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People like to dramatize descriptions of places they do not live, and especially places they really do not know anything about. Water cooler gossip is pretty boring without exaggeration. After a while, the exaggerations become sort of an urban legend.
We lived in Santa Ana for 9 years and part time for another 7. It is/was a very nice place to live, nicer than parts of other much loved cities I have visited or lived in for a time. We could walk or ride bikes almost anywhere we needed to go. I put about 4500 miles a year on my car. The schools were a challenge, but manageable. However some people turned pale when we said we were raising our family in downtown (actually mid-town) Santa Ana. Some friends would not even come visit us, including one family who lived a mile and a half from us and less than one mile form the border fo Santa Ana. The exaggerations had them in fear of the very name Santa Ana. Now I spend a little over half my time in Detroit and it is the same thing. People tell me I should wear a body bag to work and save the coroner some time. The reality is downtown is really neat. It is certain outlying neighborhoods (lots of them) that are empty and/or dangerous.
Anaheim is the same. It has some decent areas. It has some rough areas. It has some areas that are not rough, but just not really exciting. However the water cooler gossip puts Anaheim, Garden Grove, Westminister and Santa Ana all together in a cesspool. It is really dramatic and no one really cares that it is untrue. Drama is more important. Thus, people just drive through these cities with their doors locked and their blinders on and see nothing except that which can be exaggerated for juicy water cooler gossip. If two homeless people ask for a dollar, the person becomes surrounded by "hordes" of aggressive homeless tramps demanding money or your life. If a car backfires: "I heard gunshots all night long" July 5 or May 5 fireworks: "There were riots with huge explosions all over the place, multiple sticks of dynamite or pipe bombs going off to be sure, I think I saw some Molotov cocktails as well (actually it was a camera flash, but who cares - drama!)" New years even people shooting their guns in the air: "Dozens of people were shooting at me, the bullets were zinqng all around me, I barely escaped alive"
Who wants o stand around the water cooler saying "It is a decent place to live, it has some neat areas and some areas where it would not be real pleasant."
I do not know where it stands now, but for several years Anaheim and Santa Ana were neck and neck vying for the number one position on the list of safest cities of their size in the US. I know they are down lower, somewhere near the middle, but that is not exciting talk.
It's not letting me rep you AGAIN, but you're right. Many people are frustrated drama kings and queens or media people (one and the same, really).
People like to dramatize descriptions of places they do not live, and especially places they really do not know anything about. Water cooler gossip is pretty boring without exaggeration. After a while, the exaggerations become sort of an urban legend.
We lived in Santa Ana for 9 years and part time for another 7. It is/was a very nice place to live, nicer than parts of other much loved cities I have visited or lived in for a time. We could walk or ride bikes almost anywhere we needed to go. I put about 4500 miles a year on my car. The schools were a challenge, but manageable. However some people turned pale when we said we were raising our family in downtown (actually mid-town) Santa Ana. Some friends would not even come visit us, including one family who lived a mile and a half from us and less than one mile form the border fo Santa Ana. The exaggerations had them in fear of the very name Santa Ana. Now I spend a little over half my time in Detroit and it is the same thing. People tell me I should wear a body bag to work and save the coroner some time. The reality is downtown is really neat. It is certain outlying neighborhoods (lots of them) that are empty and/or dangerous.
Anaheim is the same. It has some decent areas. It has some rough areas. It has some areas that are not rough, but just not really exciting. However the water cooler gossip puts Anaheim, Garden Grove, Westminister and Santa Ana all together in a cesspool. It is really dramatic and no one really cares that it is untrue. Drama is more important. Thus, people just drive through these cities with their doors locked and their blinders on and see nothing except that which can be exaggerated for juicy water cooler gossip. If two homeless people ask for a dollar, the person becomes surrounded by "hordes" of aggressive homeless tramps demanding money or your life. If a car backfires: "I heard gunshots all night long" July 5 or May 5 fireworks: "There were riots with huge explosions all over the place, multiple sticks of dynamite or pipe bombs going off to be sure, I think I saw some Molotov cocktails as well (actually it was a camera flash, but who cares - drama!)" New years even people shooting their guns in the air: "Dozens of people were shooting at me, the bullets were zinqng all around me, I barely escaped alive"
Who wants o stand around the water cooler saying "It is a decent place to live, it has some neat areas and some areas where it would not be real pleasant."
I do not know where it stands now, but for several years Anaheim and Santa Ana were neck and neck vying for the number one position on the list of safest cities of their size in the US. I know they are down lower, somewhere near the middle, but that is not exciting talk.
When was this? 25 years ago? LOL. Was just in Santa Ana yesterday, it looks and feels just like Mexico. Dont believe me, look at the pic below from Google maps. We ate at the taco shop in that run down strip mall there. Gang banger on a lowrider bike, a dirty food truck, homeless people, run down strip mall and EVERY ghetto house in this neighborhood has gates in front and bars on the windows. Its basically Mexico. Plenty of people "stand around the water cooler" saying cities like McKinney TX, Plano TX and Scottsdale AZ etc..are great places to live with very few negative things to say. Why is that? Oh thats right, because they arent ghettos with gang bangers riding low rider bikes, dirty homeless people and run down, graffiti sprayed neighborhoods resembling a third world country.
YOu make my point perfectly. Some people see (and photograph only what they want to see. You can find nice and not ice places in Santa Ana (and in pretty much every sizable city in the US.) Sure, click away if you find a bad area, but unless you are just looking for drama, you need to take some shots of the better areas too. Where are the bangers and graphitti here:
OK I will admit, that stroller looks like a low rider stroller. Probably a serial killer being incognito.
Last edited by Coldjensens; 08-12-2013 at 03:41 PM..
Congrats, you found a few isolated houses and parts of town from the chamber of commerce to make Santa Ana look nice. Want a REAL view of it? Do what I did, go on Google maps and take a look down the streets. Its quite different then the pics you posted. You arent fooling anyone. Oh and dont forget to check out the pics from the riots in Anaheim a year ago. Hundreds of Mexicans supporting gang bangers and clashing with police firing rubber bullets and tear gas into crowds of gang bangers, women and children. That happens in every town right? Its called AnaCRIME and AnaSLIME for a reason you know...
tearing down half the downtown was really stupid. Short of some moves by the crazed Detroit city council, probably the dumbest move by a city I can remember hearing about (Santa Ana has some classic stupid decisions as well, Anaheim probably has its rivals in every city there is). However they did later try to make amends by moving a bunch of historic homes into one neighborhood and restoring them.
Actually, they tore down pretty much ALL of downtown. The city council (traditionally a bunch of nincompoops) pulled down a bunch of beautiful old buildings and interesting houses before you arrived in Orange County. (I think. I'm guessing on when you moved there.) Then they let the core of downtown go to pot so they'd have an excuse for demolishing it and building a new City Hall. The homes in the Mother County district were saved because the homeowners worked hard to preserve it. The city council sat on their hands. That's pretty much how it works in Anaheim. The homeowners want something to improve their neighborhoods and have to beg to get it. The Powers That Be sit around until disaster looms and then say, "Good thing we thought of that!"
Which brings us to what is really wrong with Anaheim: it's run like it's a small town. A fairly small core of people (traditionally white and with well-known last names) have always held all of the power. That won't change until it's divided into council districts and the people who decide what happens in West Anaheim are the people who actually live in West Anaheim.
Never mind the fact that Anaheim Hills is treated like the favored child while the flatlanders pay for it.
Last edited by DewDropInn; 08-12-2013 at 05:08 PM..
Anaheim does have its good parts and bad parts, and those who've been trying to smear it with lumping it in with Cypress and Santa Ana are clueless.
However, the politicians of Anaheim have been hell-bent ontrying to attract a four or five star hotel such as a Ritz-Carlton or a Four Seasons to the city for some incomprehensible reason; apparently the Hilton & Marriott hotels which have been packed for decades and loaded with conventioneers as well as tourists year-round are somehow not good enough.
Some tourists and/or conventioneers will stay at the upscale resorts in Laguna Niguel, Newport Beach or Huntington Beach; why those politicians are clamoring for one of them to build a hotel in Anaheim makes no sense whatsoever.
Actually, they tore down pretty much ALL of downtown. The city council (traditionally a bunch of nincompoops) pulled down a bunch of beautiful old buildings and interesting houses before you arrived in Orange County. (I think. I'm guessing on when you moved there.) Then they let the core of downtown go to pot so they'd have an excuse for demolishing it and building a new City Hall. The homes in the Mother County district were saved because the homeowners worked hard to preserve it. The city council sat on their hands. That's pretty much how it works in Anaheim. The homeowners want something to improve their neighborhoods and have to beg to get it. The Powers That Be sit around until disaster looms and then say, "Good thing we thought of that!"
Which brings us to what is really wrong with Anaheim: it's run like it's a small town. A fairly small core of people (traditionally white and with well-known last names) have always held all of the power. That won't change until it's divided into council districts and the people who decide what happens in West Anaheim are the people who actually live in West Anaheim.
Never mind the fact that Anaheim Hills is treated like the favored child while the flatlanders pay for it.
I did not realize Dian Marsh was the leader of the group who tired to prevent the disaster. She must have been pretty young at the time. She is a neat lady (now lives in Illinois I think).
Congrats, you found a few isolated houses and parts of town from the chamber of commerce to make Santa Ana look nice. Want a REAL view of it? Do what I did, go on Google maps and take a look down the streets. Its quite different then the pics you posted. You arent fooling anyone. Oh and dont forget to check out the pics from the riots in Anaheim a year ago. Hundreds of Mexicans supporting gang bangers and clashing with police firing rubber bullets and tear gas into crowds of gang bangers, women and children. That happens in every town right? Its called AnaCRIME and AnaSLIME for a reason you know...
I do not need a google maps view, I know the City quite well - the reality of the city, not just gossip and dramatic hype. I lived there for 9 years and have continued living in Santa Ana for the past 7. You can find the sites I posted using Google maps if you like. The City scape picture is of Fourth Street looking West from about Main (maybe Sycamore). the whole downtown and mid-town area ranges from really net to reasonably decent. While you are looking at google maps and street view, have a look at the artists village, Floral Park, french Park, Park Santiago, Wilshire Square, Washington Square. Ever West Floral Park is decent although a little boring). Then if you want to see bad areas to compare look to the West of Bristol and the south of 1st street. But then when you get down near SCP and/or the Irvine border it nicens up again.
I do not need a google maps view, I know the City quite well - the reality of the city, not just gossip and dramatic hype. I lived there for 9 years and have continued living in Santa Ana for the past 7. You can find the sites I posted using Google maps if you like. The City scape picture is of Fourth Street looking West from about Main (maybe Sycamore). the whole downtown and mid-town area ranges from really net to reasonably decent. While you are looking at google maps and street view, have a look at the artists village, Floral Park, french Park, Park Santiago, Wilshire Square, Washington Square. Ever West Floral Park is decent although a little boring). Then if you want to see bad areas to compare look to the West of Bristol and the south of 1st street. But then when you get down near SCP and/or the Irvine border it nicens up again.
Even that depends. There's Wilshire Square (friend of mine lives there on Van Ness) and all up and down Flower are really neat looking old houses (though some of the 'hoods are a bit sketchy).
When was this? 25 years ago? LOL. Was just in Santa Ana yesterday, it looks and feels just like Mexico. Dont believe me, look at the pic below from Google maps. We ate at the taco shop in that run down strip mall there. Gang banger on a lowrider bike, a dirty food truck, homeless people, run down strip mall and EVERY ghetto house in this neighborhood has gates in front and bars on the windows. Its basically Mexico. Plenty of people "stand around the water cooler" saying cities like McKinney TX, Plano TX and Scottsdale AZ etc..are great places to live with very few negative things to say. Why is that? Oh thats right, because they arent ghettos with gang bangers riding low rider bikes, dirty homeless people and run down, graffiti sprayed neighborhoods resembling a third world country.
Oh, and you are taking one isolated picture of a less-than-beautiful area of Santa Ana and making it seem like the whole looks like this. Not a particularly scary shot, either.
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Its called AnaCRIME and AnaSLIME for a reason you know...
