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Old Posted Jun 26, 2007, 11:59 PM
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Tour of California - Part 3 - Riverside, Santa Ana, Long Beach

Tour of California

Part One - Los Angeles
Part Two - Hollywood, Glendale, Pasadena, Beverly Hills


The last from trip to LA:

Riverside

From where I was in LA, Riverside was a good hour away. Luckily for me the traffic was light all the way there. I had no expectations, but downtown Riverside was actually pretty nice. It has that 1950s-1960s small city feel to it, with a medium to moderately tall buildings, surrounded by single family homes, all in a grid pattern. There was lots of spanish/mexican inspired architecture and the county courthouse was gorgeous. There was a pedestrian mall with quite a lot of people and some type of farmers' market going on. What I liked too was, right near downtown Riverside, was a regional park (Mt. Rubidoux) that you can hike up to and get a great view of the city (of course the visability wasn't the best).









The Mission Inn











Just nonchalantly located on the corner street...








A sea of palm trees, all shapes and sizes...




And finally, my hike up Mt. Rubidoux. Not too bad, especially for the view, unless your like me and foolishly forget water!




Santa Ana

The county seat of Orange County and reportedly the 10th largest city in California (350,000). The business/civic district was very sparse with people(for a weekend) and a lot of the buildings seemed stuck in the 60's. But I believe the real draw of the area is the old Santa Ana downtown which was busy with people. Overall, there were plenty of interesting buildings, but, honestly, Santa Ana is not necessarily a place I'd rush back to again.


Probably one of the saddest looking buildings I've seen...


Makes me wonder what they are brewing in the building on the right





City Hall needs an update



Another great Federal Building!



Old Downtown



I really liked the side of this building, but a sign next door said lofts were being built in the empty space next to it. Seems a shame to cover it up.








Yep that's me


Crystal Cathedral

One of the other places I wanted to visit while in Orange County was the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove. I'm not a particularly religious person, but, the building is interesting and beautiful, providing architectural value (which is rare for modern religious buildings).

A building I liked nearby, almost the color of the sky

















These kids were so cute!

Religious or not, this is a nice sentiment to walk away with


Long Beach

I, unfortunately, didn't get much time in Long Beach. In fact, I only had an hour, so, I mainly walked the waterfront area. But, even the surrounding neighborhoods driving up seemed very lively at the pedestrian level and I would love to go back and explore the city properly.

If you're going to build a parking garage, make it interesting

I'm obsessed with this red building.
















So, that's the end of my LA trip. Like I said, I wish I had had more time to explore Long Beach, I also wanted to go to Venice Beach and Santa Monica, and try to get some great LA skyline pictures, but, it just means another trip is in order! Thanks again for all the great comments....more of California to come...
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Old Posted Jun 27, 2007, 12:44 AM
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Some amazing photos. I love the Spanish/Roman/Byzantine revival architecture. Brick is one of my favorite mediums. Sad part is that I live in California and I didn't know about many of these photos.
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Old Posted Jun 27, 2007, 12:50 AM
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It makes me wonder why people crap on Riverside so much.
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Old Posted Jun 27, 2007, 1:33 AM
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I really enjoyed all of your series on southern california. Seeing the photos of Riverside makes me want to take a trip out and spend the day there. I have relatives in the area, and come to think of it I had sort of promised last summer my dad and I would take the metrolink out and spend a day with them. We had spoken about hanging out at the Mission Inn. Now I feel bad because I will see them in a few weeks at our family picnic and still haven't visit.

Santa Ana, well its what it is, so much potential. I also don't visit that area, much. Well twice in my entire lifetime, but I had fun when I did visit. It sort of reminded me of a very small version of Pacific Avenue in Huntington Park.

Regarding Long Beach, you did a pretty good job for only spending an hour on the waterfront. The red building you mentioned is the World Trade Center, and I have to admit I like it too. The view from the top is really nice. One of my nephews worked in the building about a year ago, and he had access to an empty office on one of the top floors. Another great view believe it or not is from the top of the ferris wheel. I took my 5 year old visiting great niece on it last week. The air was so clear, and the ocean was so blue, I could have kicked myself for not having my camera that day.

Anyway I look forward to seeing more when you visit the LA area again. One suggestion is if you have time be sure to visit the city of Clairmont in the Inland Empire. Its not as far out as Riverside (about half way point from LA) and specifically the area called The Village and its surrounding neighborhood. Its a very beautiful setting full of private colleges, and historical homes. Its like a small quaint Pasadena, but sort of Ivy League in look. In fact many of the suburban cities in the San Gabriel Valley have beautiful and walkable quaint downtowns. A lot these cities have very beautiful homes full of character, and not your typical bland suburbs full of track homes.

Last edited by ChrisLA; Jun 27, 2007 at 10:18 PM.
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Old Posted Jun 27, 2007, 2:35 PM
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fascinating stuff
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Old Posted Jun 27, 2007, 4:23 PM
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THanks!
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Old Posted Jun 27, 2007, 11:56 PM
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Wow great photos! Thanks for the report in Calfornia.
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Old Posted Jun 28, 2007, 12:13 AM
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Classic Cali. Thanks!
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Old Posted Jun 28, 2007, 8:00 PM
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Thanks for showing me parts of the LA area I have yet to explore. You really did a terrific job with the photos!
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Old Posted Jun 28, 2007, 9:13 PM
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Riverside surprises me, some great pics from there!

Santa Ana is better than what a lot of people think. Lots of older buildings in/around the Artist's Village. About two miles up the road (take Main up to Chapman Ave. and make a right), is Old Towne Orange, which is similar with its collection of old buildings. The blue building near the Crystal Cathedral is the City Tower (or whatever its called nowadays), and is in the city of Orange. At a whopping 267 feet, its the fourth-tallest building in Orange County.

And Long Beach has one of the best downtowns in California. In a perfect world, Los Angeles' skyscrapers would be right on the waterfront.
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Old Posted Jun 29, 2007, 3:18 AM
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My grandfather has lived in Riverside since the '60s. I love going out there to visit him and walk around. Great job with the photos! Long Beach was one area I never really got to explore while I lived in L.A. Now I've got to go check it out.
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Old Posted Sep 16, 2007, 8:51 PM
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Wow, I had no idea Riverside was so cool! Great photo tour... I especially enjoyed Riverside and Long Beach.
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Old Posted Sep 16, 2007, 9:26 PM
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Absolutely beautiful. Thanks.

The only thing I've seen before was the Crystal Cathedral...only because I was on a bus on my way to a hotel. Ha.
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Old Posted Sep 20, 2007, 6:07 AM
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I was born in Riverside, and now I live in Santa Ana. Thanks for posting great pics of both cities.
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Old Posted Sep 21, 2007, 5:14 PM
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Great pictures. All three places looked interesting.

With what a lot of people say about RIverside, you would think that it's just suburban wasteland. THat is certainly not the case.
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Old Posted Sep 21, 2007, 7:13 PM
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^That massive building with a spire makes me wonder if it's an authentic old, prewar building or a fake.
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Old Posted Sep 21, 2007, 7:52 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fabb View Post
^That massive building with a spire makes me wonder if it's an authentic old, prewar building or a fake.
No its authentic, the building was once a hotel for the famous, but now they are condos. Why would you think its fake?
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Old Posted Sep 22, 2007, 4:56 AM
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^The part on the left, with a spire, looks old. But the part with balconies doesn't. It looks more like an addition.
Is it one or two buildings, anyway ?
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Old Posted Sep 22, 2007, 5:53 AM
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Those are two completely seperate buildings. I can see how this could be mistaken from the angle the photos was taken.
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Old Posted Feb 6, 2008, 11:24 PM
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riverside actually looks beautiful...
what's ironic is, those cities that people usually make fun of,
are usually the nicest ones. cali really does have alot of beautiful places that aren't ever heard about.
riverside certainly isn't the ugly, sprawly, congested mess my grandfather says it is, it looks great.
i'm impressed

this street is beautiful...
if anyone knows, what is it called?
is this what most of downtown riverside looks like?
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