Prepare for the infill influx

The demise of a Stanton hobby center and amusement park, both of which you are probably not familiar with, may not seem like much of a big deal. But it is.

But before I tell you why you should be concerned about the end of Hobby City and Adventure City, I have to explain why I must apologize to my colleague, Peter Buffa.

It was late at night. Not dark and stormy, just late, and I was working on a couple of writing projects, including this column. In order to get my Adventure City and Hobby City facts straight, I went online to track down the story.

I clicked on the first listing that popped up but to access it, I had to register a user name and a password.

As I said, it was late. And since I was certain that the user name “SteveSmith” had already been taken, I typed in “WillieMays.”

Well, guess what? “WillieMays” was taken. Flustered, I typed in the next famous name that popped into my head.

Turns out that “RichardNixon” was taken too. Apparently, he has access to a computer from wherever he is.

Nixon isn’t dead, you see, because I discovered that night that “ElvisPresley” also surfs the Web (we know that he is still alive). In fact, I recently saw his image on a pickle at Jerry’s Deli in Costa Mesa.

All of which is fine, but then came the shocker: Our busy chief executive, “GeorgeBush,” also has time to go online.

At that point, a successful registration became a challenge. But since I am charged with trying to keep things local, I decided to enter some famous Newport-Mesa names.

I struck gold on the first try and here’s where the apology comes in. “PeterBuffa” does not access the same source I was seeking. And because there was no way to back out of the registration, I am now living a double life.

So there’s my identity theft confession.

(Note to Peter Buffa: Sorry about stealing your user name. By the time you read this, I should have returned your identity to you.)

Getting registered was a fun challenge and not being satisfied being Peter Buffa -- nothing personal -- I tried again. This time, I chose a woman. “RaquelWelch,” was available.

At that point, I stopped, partly because I had other work to do and partly because I was at that point living a triple life. The one I have is quite enough, thank you very much.

Back to our story.

In 1955, Orange County’s “big bang” boomed around the world when Disneyland opened on July 17. There were 28,000 visitors that day. Today at Disneyland, there are 28,000 people standing in line just to buy a churro.

Also in 1955, Bea and Jay DeArmond built Hobby City, a collection of hobby shops that later came to be identified by the smaller- scale replica of the White House they erected on the property.

In 1994, with both Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm in full swing, the DeArmond children built Adventure City, a kid-sized amusement park. Put it this way: If your kids are older than 8, skip it. But if not, get over there fast because not only is it fun, but it’s closing in a year.

The 10 acres of land on which the facilities stand are now worth about $1.5 million to $2 million an acre and will be sold to make way for condominiums.

Condos in Stanton. Go figure.

And go figure why someone would choose to live within walking distance of John Wayne Airport. It’s one thing to live under or near the flight path and have the airport grow. It’s quite another to make a conscious decision to move there.

But that’s what the city of Irvine is expecting people to do, for they are about to approve the addition of 570 dwellings just a few blocks away from the runways.

Now I’ve read that the housing plans are just a ploy to help prevent the expansion of the airport.

And just a few days ago, the plans for the development of the last significant piece of housing land in the county were approved. The county is now officially out of dirt.

What this all means to you is that as the pace of infill picks up, your neighborhood is going to change. (Infill, you may recall, is the redevelop- ment or expansion of existing homes or businesses.)

Keep your eyes peeled for more changes. Who knows, maybe there will be a Greenlight initiative in Costa Mesa. But since that name has already been taken by concerned Newport Beach residents, Costa Mesans will have to come up with another user name.

I’ll go online and see if the Racquel Welch Initiative is available.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident. Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at (714) 966-4664 or send story ideas to [email protected].

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