The long drive (Day 12)
Day 12
Leaving the house at 5:30 in the am, I took the 91 freeway west to the 55 freeway south. Driving on the 55, I wondered if there was a faster way to get to Seventeenth Street than the one I'd been taking. I wondered if it might be better to go straight south to Newport Beach, via the 55, and then double back northwest on pacific coast highway. Deciding that I was running a few minutes behind and not wanting to take chances, I changed lanes to the right and merged into the 22 west.
The garden grove freeway, California route 22, runs like a corridor through the cities of Orange, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Westminster (including Little Saigon), and Seal Beach.
Built in three years and completed in 1967, the freeway serves an annual daily traffic average of over 200,000 cars, 15,000 of which pass through during the peak hours. The Orange County Transportation Authority estimates that by 2020, the annual daily traffic average will top 350,000 cars per day.
The intersection of the 22 freeway with interstate I-5 and California route 57 is one of the busiest interchanges in Orange County. Affectingly nicknamed "the orange crush", the interchange is packed full of cars moving at snail speeds during morning and afternoon during the work week, and sporadically on weekends.
On the morning of day 12, a traffic alert due to an accident closed down all but one lane of the 22 freeway at Euclid Street, 4 miles west of the orange crush. Ignorantly, I drove right into the four mile line of traffic.
I spent the next 45 minutes of my life driving four miles.
The view northward from the 22 freeway driving west from the orange crush, however, is telling. From the freeway, three distinct landmarks are visible, each with interesting stories about Orange County.
Over the Santa Ana riverbank, the 230 foot tall red a-frame with halo is clearly visible, the landmark of what is now called Angel Stadium.
The stadium is owned by the city of Anaheim, and leased to the Anaheim Angels. Opened in 1966 for $24 million of public funds, and upgraded in 1997-1999 for an additional $118 million of public money, it stands as a monument to the great American tradition of using public money to foster private profit. The stadium currently seats 45,050 fans.
The Angels tenure in Anaheim mimes the struggle of Orange County itself, seeking individuality under the shadow of its heavier neighbor to the north.
The year of Bruce Brown's "Endless Summer" and just eleven years after the Walt Disney Company acquired 180 acres of orange groves and walnut trees to build Disneyland, the team called the Los Angeles Angels moved to Anaheim Stadium in 1966, changing their name to the California Angels. Prior to the stadium's construction, the 180 acre site consisted of four farms: 39 acres of orange and eucalyptus trees, 70 acres of alfalfa, and 39 acres of corn on two farms.
Walt Disney had sat on the original board of the Los Angeles when the team was formed in 1961. The Angels original owner was Gene Autry, the "singing cowboy" of show biz fame, and a close friend of Mr. Disney. Autry managed the team personally; investing everything he could to put a winning team on the field. In the early 1990s, Autry gave over control of the team's management to his wife, Jackie. Jackie's more conservative financial approach was unpopular with the fans and attendance dropped drastically in the course of several years.
In 1995, a heavy neighbor was petitioned for help. News of the Walt Disney Company, under Michael Eisner, buying a 25% share of the Angels in 1995 was welcome news to the fans, who thought that the deep pockets of the giant Disney corporation might be a boon to the team.
Disney assumed operational control of the Angels n 1996. Management staff was cut. Operations were managed by a Disney subsidiary. Gene and Jackie Autry were forced from the board of directors. Ticket prices were raised. Long time season tickets were moved to make way for more expensive buyers. The stadium was expanded with public monies, and a deal was stuck with power giant Southern California Edison to sponsor and name the "Edison International Field of Anaheim". Disney style mascots, cheerleaders, and uniforms were added. A full length move was produced ("Angels in the Outfield"). But, the Angels baseball record suffered, and fans quickly lost faith in the Disney miracle.
Under the control of the Disney umbrella, however, the team was finally given the name of the Anaheim Angels, and put the name of Anaheim, the city where they had played for nearly 30 years, on its away uniforms.
After four years of experimenting with synergies to increase attendance at Disneyland via the Angels and the neighboring Disney owned professional hockey team, the Mighty Ducks, Disney announced both teams for sale. Improvements were made to the Angels in the hopes of finding a buyer.
Then, something even better happened. In 2003, the worst angels team of all time, judging by their record in the first 20 games, miraculously came back to win the 2003 world series title against the San Francisco giants, four games to three. It was the first world series for the Angels.
Seven months later, independent multi-millionaire Arturo Moreno bought the Anaheim Angels. For opening day of the 2004 season, the stadium was renamed "Angel Stadium" removing all reference to Anaheim, and a new scoreboard was installed under the giant letters of a new scoreboard sponsor: the Los Angeles Times.
The second landmark visible from the 22 freeway is a large outdoor mall facility called The Block at Orange. Opened in 1998 with 700,000 square feet of retail space, it's one of Orange County's top retail centers. The Block features a host of commonly franchised retailers such as Old Navy, Ann Taylor Factory Store, OFF 5th Saks Fifth Avenue, an AMC 30 Theatres, and a Dave & Buster's entertainment center.
However, the Block represents a significant strategy move to the retail community. It was the first mall in Southern Californian to actively and aggressively target the surfing and skateboarding retail business.
At its opening, the Block included a Vans indoor skateboard park, which claims to be the largest such facility in the world. The skateboarders can be observed by the public via a large glass storefront. Nearby the Vans pro shop, Hawaiian fashion retailer Hilo Hattie, the self proclaimed "store of Hawaii" runs it only California franchise.
But, the face that the mall presents to drivers in traffic on the 22 freeway is an image of surfing. A large building at the south corner of the mall is adorned around the top by giant statues of surfboards and men in board shorts standing on surfboards, riding in classic longboard trimmed stances, like huge gargoyles lifted from "the Endless Summer".
The Ron Jon Surf Shop at the Block in Orange is the largest surfboard shop on the west coast. The 25,000 square foot space was Ron Jon's first facility so far inland and located in a major retail destination. The store is a twenty minute drive by freeway to the nearest beach, while it sits only 5 miles from Disneyland.
The store is packed with surfing culture for sale to the inland public. Board shorts, swimsuits, surf fashions, shoes, and various paraphernalia litter the wooden shelves. The centerpiece of the shopping experience is a 1946 mercury station wagon "woodie", used as a retail display. There is also a pro shop selling short and long surfboards in the back of the store. I bought my 7'6" funboard at this shop a few years ago while shopping with my wife. The board was less expensive there than anywhere else. On my way out of the store, I asked for a couple of bars of surf wax. The girl behind the counter told me that they were out of stock.
Ron Jon surf shops started with a single store in Long Beach Island, New Jersey in the 1959, with a second store opening shortly thereafter in Coco Beach, Florida in 1963. It now operates five retail stores, a Ron Jon resort in Orlando, and an internet business. Ron Jon has also announced the development of a wave pool surf park where visitors can ride perfect barreling 4 to 8 foot salt water surf in a heated pool on a year round basis starting sometime in 2005. A Mexican restaurant is also planned for the site, where patrons can dine with a view of the artificial surf.
Ron Jon president, Ed Moriarty is a former employee of Disney, working with Walt Disney Attractions for over 20 years and developing one of the company's more successful merchandising programs.
Ed Moriarty left Disney to become the Ron Jon's president in 1997, the year before Ron Jon Surf Shop at the Block at Orange opened its doors.
Minutes past "The City" Drive, the exit for the Block at Orange, looking northward, and still stuck in hellish traffic, I saw a gleam of light reflecting as if to blind everyone driving past it. Through the painful gleam I could distinguish the second most recognizable logo of our time, the Christian cross.
The nearly 12,000 panes of glass that form the four pointed crystal star of the twelve story Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove have been called one of the architectural wonders of the world. With dimensions of some 200 feet by 400 feet, with a ceiling of glass peaking at 128 feet above the floor, the cathedral is larger than Notre Dame in Paris.
The primary function of the building is for the hosting of the "Hour of Power" Christian services, the televangelism ministry begun by the Reverend Robert Schuller. "Hour of Power" is televised every week worldwide, and known to millions of Americans. The show has often featured celebrity guests and speakers such John Tesh, the Judds, Robin Williams and future California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Located near Disneyland, the cathedral welcomes tourists year round, hosts special events, is available for weddings, and puts on spectacular Christmas and Easter pageants each year.
Arriving in Orange County in 1955, the same year as the opening of Disneyland, Schuller rented the Orange County Drive In theatre for Sunday mornings. Parishioners seated in their cars listened to 28 year old preacher give his Sunday lessons from the top of a drive in snack bar.
In 1960, Schuller moved his fellowship to Garden Grove, to a new church building. In 1966, the congregation added the fourteen story "tower of hope" to the site, adorned with a 90 foot cross that lit up the night sky.
Schuller entered the television ministry business in 1970 with the "Hour of Power" television show, which would become the most widely watched televised church service in the country, with an audience of over three million viewers. The Crystal Cathedral church was designed by architect Philip Johnson, started construction in 1975, and opened for services in 1980.
Viewers can and are invited to make an investment in the "Hour of Power", which can be done by phone, by mail, or online at the church's website.
Shuller himself has remained relatively clean from scandal. In 1997, a plea bargain dismissed criminal charges which had been filed against Schuller for allegedly assaulting an airline attendant. In 2002, Schuller fired his associate, William Baker, after a local independent newspaper reported that Baker had been a former chairman of a neo-Nazi group called the Populist Party.
On Saturdays, the "Hour of Power" services are carried on the Trinity Broadcast Network (TBN) stations across the country. TBN is also based in Orange County, and is the outgrowth of the ministry of Pastor Paul Croutch. Across the 405 freeway from South Coast Plaza, an upscale Southern California shopping mall (complete with a Quicksilver Roxy boutique store), TBN runs the Trinity Christian City International, a sprawling white neoclassical architectural palace where visitors can witness studio broadcasts, watch Christian movies, or buy TBN logo clothing.
In September of 2004, the Christian church watchdog group, Wall Watchers (www.wallwatchers.com), listed TBN as the 10th largest Christian ministry with revenues of $171 million.
Crystal Cathedral ministries, estimated as the most widely received religious broadcast in history, does not report or reveal any revenue figures, keeping all its finances private.
Between the two churches is the city of Santa Ana, where over 70% of the population is Latino or Hispanic and 20% of the population lives below the poverty line.
On Sundays, the "hour of power" show is carried on a second cable channel, the Lifetime network. And, as if by sheer coincidence, 50% of the Lifetime network is owned by none other than...... The Walt Disney Company.
I finally got through the traffic and raced to the beach. Passing the Beach Boulevard exit, I glanced to my left. The drive in movie theatre where Schuller used to preach has since been torn down, and replaced with a Wall Mart shopping center.
I arrived at the Huntington Beach cliffs at 6:45 and jumped out of my truck. I hurried into my wetsuit and was in the water within minutes. I had met my quota of three waves by 7:15, leaving me just enough time to get to Irvine by 8 am.
More later (wait till I get to Irvine)
-Trav
copyright 2004 Travis R. English
Leaving the house at 5:30 in the am, I took the 91 freeway west to the 55 freeway south. Driving on the 55, I wondered if there was a faster way to get to Seventeenth Street than the one I'd been taking. I wondered if it might be better to go straight south to Newport Beach, via the 55, and then double back northwest on pacific coast highway. Deciding that I was running a few minutes behind and not wanting to take chances, I changed lanes to the right and merged into the 22 west.
The garden grove freeway, California route 22, runs like a corridor through the cities of Orange, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Westminster (including Little Saigon), and Seal Beach.
Built in three years and completed in 1967, the freeway serves an annual daily traffic average of over 200,000 cars, 15,000 of which pass through during the peak hours. The Orange County Transportation Authority estimates that by 2020, the annual daily traffic average will top 350,000 cars per day.
The intersection of the 22 freeway with interstate I-5 and California route 57 is one of the busiest interchanges in Orange County. Affectingly nicknamed "the orange crush", the interchange is packed full of cars moving at snail speeds during morning and afternoon during the work week, and sporadically on weekends.
On the morning of day 12, a traffic alert due to an accident closed down all but one lane of the 22 freeway at Euclid Street, 4 miles west of the orange crush. Ignorantly, I drove right into the four mile line of traffic.
I spent the next 45 minutes of my life driving four miles.
The view northward from the 22 freeway driving west from the orange crush, however, is telling. From the freeway, three distinct landmarks are visible, each with interesting stories about Orange County.
Over the Santa Ana riverbank, the 230 foot tall red a-frame with halo is clearly visible, the landmark of what is now called Angel Stadium.
The stadium is owned by the city of Anaheim, and leased to the Anaheim Angels. Opened in 1966 for $24 million of public funds, and upgraded in 1997-1999 for an additional $118 million of public money, it stands as a monument to the great American tradition of using public money to foster private profit. The stadium currently seats 45,050 fans.
The Angels tenure in Anaheim mimes the struggle of Orange County itself, seeking individuality under the shadow of its heavier neighbor to the north.
The year of Bruce Brown's "Endless Summer" and just eleven years after the Walt Disney Company acquired 180 acres of orange groves and walnut trees to build Disneyland, the team called the Los Angeles Angels moved to Anaheim Stadium in 1966, changing their name to the California Angels. Prior to the stadium's construction, the 180 acre site consisted of four farms: 39 acres of orange and eucalyptus trees, 70 acres of alfalfa, and 39 acres of corn on two farms.
Walt Disney had sat on the original board of the Los Angeles when the team was formed in 1961. The Angels original owner was Gene Autry, the "singing cowboy" of show biz fame, and a close friend of Mr. Disney. Autry managed the team personally; investing everything he could to put a winning team on the field. In the early 1990s, Autry gave over control of the team's management to his wife, Jackie. Jackie's more conservative financial approach was unpopular with the fans and attendance dropped drastically in the course of several years.
In 1995, a heavy neighbor was petitioned for help. News of the Walt Disney Company, under Michael Eisner, buying a 25% share of the Angels in 1995 was welcome news to the fans, who thought that the deep pockets of the giant Disney corporation might be a boon to the team.
Disney assumed operational control of the Angels n 1996. Management staff was cut. Operations were managed by a Disney subsidiary. Gene and Jackie Autry were forced from the board of directors. Ticket prices were raised. Long time season tickets were moved to make way for more expensive buyers. The stadium was expanded with public monies, and a deal was stuck with power giant Southern California Edison to sponsor and name the "Edison International Field of Anaheim". Disney style mascots, cheerleaders, and uniforms were added. A full length move was produced ("Angels in the Outfield"). But, the Angels baseball record suffered, and fans quickly lost faith in the Disney miracle.
Under the control of the Disney umbrella, however, the team was finally given the name of the Anaheim Angels, and put the name of Anaheim, the city where they had played for nearly 30 years, on its away uniforms.
After four years of experimenting with synergies to increase attendance at Disneyland via the Angels and the neighboring Disney owned professional hockey team, the Mighty Ducks, Disney announced both teams for sale. Improvements were made to the Angels in the hopes of finding a buyer.
Then, something even better happened. In 2003, the worst angels team of all time, judging by their record in the first 20 games, miraculously came back to win the 2003 world series title against the San Francisco giants, four games to three. It was the first world series for the Angels.
Seven months later, independent multi-millionaire Arturo Moreno bought the Anaheim Angels. For opening day of the 2004 season, the stadium was renamed "Angel Stadium" removing all reference to Anaheim, and a new scoreboard was installed under the giant letters of a new scoreboard sponsor: the Los Angeles Times.
The second landmark visible from the 22 freeway is a large outdoor mall facility called The Block at Orange. Opened in 1998 with 700,000 square feet of retail space, it's one of Orange County's top retail centers. The Block features a host of commonly franchised retailers such as Old Navy, Ann Taylor Factory Store, OFF 5th Saks Fifth Avenue, an AMC 30 Theatres, and a Dave & Buster's entertainment center.
However, the Block represents a significant strategy move to the retail community. It was the first mall in Southern Californian to actively and aggressively target the surfing and skateboarding retail business.
At its opening, the Block included a Vans indoor skateboard park, which claims to be the largest such facility in the world. The skateboarders can be observed by the public via a large glass storefront. Nearby the Vans pro shop, Hawaiian fashion retailer Hilo Hattie, the self proclaimed "store of Hawaii" runs it only California franchise.
But, the face that the mall presents to drivers in traffic on the 22 freeway is an image of surfing. A large building at the south corner of the mall is adorned around the top by giant statues of surfboards and men in board shorts standing on surfboards, riding in classic longboard trimmed stances, like huge gargoyles lifted from "the Endless Summer".
The Ron Jon Surf Shop at the Block in Orange is the largest surfboard shop on the west coast. The 25,000 square foot space was Ron Jon's first facility so far inland and located in a major retail destination. The store is a twenty minute drive by freeway to the nearest beach, while it sits only 5 miles from Disneyland.
The store is packed with surfing culture for sale to the inland public. Board shorts, swimsuits, surf fashions, shoes, and various paraphernalia litter the wooden shelves. The centerpiece of the shopping experience is a 1946 mercury station wagon "woodie", used as a retail display. There is also a pro shop selling short and long surfboards in the back of the store. I bought my 7'6" funboard at this shop a few years ago while shopping with my wife. The board was less expensive there than anywhere else. On my way out of the store, I asked for a couple of bars of surf wax. The girl behind the counter told me that they were out of stock.
Ron Jon surf shops started with a single store in Long Beach Island, New Jersey in the 1959, with a second store opening shortly thereafter in Coco Beach, Florida in 1963. It now operates five retail stores, a Ron Jon resort in Orlando, and an internet business. Ron Jon has also announced the development of a wave pool surf park where visitors can ride perfect barreling 4 to 8 foot salt water surf in a heated pool on a year round basis starting sometime in 2005. A Mexican restaurant is also planned for the site, where patrons can dine with a view of the artificial surf.
Ron Jon president, Ed Moriarty is a former employee of Disney, working with Walt Disney Attractions for over 20 years and developing one of the company's more successful merchandising programs.
Ed Moriarty left Disney to become the Ron Jon's president in 1997, the year before Ron Jon Surf Shop at the Block at Orange opened its doors.
Minutes past "The City" Drive, the exit for the Block at Orange, looking northward, and still stuck in hellish traffic, I saw a gleam of light reflecting as if to blind everyone driving past it. Through the painful gleam I could distinguish the second most recognizable logo of our time, the Christian cross.
The nearly 12,000 panes of glass that form the four pointed crystal star of the twelve story Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove have been called one of the architectural wonders of the world. With dimensions of some 200 feet by 400 feet, with a ceiling of glass peaking at 128 feet above the floor, the cathedral is larger than Notre Dame in Paris.
The primary function of the building is for the hosting of the "Hour of Power" Christian services, the televangelism ministry begun by the Reverend Robert Schuller. "Hour of Power" is televised every week worldwide, and known to millions of Americans. The show has often featured celebrity guests and speakers such John Tesh, the Judds, Robin Williams and future California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Located near Disneyland, the cathedral welcomes tourists year round, hosts special events, is available for weddings, and puts on spectacular Christmas and Easter pageants each year.
Arriving in Orange County in 1955, the same year as the opening of Disneyland, Schuller rented the Orange County Drive In theatre for Sunday mornings. Parishioners seated in their cars listened to 28 year old preacher give his Sunday lessons from the top of a drive in snack bar.
In 1960, Schuller moved his fellowship to Garden Grove, to a new church building. In 1966, the congregation added the fourteen story "tower of hope" to the site, adorned with a 90 foot cross that lit up the night sky.
Schuller entered the television ministry business in 1970 with the "Hour of Power" television show, which would become the most widely watched televised church service in the country, with an audience of over three million viewers. The Crystal Cathedral church was designed by architect Philip Johnson, started construction in 1975, and opened for services in 1980.
Viewers can and are invited to make an investment in the "Hour of Power", which can be done by phone, by mail, or online at the church's website.
Shuller himself has remained relatively clean from scandal. In 1997, a plea bargain dismissed criminal charges which had been filed against Schuller for allegedly assaulting an airline attendant. In 2002, Schuller fired his associate, William Baker, after a local independent newspaper reported that Baker had been a former chairman of a neo-Nazi group called the Populist Party.
On Saturdays, the "Hour of Power" services are carried on the Trinity Broadcast Network (TBN) stations across the country. TBN is also based in Orange County, and is the outgrowth of the ministry of Pastor Paul Croutch. Across the 405 freeway from South Coast Plaza, an upscale Southern California shopping mall (complete with a Quicksilver Roxy boutique store), TBN runs the Trinity Christian City International, a sprawling white neoclassical architectural palace where visitors can witness studio broadcasts, watch Christian movies, or buy TBN logo clothing.
In September of 2004, the Christian church watchdog group, Wall Watchers (www.wallwatchers.com), listed TBN as the 10th largest Christian ministry with revenues of $171 million.
Crystal Cathedral ministries, estimated as the most widely received religious broadcast in history, does not report or reveal any revenue figures, keeping all its finances private.
Between the two churches is the city of Santa Ana, where over 70% of the population is Latino or Hispanic and 20% of the population lives below the poverty line.
On Sundays, the "hour of power" show is carried on a second cable channel, the Lifetime network. And, as if by sheer coincidence, 50% of the Lifetime network is owned by none other than...... The Walt Disney Company.
I finally got through the traffic and raced to the beach. Passing the Beach Boulevard exit, I glanced to my left. The drive in movie theatre where Schuller used to preach has since been torn down, and replaced with a Wall Mart shopping center.
I arrived at the Huntington Beach cliffs at 6:45 and jumped out of my truck. I hurried into my wetsuit and was in the water within minutes. I had met my quota of three waves by 7:15, leaving me just enough time to get to Irvine by 8 am.
More later (wait till I get to Irvine)
-Trav
copyright 2004 Travis R. English
posted by travinator @ 9:39 PM
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