Orange County: The Place To Be

East 4^th Street in Santa Ana is a cultural haven for Mexican immigrants in Orange County. On a sunny day you’ll see large groups of extended families with children strolling down the street. They socialize, shop and crowd around fruit stands for fresh mango with chili salt and lime. Old men in sombreros with sun-baked skin and tired eyes rest under trees. They sit so far apart from it seems they're unacquainted, but if you look closely they occasionally mumble between one another in Spanish.

There are only about half a dozen types of stores on these blocks. Quinceañera shops boast A-line ball gowns in bright colors covered in sequins, botanicas display their herbs, charms and other spiritual remedies in the window, instrument shops blast Spanish pop songs onto the street from over modulated amps , piñatas and flowers are sold at a discount in bulk and travel agents stand outside their stores dancing with flyers that promise the cheapest flights to Mexico and back.

As you cross over Main, you step out of Santa Ana as it has existed for over half a century and into the rapidly blossoming Artist’s Village. 

Over the last five years, this little piece of 4^th Street and intersecting Broadway has become a hub for a different group of people; writers, painters, actors, gallery owners and chefs who have chosen Downtown Santa Ana as the spot to finally bring some creativity and trend to Orange County.

Lola Gaspar Bar

These next few days I'll focus on the collaboration and tension that exists in this culturally diverse neighborhood as it slowly, but surely is transformed into a long overdue residency for artists in Southern California who are looking for somewhere other than LA to work.