Before Bektaş, Seda, and the kids flew back to Turkey, they spent a few days in southern California. They had a couple touristy days in Los Angeles. One fun thing that we did in Orange County was go to Mercado Gonzales in Costa Mesa. Megan recommended it. I had never been before. It’s sort of like a Mexican market.
We can buy the fruit of the nopal plant in Turkey but never the leaves.
They also sell artwork and have a large food court.
In the parking lot Defne saw her first Hummer just a week after seeing her first autonomous taxi in San Francisco.
Mexican’s your best bet, but there’s lots of other good food in Orange County.
There’s more to do than eat. We got out on the new bikes couple times, though clearly not enough to prepare for a real tour! One short ride was Balboa Island and the ferry to the peninsula.
A slightly longer excursion was to the Huntington Beach Central Library, designed by Dion Neutra, son of Richard Neutra. I associate Neutra with Palm Springs and mid-century modern, mass developed by Eichler. Frank Lloyd Wright fits in there as well. I liked the library, but I wouldn’t put it the same bucket as buildings I recognize from Neutra the father or Eichler or Wright.
I even found a terracotta warrior in the library.
Of course the place in Orange County famous for terracotta warriors is the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana. We went one day to the “World of the Terracotta Warriors” exhibition about recent (in the last 20 years) archeology discoveries in Shaanxi Province (where Xi’an is which is where the terracotta army is) starting from 5000 years ago. Impressive 3000-year-old bronze pieces, buried chariots whose rotted wood had been replaced slowly by (now hardened) sand so they looked like chariots carved out of the rock (perhaps like the beds in Akrotiri?), and newer (contemporary with the Romans) terracotta warrior finds like this:
Uh, wow, China. That’s just one province.
I really enjoyed the Hilbert Museum of California Art in Orange. Mr. Hilbert who collected much of the artwork with his (recently deceased) wife was actually there when we were. He finds visiting their collection therapeutic.
You get this Millard Sheets Murano glass mosaic before you even get inside.
Here’s another beach scene, based on a Michelangelo battle scene!
Fun museum.
After visiting the Noguchi Garden and Museum on Shikoku, of course we had to walk through California Scenario in Costa Mesa.
I also made an effort to see some historic buildings. The Old Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana is now where people go to get married.
The Bradford House in Placentia is only open once/month, and you need a reservation. Ferda and I enjoyed the visit. The house was built in 1902 by a man from Maine who grew citrus (in Orange County??!!).
There was beautiful redwood and hemlock woodwork carved by unemployed shipbuilders. Can you really get so rich growing oranges to build such a beautiful 15-room house?
Nearby is the Heritage House on the Arboretum Grounds of Cal State Fullerton. You also need a reservation, I believe. We didn’t make it there.
Some historic buildings that perhaps you don’t need a reservation for are in Lake Forest (formerly El Toro) at Heritage Hill Historic Park. The visit was a bust. Ferda and I were there on time for the docent-led tour, and apparently the docent had been there as well but left. Why? we asked. “Because it was windy.” Seriously? We had to be satisfied with looking at the buildings from the outside.
The drive to Lake Forest was certainly not wasted, however, ’cause we were able to hike Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park. We had been shut out at the same place three years earlier because of flooding. Who knew what we had missed! First we walked up a ridge and looked across at some interesting red rock formations.
Before realizing that’s the area’s main attraction we decided to extend our walk and check out that canyon. Wow, red rocks in Orange County!
What a great surprise.
The highest you can get in Orange County is Santiago Peak, the SE peak of what everyone calls Saddleback Mountain. I grew up in Orange County but had never been up here. I drove one morning to the Maple Springs Trailhead in Cleveland National Forest, saw that the road was open passed there (there’s a gate), and parked at a good spot about 400m before the pavement ends at about 880m. The round trip hike took six hours from there.
Even with all the communication towers and views of the Orange County sprawl I was surprised how quiet and pleasant it was up there. I don’t have a photo from Santiago Peak, but here’s the view from Modjeska Peak, the NE of the two summits.
Modjeska Peak is named after Helena Modjeska and visiting her eponymous House and Garden in the town of Modjeska in Modjeska Canyon was, my friends, my favorite Orange County excursion. Helena Modjeska was a famous Shakespearean actress in Poland before crossing the Atlantic and becoming a famous Shakespearean actress in the US performing in over 2800 shows over 30 years. She sounds extremely talented — designing and sewing her own outfits, playing the piano and violin, writing and illustrating a book of fairy tales. And on and on.
She named her estate Arden after Shakespeare’s enchanted forest and lived here from 1888-1906.
Orange County probably isn’t on your bucket list, but you can’t say there’s nothing to do. Count anteaters?
