The End of an Era

I write this first blog post of the year with a heavy heart.

While out to dinner tonight, I overheard (from a pretty reliable source) that in the coming months, one of Downtown Santa Ana's foremost restaurants in the Artist's Village will be closing its doors forever.

Memphis at the Santora is one of the pioneering "Hipster" restaurants that set up shop in "DTSA" in the early 2000's. Home to the Cobra Sandwich, stupendous happy hour specials, and some of the best Arnold Palmers around, Memphis is one of those simple comforts that helped this guy believe in the potential of our Downtown, not to mention help this San Diegan call the city of Santa Ana his new home.

Many locals fondly refer to Memphis Santa Ana's version of "Cheers"–a place where everyone knows your name, and I couldn't agree more.

Over the years, Memphis has brought on some amazing and colorful cast members that really gave that spot some spunk and personality. Departed, but not forgotten former cast members including: Johnny, Julio, Greg, Ricky, Kristy, Dave, and more recently Jefferson, still rank high on my personal list of "Most Favorite People I've Met While Doing Time in Santa Ana".

The most ironic part about this news is that Memphis laid the groundwork for all of the restaurants we now have in Downtown Santa Ana today, yet as the dream comes to fruition, the restaurant who dreamed the biggest will end up being just a fond memory.

Why Memphis at the Santora will be closing their doors is an answer I do not have (at the moment). Did the new owner of the Santora Building decide to raise their rent? Did the Owners of Memphis succumb to the fatigue that comes with doing business in a transitional area?

Who knows, but at least the Costa Mesa location will still be around and will hopefully continue to thrive adjacent to The LAB.

Thank you Memphis for all of the great friendships you helped forge, not to mention all of the great memories I've made and lost while sitting at your delightful bar–you will definitely be missed by this guy.

The New Hotspot–Downtown Santa Ana

About a week and a half ago while dining at Memphis, I got a chance to catch up with one of Memphis' part-owner and my good buddy Dave Hastie.

Dave sat down at our table and pointed across the street to the roof of the Empire Building asking if we saw the new WiFi antenna.

"No–when did this happen?!" I asked.

"Just recently", he replied.
"We haven't made a public announcement yet."

Turns out that the free WiFi is provided by the Downtown Santa Ana Management District (a collective unit of participating Downtown Santa Ana business owners) and they're looking to expand all the way out to 4th Street and the Fiesta Marketplace.

How bitchin' is that?

I remember reading somewhere that mayoral candidate Al Amezcua wants to bring free public WiFi to Santa Ana should he be elected this November.

Way to go Downtown Santa Ana Management District for being one step ahead of the game.

Things to do in Santa Ana (Nov 09)

Is it Patchwork season already? Say What--You don't know what Patchwork is? Tsk, tsk.

This Weekend: 

Information below stolen from The Road Less Traveled Store's website.

PaTcHwOrK: 5-Santa Ana
November 15th (sun), 11AM-5PM
Our popular arts and crafts fair is making a holiday return. Over 80 vendors including music, food, DIY booths and lectures devoted to making things. Shop creative * buy local!

Check out this blog for information on current and previous Patchwork events.

Next Weekend:

Next weekend, the First Annual Santa Ana International Music Festival will be taking place in Downtown Santa Ana.

From the website:

Entertainment: various musical styles from all over the world, including world music, country, reggae, latin, african drumming, japanese, flamenco, persian, rock, hip hop, native american, colombian, brazilia and much more...

Where: Downtown Santa Ana 4th Street, Sycamore, Artist Village, Fiesta Marketplace, Yost Theater

When: Saturday November 21, 2009, Noon to 9:00 p.m

Sunday November 22, 2009, Noon to 8:00 p.m

Also, don't forget to stop by the Santiago Art District on Saturday, November 21st. Check out the website for more information and gallery openings.

Memphis Fo' Life!

If I had to eat at one restaurant everyday for the rest of my life, it would have to be Memphis at the Santora in Downtown Santa Ana, though I'm not sure how that would ultimately affect my life expectancy.

Yet with a menu as delicious as this one, I'm often baffled as to why a restaurant as amazing as Santa Ana's very own Memphis can't stay open seven days a week. But then again, we are talking about Santa Ana, where absurdity happens on a daily basis.

For the last several months, the wife and I have been religiously patronizing Memphis on Wednesday nights, taking full advantage of their $10 barbecue specials.

Just recently, Memphis has kicked it up a notch by streamlining their menu and adding specials such as the hearty Bison Burger, fantastic Shrimp Tacos, and Mrs. Dayhoe's favorite Po’ Boy Sandwich. In addition, Memphis has added an amazing BBQ Combo plate to their repertoire.

According to Memphis' General Manager David Hastie, the new sleeker menu now allows for "more options in the moderate price range. Specialties will remain the same, but we plan to switch up the seasonal section 3 to 4 times a year so we can focus on locally grown and organic seasonal produce and fresh seafood."

Click on the menu graphic below to embiggen the new dinner menu, or scroll down for a downloadable option.

You can also check out Memphis' Brunch and Lunch menus on their refreshed website, or you can download a PDF version of Memphis' new Dinner Menu here.

Hopes and Fears

After living in Santa Ana for over three years, it seems as if things are finally happening in the empty lots just West of the Santiago Lofts.

When I first told my friends and family I was moving to Santa Ana, they thought I was crazy. But to me, it made perfect sense because I believe in this city–what it is, what it was, and what it could be.

As of Monday night, the Related/Griffin team is now one step closer in becoming the master developer for these nearby lots. And after three years of watching other cities evolve while Santa Ana moved at a snail's pace, I am filled with hope with the thought of what could come to our city.

But at the same time, my hopes are equally met with trepidation and fears.

Allow me to share some of my hopes and fears:

I'm hopeful that what we build, retains the quality residents already living here while attracting new ones who are invested in this city, looking to build stronger communities.

I'm fearful that like everything else in Santa Ana, it will take too long to develop and we'll have once again missed our window of opportunity.

I'm hopeful that within these ~7 acres being developed, creative open spaces and green spaces; such as parks (ground and rooftop) gardens (community/rooftop) are implemented.

I'm fearful that the children of our neighborhoods are to continue playing in empty parking lots–such as those that do everyday at Garfield Elementary.

I'm hopeful the grand vision for the Station District is for a creative, urban renewal that activates our streets and would rival the revivals that took place in destinations such as University Heights (Park Blvd/Adams Ave) in San Diego and Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice.

I'm fearful that the design cues will be taken from stale city of Irvine.

I'm hopeful that when finally implemented, the streetcar is a new avenue that brings commerce to Santa Ana.

I'm fearful the streetcar will just be another way to fabulous Garden Grove.

I'm hopeful that whatever ground floor retail & restaurants planned for these lots "fit"–having something for everyone.

I'm fearful that the driving force that thought it would be okay to:

• Allowed Ware set up shop in Logan


• Build stucco monstrosities in the middle of French Park


• Not develop amenities in conjunction with the Santiago Lofts at the train depot parking lot


• Have an El Pollo Loco as the only walkable restaurant to the world famous Bowers Museum (not including Tangata which is located adjacent to the museum)

is still behind the wheel of our city.

I'm hopeful in that Santa Ana will some day become a true destination city; where new circulation is brought to our streets–where places like Downtown, The Fiesta Marketplace, 4th Street, and the Station District (including the train depot) are ventured to by people all over Southern California.

Chimichurri

I'm no expert in Argentinian food nor would I even know what authentic Argentinian food tastes like, but I sure know a delicious value when I sink my teeth into one.

Just like Mil Jugos (located one block uptown), Chimichurri is the embodiment of every delicious dream I had hoped my local Santa Ana would be when making the move to this city over three years ago.

In short, I moved to Santa Ana for fantastic hole-in-the-wall restaurants like this one.

The name Chimichurri comes from the green Argentinian meat sauce which is usually made from chopped parsley, minced garlic, vegetable oil or olive oil, white or red vinegar, and red pepper flakes, though there isn’t a definitive recipe from my research.

The decor of the restaurant is warm and festive, as is the man of the house who heads this family-run business. Diego, a soft-spoken Argentinian gentleman will graciously welcome you into his restaurant as if you were stepping foot into his own home–warmly referring to new customers as "friends" while addressing returning ones by their first name.

The menu is simple, yet ample with both Argentinian and Mexican items available for dine-in or to-go orders.

I decided to try the Choripanes sandwich; an Argentinian sausage snuggled nicely between two slices of Italian sandwich bread topped with cheese, lettuce and tomato.

At $4.50, this well-priced sandwich could easily fetch a steeper price if the City viewed Santa Ana's downtown as more than just a place to pay your parking tickets (or accrue new ones) and appear for jury duty.

Mrs. Dayhoe, the rebel that she is, ordered from the Mexican side of the menu choosing a $6 Torta Cubana consisting of ham, white cheese, breaded steak & marinated steak.

Flavor-wise, this sandwich was on a much milder level than the Choripanes, but was still very hearty.


The empanadas are golden, flakey and rich, as flavors are taken to a whole-nutha-level when topped with the house Chimichurri sauce. The pollo empanadas were quite tasty, but the carne ones were the pièce de résistance when topped with the house sauce.

And at a buck-fifty a pop, these empanadas are a terrific value, as you’ll soon find out how deceptively filling they truly are.

Chimichurri is located at 306 W. 4th street (Santa Ana’s someday Restaurant Row) and is open from 9AM-7PM Monday through Saturday.

*Update: Check out a real food critic's review of this place*

Geisha Meh

So the three or four of you that follow this blog, you're probably wondering, where's the Geisha House review that was promised to us in your last post?

I have one word for you, Uninspired.

Since the dining experience, I really haven't been inspired enough to write about this restaurant until now. Perhaps it was the oversized Turkish coffee a neighbor so kindly shared with me this afternoon that's given me the extra juice to pump this one out after midnight (not to mention clean the house, do my laundry and organize my iTunes library). But I digress (though don't be surprised if I do it again).

Before heading out to Geisha House, I mentally outlined 4 categories I wanted to pay very close attention to for my amateur critique:

1. Parking, decor, ambiance, the "poopers"
   
   
2. Friendliness of the staff
   
   
3. The quality of sashimi, specialty dishes and house rolls
   
   
4. Value
   

Parking
Arriving just before eight o'clock, the wife and I were surprised to see the parking lot at City Place as full as it was on a Tuesday night. Nonetheless, we were still able to find parking without a problem, but like mi amigo Gustavo Arellano wrote, I don't think there will be a need for valet service anytime soon, but then again, we could be wrong. There's always a first time for everything.

Decor
The interior of the restaurant was quite hip–styled very similar to something you'd see in a restaurant in good 'ol downtown San Diego, San Francisco or Hollywood–dimly lit with a modern touch, but nothing any of you haven't seen before. Maybe it was the 3 horizontal ikea mirrors above the bar that in fact, lowered the bar.

Ambiance
The vibe was nice and everyone seemed happy to be there. I was surprised to see so many white and Asian folk in the mix–guess Newport Beach had already met their quota for the night so we got their overflow. I kid, I kid. Actually, I was very happy to see such a diverse crowd in Santa Ana.

We sat outside for dinner and it was quite nice–65 degrees it was, perfect for a dinner under the stars. But without any patio heaters, the scantily clad girls kept the ogling men inside with them. That is, with the exception of when they broke for a cigarette break near the entrance, unknowingly imposing their carcinogens into the patio area where we sat.

Smoking and sushi don't mix. Nuff said.

Poopers
I can't really say much for the poopers being that there really wasn't much to them. Tiny white boxes with sinks and toilets, illuminated by overly bright lights that pierce your fully dilated pupils after you fumble your way down a dimly lit hallway is what they were.

It was like going to the bathroom in club sans the dude working for tips as he hands you a towel while you wash your hands and eye his vast collection of cologne and various mints.

Staff
Nice and somewhat knowledgeable of the menu. I really can't be too critical of the latter being that the place had just opened up a few days prior. But there's never an excuse to not be nice to a customer whom you have just met. Luckily, neither was an issue.

Food
I believe this is everything we ordered that night:

Shishito Peppers
Tuna Tataki Sashimi with Ponzu
Albacore Carpaccio
Kanpachi Serrano

Rolls
Geisha House Sushi Rolls
Frightened Geisha
Geisha’s Vice
Surf and Turf

Sushi & Sashimi
Toro
Hawaiian Amberjack
Yellowtail
Octopus
Spanish Mackerel

Of all the dishes we powered down that night, for me, the one that stood out the most was the Kanpachi Serrano. Hawaiian Amberjack fish with Yuzu-Lemon Ponzu Sauce, but then again, you really can't go wrong with Ponzu, can you?

Everything else we ate that night was generic, bland, and lacking inspiration–even at the grand opening price of 50% off prices, I still felt overcharged when the bill came.

As an avid sushi (wannabe) connoisseur, I'm used to paying for quality mercury poisoning. The sashimi served at Geisha House just wasn't anything worth writing home about, but if I did, it would go something like this:

Dear Mom, We went to the new sushi restaurant in Santa Ana the other night, but it was just meh. How's Dad doing? Is there a pile of mail for me to pick up? Did you watch Lost last night? I know you're not a fan of the sci-fi direction it's taken, but you have to admit it's one of the best shows on television. I really liked the Star Wars references. So what do you think "lies in the shadow of the statue"?

So how does one get sashimi wrong in the first place–it's raw fish and nothing else, right? My guess is that they have a really bad buyer, or their fish is delivered without being tasted by a qualified expert.

Probably the worst item of the night was the Surf and Turf Roll (Lobster, Filet Mignon, Green Scallion, and Sweet Sesame Miso Sauce). It sounds good, but it was dry and bland, and had it arrived earlier in the precession, it would have severely impacted my gorging rhythm.

Value
The only value that night was the 50% off special, but like I said earlier, I still felt ripped off at those prices. It's definitely a cool place and a great fit for City Place, but Geisha House is as much of a sushi restaurant as P.F. Chang's is an authentic Chinese restaurant.

As bad as the food was, my biggest disappointment of the night was poorly designed menus. I mean seriously, who uses Arial Rounded on their menu and charges $15-$20 a dish?

Geisha House is great victory for businesses within the City Place lofts in that it will help draw in a new crowd, but as a quality sushi restaurant, there's much more room for improvement.

My recommendation, if you're planning on going big on sushi, check out Hamamori in the Crystal Court wing of South Coast Plaza (yes, mall sushi), or Sushi Murasaki on the south end of town.

Hollywood, Atlanta and now...Santa Ana???

Last night as the wife and I were heading to Mother's Market at City Place, I was surprised to see people sitting on a normally unoccupied patio. And then I saw the sign: "Geisha House Now Open.

Hey, Geisha House is open! I said.

Whatever, she scoffed as we pulled into the driveway, coming to a never before seen sign at City Place reading: Valet Parking: $5.00.

See, the reason for my shock and the wife's doubt stems from our long-running theory that (part) owner Ashton Kutcher was pulling one last Punk on the citizens of Santa Ana.

Well, not really. We just know that so many restaurants have had such a difficult time opening up shop in Santa Ana, we figured this soon-to-be hot spot would eventually give up working with the often business-unfriendly Santa Ana and set up shop elsewhere, taking their pseudo-Spider-Man/Playstation 3 font with them.

After picking up our groceries at Mother's (including the tastiest (and only) $7 jar of pasta sauce I've ever had), I peered into the restaurant and was delighted to see such a highbrow venue in our own backyard. I knew there was another location in Hollywood, but I didn't think our little 'ol city would get the same treatment in decor.

"Man, and I thought being inside The Crosby on a Saturday night made me feel uncool(er)".

Though the staff seemed a little green being that it took a while for one of them to greet me, after doing so, she was very kind to humor my dumb questions.

When did you guys open?
Last night (Friday).

Were you busy?
Yeah, kinda. We're expecting it to pick up once the word gets out.

What time are you open 'til?
We stop seating at 10:30.

Are you open Sunday nights?
Yes, but not tomorrow.

Is Ashton here?
No. Go Away.

I'm kidding about the last one, but hey–we've got another restaurant in Santa Ana that's open on Sunday nights!

Long have I thought that a good sushi restaurant would do well in Downtown Santa Ana but hey, City Place will do for now.

As for the food–stay tuned as part two of this blog post continues later this week with a complete review of Geisha House's food, decor, prices and most important, the restrooms.

In the mean time, check out their menu.

(Early) St. Patty's Day Pub Crawl - 03/14

Being that St. Patty's Day takes place on a Tuesday this month, we've decided to celebrate it a few days early on Saturday.

And what would St. Patrick's Day be without prizes?

Stop by any of the participating locations and pick up a fresh Pub Crawl card and a set of GREEN BEADS.

Then, keep an eye out for both "Mr. Pub Crawl" himself and Yelp as they will be out and about looking for Pub Crawlers wearing green beads.

We'll have games to play and prizes to win for Pub Crawlers wearing the beads and have at least two stamps on their Pub Crawl Cards.

Prizes include: Afro Samurai for the Xbox 360/PS3, Shirts, iTunes Gift Cards, Chipotle Gift Cards, Free Drinks, Shot Glasses and more!


Here are some of the specials this month:

Lola Gaspar
$10 special (choice of any taco plate and a sangria, margarita, or pint of beer)

Tommy Pastrami
$3 ku bombs
$2.50 domestics
Happy hour prices on our delicious food

Memphis
Yummy corned beef sliders and $3 Guinness specials

Bistro 400
Irish Food, Drinks Specials and a Live DJ Spinning House and Dancefloor Oddities!

Jason's Downtown Restaurant
$3 Bud Light Bottles, $4 Beers on tap and $5 Lucky Irishman Martinis! The Latin Jazz Syndicate will be performing from 7:00pm-10:00pm and DJ Volta will take over from 10:30pm-2:00am

www.santaanapubcrawl.com

Weekend Events (03/07-03/08)

First Fridays. Fabulous Fun.
TGIFF. City Place retailers invite you to celebrate the first Friday of every month. Hosted from 7pm – 10pm, First Fridays are an evening for the whole family, complete with complementary appetizers, cocktails, live music, art exhibits, and plenty of great deals on one-of-a-kind buys from our eclectic collection of boutiques and shops.

Zoo Birthday
On March 7th and 8th, the Santa Ana Zoo at Prentice Park will celebrate 57 years of fun! There will be music, animal shows, and a huge model train exhibition by the Del Oro Pacific Model Train Club.

Grab a slice of the birthday cake and see Kids are Music, 5 4 U, and other great entertainment. New animals will be coming on exhibit for the occasion, so come out and check out your local Zoo and see what a long way it's come in the last 57 years.

Downtown Santa Ana Art Walk
Is always the first Saturday of every month. Come rain, shine, or holiday, the event will always take place between 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.

Parking can be found in the 'Artists Village Parking Structure' at Third Street and Broadway. Walk through the galleries and studios, see a live performance or just hang out and enjoy the music. It is FREE and you always have a great time.

All information above is recirculated through various sources. I claim no ownership–feel free to pass it along.

Giddy Like A School Girl

Things always seem to take longer to come to fruition in Santa Ana–Chipotle is no exception. About 11 months ago, I posted this article about a new Chipotle coming to a nearby shopping center.

Well, the wait is almost over. This Friday, February 6th, Seventeenth Street becomes all the more delicious as Chipotle opens their doors to the public.

If Chipotle isn't your thang because you're one of those types who feel that Chipotle is blasphemous, don't fret–there will be other restaurants joining Chipotle at the Homeplace Center including Shabu, Wings, Hawaiian and more!

The Santa Ana Pub Crawl ♥'s Yelp

Tomorrow night marks the last Pub Crawl for 2008 and my new friends at Yelp are helping me take it to a whole, nutha, level with prizes to be given out throughout the Crawl. If you haven't been on a Pub Crawl yet, attend this one. Below is a list of some of the specials for tomorrow night.

• $2 beers and ½ price appetizers at Original Mike's
  
  
• Awesome happy hour prices (until 9PM) at Memphis
  
  
• $15 pitcher of beer and a giant plate of nachos (or a monster quesadilla) at The Gypsy Den
  
  
• Sweet food and drink prices all night at Tommy Pastrami
  
  
• $3.00 Bottled Mojitos, $5.00 Cosmos, $15.00 Pitchers of Spaten, Moretti, Heffeweissen, Flying Dog Pale Ale and $2.00 Tacos (Fish, Carne Asada & Enchilada) at Jason's Restaurant
  
  
• Various Pub Crawl specials at Proof Bar
  
  
• Half-priced shots at Bistro 400

For more information as to what Yelp is bringing to the event, click here.

Art Walk and soundDowntown–This Weekend in Santa Ana

Once again, our little community will be putting on our monthly Art Walk this Saturday, drawing in people from all over to witness for themselves some of the wonderful things coming to Santa Ana, not to mention some pretty sweet local art.

One of the exhibits that I'm excited to check out is The Art of City Building II: Mixed-Income Housing & Transit Oriented Development, presented by Galeria Tufiño.

This exhibit takes a closer look at Santa Ana's current state of housing, and the enormous potential that can come to our city with responsible and creative development.

For more information regarding this exhibit, please check out this page on the Galeria Tufiño website.

More information about the Santiago Art District Art Walk is available here.



Another event that's catching a lot of buzz and will hopefully draw people into Santa Ana is soundDowntown (yes, that's how they chose to spell it).

Details from the website:
soundDowntown 2008 is a one-day music festival on Saturday, November 15, featuring a lineup of over 50 locally and nationally recognized bands, DJ's and performing artists at various venues throughout the Artist's Village of downtown Santa Ana.

soundDowntown runs from Saturday, November 15th starting at 2PM and wraps up Sunday the 16th at 2AM.

More information available here.

"For A Better Santa Ana"

Six months ago I began a little pet project known as the Santa Ana Pub Crawl–A little sociological experiment designed to change the perception of Santa Ana in the eyes of those who have never stepped foot in our town, while at the same time, boosting restaurant sales from the hours of 5PM through 8PM. In essence, a self-funded public relations campaign for the city of Santa Ana and free advertising for the downtown restaurants.

And what better way to lure people into Santa Ana than to offer food and drinks at great prices on a Saturday? When I approached each of the participating businesses with idea of a Pub Crawl, I only asked three things of them:

1. Offer drink/food specials one Saturday a month

2. Distribute, stamp and collect the Pub Crawl Cards

3. Contribute a prize to make the event more exciting

Over the next several Pub Crawls, someone in our "Crawl Group" would run into someone who has never set foot in Santa Ana's downtown. After saying how much fun they are having, they usually follow up with something to the likes of "Wow, I never knew Santa Ana was this cool" or "This is nothing like what I thought Santa Ana was like".

Mission accomplished. Well, kinda. No matter how many good things people like myself try to do for this city, the OC Register still sits in our backyard spewing fuel for brown hatred and ignorant stereotypes, but I digress.

Last week, I decided to extend the experiment and tie it into The Broken Window Theory. In the spirit of the election season, I created a handful of signs reading "Ben Dayhoe: For A Better Santa" with the Pub Crawl URL listed below the tagline. Under the cover of darkness, we set out to stake them around town (example below).

With the help of two awesome neighbors, we successfully "politically vandalized" the city of Santa Ana in an effort to promote the Pub Crawl to residents of Santa Ana, and maybe get a laugh or two (bonus points for offending).
What I found to be interesting was that the signs that I placed adjacent to official candidate and proposition signs remained untouched (with the exception of the sign we placed on the SW corner of Sycamore and Main that was mysteriously removed and replaced with yet another "Michele Martinez for Mayor"), and the signs that were placed on Broadway and E. Seventeenth Street where no other campaign signs resided were quickly removed.

Does the removal of my signs prove the Broken Window Theory? Not at all (but it does make me wonder how much "political graffiti" will remain post-November 4th). But I did notice that once political signs were removed, they were very slow to come back in that very same location.

David Hastie, the General Manager down at Memphis thinks that someone may have actually stolen my some of my signs. He told me in an email last week that people were actually running out into the center median and to take pictures with my signs. How rad is that?

Stolen or not, I'm very flattered. In my six+ years as a professional designer, NO ONE has ever taken a picture with anything I've created, let alone stolen my work. I say awesome–awesome to the max!

This Wednesday, I'm hoping to meet with the Downtown Business Council in hopes to receive funding to further promote the Pub Crawls. It's been a fun and humbling experience for me and I hope that the Pub Crawl continues to grow, chipping away at the stigma that's associated with our great city of Santa Ana.

The next Pub Crawl is this Saturday, November 8th. I hope you'll join me for a drink.

One last note, I'd like to thank my neighbors Dallas, Chris and Krissy for letting me "politicize" your front yards, as well as "Lando" and "El Diablo Blanco" for helping plant the signs.

www.santaanapubcrawl.com

Happy Halloween (2008)

Today marks our third Halloween at the Santiago Street Lofts and I'm hoping to break our record of the two trick-or-treaters that came to our door last year.

Our first year here back in 2006, my wife and I waited patiently downstairs as the night went by without a single trick-or-treater. Still to this day, my wife and I are trying to work off the weight we gained from all of the leftover candy from that night.

I've always seen Halloween as one of the best holidays of the year. It's a day where people can showcase their creativity, kids get to stay out late collecting candy (or pennies which always sucked), and a man can walk outside in the middle of the day dressed in full drag and the mailman wants to take a photo with him.

So if you're hunting for a good haunting later tonight, look no further than Downtown Santa Ana as Bistro 400, Tommy Pastrami, Memphis and Proof Bar will each be hosting unique Halloween parties.

Maybe I'll see you there :)

I leave you with theses videos in the spirit of the holiday.



This one's also fun, though I'm not sure it's a good idea to try this in Santa Ana ;)


Happy Halloween!

Santa Ana Pub Crawl-This Saturday! (10/11)

Someone once told me that during rough economic times, alcohol sales go through the roof. If that's true, then this Saturday's Pub Crawl should be off the hook.

Last month Original Mike's and Tommy Pastrami joined The Crawl and took care of guests with amazing specials. Seriously, it's worth the "trek" to Original Mike's–trust me.

Don't forget to fill out a Crawler Card for a chance at some seriously sweet prizes–like $50 gift cards and more!

For more information about the Pub Crawl, visit the website!

Pub Crawl and Fiestas Patrias This Weekend

Hopefully you have a comfortable pair of walking shoes for the fun-filled packed weekend Santa Ana has in store for you.


First off, we've got the monthly Pub Crawl taking place this Saturday, September 13th starting at 5PM. Since last month's Pub Crawl, we've added the swankiest joint in Santa Ana, Tommy Pastrami, not to mention Original Mike's asked to join the party this past week. That makes 8 locations to hit before you complete your crawl, and a chance at some really sweet prizes–good luck suckas!

Also this weekend, Santa Ana celebrates Fiestas Patrias–a festival celebrating the Independence Day of Mexico (as well as other Latin American countries). The festival will take place on Flower Street, between Civic Center Drive and Santa Ana Blvd, in front of Santa Ana Stadium.

On a final note, those of you looking to get a double-dose of booze on Saturday, sorry to say, but you won't find any at the Patrias Festival (I'm bummed too).

MNF-09/08/08

Can Minnesota's Adrian Peterson be as explosive this season as he was last season?

Will Aaron Rodgers be able to fill the void of a Favre-less Packer squad?

Denver or Oakland–which AFC West team will suck less this season?

Join me tonight in downtown Santa Ana's best place for Monday Night Football: Tommy Pastrami | 410 W. 4th Street | Santa Ana, 92701

Kickoff at 4 and 7:15PM.

Full 2008 NFL Schedule here.

August Art Walk

Last month we had a great turnout for our July art walk. Local restaurants Bistro 400 and Jason's Downtown Restaurant pitched in with much some needed refreshments and treats for our guests.

This Saturday, August 16th brings yet another art walk full of good times and then some.

Even with the help of the downtown restaurants, it's hard to predict how busy art walk nights will be. In recent months, our community has worked extra hard as a unified team to promote this monthly event. Why? Because we can't wait for the city to bring the fun–just ask the downtown loft residents who've been here 5 years and counting.

And though the success of our art walk is due to many factors like our residents, I'd like to take the time to thank some of the websites that helped get us on the map:

OC Now
The OC Art Blog
The City of Santa Ana Calendar
The French Park Website
Yelp (thanks Brian!) - taco lady does rock

Who's Up For Another Round?

Looking at the stack of completed Crawler Cards from last month's Pub Crawl is a great sign of its success. People from all over came to experience what Downtown Orange County has to offer and they loved it.

All of the participating locations ran fantastic food and drink specials throughout the night, though I feel that The Gypsy Den had the best deal–a plate of nachos and a pitcher of Sierra Nevada for $15–Yum!

That's why it shouldn't be a surprise that this Saturday, August 9th (starting at 5PM), we'll be doing it once again!

Jim Kendrick, owner of Rags has also gotten into the Pub Crawl mood by offering all Crawlers 10% off purchases $10 or more (excluding cigarettes). Why not pick something up that night that you can read during your recovery on Sunday?

Visit the Santa Ana Pub Crawl website for more information, or visit the gallery of photos from last month's event to see what you missed.

Thank you to Jason Nguyen and Julie Shen for those hilarious photos.