The remarkable thing about this photo of Disneyland (circa 1955 or so) (large version here) is not the things in the park no longer there, or the things missing from the park there today — but the fact that the place is surrounded by orchards. Back when “Orange County” wasa meaningful description.
(via Disney Blog)
33 view(s)
This is still going on around the Tustin-Irvine border, and along the southern edges of Irvine. Roughly 15 years ago, there was a huge swath of farmland separating Tustin from Irvine. They’re almost finished filling it in with houses and offices. Meanwhile, Irvine’s been expanding into the hills south of the 405.
I’ve been looking at the still-empty hills on either side of the valley, then at the new “Quail Hill” development, and realizing that eventually, they’ll all look like the long-settled, tree-and-house-covered hills in Laguna Hills, Lake Forest, Tustin and Newport Beach.
Last summer I went back to Santiago Oaks park for the first time in a decade. You’re probably familiar with the area. When I was a kid it was in the middle of nowhere. Now the hiking trails bring you up practically to people’s back yards.
Back in the 40s, Jack Benny joked about Anaheim, Azusa and Cucamonga (Heh. Spell-check recognizes Anaheim, but not the other two!), often mentioning smudge-pots, as those cities were apparently little more than orange groves at the time.
Years ago, I saw a documentary on the opening of Disneyland. The one really memorable part was the footage of the freeway. A quarter-mile stretch had maybe six cars on it!