Across the tracks

[substitute]

To most people "Orange County" means my town: wealthy, white, beautiful, right-wing, vapid, with a great beach.

It's a big place, though. There's the most Mexican city outside Mexico itself, an entire Vietnamese town, hundreds of light industry and defense factories. There are also some very tough neighborhoods, gang wars, near-homeless poor in bad motels, skinheads, and lots of meth dealers.

Last night a 15-year-old girl was shotgunned in West Costa Mesa's worst neighborhood. She was three miles from my house, which is in the safest reporting district in Newport. If that had happened here you'd all be seeing it on the news right now. There, it's a squib buried in the Register.

We still have "the tracks" around here, even in Paradise. In Santa Ana it's 17th street, and here it's Newport Boulevard. Don't live on the wrong side.

Comments

[handstil.livejournal.com]

omfg the comments on that article. o.0

[substitute.livejournal.com]

Never, ever read the comments in the Register.

[brainflak.livejournal.com]

Note to self: when Substitute says "never, ever do X" then fscking take his advice! I had no idea how much ignorance and bigotry and hate and bile could pour out of my computer screen until I skimmed those comments on the OC Fascister Web site. Yikes. Must wash now.

if i were a praying man...

[elserracho.livejournal.com]

i'd pray for the register commenters to be run over by a bus of minutemen.

Re: if i were a praying man...

[substitute.livejournal.com]

[besskeloid.livejournal.com]

You seen this?
http://ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com/

[sooz.livejournal.com]

whoa i just read those because of your comment..


fucking OC thats insane

[clairlacost.livejournal.com]

=] 5 months ago 2 Rating: Good Answer 0 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse by J a y m e Member since: August Total points: (Level 3) Add to My Contacts Block User Just watched it know i thought it was a sex tape aswell then i was like :O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O thats was soooooooo not expected and ohh :( i wanted jenny and eric to get together but oh well.

[sooz.livejournal.com]

wow thats right down the street

[substitute.livejournal.com]

Shalimar has been a nightmare for 30 years now.

[sooz.livejournal.com]

maybe we should burn down the area and send all of them back to mexico or something

Guess Not

[mr-flippant.livejournal.com]

Wow...I didn't realize it was still that bad. I remember when they blocked the whole street off because of all the drive-bys. Kind of figured it quieted down since.

[klikitak.livejournal.com]

I am curious to see if the crime has risen/dropped/stayed the same since they blocked off Shalimar in the 90's.

Seriously though, I'd hardly say Costa Mesa is "CRIME PLAGUED". Low on swiss cheese, yes. Crime plagued, ehh.

[federicohayr.livejournal.com]

Almost 30 years ago I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, over that 30 year period I have been in and out of the hospital for my UC, and the whole experience has really been a nightmare.

[troymccluresf.livejournal.com]

Sounds like Neptune.

[substitute.livejournal.com]

Ooh haven't seen that. My town think it's "The OC" but it's really "Arrested Development."

[troymccluresf.livejournal.com]

My town think it's "The OC"

Don't call it that.

And FTR, Neptune is most likely a San Diego suburb.

[hepkitten.livejournal.com]

i went to that article and the ad served to me was "would you give your job to an illegal alien".

i dont think even illegal aliens would do my job for more than a week. :(

fuckin' croatbacks

[substitute.livejournal.com]

Dude I thought you *were* an illegal alien.

Re: fuckin' croatbacks

[hepkitten.livejournal.com]

im in ur fashion world, capturing ur models' soulz.

Re: fuckin' croatbacks

[bobby isosceles (from livejournal.com)]

I'm more surprised she has a job.

Re: fuckin' croatbacks

[substitute.livejournal.com]

You just can't, you won't, and you don't stop.

[sooz.livejournal.com]

hahaha i answered yes and it takes you to:

Sorry you feel that way...
...But below are some organizations who can help you achieve your goal

National Council for La Raza
American Civil Liberties Union
American Immigration Lawyers Association
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund

[hepkitten.livejournal.com]

where is the mexican-american job outsourcing league?

[miss-geek.livejournal.com]

oh, shalimar...

[salome-st-john.livejournal.com]

There's a local gang with the name Shalimar in it. At least one that some of the high school kids are in. NOW I KNOW WHY, dar

[threepunchstuff.livejournal.com]

That's terrible.

Shalimar's really spiraled out of control since the 80s.

[kasheri.livejournal.com]

Ugh. This is only about 2.5 miles away from my home. That poor child. There is no way that, at 15, she could have understood the situation and the choices that resulted in a shotgun going off into her chest. At least she wasn't killed.

Growing up in Newport Beach, I was blissfully ignorant of "the tracks." I remember the first time I was told that there were prostitutes on Harbor Blvd. I was so surprised! I'd seen them, but it never occurred to me that they could actually be prostitutes. I don't know what I thought they were. Posers, I guess. Youth is so remarkably blind, and age so extremely careful to keep our chosen blinkers in place.

[loose-joints.livejournal.com]

Christ on a pogostick. I read the comments. Mistake. Big mistake.
Poor kid.

I had forgotten how much bile was forthcoming about folk with last names like Vasquez, or really anyone darker than a piece of toast....

I wonder how many "small government" Republicans requesting ICE sweeps would appreciate comparable DEA attention during a coke & ungreased anal party on the yacht?

[becauseshewas.livejournal.com]

Our label guy in Japan was telling us that The OC is hitting it big in Japan. ::slaps forehead:: I assured him of the facts you describe here. UGH!

[hebisner.livejournal.com]

It's nice to know the OC Register hasn't changed. It is still the standard for right wing facism. Go Reg! And is there a single social or economic problem that conservative racist morons cannot blame on "illegal immigrants". They are the new gay.

I used to live in Costa Mesa (briefly) and I spent a fair amount of time there in the past. That street is less than a mile than the favorite bar of my youth, where I spent way too many evenings drinking Guinness and whiskey with Mojo and S9. Mojo used to live not far from there in fact. Damn, I used to work on the corner of Harbor and Adams at the old Cal Fed. I never, ever had a problem in Costa Mesa.

Shalimar

[(Anonymous)]

I live across the street on Pomona Avenue. I have for 4 years now. Between the helicopters and random gunshots all night long, it's a wonder the crime isn't in the news 24/7. Actually the cops don't use their sirens around here. They only use the lights and horn. We never know of these crimes unless we see them or read about them after the fact.

The thing is- nothing ever happens on our side of the street and block. Everything happens in Shalimar. Costa Mesa cops, do your job and at least let the neighbors know what is going on 25 yards away for our safety. At least I see you guys randomly park in our garage area in the middle of the night-on surveillance or something. Next time I am calling Channel 7 for help.

Re: Shalimar

[substitute.livejournal.com]

You might have better luck with Channel 7, yeah.