Is there an artist community in downtown santa ana? (Orange: low income, real estate)

[darsunt]

I've noticed many references to an 'art district' in downtown Santa Ana. Are any of you familiar with this? I'm wondering if that area is becoming what the 'Soho' district used to be in New York, a low income neighborhood for struggling artists.

[RudyOD]

There is an artist community in both Downtown Santa Ana and the Santa Ana depot/train station. Though it is surrounded by low-income neighborhoods, the Arts Village itself can be fairly expensive as they have built new condo/apartment complexes. Outside of O.C., the DTLA's Art District near Little Tokyo and the L.A. river is legit. Again though, the real estate cronies have been on a move for a couple years to make a profit off that culture and rents have skyrocketed.

If you have a chance, check out the Santa Ana/ Santiago Art Walks,they are the 1st Saturday of every month. Here's the link: Santa Ana Artwalk

[dexter14]

Originally Posted by darsunt

I've noticed many references to an 'art district' in downtown Santa Ana. Are any of you familiar with this? I'm wondering if that area is becoming what the 'Soho' district used to be in New York, a low income neighborhood for struggling artists.

No. Unless you consider illegals selling tacos and tamales from a dirty cart or gang banging an "art".

[RudyOD]

Check out this dude's blog, he is a resident there and seems to have pretty in depth knowledge of the city and community: Life at the Santiago Street Lofts (it doesn't look like things are panning out very well)

[Coldjensens]

There is a small artists district. Most of the residents ae UCF graduate art students. There is some student housing and a group of relatively new loft condos which are designated specifically for artists. There are a few artists based in the Santoro building and on art openings the building usually has quite a few artists displaying their work. Some people we know who live/lived there absolutely loved it, others hated it. It never really took off in the way they hoped it would in part because they were just jumping on the bandwagon with every other city that wanted to revitalize their downtown by attracting artists. Some openings there are a lot of people looking and shopping, but not a whole lot of buying. Some of the "art" is just crap. Some is excellent. Some of it is even affordable. We bought a couple of things there. It is nice to have something original and unique. There are some decent restaurants in the area.

There are two loft/art areas. One is downtown around 2nd street. One is over by the train station. The one downtown is the larger, more lively area and has quite a few decent restaurants and a night spot. The one by the train station is pretty dead and has not much nearby. Plus you get to listen to the trains pretty regularly. It is right at the edge of the French Park Neighborhood, which is pretty nice, but it really does not have much going for it otherwise. It just did not fly. the downtown loft/artist area did pretty well for was time and then stalled. It is still ok, but it is not becoming the trendy arts and entertainment hotspot that was envisioned. Instead it is a small enclave in the downtown of a cool older city with a generally lower income hispanic population. The artists area has some neat stores, but if you go many blocks away, it is mostly bridal shops, wedding photography and leather goods. In the other direction heading along 4th street towards the Federal Courthouse, there are some decent places, not a ton, but if you like being a regular at a few cool places, it works very well. If you want a hopping place with thousands of people our carousing each night, this is not the place for you.

You do have to be cautious and use common sense when walking around at night. It is not a dangerous city by comparison to other actual cities, but there are issues and if you do not use common sense you have some chance of becoming a victim. (Santa Ana is the only actual city in Orange County - Cities are different in suburbs in both positive and negative ways).