Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Tag Archives: irv chase

Is crime in Downtown Santa Ana being under-reported?

Posted on by Posted in Crime, Santa Ana 4 Comments

Downtown Santa Ana Security Guards

A friend of mine runs a small business in Downtown Santa Ana, over at what they now call the East End Promenade.  The other day he saw a drug dealer working nearby so my friend called the Downtown security guards and they came over and rousted the guy.  Before long the drug dealer was back so this time my friend called the police. They knew nothing about any of this.  And the truth dawned on my friend – the security guards in the Downtown are not passing their reports along to the Santa Ana Police Department.

Why should they?  They report directly to Ryan Chase, the son of Downtown Santa Ana landlord Irv Chase.  So of course they don’t give their reports to the police – but what this means is that the Santa Ana Police Department’s crime statistics are way off.  Most of the incidents going on in Downtown Santa Ana, at night, are not being reported to the cops.  The Downtown Inc. crowd is essentially cooking the crime books. Continue reading→

A Long Beach film programmer will be taking over Santa Ana’s Fiesta Teatro

Posted on by Posted in Latinos, LGBT, Movies, Santa Ana 11 Comments

Fiesta Teatro

Cinematheque will be taking over all programming at Downtown Santa Ana’s Fiesta Twin Theatre/Fiesta Teatro this coming September, according to the Long Beach Post.

Cinematheque is “a new film programmer coming to the cinemas–direct from El Long Beach–to fulfill indie-, student- and LGBT-movie dreams,” according to the OC Weekly.

The Fiesta Twin Theatre is the only movie theater in Santa Ana that shows new first-run movies in Spanish or in English with Spanish subtitles.  Make no mistake about this – the Chase family is once again opting for “gaytrification.” Continue reading→

Outside interests launch cowardly attack on Mayor Pulido’s family

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Costa Mesa, David Benavides, Elections, Eric Alderete, Gangs, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Santa Ana 30 Comments

Mayor Pulido’s cowardly opponents have targeted his children

By now you have probably seen the horrible anonymous mailers that have been attacking Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido – accusing him and his family of hosting a party where a teen was reportedly raped.

The story was reported by the Voice of OC, an online news website that I have at this point lost all respect for.  Their seed funding came largely from the Orange County Employees Association, a government workers union headed up by Nick Berardino, who has had some unknown beef with Pulido for some time.  And the Voice of OC’s board members include lobbyist Joe Dunn, who tried to move the O.C. Federal Court of Appeals to Irvine but was famously blocked by Pulido. Continue reading→

PBID to be reconsidered by the Santa Ana City Council in May

Posted on by Posted in Business, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana 4 Comments

Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez tried her best to stop the PBID (a property tax in Downtown Santa Ana that is used largely to promote bars and restaurants and to maintain and secure the area) at Monday night’s Santa Ana City Council meeting, but she could not muster any support from her colleagues.

Instead, “The issue will be taken up again in May, according to Councilman Sal Tinajero, who told the Voice of OC “because the city should be allowed to consider dismantling the district without threat of litigation at that time. The law governing the district requires council members vote annually on whether to continue the district.” Continue reading→

Irv Chase’s promoter blames the “dirty Mexicans” in Downtown Santa Ana

Posted on by Posted in Business, Latinos, Santa Ana 43 Comments


Irv Chase’s promoter, Archer Altstaetter, told NBC yesterday that the Chase family is “upgrading and investing in their buildings, without any malice toward anyone.”  ”It’s no different than the Irvine Company or any other retailer in a mall saying hey, if your stores are not clean, you’re out,” said Altstaetter.

Excuse me?  Did Archer just blame the “dirty Mexicans?”  You can see his commenting about this in the video provided above. Continue reading→

Exclusive: Chases among those invited to Santa Ana Latino Jewish Forum

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Civil Rights, Claudia Alvarez, Latinos, Orange County, Politics, Santa Ana 24 Comments

Irv and Ryan Chase

A few out of town bloggers appear to be having a fit because they weren’t invited to Thursday’s Santa Ana Latino Jewish Forum.  It is sad that some folks have to attack everything – even something positive, like this community event.

I was able to get a hold of a partial list of those who were invited to this event, which is also being broadcast live online for those who could not attend.  Irv and Ryan Chase were invited.  I hope they attend.  Others who were invited include a Who’s Who of Santa Ana’s community leaders, including: Continue reading→

Live blogging – Alvarez vs. Bustamante and Benavides at the Council meeting

Posted on by Posted in Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana 12 Comments

I am covering tonight’s Santa Ana City Council meeting – which figures to be an epic confrontation between Republican Council Member Carlos Bustamante and his sidekick, David Benavides vs. Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez.  The “B Boys” have put an 85 A item on the agenda to punish and maybe even ask Alvarez to resign from the Council.

This all came about as a result of an analogy made by Alvarez at the last Council meeting, when she compared developer and property owner Irv Chase to Adolf Hitler.  She has since apologized. Continue reading→

Amezcua’s PAC to protest Alvarez and the PBID at the Council meeting on 9/6

Posted on by Posted in Alfredo Amezcua, Business, Claudia Alvarez, Hate, immigration, Latinos, mexico, Santa Ana 19 Comments

Failed Santa Ana mayoral candidate Alfredo Amezcua’s Political Action Committee, which he calls the “Santa Ana Coalition for Better Government,” (SACBG) has sent out a bizarre email asking its members to show up to Tuesday night’s Santa Ana City Council meeting in protest of Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez while at the same time advocating against the PBID – the assessment charged to property owners in part of Downtown Santa Ana.

Do these self-serving yahoos realize that Alvarez is the ONLY Santa Ana Council Member who agrees with them regarding PBID?  Why would they turn on her when she is advocating their position?  How ridiculous are these people? Continue reading→

Could toxic attacks on Alvarez lead to terrorism?

Posted on by Posted in Claudia Alvarez, Extremism, Hate, Racism, Santa Ana, Tolerance 23 Comments

If you’ve ever visited the the Santa Ana Public Library in the Civic Center you probably have noticed a statue of a man holding a dove in front of the main entrance and asked yourself “who is he”?  Is it a statue honoring one of Santa Ana’s or Orange County’s forefathers?  Is it a statue honoring a historical figure from literature?  An author perhaps?  No this statue is none of these.

The nine-foot bronze statue that was erected in 1994 honors Alex Odeh, the west-coast regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, who was murdered October 11, 1985 in a terrorist attack right here in Santa Ana at 1905 E. 17th Street.  Odeh was killed when a bomb triggered as he put the key into his office door exploded.  The FBI classified the bombing as a terrorist attack and believed that Jewish militants from the Jewish Defense League (JDL) were probably responsible for the murder. Continue reading→

Santa Ana artist Theo Hirsch explains why Alvarez was right about Chase

Posted on by Posted in Arts and Culture, Business, Claudia Alvarez, Latinos, Racism, Republican Party, Santa Ana 15 Comments

Santa Ana artist and musician Theo Hirsch unloaded on the Republicans and fake liberals who have been attacking Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez this week, in a hard hitting post on his blog.  Here are a few excerpts:

After a ton of local controversy because council woman Claudia Alvares had the balls to Call out Irv Chase in accusations of Gentrification, many things have become apparent:

  1.  Claudia Alvarez isn’t Racist
  2. Chase probably is racist
  3. Mexican vendors are being pushed out!
  4. And if someone does not step in, Santa Ana Promenade all the way to East Village workshops, back north towards 4th Street, then from French to 4th and Broadway is going to become: The restaurant village. Thus art and culture will get swept to the side, while white, O.C. trust fund babies up your f*cking ying-yang, will be running rampant. Continue reading→

How can Alvarez be anti-Semitic when her ancestors faced a Holocaust too?

Posted on by Posted in Claudia Alvarez, Historical, Latinos, mexico, Native Americans, Racism, Republican Party, Santa Ana 40 Comments

I got a phone call tonight, on my cell phone, from a young lady who said that Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez should “learn English” and “go back to Mexico.”  The caller blurted out something about the Holocaust and then hung up.

I was left wondering if the anonymous caller knew anything about the Native American Holocaust?  Or that Alvarez, like 60% of modern Mexicans and Mexican Americans, is a Mestizo – which means she is descended from Native Americans and the Spanish who conquered Mexico.  (Another 30% of today’s Mexicans are thought to be Natives even today – in fact many of these people still speak only their native tongues).

Alvarez erred by comparing Santa Ana business owner and developer Irv Chase to Adolf Hitler – but she was trying to make a valid point – that Chase has systematically profited over the years by partnering with former Santa Ana City Manager Dave Ream to squeeze Latinos out of Downtown Santa Ana.  Chase’s purchase of the Yost Theater, which Ream arranged to have effectively stolen from the Olivas family, is but one such example of this. Continue reading→

Claudia Alvarez apologizes for comparing Irv Chase to Hitler

Posted on by Posted in Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Development, Latinos, Michele Martinez, Santa Ana 16 Comments

Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez apologized today, in a phone call to the L.A. Times,  for making statements that could be construed to be anti-Semitic.

“What I said was inappropriate, and I let my emotions get the best of me,” Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez told the L.A. Times.  Here are a few more excerpts from the L.A. Times article:

Alvarez said getting emotional did not justify her statements. She said the debate has affected her personally because her father owned a business downtown, and the incident is the culmination of escalating tensions surrounding the downtown area.

“The conversation is not over,” she said. “I obviously need to learn how to keep my cool.”

What the heck is all this about, you might be wondering?

Continue reading→

The Yost Theater opens in grand style but Gustavo can’t let go of the past

Posted on by Posted in Arts and Culture, Business, music, Santa Ana 14 Comments

The historic Yost Theater finally reopened for business last night, an hour late, to a large crowd that patiently lined up outside while getting their I.D. bracelets.

I stopped by at about 9:30 pm and had a chance to speak with Dave Leon, one of their owners.  Leon has been working on opening not only the Yost but also the Velvet Lounge.  I thought he might be quite frazzled, having spent all Saturday trying to get everything done to the satisfaction of the City of Santa Ana’s Planning Department.  But Leon was just relieved, more than anything else, and he had to be happy to see how many folks came to the Yosts’ grand opening. Continue reading→

Is Downtown Santa Ana losing its Latino culture?

Posted on by Posted in Arts and Culture, Civic Affairs, Development, Historical, Latino Leaders, Latinos, Santa Ana 20 Comments

Don Cribb?

Santa Ana’s Nimby Usual Suspects are quick to scream that something is historical whenever their institutions are threatened.  And then they sue.  They did that when dilapidated housing in the proposed Station District was threatened and they are doing it again now that folks are talking about bringing the Chivas USA soccer team to the Willowick Golf Course.  Suddenly Willowick is, you guessed it, historical.

You don’t however hear these folks screeching about the pending change of Downtown Santa Ana’s Fiesta Marketplace, on Calle Quatro, to the “East End,” which is what the Chase family wants us to call this area now.  And not one of the Usual Suspects is complaining about the pending eviction of El Centro Cultural de Mexico from the building on the West Side of Downtown Santa Ana, where they have been for over seven years.  (Click here to read more about this story).

You see, in Santa Ana “historical” is in the eye of the beholder – and nothing Latino is ever deemed to have such value, at least not by the Usual Suspects.

That said, we cannot stop business and property owners from exerting their right to do with their property what they want to do with it.  The Chase family appears to be hellbent on purging all things Latino from the “East End,” and making it an extension of the Artists Village.  And whoever it is that is evicting El Centro appears to have similar ideas.

The sad thing is that our Artists Village is better for being in an area with Latino influence.  It makes our Artists Village more interesting.  Whitewashing Downtown Santa Ana actually makes our Artists Village less interesting.

It is worth noting that the “Godfather” of the Santa Ana Artists Village, Don Cribb, is one of the Usual Suspects crying foul over the proposed move of the Chivas USA soccer team to the Willowick Golf Course.  How ungracious of him.  The people of Santa Ana spent a fortune to put in place his vision of an Artists Village.  The least he could do is get out of the way and let Mayor Miguel Pulido try to improve the rest of Santa Ana.

Make no mistake about it – there is a concerted effort at hand to de-Latino-ize Santa Ana.  That this is happening while we have an all-Latino City Council in place is beyond ironic.

I hope that our City Council members will try to help El Centro Cultural de Mexico to find a new home.  It might be too late to save the Fiesta Marketplace, but we can at least help out El Centro, before it is too late.  Turning Downtown Santa Ana into another Irvine would be beyond tragic.

Imagine if we could find the money to restore the old YMCA building on Civic Center and put El Centro there – eventually?  How awesome would that be?

Some Latino shop owners at the Fiesta Marketplace back Irv Chase

Posted on by Posted in Business, Latinos, Santa Ana 12 Comments

For weeks now I have been reading that all of the Latino business owners at the Fiesta Marketplace are mad at their landlord, Irv Chase.  But when I went to the Cinco de Mayo festival in Santa Ana, which was held in the same area as the Fiesta Marketplace, I spoke to a few of the business owners and found out that what the media and other blogs are reporting is not necessarily the truth.

I met Ray Rangel, the longtime owner of R and R Sportswear, and his family.  He has been in business for many years and was recently lauded for helping to found the Orange County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.  He owns a part of the Fiesta Marketplace, including the land his store sits on, and he subleases to a few other tenants.

Rangel told me that he is a longtime friend of Chase and that he can appreciate what Chase is trying to do by bringing change to the Fiesta Marketplace.  Rangel is not totally happy with everything Chase is doing, including not giving new leases to tenants who won’t update their product mix, but overall he gets it and is happy to see some change coming to the center.

I also met a lady who just opened up a music store and whose family has opened two other businesses – Charlie’s Tattoo Supplies and Body Piercing and Dame Elegante.

Danielle Barragan is running the tattoo supply store, which is located at 316 E. Fourth St..  She hopes that the City of Santa Ana will eventually allow tattoos to be applied, in downtown Santa Ana.  I do think it is very odd for an Artists Village to not include tattoo shops.  This definitely needs to get addressed by our City Council.

Dame Elegante features shoes and purses in a very nice fashionable setting.  They are located at 516 E. 4th St.

All of the new business owners I mentioned above support Chase and say he has been a huge help to them in opening up their businesses – and this enterprising family is of course entirely Latino.

I never thought I would see the day that you could get body piercings in the Fiesta Marketplace, but that day has indeed arrived!

Click here for a map of the Fiesta Marketplace, which is located at E. Fourth St. and N. Bush St., in downtown Santa Ana.