My Town Monday: Anaheim Public Library

Anaheim's public library began in a room in a candy store in 1901, but a mere seven years later, moved into a new building financed by a grant from steel magnate/philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1908. His original investment was all of $10,000.00. The old building still stands and became the Anaheim Muzeo in 1987.

The "new" central library building (pictured below) was authorized by a vote of the residents of Anaheim in 1960 and opened in 1963. Located at the corner of Broadway and Harbor Boulevard, the building comprised fifty thousand square feet designed to hold 200,000 volumes when it opened. With typical Cold War thinking, part of the basement was set aside as a bomb shelter. Now the basement houses multipurpose reading rooms, storage and a staff room.

Over the years, as Anaheim grew, so did the library system which now consists of the Central Library and five branches: Euclid, Haskett, Sunkist, Canyon Hills and East Anaheim.

The Central Library recently underwent extensive remodeling. The Children's Room was expanded, as was the Young Adult section, and encompasses most of the ground floor, along with the Computer Lab and video section. I love this mural outside the entrance to the Children's Room where I used to work.


All of the adult materials were moved upstairs, and the library's Anaheim Heritage Reading Room was moved to the Muzeo.

On the third Saturday of the month, my readers group meets in one of the cozy study rooms on the second floor to discuss the books we've read. Despite the wealth of data at my fingertips over the internet and my preference for reading e-books, I still visit the local library regularly and check out and read books. I've been a library lover since I was a small child, and I doubt that will ever stop.

Do you still use your local library? If not, why not?

Linda

My Town Monday is the brilliant brain child of writer/blogger Travis Erwin. Thanks, Travis! Go to his blog to read his latest post and find links to the other participants.

My Town Monday: Downtown Disney

When I first moved to Anaheim 23 years ago, there was a strawberry field where Downtown Disney us now located. The resort added this outdoor dining and shopping mall in 2001, and it was an immediate hit with visitors and locals alike. It's adjacent to both the Disneyland Hotel and Disneyland, with its own monorail station. Best of all, visitors get three hours of free parking, though visitors to the park are discouraged from parking there.

Downtown Disney (DTD from now on) has a number of restaurants including a Rainforest Cafe, House of Blues, ESPN Zone, and my personal favorite, Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen. I love the colorful umbrellas hanging from the ceiling.



You can smell the beignets as you approach the Jazz Kitchen, and the architecture is reminiscent of New Orleans's French Quarter, one of my favorite places in the world. The menu reflects the Big Easy's signature Creole and Cajun cuisine, but with "Disney" spices, probably because DTD caters to families and kids aren't always very adventurous in their food choices. Cajun food can be red hot, but not at DTD. The Jazz Kitchen's food is subtly spiced, much to the relief of my finicky stomach. We went there on Christmas day and dined on Cajun roasted turkey breast, probably the best turkey dinner I've ever had. They're very good about letting people split an order, and believe me, it was more than enough food for the two of us.


We recently returned and split California Club Sandwich: Toasted sourdough bread, smoked bacon, Cajun roasted turkey breast, sliced tomatoes and avocado mayonnaise. (Yes, that's half of the sandwich.) We asked for Creole seasoned French fries instead of the jalapeño and bacon potato salad that normally comes with the club sandwich. The Jazz Kitchen Cheeseburger, made of ground filet mignon cooked to order with Jack cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and pickles is also delicious. LOL, can you tell I love to eat?

DTD also has a movie theater and a number of retail stores, including the Lego Imagination Center, and Compass Books, the only retail bookstore in Anaheim.

There are disadvantages to living in a tourist mecca, bad traffic being the worst one, but there are advantages, too. One of the latter is being able to to visit during the off season. Another is that there's always a restaurant open, even on a national holiday. One of the bad things is the cyclical nature of tourism and it's ups and downs as the economy fluctuates. Anaheim relies on hotel taxes for much of its revenue, and the downturn in the economy has hit hard here. The library system has had to cut back on hours. I don't expect things to bounce back soon, but I'm hoping I'm wrong.

It's spring break, but when my DH and I visited Downtown Disney in late March, the crowd was sparse to say the least. I asked our waiter if business was down this year compared to last and he said that it seemed to be, though things had picked up after a slow winter. Let's hope they pick up soon.

Linda

My Town Monday is the brilliant brain child of writer/blogger Travis Erwin. Thanks, Travis! Go to his blog to read his latest post and find links to the other participants.

My Town Monday: Anaheim Gets Geothermal Power

The city of Anaheim, where I live, has its own utility company which is great for the residents because the rates are much lower than those supplied by commercial utilities in California. South Orange County gets its power from San Diego Gas and Electric, one of the utilities deregulated in the 1990's and the rates are much higher than what we pay here in Anaheim. As a result, Anaheim residents were somewhat shielded from the soaring prices of the Enron-powered California energy crisis of 2001.

In December, Anaheim started purchasing renewable geothermal energy from Raser Technologies, an "environmentally-focused" company in Provo, Utah. According to the Orange County Register, Anaheim has contracted with Raser to deliver eleven megawatts of power, enough to supply thousands of homes. Of course, like all renewables, geothermal power can't produce as much electricity as a coal-fired or nuclear plant, but it doesn't pollute the skies or produce toxic waste either. But at least it's American made.

It's good to know that my city is looking toward the future and trying to find more renewable sources of energy for its residents. Click here for more information on geothermal energy.

Note: I had hoped to be able to report that the California Legislature has passed a budget, but as of this writing the deal still has not passed the state senate, even though lawmakers worked late into the night on Saturday.

My Town Monday is the brilliant brain child of writer/blogger Travis Erwin. Thanks, Travis! Go to his blog to read his latest post and find links to the other participants.

Linda

Tricks, Not Treats, in Anaheim

I've lived in the same house for 22 years and my husband has lived here nearly 30 years. We seldom give out candy on Halloween night, and we've never had any repercussions - until last night.

About 7:40PM last evening, we heard something hit the house. By the time we got to the door, no one was in sight, but the house had been egged. In the morning we found a printed sign that read "Give out candy next time, Ass-hole". We saw other signs up and down the street, but don't know if anyone else's house was egged or not. This makes me a lot less inclined to give out candy next time. I won't be blackmailed by a bunch of punks!

Hope your Halloween was more fun than ours.

Linda

My Town Monday: Worst Tree In The World?

Autumn is my favorite time of year, everywhere except here in Anaheim, that is. Where other parts of the country have trees with leaves changing colors, we have Chinese elms shedding yellow crud all over everything. These trees are a pet peeve of mine. :( I'm currently suffering through an attack of sciatica, so that's not helping my mood any. It hurts just to sit.

According to Wikipedia, the Chinese elm, scientific name Ulmus parvifolia, are native to China, Japan, North Korea and Vietnam. They're described as "a small to medium-sized deciduous, semi-deciduous (rarely semi-evergreen) tree growing to 10-18 m tall with a slender trunk and crown, and has been described as "one of the most splendid elms". I looked it up and 10-18 meters is a range of 32 to 59 feet, which sounds pretty big to me, but what I know about trees can be scribbled on the back of a postage stamp. Some may find the trees "splendid", but to me they're just messy.

To continue: "The flowers are produced in early autumn, small and inconspicuous,.." To whom, pray tell?

"... with the seed maturing rapidly and dispersing by late autumn." Around here, the yellow flowers and appear and drop off within a couple of weeks, followed by reddish leaves that drop off later in the season. The green leaves finally turn brown and die around December. So the trees basically shed something or other from Sept. through the end of the year, blanketing the sidewalk, the yard, not to mention any cars parked anywhere nearby.

"The Chinese Elm is highly resistant, but not immune, to Dutch elm disease... The tree is arguably the most ubiquitous of the elms, now found in all the continents except Antarctica. It was introduced to Europe at the end of the 18th century as an ornamental, and is found in many botanical gardens and arboreta. In the United States, it appeared in the middle of the 19th century, and has proved very popular in recent years as a replacement for American Elms killed by Dutch elm disease."

Will someone send me some Dutch elm disease, please?

"The tree can become invasive, notably in southern Africa, and is known as one of the 'Nasty Nine' in Namibia, where it was planted as a street tree in Windhoek. The Chinese Elm has also shown invasive species tendencies in some gardens in North America."

Not to mention some yards in Anaheim. We have several baby elms trying to grow in the middle of our hedge, the Bird of Paradise, the hibiscus bushes. (Yes, we need a professional gardener and the sooner the better.)

What do you think? Is the Chinese elm the worst tree in the world? Or at least the messiest?

Linda

My Town Monday comes to us via Travis Erwin, http://traviserwin.blogspot.com/. Thanks, Travis! Click on his site to read his latest post and find links to the other participants.

My Town Monday Meme: Anaheim

Travis Erwin suggested this My Town Monday meme, so I'm giving it a whirl today.

HOMETOWN: Anaheim, California

POPULATION -- 345,556 as of 2007. Anaheim is the 10th largest city in California and the 54th largest in the United States.

YOU SHOULD THINK OF MY TOWN WHEN ... you think of Disneyland. We're the only town in Orange County with our very own (fake) mountain. The park dominates the town in more ways than one.

ONE MUST SEE IF YOU VISIT -- Disney's California Adventure. There are other Magic Kingdom's around the world, but only one California Adventure.

ONE PLACE YOU SHOULD AVOID -- any filling station near the Disneyland Resort. Drive a few miles away into a residential area and you'll find cheaper gasoline.

FAMOUS RESIDENT -- Mickey Mouse who now lives in Toon Town. In the slightly-less-famous-but-real category, actor Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli on Heroes) was born in Anahim.



RENOWNED ATHLETE -- pitcher Nolan Ryan of the Anaheim Angels, among other team players. Ryan threw four of seven no-hitters while he was with the Angels in the 1970's.

I couldn't think of anything in the "WITHOUT MY TOWN, THE WORLD WOULD NOT HAVE" category, so I'm substituting:

BIGGEST DISASTER... The Palm Lane Fire of 1982.

The fire started when high winds from a Santa Ana condition downed electrical lines. The flames spread, spread by the dry winds, and destroyed an entire block of apartment houses plus some other homes. Most of them had wood shake roofs which were banned afterwards because of their flammability. The fire started early in the day, just a few blocks from the home I now share with my husband. At the time, he lived there with his brother. Neither of them went to work that day. They stayed home, hosing the roof with water and watching the smoke. The fire got to within a block or two of our house before it was put out. We now have a class A roof instead of the wood shake.

I LIVE IN MY TOWN BECAUSE ... my husband already lived here when we married.

I MIGHT LEAVE ON DAY BECAUSE ... the neighborhood is changing and not for the better.

Linda

My Town Monday comes to us via Travis Erwin. Thanks, Travis! Click out his site to read his latest post and find links to the other participants.

My Town Monday: Modjeska Park, Anaheim

I live a few blocks from Modjeska Park in west Anaheim, and I've often gone there to walk the winding paths when I'm in the mood to exercise, alas, a mood that doesn't strike often. It's a really nice park, with large shade tress, and it's larger than it seems: 24 acres in all. It includes a children's play area, basketball court, and a lighted softball diamond, complete with concession stand. There are picnic tables and barbecue facilities sprinkled throughout and the park is well-used, though it's hard to tell by the picture I took early Saturday morning. (It was still a little on the cool side.)

The park is named after the famous, 19th century Polish actress Helena Modjeska who lived in Anaheim for a time in the latter part of the century. Helena Street is also named after her.

I expect the park to be full for Memorial Day, though I won't be there. I'll be home writing. That may not seem very patriotic on a day designated to remember our veterans, but in fact, I think about them and our men and women in uniform a lot. I have ever since the two wars we're currently engaged in started. I'm really happy the new G.I. Bill passed Congress and I hope it will become law soon. Our veterans give so much and they deserve to be taken care of once they come home. That means good health care and opportunities to attend college and find good jobs.

What will you be doing on Memorial Day?

Linda

My Town Monday comes to us via Travis Erwin. Thanks, Travis! Click on his site to read his latest post and find links to the other participants.

My Town Monday: County versus Town

I've recently learned about the "My Town Monday" blog posts started by Travis Erwin at http://traviserwin.blogspot.com/ and thought it was a cool idea, so here goes.

My problem is I don't have just one town. I divide my time between Anaheim and San Clemente here in Orange County, CA. OC is the smallest county in Southern California. Geographically it's located on a coastal plain and ranges from the inland hills north of Brea and Fullerton (currently green thought that won't last much longer) to our fabulous beaches. But most of the county is pretty much border to border suburbs.

For instance, a few weeks ago I was in the parking lot at a Starbuck's when my car failed to start. Naturally I called the DH who showed up sans jumper cables. We had to call AAA to get the car started. Problem was, LOL, we didn't know which town we were in: Anaheim or Garden Grove. The two cities run together on so many streets, the boundary lines aren't always marked. When I travel and people ask me where I'm from, I often say Orange County instead of naming a town. If I get a blank stare, I add Southern Calif. or LA. Everyone knows LA.

Thanks to the recent TV show, The O.C., my county is better known than it used to be. FWIW, no one I know called it "the O. C." before the show came out. We just say O.C. After all, it's not the only Orange County in the country; there are others in Florida and New Jersey and I don't know where else. So my "My Town Monday" posts may take place anywhere in the county.

Linda