Where was I? Main St and Edinger (something like that)? (Santa Ana: car rental, crime rate)

[Roma]

Hi,

2 weeks ago I visited the Newport Beach area. But I got lost the first day trying to find my hotel.

What happened was, at the airport car rental, I asked how to get to the Hyatt Hotel on Jamboree. The man gave me directions and off I went. I immediately found the Hyatt and valeted my car and went inside to check in. Come to found out I went to the Hyatt in Irvine instead of the Hyatt in Newport (the one I was supposed to be at). So the clerk at the hotel informed me that this happens all the time and gave me directions to my Newport Hyatt. Well, When he told me to make a turn off of Main St to Jamboree, I didn't because I thought it was Jamboree. I got lost. I thought I was on Jamboree and kept driving but I was actually on Main St. The whole area changed. Bars on windows, graffiti everywhere, Spanish stores written in Spanish and I was the only white person around.

So I started to get scared. I called my hotel and told them that this does not look like Newport Beach and I am lost. He gave me directions back and it all worked out OK.

The reason I am asking "where was I" is because even though the area was obviously not a nice area , bars on all the windows is a easy give away. The people were all smiling though. I lived in Oxnard for 3.5 years. Oxnard is primarily Hispanic except at the beach. When I would drive around Oxnard the cholo looking guys were not smiling and enjoying life like these guys seemed to be in OC. The Oxnard guys seemed angry and looked mean and unapproachable. Not the case wherever the place I got lost at in OC.

These cholo guys in OC were all out and about. Riding there decked out bicycles with long frames to look like low rider bikes. Driving fixed up cars (all with nice hub caps). LOL. But they were all smiling at me. They would drive next to me and lean over and smile (like you would do if you hit on someone). One of the cars was a new convertible Trans Am type car and the top was down and there were 3 guys in the car, all with shaved heads tattoos, wife beater tee shirts, cholo looking guys, smiling at me with huge grins. Not really saying anything but just smiling. Enjoying life.

I thought to myself, WOW this is not Oxnard. These guys are happy, it must be a Orange County thing. Everyone just seemed happy.

So where was I? On Main Street about 10 minutes or so from the Hyatt in Irvine and the cross street was I think called Edinger or the spelling may be off a bit. Is this the bad area everyone talks about? I wouldn't want to get out of car there and I wanted out of there as quickly as possible (I probably stood out like a sore thumb) I have long blond hair and blue eyes. But boy, were those some happy guys. LOL

[albinoazian]

That would be the start of Santa Ana. One of the "bad" parts of OC. As you have noticed, "bad" being very relative to the surroundings. You get a lot of sheltered born and raised Orange County folks who have never really seen bad.

[Roma]

Thanks albinoazian,

I was thinking it might of been Santa Ana but I wasn't sure. What I am sure of though, is it was not Oxnard. LOL Big difference in the attitudes, thats for sure.
I was thinking that there was something in the air in Orange County, because everywhere I went most people seemed quite happy and friendly. It was a nice change.

[Mel2882]

Yep, definitely Santa Ana.

[newportbeachsmostwanted]

As much as I hate the city, many Hispanics happen to like it there, and suprisingly the crime rate is just below the national average. I still avoid it though. I hate getting stared at.

[dennismpat]

Roma,

Sorry to hear you got lost trying to find your hotel. The area you described definitely sounds like Santa Ana, as previous posters have indicated. I've driven through that area also, when I worked in Irvine and took the side streets to get to Costa Mesa. I'm glad to hear that the "homies" didn't try to give you a hard time, and that you ultimately found your hotel---AND enjoyed your stay here in SoCal.