had divided downtown businesses and brought the issue of gentrification to the fore, according to the Voice of OC.
Under a settlement agreement, the city will for three years provide $400,000 annually for Downtown Inc.’s cleaning and security services. The proceeds of the new district will be equally split between two groups: Downtown Inc. and the Santa Ana Business Council, a group composed of business owners who opposed the special property tax and are likely to conduct more Latino-oriented promotions. The revenue from the new tax district, approximately $250,000 annually, is far less than the revenue generated by the previous property tax district.
So as I understand it we are going to have a split marketing effort in Downtown Santa Ana with one group promoting the area to hipsters and the gay community and the other to paisas. Continue reading